Set Up Book by Day Categories on the RMS Booking Engine

A Book by Day Category, such as a car park, is day-use inventory that can be set up for guests to search, book, and pay for on the RMS Booking Engine.

Overview

Book by Day Categories cover day-use inventory that does not involve an overnight stay, such as car parks, function rooms, and meeting rooms. The RMS Booking Engine can sell these Categories online, charge a rate for each calendar day, and hold the inventory with a Pending Reservation while the guest finishes booking.

Set a Category up this way when the property wants guests to book day-use inventory online for themselves, rather than by phone or through a separate system. Follow the three steps in order. Later steps depend on earlier ones being complete.

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.

Prerequisites

The RMS Online module, which is required to use the RMS Booking Engine. Contact RMS Sales for more information.
A connected Booking Engine channel. See Connect the Booking Engine channel.
A Security Profile with access to Setup > Category/Area and Setup > Online Bookings.
The inventory you want to sell already exists as a Category with its Areas configured. See Category/Categories.

Step 1 - Configure the Category

In the side menu of RMS, go to Setup > Category/Area.

Select 'Edit' on the Category, or select 'Add' to create a new one.
Select the Category Class as Accommodation.
Set 'Booked By' to 'Day'.
Navigate to the 'Times' tab and set the arrival and departure times for the Category if day-use times differ from the property defaults.
See Set up Category Times for reservations.
Please note - times must be set and cannot be the default of 12am - 12am.
Navigate to the 'Online Options' tab and tick 'Available to RMSOnline'. See Category Online Options for every field on this tab.
Select Save/Exit.

Please Note! Category Times can be earlier than the property check-in time. The Booking Engine honours the times set on the Category and falls back to the property Default Arrive and Depart Times only when no Category Times are set.

Step 2 - Configure the Rates

A Book by Day Category will not return availability online until its rates are set up for daily pricing and the Rate Type is published to the Booking Engine.

In the side menu of RMS, go to Setup > Online Bookings > Channel Management.

Select the Channel Connection Status 'Connected'.
Select 'RMS Book Now Button', then select 'Edit'.
Navigate to the 'Available Rate Types' tab and select the Rate Type used by the Category.
Select the Allocate icon, then select Save/Exit.

See How to Add Rate Types to the RMS Booking Engine.

Important! Attach a Rate Table with the Format set to 'Daily' to the Category, holding the amount charged for each day.

Important! Setting the Category to 'Booked By: Day' is not enough on its own. The Rate Table attached to the Category must also be configured for daily pricing.

Step 3 - Test the Booking

Open the property Booking Engine and search with the same date for arrival and departure. The Book by Day Category should be returned.

Search again across a date range of two or more days and confirm the pricing and day count are correct.

How Book by Day Categories Appear on the Booking Engine

The Booking Engine filters search results by the dates the guest selects, so a Book by Day Category will not always appear alongside overnight accommodation.

What the guest searches	What the Booking Engine returns
The same date for arrival and departure	Only Book by Day Categories. Book by Night Categories are excluded.
A date range, at a property that also has Book by Night Categories	Only Book by Night Categories. Book by Day Categories are excluded.
A date range, at a property that has only Book by Day Categories	Book by Day Categories are returned.
Any dates, using a Category-specific booking link	The linked Category is returned regardless of the date range.

Tip! Use a Category-specific booking link when you want guests to book a Book by Day Category across several days at a property that also sells overnight accommodation. See Booking Engine URL modifiers.

Duration and pricing

A Book by Day Category is priced by calendar day rather than by night. A booking from 12 July to 14 July is charged as three days, not two nights. A booking where arrival and departure fall on the same date is charged as one day.

The Booking Engine uses the words 'Day' and 'Days' instead of 'Night' and 'Nights' for these Categories on the rates page, the cart, the reservation summary page, and the confirmation email.

Availability protection

When a guest adds a Book by Day Category to their cart, RMS creates a Pencil Reservation with a Reservation Status of 'IBE Pending' that holds the inventory for every calendar day booked. If the guest removes the item or does not finish the booking within the 15-minute countdown timer, the Pencil Reservation is cancelled and the inventory is released. This prevents two guests from booking the last available space at the same time.

See Pending reservations from the RMS Booking Engine.

What Is Not Supported

Book by Day covers whole-day bookings only. Hourly bookings are not part of this feature, and setting Bookable Times on a Category has no effect on how a Book by Day Category behaves on the Booking Engine.

Properties that sell hourly inventory use a separate Facility booking URL, which is its own booking flow with its own page and its own bookable times for each Category. See Set up a Facility Category and Facility Category Bookable Times.

Common Setup Issues

Issue: The Category does not appear for a same-day search.
Fix: Confirm 'Available to RMSOnline' is ticked on the Category Online Options tab and that the Rate Type is allocated to the RMS Book Now Button channel.
Issue: The Category appears but is priced or counted as nights.
Fix: Confirm 'Booked By' is set to 'Day' on the Category and that the attached Rate Table is configured for daily pricing.
Issue: The Category disappears when the guest selects a date range.
Fix: This is expected at a property that also sells Book by Night Categories. Use a Category-specific booking link for multi-day day-use bookings.
Issue: Reservations arrive in RMS with the wrong check-in or check-out time.
Fix: Set the times on the Category Times tab. Without Category Times, the property Default Arrive and Depart Times are used.
Issue: Fewer Areas are available online than expected.
Fix: Check 'No Of Area to Hold from RMSOnline' on the Category Online Options tab. See Hold back areas from the Booking Engine.

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