Resort activity managers: booking excursions and workshops

Let guests book excursions and workshops online from their phone: a half-day boat trip, a market visit, a cooking workshop, a pottery class. Create one service per activity, give each slot the number of places your bus, boat or room can take, and say in the description where to meet, when, for which ages and what to bring. Guests plan their week before they queue at the activity desk, you know how many seats to order from the coach company, and no outing takes more people than you can carry.

A morning vineyard visit and an evening painting workshop have nothing in common but your guests. On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page, and each slot belongs to one service, sits within one day and has its own capacity.

Durations, places and prices are examples: set your own. If an activity is included in the stay, leave the price empty; a price of zero shows as €0.00 on your page.

Set each slot's places from what limits it: seats on the coach, the boat's capacity, the number of workstations in the workshop room or what your partner can take. When the last place is booked, the slot leaves your page, so guests choose another date rather than arriving to a full bus. If the coach company offers a bigger vehicle for a busy week, raise the places for those dates.

Say in the description where the group meets, such as the reception car park, and how early guests should arrive before departure. Set the slot from the meeting time to the expected return, so the guest's calendar file shows the whole outing and they don't book a kids' club session that ends after the bus leaves.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note that reaches you in the new booking email and appears in the guest's calendar file. Each online booking takes one place, so a family of four books four times or asks at the desk. Ask in the description for:

Say clearly in the description the minimum age, whether children must be with an adult, and whether a child pays the same price. For workshops that suit both, open a family session and an adults-only session as separate services, so guests choose the right one.

Slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date, so a programme where the boat trip runs every Tuesday and the market visit every Saturday morning takes a few minutes to set up. Set the end date to the last day of the season. Guests staying one week then see the full programme for their stay, and those who arrive on Saturday can book the Tuesday trip straight away.

If a local winery, boat operator or craftsperson runs the activity, agree the number of places with them first and send them the list of bookings the day before. Book doesn't take payments, so say in the description whether guests pay at reception, on the bus or to the partner directly.

Put the booking link in the welcome email before arrival, on a QR code at reception and on the activity board. A short presentation of the week's outings at the welcome drink, with the QR code on screen, lets guests book while they listen.

Say in the description when you decide to cancel for weather, or when an outing needs a minimum number of guests to run, and how guests will hear. If an outing doesn't run, cancel each booking from your bookings list and tell every guest yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes; offer them another date.

Guests can't move bookings online: they ask at reception or the activity desk, and you move them to another date from your bookings list. Check the list the evening before each outing and print it for the guide or driver. Your bookings sync with Google, iPhone or Mac calendars. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.