Plenty of activities depend on something physical: a boat, a jet ski, a van, a room, a set of kayaks, or a guide. On an activity that uses By resources capacity, TripWorks assigns those resources automatically as bookings are confirmed, tracks what's in use, and stops you selling more than you have.
In this article
This article covers how to set it up, and how TripWorks decides which resource a booking gets.
Set it up
- Create your resources. Every boat, vehicle, room, or piece of equipment needs to exist in TripWorks, in a resource group, before it can be assigned. See Resources & resource groups.
- Set the activity's capacity to By resources. In the activity editor, open Capacity and choose By resources. Without it, resource rules are saved but have no effect. See Capacity: by resources.
- Say what each ticket needs. In the activity editor, open Resources and add a requirement for each ticket type, so TripWorks knows what one guest takes up. See Resource requirements.
- Choose an assignment priority. On the same Resources page, under Advanced settings, pick Fill up each resource or Keep groups together, then select Save changes.
TripWorks assigns resources once a trip is reserved. Draft trips and abandoned carts don't take a resource.
How TripWorks chooses a resource
When a booking needs a resource, TripWorks looks at the resources in the required group for that time and rules out any that are full or blacked out. It then works through what's left in a fixed order:
- Resources already in use at that time come first. A boat that already has guests on it for that departure is topped up before an empty boat is opened.
- Smaller resources come before larger ones. Within each of those two sets, TripWorks tries the resource with the lowest capacity first.
Filling partly used and smaller resources first keeps your larger and empty resources free for the bigger parties that book later, so you sell more of your capacity. It also means the resource a booking gets isn't always the first one on your list.
A resource is never chosen while it's blacked out for that period. See Create a resource blackout to block one off and record why.
Fill up each resource vs keep groups together
The Assignment priority setting decides what happens when a party could be split. It only matters when a requirement can be met by more than one interchangeable resource.
| Fill up each resource | Keep groups together | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Seats each guest in the first resource with room, in the order above | Looks for one resource that can hold the whole party |
| A party of 3 when Boat A has 2 seats left | 2 guests top off Boat A, 1 goes on Boat B | All 3 go on Boat B, and Boat A's 2 seats stay open |
| Best for | Getting the most out of every seat | Families and groups who must ride or sit together |
With Keep groups together, TripWorks first looks for a partly used resource with room for the whole party, then for an empty resource big enough for everyone, smallest first in both cases. If no single resource can hold the party, it falls back to filling resources one guest at a time, so the group is split only when it has to be.
When two guests book the last seats at the same time
In online checkout, TripWorks holds a guest's seats while they pay, and a countdown at checkout shows how long the hold lasts. Another guest trying for the same last seats during that hold is told the time is sold out before they pay, not after. TripWorks checks capacity again when the payment goes through.
This is what stops the same boat being promised twice and a booking confirming with nothing assigned to it. On a busy morning, it also means a guest can reach checkout and find that the last seats have gone.
Rescheduling and changes
When a booking moves to a new date or time, TripWorks assigns resources again for the new time using the same rules, including your assignment priority. With Keep groups together, the party stays on one resource whenever one has room for them at the new time. If a guest changes ticket type, TripWorks keeps the resource the booking already holds where it can.
To move a guest to a specific resource, assign it by hand from the trip or the Manifest. See Resource requirements.
Examples
- Find out why a couple landed on the 4-seat boat instead of the 12-seat boat: smaller resources are tried first, so the large boat stays free for a bigger group.
- Keep a family of five in one raft: set Assignment priority to Keep groups together on the activity's Resources page.
- Pack a shuttle before opening a second van: leave Assignment priority on Fill up each resource, and each new guest tops up the van already running.
- Take a kayak out of rotation for repairs: black it out, and TripWorks stops assigning it for that window.
Frequently asked questions
Why did a booking get the big boat when a smaller one was free?
TripWorks tries resources already in use first, then smaller ones, so a free small boat is normally picked before a larger one. If the large boat was chosen, the smaller one wasn't available for the whole window: check whether it's committed to an overlapping booking or blacked out. With Keep groups together, also check whether the smaller boat had room for the whole party, because TripWorks won't pick a resource the group doesn't fit into while a larger one can hold everyone.
Why was a party split across two resources?
On Fill up each resource, TripWorks seats each guest in the first resource with room, so a party can be split to fill the seats left on a partly used resource. Switch the activity's Assignment priority to Keep groups together if parties should stay on one resource. Even then, a party is split if no single resource has room for all of them at that time.
A booking confirmed with no resource assigned. What now?
Assign one by hand from the trip, then check the activity's setup. Automatic assignment only runs when the activity's capacity is set to By resources and each ticket type has a resource requirement. A booking added by staff as an overbook can also confirm without a free resource.
Can I override what TripWorks picked?
Yes. The automatic choice is a starting point. Open the trip and choose Assign from the booking's menu, or move the guest on the Manifest. TripWorks checks the resource's capacity first and lets you assign anyway if you choose to overbook it.
Does a blackout move bookings already on that resource?
No. A blackout only stops new assignments. Guests already assigned to the resource stay on it until you move them. See Create a resource blackout.
Does the assignment priority affect activities with only one resource per requirement?
No. Assignment priority only changes anything when a requirement can be met by more than one interchangeable resource, such as a group of several boats. If each ticket always takes one specific resource, there's nothing to choose between.
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