After a reservation is created, you will be able to edit most of its details. In this article, you will find information about each tab within a reservation and useful tips to edit and update reservation details.
How can I edit a reservation?
Once you've found the reservation, click on it to open the booking. You will be able to edit most of the information through the following tabs:
Details tab
The Details tab contains a reservation most important data, including general information about the stay, the primary guest, and a payment summary You can modify the following information in this tab:
⚠️ Please note that everything you change in the Details tab will reflect on the reservation’s invoice.
Check-in and Check-out dates: changing these dates updates the pricing based on the nightly rates in the inventory grid.
💡 The Length of stay field will also update to the new number of nights.
Keep rates for existing dates is always ticked by default. The two options are:
If Keep rates for existing dates is ticked : the price on the dates at the time of the booking carry over to the new dates
If Keep rates for existing dates is NOT ticked : you can apply the current nightly prices to the reservation once dates are changed. Be aware that unticking Keep rates for existing dates may result in price changes. Changes should be communicated to guests and agreed to first. Failure to inform guests is poor customer service and likely to create disputes.
➕Some examples:
Example 1: changing the check-out date
On the Inventory, your price for the 21st and 22nd is 100 per night.
A guest makes a reservation for one night on the 21st. The total price for the reservation is 100.
After the reservation is made, you change the price for 21/04 from 100 to 150.
The guest calls back to add an extra night, the 22nd for 100.
If Keep rates for existing dates is ticked: the original price of the first night will be kept. The guest pays 100 for each night for a total of 200.
If Keep rates for existing dates is NOT ticked: the new price will be used for the first night. The guest pays 150 for the first night and 100 for the second for a total of 250.
Example 2: changing all the booked dates
A guest makes a reservation for one night on the 21st. The total price for the reservation is 100.
The guest calls you asking to change the check-in to the 23rd. The price per night is 200.
The Keep rates for existing dates tickbox does not matter in this case because none of the original reservation dates are shared in the modified reservation. The system treats it like a new reservation. The reservation total is 200.
A little trick: if you change the Rate plan field to blank, the Keep rates for existing dates tickbox won’t matter and the reservation will not change price based on the day. This allows you to manually enter a price in the Room field and keep the original price of 100 per night. Don’t forget to Save the changes!
Length of stay: shows a reservation 's total number of nights and adjusts automatically when dates are changed.
Booking status: shows the current reservation status.
Room type : change the room type by clicking on the drop-down menu, if you want to move guests to a different room.
⚠️ If you change the Room type , you will need to select a new Rate plan.
Rate plan : the different options allowed when modifying a rate plan are listed below:
Removing the rate plan – Custom price
If you wish to enter a special price for the booking, leave the Rate plan field blank and manually enter the price in the Room field to the right.
⚠️ Leaving the Rate plan field blank makes the Extra person field uneditable. In these cases, you'll need to add any extra fees onto the Room price.
Changing the rate plan and adjusting price accordingly
If you replace the original rate plan with another, the Room total will still show the price of the original rate plan. If you want to adjust the price based on the new rate plan, you need to untick Keep rates for existing dates.
Keeping the same rate plan but adjusting the price to the one currently in your inventory for the chosen dates
You may have modified your prices for a selected rate plan on the Inventory page after a reservation's made. To update the reservation to the new prices, you need to untick Keep rates for existing dates.
⚠️ Be aware that unticking Keep rates for existing dates may cause the booking's original price to change. This may cause disputes with customers who agreed to a different price for their booking.
💡You can look at the example for Keep rates for existing dates to better understand the functionality.
Room number (Room #): you can change the room allocation for this booking.
⚠️ If you leave this field blank, the reservation will move to the Unallocated section of the Calendar.
💡 If no rooms are available in the drop-down menu, this means there are no physical rooms of the room type available on those dates.
Occupancy: entering the correct number of occupants (adults, children, and infants) will adjust a reservation's total price.
⚠️ The Extra person field will automatically be filled based on your changes and the Occupancies set in the selected rate plan.
Discount: you might want to edit or enter a discount for this booking either on a per night or per room level basis.
💡 To learn how to apply discounts, read Create a reservation
Add another room: Little Hotelier supports multi-room bookings; this way, you can easily book more room types for the same dates (as long as they are available).
➕ You can also remove any room type from a booking by clicking the red X that appears at the right of each room type when hovering over it.
Add guests: this will redirect you to the Guests tab of the reservation.
Primary contact details: you can change these details at any time. Below is some information relevant to editing contact details:
Contact name and surname: bear in mind that you can only add one guest name on an invoice: either the primary contact or the one that you mark as favourite (☆) in your Guests tab.
➕ You will be able to add other guests to the reservation in the Guests tab, but they won’t appear on the reservation’s invoice.
⚠️ The primary contact details (name and ID document) are the default on the invoice as long as you don’t add another guest on the Guests tab and mark them as first guest.Credit card details: only admin users can view and edit the credit card information added to the reservation.
⚠️ Little Hotelier only stores credit card information for up to 7 days after the check-out date.
Guest comments: any comments added here are displayed on the confirmation e-mail if it's sent to the guest after the changes. Any comment from your guests on reservations coming from your connected channels will also appear under Guest comments.
⚠️ Please avoid including credit card information in the <b>Guests comments</b> box or the Notes tab. The system will automatically encrypt them if detected.
💡 If you wish to add a comment that is only visible to your staff, add it in the Notes tab.
Guests tab
Add relevant details of the primary guest and accompanying guests.
Why should I add more guests to a reservation?
This may be required due to the following reasons:
Adding guests allows you to have accurate information about each person staying at your property for your records and for your own safety.
Guests’ details are required by law in a few countries. Check with your local government if you are required to collect this information from guests.
💡 Properties in Spain are required to run a daily report that includes guest ID and other information.
How can I add a new guest to a reservation?
To add a new guest to a reservation, follow these steps:
Click on +Add new guest
💡 You will see an +Autofill primary contact button for each of the new added guests, so you have the option to auto-complete the new guest’s details with those of the primary contact.
Enter the following required guest details:
First name (mandatory)
Last name (mandatory)
Second surname
E-mail
Phone number
Gender
To add extra information for each of your guests, click on the down-arrow icon (⋁) at the right of each guest to reveal more items:
ID document type
ID number
Nationality
Issue date
Expiry date
Date of birth
Address
Country
City
State
Post code
Don’t forget to click Save to record the new guest in the reservation.
Which name will I see in the Calendar for my reservations?
Reservation will be named automatically according to the first guest added in this tab, not the primary contact.
This is useful for reservations where the primary contact is not the staying guest. For example: a son booking a weekend away for his parents.
⚠️ If there are no additional guests added in the Guests tab, reservations will show the primary contact name by default in the Calendar and Reservations pages.
💡 If you want the reservation to show a different guest name in the Calendar page, you will need to add a new guest and click on the star icon (☆) to the left of the first name field in the Guests tab.
How can I delete a guest from a reservation?
To remove a guest from a reservation, simply click on the red X that appears above the down-arrow icon (⋁) when you hover over the guest’s details on the Guests tab.
Inclusions tab
Displays any per night inclusions of the rate plan selected for this booking on the Inventory page. Changing a reservation’s rate plan will also change the inclusions.
You will only see items in the Inclusions tab for reservations made via your direct booking engine, or if you manually created the reservation (as long as you had inclusions configured at the time of booking).
💡 The inclusions are edited automatically when the rate plan selected has dates with inclusions. They cannot be modified manually in a reservation.
➕ If you're unsure with where to add your inclusions, read:
Create a rate plan, for information on how to add inclusions at rate plan level.
Manage your inventory, for information on how to add nightly inclusions for specific rate plans in your inventory.
Extra items tab
Add extra items for your guests to purchase or might consume during their stay.
How do I add an extra to a reservation?
If you wish to add an extra item, simply follow these steps:
Click on + Add new.
Select the extra item from the drop-down menu.
Don’t forget to click on Save to record the extra in the reservation.
💡 The extras being displayed on the drop-down menu are the ones created at the property level. If you wish to create a new extra or edit it, take a look at: Create, edit, or delete extras.
You can click on + Add new as many times as you want to include as many extras as you wish.
➕ The extra item selected will appear as many times as it has been configured to appear depending on its category. Some have been configured to allow you to edit their quantity (if the field Allow multiple instances? was ticked on their settings) but most have the Item total and Quantity greyed out and blocked.
What if I want to add an extra to a reservation that does not appear in the drop-down menu?
If you have a unique extra item that does not appear in the drop-down menu and needs to be added to the reservation, you can follow these steps:
Select Other on the list
Fill in the Name of this item
Add the Item total price
Write how many items you are including in the Quantity field
Make sure to click Save
➕ For example, you rooms have a mini bar containing drinks and snacks and you haven’t created an extra for each item in Little Hotelier. If your guests have consumed three drinks, you can do the following:
Select Other from the drop-down list
Name the extra as 'Mini bar drinks'
Set the Item total to 5
Enter a quantity of 3
See the price amount will show a total of 15
Click Save
⚠️ Bear in mind the Other extra does not include taxes on it unless you've created a tax and applied it to "Everything". Learn more: Create and manage taxes and service charges
How do I remove an extra from a reservation?
To remove an extra from a reservation, simply click on the red X at the upper-left corner in each of the extra items you want to remove.
Payments tab
Little Hotelier allows you to easily process or record payments and refunds for your reservations.
There are two ways to manage payments: manually or automatically, depending on whether you have Little Hotelier Payments (our internal payment gateway) integrated with your Little Hotelier:
If you are not using Little Hotelier Payments, you must do the following:
Take your deposits and payments manually using a third-party point of sale method (like a credit card terminal).
After taking payments, you can click Record payment and enter the transaction details in Little Hotelier.
⚠️ Recording a payment does not process the payment.
If you're using Little Hotelier Payments, you will see a Process payment button on this Payment tab where you will be able to charge and automatically process payments for a reservation’s outstanding amount.
💡 As long as you have deposits configured and are using a payment gateway, you won’t have to worry about taking deposits manually. They will be processed at the time of booking by Little Hotelier Payments.
➕ If you're using a different payment gateway that allows processing payments from your Little Hotelier front desk, the process is the same as above. Learn more: Set up a payment gateway and Managing payments and refunds in Little Hotelier
What is considered a deposit in Little Hotelier?
Normally the word "deposit" is used to indicate a portion of the reservation's total paid at the time of booking (with the rest to be paid later). However, in Little Hotelier, a deposit is any payment made at the time of booking.
💡 A full amount deposit could be set up for your non-refundable rates.
As long as you have deposits configured, any reservations from your direct booking engine and connected channels with a payment due at the time of booking will automatically show in the Payments tab.
💡 Do you want to know how to set up guest payment options and deposits? Check out this space: Set up credit card, payment gateway, and automatic deposits.
Notes tab
Add notes only visible to you and your staff.
➕ For example:
"Repeat customer: leave a thank you note with the LOYAL10 promo code".
“Guest is asking his fiance to marry him: he is mailing the ring for us to leave it on a champagne glass next to a champagne bottle on ice on check-in day”.
"A guest’s visitor broke room 4’s TV. Remind the guest that the damages will be charged to their credit card".
💡 If you want to write notes that are visible to guests, you can use the Guest comments section in the Details tab. These comments will also be displayed on the confirmation e-mail.
Invoices tab
This tab contains all the invoices generated for a booking. For new reservations or reservations where an invoice has not yet been generated, a button to generate an invoice will be available.
We advise you to make sure a reservation's details are finalised before creating an invoice.
⚠️ If you change certain reservation details after generating the first invoice, the system alert you and will give you an option to update it. Updating an invoice will generate another invoice number in your reservation. Any previous invoice numbers will become invalid.
💡 To learn more about how to generate and update an invoice, please visit: Generating and updating reservation invoices.