At a Glance • Key Takeaways
- Automated Efficiency: Streamline online bookings, live availability scheduling, and customer communication without manual intervention.
- Live Capacity & Conflict Prevention: Prevent double-booking across staff, rooms, activity sessions, or rental fleet assets in real time.
- 0% Platform Booking Fees: SmartBookings does not charge transaction fees or take percentage cuts of your ticket sales or customer payments.
1. When to Use Admin Booking
The staff booking console allows your reception desk, call centre, or event coordinators to take bookings over the phone, handle walk-in customers at reception, or apply special discounts and complimentary passes.
Common Reception Desk Booking Scenarios:
- Mini Golf & Adventure Golf: Answering a telephone call to reserve an 18-hole tee-time for 6 golfers tomorrow afternoon and taking payment over the phone.
- Soft Play Walk-ins: A parent walks up to reception with 2 children; staff select the current session, collect cash or contactless card, and print entry tickets in 10 seconds.
- Laser Tag & Parties: Taking a £50 deposit over the phone to hold a Saturday birthday party slot and emailing an online payment link for the remaining balance.
2. Step-by-Step Staff Booking Workflow
Step 1: Select or Create the Customer
1 Click Bookings > Add new booking in the left menu (or search the customer first under Clients and click Add new booking).
2 Select an existing customer, or click Add New Customer to enter their name, phone, and email on the fly.
Step 2: Choose Session Category & Date
3 In BookTickets.aspx, select the Session Type (Category) and pick the desired attendance date.
4 The dropdown list displays all available time slots along with the live remaining places available in real-time.
Step 3: Ticket Quantities & Optional Add-ons
5 Select the required ticket quantities (e.g. 2 Children, 1 Adult).
6 If the customer holds an active Pass or Credit Balance, the system highlights their available passes and allows 1-click redemption!
7 Add any optional extras requested by the customer (e.g. grip socks, meal vouchers).
Step 4: Payment Method Selection
8 Choose how the customer is paying:
- Cash: Cash received at the reception desk.
- Card Terminal (Till): Card payment processed through your in-store chip & PIN machine.
- Online Card Gateway: Enter the customer's card details over the telephone directly into Stripe/Opayo.
- Send Payment Link: Reserves the session and immediately emails an invoice link for the customer to pay online from home.
- Invoice / Pay Later: For corporate, school, or council group visits.
- Zero / Complimentary: For staff, charity, or VIP complimentary tickets.
Step 5: Confirmation & Ticketing
9 Click Complete Booking. The booking is instantly confirmed:
- Places are deducted from the live session capacity.
- The customer receives their branded HTML confirmation email with barcode/QR code.
- Staff can immediately click Print Tickets or Print Receipt for the customer.
3. Applying Admin Price Overrides
Staff Flexibility: Admin users have permission to override the default price of any ticket directly on the booking screen (e.g. applying a discretionary discount or price adjustment) without modifying the main pricing rules.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do staff take phone bookings and reserve places from the front desk?
Open 'Book via Admin' (Bookbtn.aspx). Select the activity category, pick the desired date and time slot from the live calendar, select ticket quantities, enter the customer's contact details, and record the payment.
Can reception record cash or till payments without processing a card online?
Yes. In the admin booking desk, staff can select payment methods including 'Cash at Till', 'Card Terminal (PDQ)', 'Invoice', or 'Payment Link', allowing seamless recording of walk-ins and phone orders without online gateway fees.
How do staff apply custom price overrides or waive booking deposits for VIP guests?
Staff with Administrator permissions can edit the total price box directly on the admin booking screen to apply agreed discounts, price matches, or completely waive fees for promotional bookings and competition winners.
Can admin staff book past the online cut-off window if places remain available?
Yes. While the public booking portal can be set to stop online sales 30 minutes before a session starts, front-desk staff retain full override authority to book walk-in customers right up to the minute of session commencement.
Can till receipts and admission barcodes be printed directly from the reception desk?
Yes. Upon completing an admin booking, staff can immediately click 'Print Tickets' or 'Print Receipt' to generate thermal till receipts and barcode wristband admissions for arriving guests.
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