How to book reservations internally, or create a reservation on behalf of the guest.
Last Updated: July 28, 2025
Quick Links
Create a reservation using the New Reservation page
Create a reservation using the Reservation Grid
Create a reservation using the Reservation Map
Overview
Firefly is designed to help your guests book reservations online as easily as possible. However, we know that creating new reservations is part of reservation management. To create a new reservation in Firefly there are a few ways it can be done and these are outlined below.
TIP: New to Firefly? Check out our New User Training Guide with videos and step-by-step walkthroughs for all you need to know about creating and managing reservations, and interacting with guests in Firefly.
Create a reservation using the New Reservation page
You have a two options to access the New Reservations page.- From the main menu, select Reservations > New Reservation
- Click the New Reservation icon
highlighted below. The icon is found at the top of the Dashboard and in the hot buttons always visible at the top of every Firefly page.
When here, you will be prompted with an availability search process that looks just like the online portal for your customers, lets go through it.
The required* information must be filled out before searching for available units.
Internal New Reservation Form
1. Choose whether you are making a standard (specifying a departure date) or Ongoing (No departure date given) reservation.
2. Set the Arrival and Departure Date (if standard reservation)
3. Specify occupants as Adult, Children, and/or pets.
4. Select the unit type you wish to search for. Any unit types you have setup within your unit specifications will show up in this list to choose from.
5. Specify RV Restrictions (if unit type is an RV Site). What is filled out here will be determined/can be set by going to Settings > Property > Reservations > scroll to find the Available Unit Search checkboxes. This is the same as the online reservation portal.
6. If applicable, select any Rate Qualifiers you want to apply to this reservation
7. If applicable, search/filter available units by certain amenities
8. Notice the "override restrictions" button at the top. You can override unit specific restrictions like RV length and min / max night rules, etc. if needed. Simply click the blue dropdown and select any rules set on units you wish to be ignored during your search.
Once filled out correctly for the reservation at hand, select Search Availability. Once clicked, you will then be shown available units for the reservation on the right. Available units will be shown based on all the criteria set above.
View and Select Available Units in a List View
List view of Available Units
Available units will first be shown in a List or Map view. In List view, available units show at the top of the list with the unit's price for the stay displayed in green. As you see above, unavailable units are displayed at the bottom with their unavailable reason.
You may select one unit or many units to reserve. Selected units will be added to the cart below.
TIP: Hover over the green price next to a unit in the List view. This will show a breakdown of the rate(s) being pulled for the reservation unit. For more information, check out: How can I see the rate Firefly used? - Rate Calculation Descriptions.
View and Select Available Units in a Map View
Many people prefer to view available units and make reservations using the Map view instead. To book from a map select the Map tab, highlighted below. You can switch from list to map any time, by clicking the tab you wish to see.
In Map view, units in green are available while units in red are unavailable. This is the same experience your guests have on the online reservation portal. You may click on a unit to see its unavailable reason.
Map View of Available Units
When you select a unit, you see basic details about the unit. If you wish to reserve the unit you can click the Book button. This will add the unit into the cart. You can complete the booking if ready or click on more units and repeat the process to reserve additional units under the same reservation.
Units in the cart will appear as blue on the map.
Choose unit and hit book
NOTE: Your map must be set up with units linked for interactivity before you are able to use this feature. Click here for a walkthrough on using the interactive map builder.
Create a reservation using the Reservation Grid
You can also choose units and make reservations straight from the reservation grid. When you make a reservation from the grid, the selected units are placed the cart and you will immediately see the SubTotal, Taxes, and Total for the entire reservation. Learn how to make a reservation from the grid here.
Create a reservation using the Reservation Map
IMPORTANT: To use a map for booking, you first need to have a map added to Firefly. To learn how, see: Using the Interactive Map Builder.
You have two options to access the Reservation Map:
- Access the Reservation Map using one of the two available options:
- From the main menu, navigate to Reservations > Reservations Map
- Click the Reservation Map icon, available in two locations: at the top of the Dashboard or in the hot buttons next to the Account Properties dropdown, which is remains available on every page in Firefly.
- From the main menu, navigate to Reservations > Reservations Map
- At the top is a settings bar with several options to search and filter availability. This is exactly the same as the Reservation Grid.
- Map Type
- Date range
- Unit Type
- Unit Class
- Equipment Type
- Amenity
3. On an available unit, click to view the unit's details and existing reservations.
4. Click Book and follow the steps on the screen to complete the booking. This process is also exactly the same 
TIP: The Reservation Map can also be used as the visual alternative to the Reservation Grid for at-a-glance unit availability, thorough unit details, and viewing essential upcoming reservation information.
To view upcoming reservations on the Reservations Map, simply set the date range for the time frame you wish to see future reservations.
Override Restrictions
Staff booking through the front desk have the option to override unit restrictions. This is especially useful when a unit is known to be physically empty but the system shows it unavailable due to a detail like unit length, RV slides, RV age, or a booking requirement.
This option may be used before completing an availability search or after viewing available units. The Override Restrictions dropdown in available at the top of the availability search form, highlighted here:
Override Restrictions dropdown seen at the top of the Search Availability form
If it is confirmed a restriction can be safely overlooked, you may select from the following restrictions to override:
Override Restrictions options
You will need to click the Search Availability button again if overriding restrictions after looking at available units. This allows the system to recognize the overrides selected and complete a new availability search.
Finish Making the Reservation
Once you have at least one unit in the cart, the remaining sections appear: Guest, Available Add-ons, and Reservation.
Guest
You must assign a guest to a reservation in order to save it. Hit Select Guest (1) to add a returning guest or new guest profile. On the Returning Guest tab, you can search for a previous guest by their contact information shown below.
If a guest has never stayed with your before, you will use the New Guest tab to create a new guest profile.
CAUTION: For international guests, select the country code before entering contact information. The country code is on the right of email address. It drives the format of phone number and address information. If you do not enter a country code or select an incorrect country code, you may not be able to save your international guest's contact information as needed.
Available Add-ons
You have the ability to include available add-ons (2) when booking the reservation. If you add any, the total will be updated to reflect the add-on's inclusion in the cart.
Reservation Sources and Deposit
If you want to fill out the other info under the reservation section you can. Firefly, by default, will be set to send out the reservation confirmation email.
Finally, if you a) have your credit card processor setup and b) have your deposit rules setup, you will be able to initiate the collection of the amount that is "due today" which will include any reservation fee being passed along to the guest. Simply add the card details into the correct fields, and once everything looks good select complete reservation.
Once you create the reservation, you will be automatically taken to the reservation's details page. This is where you can add payments, manage the reservation, etc.
TIP: You may bypass a deposit when creating a reservation. This allows you to import a payment method on file in another reservation collect a payment at a later time.
To bypass the deposit, simply uncheck the box under Collect Payment and click Create Reservation.
🙋♀️ Still need help? Email: support@fireflyreservations.com and one of our technicians can help answer your questions.
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