Park Reservation moves a reservation off its Area and into the Parked Reservation row at the top of the Booking Chart, so other reservations can be moved into the Area it vacated. A parked reservation stays in the Parked Reservation row until a user unparks it and allocates it to an Area. RMS does not unpark a reservation automatically.

When a reservation cannot be parked, or appears stuck in the Parked Reservation row, the cause is almost always one of the conditions below: the reservation's status or settings, the user's Security Profile, or no suitable Area being free for the reservation's dates. For the standard park and unpark steps, see Park Reservation on the Booking Chart.

Applies to: reservations parked or unparked on the Booking Chart (Charts > Booking Chart).

Please Note! RMS is highly configurable. Some Terminology, User Access & Permissions, Images, Labels, and Functions used in these articles may differ from your setup. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Quick Checks

Work through the following checks first. They resolve most park and unpark problems on the Booking Chart.

• The reservation status is Unconfirmed or Confirmed. Only these two statuses can be parked.
• The reservation is not a Fixed Reservation.
• The user's Security Profile allows the Park function and access to the Reservation Screen.
• At least one Area is free for every night of the parked reservation's stay.
• Any message shown when selecting 'Save/Exit' in the Unpark window has been read and answered. The reservation stays parked until the message is resolved.

Why a Reservation Cannot Be Parked on the Booking Chart

A reservation cannot be parked on the Booking Chart when one of the following causes applies.

Park Reservation is missing from the right-click menu

The Park Reservation option only appears in the Booking Chart right-click menu when both of these are true:

• The reservation status is Unconfirmed or Confirmed. Reservations with any other status, such as Arrived, cannot be parked.
• The user's Security Profile allows both Park (in the Chart Screens group, beneath Booking Chart) and Allow Access to Reservation Screen (in the Reservation Screens group).

Fix:

1. Check the reservation status. If the guest has arrived, use an Area move instead. See Move a reservation between Areas on the Booking Chart.
2. If the status is correct, ask a System Administrator to check the user's Security Profile in Setup > Users > Security Profiles. See Configure a Security Profile.
3. After a Security Profile change, the user logs out of RMS and logs back in.

The reservation is a Fixed Reservation

A Fixed Reservation cannot be parked because its Area is locked. Selecting Park Reservation on a Fixed Reservation displays the message "Booking Chart: Cannot Park the Booking as it has been marked as Fixed."

Fix:

1. Open the reservation and set Fixed to No. See Fixed Reservation.
2. Save the reservation, then park it again from the Booking Chart.

The reservation is in an Interconnecting Category, and the property has connected channels

Reservations in an Interconnecting master Category cannot be parked while the property has at least one connected channel. Selecting Park Reservation displays the message "Room is attached to Interconnecting Room and cannot be parked." See Allow Area in More Than One Category - Associated Categories for how Interconnecting Categories work.

Fix: Parking is not available for reservations in an Interconnecting master Category while the property has connected channels. Instead, move the other reservations around the interconnecting reservation, or drag the interconnecting reservation directly to another Area. See Move a reservation between Areas on the Booking Chart.

The reservation is already parked or has no Area

A reservation that is already in the Parked Reservation row cannot be parked again, and a reservation with no Area allocated has nothing to park. RMS displays "Unable to park this Reservation as it is already parked." or "Unable to park this Reservation as no Area is currently assigned." The labels Reservation and Area follow the property's System Labels.

Fix: For a parked reservation, unpark it instead. For a reservation with no Area, allocate an Area on the reservation.

Why a Parked Reservation Cannot Be Unparked

A parked reservation is unparked by right-clicking it in the Parked Reservation row, selecting Unpark Reservation, choosing an Area, and selecting 'Save/Exit'. Unparking saves the reservation into the new Area through the same checks as any other reservation change, so a parked reservation stays parked when one of the following causes applies.

The Area you need is not in the Unpark list

The Unpark window only lists Areas that meet all of these conditions:

• The Area is free for every night between the reservation's arrival and departure dates.
• The Area belongs to a Category the user has been given access to.
• The Area's Category Class matches the reservation's original Category Class. Accommodation, Facility, and Site Categories are treated as interchangeable. Other Category Classes only list Areas of the same class.

If no Area meets these conditions, the list is empty, and the reservation cannot be unparked.

Tip! Before parking a reservation, check on the Booking Chart that the Area you plan to move it into will be free for every night of its stay once the other reservations have been moved.

Fix:

1. Free an Area for the full stay by moving another reservation on the Booking Chart.
2. On a multi-property database, check whether the Unpark window is showing the correct property, and select another property if the reservation can move there.
3. Check that another user has not already allocated the Area you planned to use.

A warning or error displays when selecting Save/Exit

Unparking runs the same save checks as editing the reservation. A warning asks whether to continue; selecting 'Yes' unparks the reservation, and selecting 'No' leaves it in the Parked Reservation row. An error stops the unpark, and the reservation stays parked. RMS displays either the error itself or the message "Unable to Unpark Reservation".

Fix: read the message, resolve the condition it describes, then select Unpark Reservation again. If the rate has already been created, RMS also asks whether to recreate the rate. See Rate recalculation behaviour reference.

The reservation account has a Tax Invoice

Transactions on a Tax Invoice are locked from changes. When unparking voids and recreates the reservation's rate charges and one of those charges is on a Tax Invoice, the unpark stops with the message "You Can't Transfer or Void the Invoiced Transaction". When this happens:

• Users whose Security Profile allows 'Allow Users to Access Cancel Tax Invoice Button' are asked, "To complete this change, you will need to cancel the tax invoice. Do you wish to proceed?" Selecting 'Yes' cancels the Tax Invoice and unparks the reservation.
• Other users see "You do not have access to cancel invoices; please see your system administrator for access." and the reservation stays parked.

Fix: A user with access cancels the Tax Invoice, either from the Unpark prompt or from the account. See Cancel a Tax Invoice. Issue a new Tax Invoice after the reservation is unparked if one is still required.

Important! Cancelling from the Unpark prompt cancels every Tax Invoice on the reservation account.

Finding Parked Reservations

Parked reservations display in the Parked Reservation row at the top of the Booking Chart. The Parked Reservations report (Reports > Daily) lists reservations that are currently parked and whose stay overlaps the Parked Reservation Between date range. The report shows each reservation's Original Category and Original Area, which is where the reservation was before it was parked. The Reservation Audit Trail records when a reservation was parked and unparked, and by which user.

Still Not Working?

If a reservation still cannot be parked or unparked after working through the causes above, contact RMS Support and include the reservation number, the Area you are trying to move it to, and the exact message RMS displays.

Related Articles

• Park Reservation on the Booking Chart
• Move a reservation between Areas on the Booking Chart
• Fixed Reservation
• Booking Chart - Overview