Options on dates and equipment

An option holds a date, a room or a rental item for a prospect without a firm booking yet. Univents numbers the options (1st, 2nd, 3rd option) and guides you through the day in three steps: check availability, follow up on options, book firmly.

Important: Options and notices block nothing. You can still save, send and book. Univents only shows you where it gets tight.

1. Check availability: a customer calls

“24 November, 50 people, birthday: is a room free?” You answer that in Inquiries:

1. Click Check availability at the top.
2. Enter Date, From/To and Guests. Without a time, the whole day counts.
3. Click Check.

The list shows every room with its status:

• Free: The room is not occupied at that time.
• Option on it: The list names the queue, for example “1. option: Miller, until 18 Nov”.
• Firmly booked: With the name of the event.
• Blocked: A blocked period of the room, with the reason.

Fitting rooms are at the top. Rooms too small for the number of guests are greyed out below with “too small (max. N)”. If Univents could not load the occupancy completely, the dialog says so, and a room shown as “Free” is then not certainly free.

If a room is free or only carries options, click Enter as option. New inquiry opens, already filled in with date, time, guests and room. On saving, Univents creates the inquiry and sets the option right away, at the next free rank. The deadline is your own, otherwise the quote’s validity, otherwise your workspace’s default deadline. For a firmly booked room the button reads Join waiting list (option). If options already sit on a room, the button names the place your option gets, for example Enter as option 4.

2. Follow up on options: where are my deadlines?

In Inquiries, next to Inbox, Kanban, List and Calendar, there is the Options (n) view. The number is the count of open options.

In the Inbox, each inquiry with an option also carries a short hint, for example “Option 1 · until 20 Nov”. It is yellow when the deadline runs out within the next seven days, and red when it has passed. If you hover over it, you see the rank per room.

The list shows all open options, earliest deadline first, in four groups: Overdue, Today, This week and Later. Each row shows

• the customer and the deadline,
• date and time of the event,
• the room with its rank, for example “2nd of 3”,
• the quote value (only with the finance permission; without a quote it says “no quote”),
• when you last followed up.

Clicking a row opens the inquiry or the event.

Several options at once. Tick rows. Three actions are then available:

• Follow up sends the familiar follow-up email for the quote to the contact. Beforehand you see every option and can attach the PDF. Options without a sent quote are skipped and listed as “no quote”. The list then shows per row whether the email was sent.
• Extend deadline sets a new deadline for all chosen options (7 days is suggested, you can choose freely). The deadline ends on the day of the event at the latest. No email goes to the customer.
• Release option frees room and equipment again, after a confirmation.

The row menu also offers Book firmly, Make first option and Change deadline.

3. Book firmly and accept an inquiry: what happens to the others?

When you book an option firmly, the options behind it lose their place on the same room and day. The dialog names them beforehand, with the room or item they lose. Each one has a tick box:

• Reject inquiry: The inquiry is rejected. It is the same rejection as the usual “Reject inquiry”. With Send rejection email ticked, the rejection email goes to the customer, optionally with alternative dates. You can enter a reason for your notes.
• Without an inquiry (a plain event with an option), only the option is released. The dialog says so, and no email is sent.

If another option stands ahead of yours, the dialog suggests Ask option 1 (see below).

When you accept an inquiry, the accept dialog first shows how many other inquiries in the same room and period will be rejected. With Send rejection email you decide whether those customers get an email. This is the only way it works: nothing is rejected that you have not seen beforehand. Univents does not reject inquiries that are already paid.

If your workspace has no “Confirmed” status, booking firmly gives a clear message and nothing changes. If Univents could not load the displaced ones completely, the dialog says so; you can then deliberately book firmly anyway, but no rejections go out.

Ask option 1

If another 1st option stands ahead, Univents offers Ask option 1. This creates a task on the rank-1 event (“Ask the customer whether they book firmly”) and, if you like, shortens its deadline to 48 hours, never into the past. Nothing is booked and nothing goes to the customer: you call or write yourself.

How an option arises

With a click. Open the event and choose Hold as option until …. Set the date until which you hold the slot. As long as the deadline has not passed, the option is active; afterwards it holds nothing. You can change the date or release the option through the chip on the event.

From the availability check. See above: Enter as option creates the inquiry and the option in one step.

When creating an inquiry. Once New inquiry has a date and a room, the form shows the options already on that room below the room field, for example “Options on Hall Alster: 1. Müller (until 20/11) · 2. Schmidt (until 22/11)”. With the Hold as option checkbox, Univents sets the option when you save. Next to it you see the place it gets, for example “becomes option 3”. If a room is firmly booked, the option goes on the waiting list. If a room is blocked, the checkbox cannot be ticked. When you create an event, the form shows the same options below the room field, without the checkbox.

Automatically with the quote. As soon as you send a quote that is still valid, Univents holds the date as an option by itself. The deadline then follows the quote’s validity. If you set your own date, it applies instead of the quote’s validity. If you release the option, it stays released until you send a new quote.

The rank

The rank follows the order: for an option set with a click, who was set as an option first; for an option from a quote, whose quote was sent first. Whoever was first stays in front.

To move another event up, choose Make first option on it, in the Options list in the row menu or on the event’s chip. Univents first shows what that means for other rooms and items. If someone else has changed the order in the meantime, Univents saves nothing and reloads so you continue with the current state.

The colours

The notice on events and in the quote shows who is in whose way:

• Red: A firm booking is involved. Only the displaced side turns red, that is the option or the unconfirmed request. The firm booking gets a grey notice instead.
• Yellow (“Several options”): Options compete with each other, or an option is ahead of an unconfirmed request.
• Grey: Unconfirmed and without an option.

Two unconfirmed events without an option are therefore not red. If an event has several overlaps, the symbol shows the worst colour. Univents calls something a conflict only in the exceptional case that a room is firmly booked twice. In the Season view of the events it also appears large in the right column (“Double-booked”), with the room and the other event.

Hover over the symbol: the window names, per room or item, the rank and the competing events with customer, status and deadline. More about the notice itself: Spotting an overbooking: rooms and rental items.

In the occupancy plan

In the Locations occupancy plan, on the Schedule tab, every bar with an option carries a badge with its rank, for example 2nd option; the deadline appears on hover. A normal click on the bar still opens the event. The small ↗ at the right end of the bar opens the Options list, filtered to that room and that day (very narrow bars do not have it). Roles with restricted view only see “Option” without a rank number.

Options and the booking page

Options do not block the public booking page. How many inquiries a day or room can receive online is set by the booking page setting Simultaneous inquiries allowed. Every inquiry with a sent quote counts as an option there.

An inquiry with an active option holds the room. An inquiry without an option does not.

Rental items

For rental items, Univents shows overlaps only if Rental item is activated on the product and a quantity is entered. Without stock, Univents does not guess.

Automatic tasks

Univents checks every hour whether options have shifted. A task is created when

• a firm booking pushes out an option, or
• an option expires or its quote was declined, and another event moves up.

The event’s project planner is responsible, otherwise the owner. They get a notification in the bell and by push, never an email. A deleted task does not come back. Tasks are only created if there really is a competitor. The links in the tasks lead to the Options list.

With the assistant

You can also set and query options in the chat, for example:

• “Hold 14 Nov in the Elbe hall for Miller until Friday”
• “Who competes for the projector on 14 Nov?”
• “Make the Miller wedding the first option”

Frequently asked questions

Where did the “Options & conflicts” page go? It has merged into Inquiries: the Options view is the list, and Check availability replaces the look at the rooms. Older links to the former address redirect to the Options list automatically.

Is an email sent when I follow up or extend the deadline? When following up, yes: the familiar follow-up email for the quote. Extending or releasing an option never sends an email to the customer.

Why is my event not red? Red means a firm booking is involved. If only options or unconfirmed requests compete, the notice is yellow or grey.

What happens when the deadline passes? The option then holds nothing. The next event in the order moves up a rank.