Online Booking Has Arrived
Online booking has finally arrived! (sort of)
3-4-2011 UPDATE: Online bookings have now been activated.
Where is it? If you login (link above and to the left, just under the Home button - if you see “My Account - Member List - Logout” then you’re already logged in - duoh!) and if you have asked the booking officer to link your website login to your online booking account, click on the Bookings button above (third along from the Home button), and a drop-down menu will appear; the first item on the menu is Online Bookings (click this).
Remember, you won’t see the Online Bookings link if you haven’t logged in. Even if you log in, the system won’t know which account to show you if you haven’t previously asked the booking officer to link your website account with the online bookings account (hint, email or call the booking officer to arrange this now if you haven’t already).
What can you do online? Currently you can view your balance, see any 2011 bookings you have made and download any booking invoices.
The system is still effectively in beta mode (meaning it’s not a final product) and I have been fixing bugs for the booking officer all week when I had hoped to be working on the member side of the website. As a result, the ability to make online bookings is still a few days away - perhaps by Sunday April 3rd if all goes well. On the positive side, when was the last time you were able to check your account balance and existing bookings online?
After bookings are up and running, other features due to make an appearance include your account history (i.e. statements), old bookings, account details (e.g. change your email address, phone number, postal address etc.) and, at some stage, the ability to add your own guests and book them in.
Why do I have to link my website login to my online booking account - what’s the difference? When we say “website login” we are referring to the general Rangatira website (the one you’re most likely looking at now). When we say “online booking system” we are referring to the online membership database and booking system which is like a subpart of the general website. Anyone, including juniors, friends and guests, can become registered users of the website and we have no way of knowing which account, if any, these users belong to (unless they register with their full name as their username) so you have to tell us who you are. Also, members with children will generally not want them to use up all their credit making bookings without their knowledge (if this is an issue for you, best set your kids up with their own general website login so they don’t use yours).
How do accounts work? All members are attached to an account. It could be just you if you are a single member, or a whole family. An account is not an individual, it’s an umbrella entity to which members can be attached and removed. Each individual member exists in the database but when you make bookings and payments they are recorded against the account. When you look at your account online it is your whole account details rather than your individual details. Thus, a husband and wife may have separate website logins which they have separately requested the booking officer to link to their online booking account, but when they each separately login to the website they will both see exactly the same account details.
It’s 3:50 am so I’m going to stop now - more details and instructions to follow over the coming days and weeks.
Cheers - Rob
Posted by Rob Yallop on 01 April 2011 at 02:55 AM