Creating Bookings
How to create bookings from the dashboard as a staff member.
While most bookings come through the online checkout, staff can also create bookings directly from the dashboard for walk-ins, phone reservations, or special requests.
The New Booking Wizard
The dashboard uses a step-by-step wizard to walk you through booking creation. The wizard has six steps:
Step 1: Activity
Select the activity for the booking. Only active activities with valid scheduling are shown.
Step 2: Equipment
Choose the equipment for the booking. Equipment is tied to the selected activity and may include items like kayaks, bikes, boats, or other rentable gear. Each equipment selection tracks:
- Quantity — how many units of the equipment
- Seats — number of participant seats per unit
- Add-ons — optional extras attached to each piece of equipment (e.g., life jackets, helmets)
Step 3: Scheduling
Set the date and time for the booking. You have two scheduling modes:
- Schedule — select from available time slots generated by the activity's scheduling rules
- Manual — enter a custom date, start time, and end time (useful for special arrangements)
The scheduling step also lets you select an activity duration if the activity supports multiple duration options.
Step 4: Pricing
Configure how the booking is priced:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Standard pricing | Use the activity's configured pricing rules (base price from schedules and equipment) |
| Custom pricing | Enter a manual base price for the booking |
| Apply taxes and fees | Toggle whether location-level taxes and fees are calculated on top of the base price |
The balance field shows what the customer owes. You can adjust this manually if a partial payment has already been collected.
Step 5: Customer
Enter customer information:
- Name — customer's full name (required)
- Email — customer's email address
- Phone — customer's phone number with country code selection
Resytech searches your existing customer database as you type. If the customer already exists, select them to auto-fill their information and link the booking to their CRM profile. If they are new, a new customer record is created automatically when the booking is saved.
Step 6: Status and Confirmation
Choose the initial booking settings before confirming:
| Setting | Options | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Booking status | Confirmed, Pending, Draft | The initial status of the booking. Defaults to "Confirmed" for admin-created bookings. |
| Notify customer | On/Off | Whether to send the customer a confirmation email after creation. Enabled by default. |
| Auto-expire | Off, or set a duration | Automatically change the booking status after a set time period. Useful for holding pending bookings that should cancel if not confirmed. |
| Auto-expire target status | Canceled, etc. | Which status to transition to when the expiration timer fires. |
| Auto-expire notify | On/Off | Whether to notify the customer when the booking auto-expires. |
| Source | Admin, or custom source | The booking source. Defaults to "admin" for dashboard-created bookings. Custom sources can be configured per location. |
| External ID | Free text | An optional reference ID from an external system (e.g., a channel manager or third-party booking platform). |
Review the summary and click Create Booking to finalize.
Customer Lookup
When entering customer details, Resytech searches your existing customer database. If the customer already exists, select them to auto-fill their information and link the booking to their profile.
If they're new, enter their details and a new customer record is created automatically.
Line Items
Each booking can have multiple line items. Line items are created automatically from your activity and equipment selections, and can also be managed manually after booking creation:
- Activities with participant counts and demographic breakdowns
- Equipment rentals with quantity tracking
- Add-ons and extras attached to equipment
- Custom line items with manual name, price, and quantity
Each line item stores a name, unit price, quantity, type code, and optional metadata. See Editing Bookings for details on modifying line items after creation.
Booking Sources
Every booking records a source indicating where it originated:
- Online — created through the customer-facing checkout
- Admin — created by a staff member from the dashboard
- External — created via an external integration, with an optional external ID for cross-referencing
Custom booking sources with assigned colors can be configured per location to track additional channels (phone, walk-in, partner referral, etc.).
Internal Notes
Add internal notes visible only to your team — useful for special requests, accessibility needs, or other details that staff should know about. Notes are timestamped and attributed to the staff member who created them.