May 2021 - Online Booking Page & Interactive Map Updates

The following feature changes and updates have been made to the Bonfire reservation system:

1) Booking Page Facelift & Mobile Responsiveness

2) Interactive Maps

3) Minimum Days for Holidays & Weekends/Packages

And, some random label and functional changes

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1) Booking Page Facelift & Mobile Responsiveness

Yes, your Bonfire online booking page has gotten a much needed facelift. It has also been adapted to a more user friendly workflow with updated features and functionality that help your guests fully complete their booking without all the guesswork. We appreciate your patience and flexibility with the previous version.

You will notice in the notes that we do have an interactive map feature. We will explain this feature in more detail in the next section. 

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The design of the online booking pages have changed. We got rid of the full screen background image and the Bonfire orange forms and replaced these elements with a more traditional design layout. All of the same feature elements from the previous version are incorporated into the updated design. The booking page still relies on your guests to search for an available spot based on their dates of stay and you are able to showcase a park description, a park map, and any booking restriction text. 

Once your guests click the “Check Availability” button, the page transitions as usual to the list view of available sites but now also showcases an interactive map for extended usability. The sites that show on the availability list are also correlated with the interactive map icons. We have added a few additional columns to the list such as “Slide Outs” for added decision making.

Once a site is selected, the following form to complete their reservation has been merged into one single page-centered form. We have also incorporated some other labels and icons to help your guests complete the required fields and data so (hopefully) they stop calling you and telling you they don’t know what info they have to complete.

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2) Interactive Maps

***IF YOU DO NOTHING WITH THE SETUP OF YOUR INTERACTIVE MAP, IT WILL CONTINUE TO BE A MAP IMAGE THAT YOUR GUESTS CAN USE TO REFERENCE THE LOCATION OF THE SITE THEY CHOOSE. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE YOUR MAP INTERACTIVE***

You can continue to use the current map you have loaded on your Bonfire Park Settings tab in the editor.

If you want to make your map interactive, follow the directions below:

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1. Go to the Editor -> Interactive Map tab

2. Add information to the fields for Area Name and Description. These fields will help you distinguish between multiple maps...if applicable.

3. Upload the map you want to make interactive (you can have multiple interactive maps)

4. Now, choose your spots assigned to that specific map. If you have multiple maps, you will need to choose specific spots. I imagine most campgrounds will just have all of their spots on one map. You can click on the “All” button. ONCE YOU CHOOSE YOUR SPOTS, one box for each spot will show up on the map image you uploaded.

5. Drag and drop each site name box next to the correlating site. Each name box has a green circle in the top left corner denoting where the circle will show on the map once it is live. WHEN THE MAP IS LIVE, a blue circle will appear on the map to show availability. Move the circle to the exact location you want that circle to show. Yes, the name boxes will overlap other boxes and some will be tough to see. 

6. Once you have all your sites in the locations you want, CLICK THE SAVE BUTTON.

7. Repeat this process for each map area you want to upload.

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Once you have your maps created, they will be live. One the online booking page, AFTER A GUEST CHOOSES DATES AND CLICKS ON “CHECK AVAILABILITY”, the following page will showcase the interactive map, as well as Bonfire’s original list feature of available sites. The list version has been expanded to include more information so your guests can make an intelligent decision.

Based on the dates your guest input on the previous page, the interactive map will show what spaces are available, denoted by a blue circle over the site area (based on where you put the circle during setup). A guest can click on that blue circle to show a hover over box with LIMITED information. The list feature will also show the selected site, highlighted on the list so your guest can reference the additional information on the list for their decision process. A guest can select the site either from the list feature OR the hover over window.

From this point, they fill out the form as usual.

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3) Minimum Days for Holidays & Weekends/Packages

Minimum Day reservations for holiday weekends and general weekends has been a feature request for awhile. Now you have it. With this feature, you can set your periods and rates to incorporate minimum stays for holiday weekend via the online booking page and ensure your guests are booking properly and you are maximizing your revenue potential for those special weekends.

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The creation of periods and rates are still the same. There is now a dropdown box under that rate details of each rate that allows you to pick and choose the rule for that period.

To make full weekends (Fri & Sat) mandatory, choose the “Weekends” label in the dropbox. This will dictate that anyone trying to make a reservation via the online booking page that includes a Friday OR Saturday will need to book for both days (or include both days in their full reservation) in order to complete the reservation process.

To make a holiday weekend/period mandatory, choose the “Full Event Period” label in the dropbox. This will dictate that anyone booking a reservation that incorporates a day within this holiday period, will be required to book for that WHOLE holiday period in order to complete the reservation process. For example, if your July 4th holiday weekend period is set from July 1st to July 4th, Anyone booking from the online booking page will be required to make a reservation that, at the least, is from July 1st to July4th. 

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March 2021 - Guestbook Updates

Following are the changes made to the system:

1) "Alerts" system regarding special guests

2) Minimum Trailer Length

3) Email Footer Markdown Syntax

4) Merge and Delete - Guestbook

And, some random label and functional changes

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1) "Alerts" system regarding special guests

The "Alerts" system is a set of two different labels you can assign to your guests. These labels are meant to prompt action by you depending on the case. These labels are "Special" or "List 86".

The "Special" label is for anyone that needs extra help or they have special instructions along with their reservation. This is NOT an automatic label assigned if they add notes to their booking info. We have heard many use cases where a campground needs to be alerted in some way to know that this particular guest needs some form of special treatment. This could be anything from needing a spot that is Handicapped Accessible, to needing their trailer towed out of storage and placed on their particular spot for the season. Whatever the case, this label should simply elicit your staff to know that this guest needs something special.

The "List 86" label is also known as the "Blacklist", "Black-Flagged", or "Persona Non-Grata" list. A guest marked with the "86'd" label is not welcome in your park. The label "86'd" comes from the restaurant industry when a menu item is not currently available for any number of reasons. We use this label so that any guest looking at your screen, for whatever reason, does not see the words "black listed" next to their name and causes whatever other problems they may want to cause after.

Both of these labels will show in the reservation details near the additional guest information box. There are also two icons that will show on the calendar rack and the daily dashboard next to the reservation name. Again, these icons are prompts to action by you if needed. The "!" (exclamation point) icon denotes a "Special" guest. And the 🚫 icon denotes an "86'd" guest.

Both of these labels are assigned in the guestbook under each guests' information box. One thing to note: If a guest is designated as "86'd" they will NOT be able to make reservations via the online booking page when using the same email as the entry in the guestbook. although, You WILL be able to manually make a reservation for them on the rack. That is your choice for how you handle these "86'd" guests. The icons and labels will still show on the reservation and rack and dashboard. If they try to make a reservation thru the online booking page, they will simply get an error message telling them to call the park admin to make a reservation. You can take it from there.

We will not take requests to change the labels or icons to anything more specific.

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2) Minimum Trailer Length

Some campgrounds allow any size trailer and RV into any spot. But, other parks follow some strategy to maximize revenue potential by restricting sites based on trailer size. Previously, we have always had Max Trailer Length Allowed so there is not total chaos. Now, we have added Minimum Trailer Length Allowed to your spot details and to the online booking page details.

In the Spot Details in the Editor, you can set a Minimum Trailer Length Allowed in the dropdown field. This will restrict anyone with a small trailer from trying to reservation a spot that is far too large for them.

From the management side AND from the online booking side, if you try to make a reservation for a NEW guest that has a trailer that is too small or too large for that space, based on the min and max size, you will get an error message and not be able to complete that reservation. If you try to make a reservation for a REPEAT guest that has trailer information set in their guestbook info, and their trailer length is outside of that min, max range, you will also get an error message and not be able to complete the reservation. Use this feature only if you actually need it. You know who you are.

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3) Email Footer Markdown Syntax

Like the other text boxes in the Editor, the Email Footer can now be manipulated using markdown syntax and it will render those changes correctly on the email. So, you can now add links, bold text, colored text, etc on the email footer text.

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4) Merge and Delete - Guestbook Entries

In the Guestbook, in the reservation history section, there is a new button, "Merge and Delete". This will allow you to take that guestbook entry information and reservation history and merge it to another guestbook entry. After the merge, the prior guestbook entry will be deleted. All the reservation history from that previous guestbook entry will be transferred to the new guestbook reservation history.

So, for anyone with numerous guestbook entries for the same person but with many misspelled email addresses, this will help you clean up that guestbook.

Go to the Guestbook and find the guest you want to move their information and delete. Click on the "Reservations" arrow on the right. It will open their reservation history and show a search bar and the "Merge and Delete" button. You can type in search info like name, email or phone number and the dropdown box will filter the entries that fit that criteria. Choose the correct destination entry for the reservation information and click on the "Merge and Delete" button. A series of prompts will show asking you to confirm your choice. Once merged, the previous guestbook entry will be deleted and the reservation history will show in the destination guestbook entry. This action cannot be undone.

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Since all reservations are connected to an email address, and with Bonfire, you cannot delete any reservation, there is not a separate "Delete" feature for this. You can ONLY, merge guest entries and their attached reservation history with another guest entry. You cannot just delete a guest entry all together.