Creating and Managing ongoing (sometimes called long term) reservations in Firefly.
Quick Links
Ongoing Reservations through the Reservation Portal
Ongoing Reservations through the Front Desk
Recurring Charges for Ongoing Reservations
Utility Charges for Ongoing Reservations
Overview
Firefly gives you full control over your property's ongoing reservations. You choose if you want guests to book themselves on the reservation portal, book directly with staff, or have both options. You also have options to save time managing ongoing reservations through Firefly's automations. You can set up automatic monthly charges, automatic payments, and automatic notification emails.
TIP: When thinking of Standard Reservations vs Ongoing Reservations we like to give the example of Airline bookings. ✈
Standard Reservations are a round trip with an arrival and departure required.
Ongoing Reservations are a one way trip with only an arrival required.
Ongoing Reservations through the Reservation Portal
Through the set up options below, you may allow guests to book ongoing reservations themselves on the reservation portal - without having to call or email the park.
- On the main menu, click Settings
- Click Property
- Click on the Reservations Tab
- Update the "Reservation Types Accepted (From the Reservation Portal)" setting
- select "All" is you accept short term, long term, and ongoing reservations
- select "Ongoing" if you only accept indefinite stays - reservations with no departure date
CAUTION: Be sure to select the correct reservation type accepted at your park.
As used above, the phrase "Short Term" refers to reservations with an arrival and departure date. These may be short or long stays, with guests staying just a few days or months at a time.
An ongoing reservation is an indefinite stay with only an arrival date.
The phrase "long term" may be used to refer to reservations lasting weeks or months, which can be both Short Term and Ongoing reservations.
Ongoing Reservations through the Front Desk
You may restrict ongoing reservations to be booked only through staff using Firefly's front desk. To create an ongoing reservation in Firefly, you begin the process the same as you do short term reservations. However, there is one difference - you will leave the Departure Date blank. No departure date blocks out the unit for the indefinite future (or as far out as Firefly goes) so that you don't run into any double bookings down the road.
To book a new reservation internally, we have a help article here.
NOTE: An short term reservation can be easily converted to ongoing - you do not need to make a new reservation. Check out this article for the steps and a video walkthrough: Convert Short Term Reservation to Ongoing.
Recurring Charges for Ongoing Reservations
Once the long term reservation is created, click the Charges tab on the reservation detail page.
You will see a new charge for the first month (in the Charges section), and also a recurring charge that will create a new charge for future months (in the recurring charges section). The new charge is ready for a payment to be added, and may already have a payment if the reservation was made from the reservation portal and a deposit was required.
To Edit the Recurring Charge:
Click the recurring charge edit icon (circle with 3 dots) next the the recurring charge
You will see the recurring charge edit dialog.
If you want to edit the recurring charge amount, update the price. To end a recurring charge, enter the end date. No end date means the recurring charge will continue indefinitely.
In the Options section at the bottom, check Send email notification for every new charge created checkbox to send the guest an email every time a new charge is created. Check the Auto process payment checkbox for the payment to automatically process each month. Check the Send email notification of upcoming payment and process in x days checkbox to send an email to the guest letting them know their payment will automatically process in x days.
Check each one of these options to completely automate monthly rent payments for your long term guests. Each month, they will automatically be notified of new rent payment that is due, notify them the payment is scheduled, and will automatically process the payment.
That is 100% automated which means ZERO work is required by you!
You can read more on charges and payments here.
Utility Charges for Ongoing Reservations
Many campgrounds pass through utilities use charges to guests staying long term. This means utilities have to be recorded once a month. Firefly makes recording utility payment extremely easy.
First, select Reservations > Record Utilities. Select the Utility and Read date.
Next, if you would like to create automatic scheduled payments for each utility reading you record, specify the payment options that should be used for all payments.
Finally, go down the list of units and record the utility meter reading.
Record utility readings and schedule payments for eachOn the left, choose which guest is responsible for the utility usage and should receive the charge. If you only want to record the reading without making anybody pay, choose Do not charge.
On the right, enter the current reading in the Current box. Check the checkbox next the the predefined payment options if you want to schedule a payment. Click Save to complete the utility recording and the schedule the payment.
Charge and schedule payment created from utility recording
If you navigate to the Charges section of the reservation detail page for a reservation that you just recorded a utility and scheduled a payment for, you will see a new charge created and a payment scheduled.
🙋♀️ Still need help? Email: support@fireflyreservations.com and one of our technicians can help answer your questions.
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