How can I create a Reservation?

Via the Box Office page - go through the normal Box Office flow but click Save As Reservation on the Payment page.

You'll then be able to set the Expiry Time for the Transaction and create a Payment Link.

Learn more - Guide: Reserve Tickets, Guide: Sell Tickets via the Box Office

Can I send out a Payment Link for a Reservation?

Yes, either on the Box Office payment page when you first create a Reservation, or on the Transaction once you've saved it.

Learn more - Guide: Reservation Payment Links

Should I use my E-Ticket Delivery Method?

You should not use a Delivery Method that contains an Email Template such as Order Confirmation or Your Tickets Are Here. Once you have saved the Reservation, these will send out according to the Email Sequence, regardless of whether the Tickets have been paid for.

Instead, you should create and use a Reservation-specific Delivery Method. It should only contain Email Templates such as Secure Your Reservation Here, a Reminder and perhaps an Expiry Notice.

When the Customer wants to pay for their Reservation, then it should be switched to your E-Ticket Delivery Method. Once that balance has been settled, the Order Confirmation Emails will send out, as the E-Ticket Delivery Method has replaced the Reservation one.

Learn more - Guide: Create a Delivery Method

FAQs

How do I complete a Reservation?

Once you've found your Reservation, open the Transaction, click Manage Transaction and then Edit Transaction. You will be taken back to your Basket so you can complete the Transaction.

How can I release a Reservation? Is there an auto-release function?

If you would like to manually remove a Reservation, then click Clear Basket when editing the Transaction.

Reservations will never auto-release. This is to enable Reservations to work for Merge Tags in Templates and so that they appear in Reports.

Can I update the Expiry of a Reservation?

Yes, from the Manage Transaction menu on the Transaction:

Open the Transaction, click Manage Transaction and then Update Expiry

NOTE - this option is only available if the Transaction is a Reservation or In Basket.
On the pop-up, either enter a relative expiry time, e.g. 5 minutes from now, or choose a custom expiry time by selecting date and time options from the dropdown
Click Update Expiry. Hover over the Transaction Status to see the new expiry date and time

Can I edit the details of a Reservation?

Yes, you just need to open the Transaction, click Manage Transaction and then Edit Transaction, and make your changes:

When Tickets and/or Products are changed or added to the Basket, this change will apply immediately
When a Delivery Method or Customer details are changed, you just need to click Continue and then that change will be saved

You can then either leave the page or click Finish Editing Reservation on the final page.

Can I change Channel or Purchase Flow when editing a Reservation?

Yes, it operates the same way as the standard Box Office process, via the Settings button in the top right.

NOTE - you can only use a Box Office Purchase Flow when editing Transactions.

If your Reservation is using an Online Checkout Purchase Flow then you must select a new Purchase Flow to use
If your Reservation has a Payment Link, then you will need to create a new one on the Transaction once you've changed Purchase Flow and finished editing the Reservation

Why isn't my Payment Link working?

This could be because of one of the following reasons:

The Default Channel on your Online Checkout Purchase Flow is incorrect. Please ensure that it is the Channel your Online Booking Flow is connected to
The Delivery Method or Payment Method is not enabled for the Channel that you are using the link for
There are Basket Validation rules restricting purchases on this link

Please contact Support with the Payment Link if it still isn't working after checking the above, and we can investigate.

Learn more - Overview & FAQs: Purchase Flows, Overview & FAQs: Delivery Methods, Overview & FAQs: Payment Methods, Overview & FAQs: Basket Validation

How can I send a Payment Link in an Email?

By inserting Merge Tags into your Email Templates.

You can use the following to ensure that the link is included in the Customer's Email:

{{ TRANSACTION.PAYMENT_LINK }}

If the Reservation has an expiry date and time, then you can include the following if statement so that the Customer knows when they have to pay by:

{% if TRANSACTION.EXPIRES_AT %}

{{ TRANSACTION.EXPIRES_AT.strftime('%a %d %b %Y %H:%M') }}

{% endif %}

Learn more - Full List of Merge Tags

Can I send a Payment Reminder Email for a Reservation?

Yes, you can send a Payment Reminder Email either as part of your Reservation Delivery Method, or you can manually send the Email via the Email shortcut button on the Transaction.

NOTE - while you can have a Payment Reminder Email automatically send as part of your Delivery Method, with a specific time and date to send, there is no option to send according to Transaction Status. This means that this Email would be sent automatically regardless of whether the Transaction has changed from Reservation to Complete.

If you would like more options for sending Emails, please add your suggestion to our Ideas Portal.

Can I ensure that a Payment Link only appears in a Reservation Email if a Payment Link has been created?

Yes, you can add an if statement to ensure that Payment Link text only appears if there's a Payment Link on the Reservation. Here's an example:

{% if TRANSACTION.PAYMENT_LINK %}

  To secure your booking, please complete payment. Payment can be made using <a href="{{ TRANSACTION.PAYMENT_LINK }}">this link</a>.

{% endif %}

I have a Reservation with a Pending Payment even though the Customer has not entered their details on the checkout page.

This means that the Customer has begun to enter their details on the link but abandoned the page before completing.

When this happens for a Reservation, the payment status will change to Pending, as the Customer has technically started to process the Transaction. On any normal Transaction, the basket timer will begin once the checkout has started, but because we don't expire Reservations, it won't time out if the Customer doesn't complete their details, hence why the payment is still set as Pending.

You should be able to either delete the Pending payment from the Basket or create a new Payment Link.

I made changes to my Price Table. Why aren't my reserved Tickets updating?

When Tickets are added to the Basket, they are tied to the Version of the Price Table that was active at that point.

If you need to update Reservation or In Basket Tickets, then you'll need to remove and re-add them to the Basket.

Overview & FAQs: Reservations