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. What are Announcements?
Announcements appear as prominent colored alert banners across the top of your public booking pages. They are ideal for communicating time-critical updates, opening hour changes, weather alerts, or special promotional offers to visitors before they book.
Real-World Notice Examples:
- Mini Golf Weather Updates: "Due to heavy rain, the outdoor course will open at 12:00 PM today. Indoor clubhouse remains open."
- Soft Play Deep Cleaning: "The baby & toddler sensory zone is undergoing scheduled maintenance this Wednesday morning until 11:30 AM."
- Seasonal Ticket Drops: "Tickets for our Christmas Grotto Experience go live this Friday at 9:00 AM! Book early to avoid disappointment."
- Bank Holiday Hours: "Bank Holiday Monday opening times: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM."
2. Adding a New Announcement
1 Go to Settings > Announcements (SetAnnouncements.aspx).
2 In the Add New Announcement card, enter the details:
- Message: The announcement text shown to customers (up to 500 characters). You can include links, discount codes, or opening times.
- Banner Color: Pick a background color for the banner (e.g. orange
#f0ad4e for general alerts, red #d9534f for weather/urgent notices, blue #337ab7 for news, green #5cb85c for special promotions).
- Expiry Date: The date after which the announcement automatically hides itself from the website!
3 Click Add Announcement. The banner is live immediately on your booking pages!
3. Automatic Expiration
Set and Forget: Because every announcement has an expiry date, you never have to worry about forgetting to remove yesterday's weather alert or last week's holiday notice — the platform automatically stops showing the banner once the expiration date passes.
4. Editing or Removing Announcements
In SetAnnouncements.aspx:
- Click Edit next to an announcement in the table to modify its wording, change the color, or extend its expiry date.
- Click Delete to immediately pull the announcement from all public booking screens.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do announcement banners alert customers to weather closures or emergency notices?
Announcement banners display a colored notification bar across the top of your public booking pages. They are ideal for broadcasting urgent snow closures, heatwave adjustments, bank holiday opening times, or special flash sales.
Can announcement banners be scheduled with an automatic expiry date and time?
Yes. In Marketing > Announcements, configure the start and expiry date/time. Once the expiry threshold passes (e.g. Sunday at 18:00), the banner automatically disappears without manual intervention.
Can I change the banner alert color to blue, orange, or red depending on urgency?
Yes. Choose from multiple alert styles: Blue (Informational / Special Offer), Orange (Notice / Bank Holiday Timetable), or Red (Urgent / Weather Closure).
Does the announcement banner appear on mobile smartphones and embedded booking forms?
Yes. Banners are fully responsive and adapt to smartphone screens and embedded iFrame widgets, ensuring every visitor sees urgent notices prior to booking.
Can announcement banners include clickable links to directions or special event pages?
Yes. You can include HTML hyperlinks inside announcement banners, directing visitors to parking instructions, terms updates, or seasonal ticket release pages.
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