A booking system for group and school visits

A fifth-grade teacher emails to ask whether she can bring her class "sometime in March, ideally on a Tuesday". A week later, a company calls about a team outing for thirty-five people. Both want to know what it costs, and both expect an invoice. Your calendar now has three pencil marks in it, and nobody knows which of them are confirmed.

Groups don't book through a shopping cart. You want to know when, how many and who first, and only then name a price. This article explains how to let groups and school classes book online with a request and a quote, without upsetting the single tickets in your ticket shop.

Why a group is different from a single visitor

A single visitor picks a time slot, pays and shows up. A group has questions: can we have a guide, is there a price per student, do the chaperones get in free, can the school pay by bank transfer? And a group holds places that you can no longer sell to anyone else.

A standard booking system lets the visitor book straight away. For a group, you want an extra step: the request comes in, you look at it and you send a proposal. The booking is only final once the group has paid.

A product on request

In the back office, you set up a product on request. Take a local history museum that offers school classes a guided tour on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

1. Go to Sales → Products and open or create the product "Guided school visit".
2. Open the Sell on request section and switch on On request instead of direct sale.
3. Under Ask for a time, choose a part of the day: morning, afternoon or evening.
4. Fill in Minimum participants and Maximum participants, for example 10 and 30.
5. Under Your own questions, add what you need to know: Name of the school, Grade, Students using a wheelchair or with other needs. You enter each question in the languages of your shop and choose whether it is required.
6. Click Save.

In your ticket shop, that product shows no counter but a Send a request button. The teacher enters a preferred date and an alternative date, the part of the day, the number of students, her details and the answers to your questions. She immediately gets a confirmation in her own language, stating that nothing has been booked or paid yet. You get an email at your organization's contact address. Every step is in the manual under Requests and quotes.

One price for the whole class

Schools count per student; you'd rather count per group. A package price does both. Under Rates, give the rate a price of 120 euros with Package price up to 25 students, and 4 euros Per extra participant. If the class comes with 28 students, the quote is ready at 120 + 3 × 4 = 132 euros. How to set up such a rate is explained under Rates.

In your shop, schools already see that package on the product and on the request form. If the product has no price, it shows Price on request.

The quote with a payment link

The request appears in your panel under Requests, with a red number while it is new. Open it and click Send quote and payment link.

1. The product, the date and the number of participants are already filled in. Choose the time slot: you only see slots with enough free places.
2. Price for the whole group holds the proposal from your package price. Change it if you agreed on something else, such as free entry for the chaperones.
3. Choose how long the quote stays valid. The default is seven days.
4. Write a short message and click Send quote.

From then on, the places are held until the expiry date. A class of 28 in a time slot of 40 leaves 12 places for individual visitors in your shop. The teacher receives an email with the price, the expiry date and a View and pay button, which opens your regular checkout page with her details already filled in.

Paying, including by bank transfer

Schools rarely pay by card. If you offer payment by bank transfer, the school can choose it for a quote too. As soon as the money arrives, the request moves to Confirmed and paid and an order is created with a single line for the whole group. The class gets one group ticket that counts for 28 places.

If the school or company asks for an invoice in its name and you have switched on invoices for buyers, it is drawn up with your details and the VAT of the product. How that works is covered in an invoice for a company that books a group visit.

What happens if nobody pays

If the group doesn't pay before the expiry date, the places are released automatically and the request moves to Expired. Anyone who opens the old payment link reads that the quote is no longer valid. If the teacher still wants to come, you simply send a new quote.

If the requested date doesn't work, click Reply and suggest another date, or Decline if it really isn't possible. Everything that happened is listed at the bottom of the request under History, so a colleague can see who sent what.

What it costs

Selling on request is part of every plan, including Free: a quote becomes a regular order with tickets. There is never an amount per ticket or per student on top. If you also want to ring up classes that walk in without a booking at your front desk, you need Start (€9.00 per month). Compare the plans on the pricing page.