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About Space Holds

A space hold is a temporary or permanent hold placed on a function space to reserve it for an event during a future time period. When a space hold is temporary, the function is referred to as being detailed. For more information about detailing, see About Function Detailing.

Typically, when a space hold is applied, the space must be held regardless of whether or not it is used. The length of time during which a space hold is active is usually, but not always, 24 hours.

For example, a customer wants to use Salon A from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for two days. The customer plans to bring multiple items of complex equipment into Salon A. This equipment would take a long time to remove and set up again. To accommodate the customer, the hotel creates a space hold on Salon A for the time between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m., so that the room cannot be booked by any other customer during those time spans.

When booking an event, a customer does not always know the complete function agenda for that event. In such a case, the customer wants to reserve space now and decide later how to divide the reserved space and time to meet the function agenda. Siebel Hospitality supports space hold functionality that allows you to book space to hold it for a future event. To activate a space hold, you create a space hold record that is, in effect, a virtual function.

For example, a property might hold all the meeting space at a hotel for a customer for three days. During those days, the customer plans to hold functions using some, but not necessarily all, of the space for most, but not all, of the time. While the space hold is active, all the meeting space at the hotel for the entire three days, including the time periods and spaces that might not be used, is reserved for the customer and unavailable to others.

The Siebel Hospitality functionalities that support space holds are as follows:

• Create a space hold, that is, block out a set of function spaces that might range from all the function spaces in the hotel to a smaller set of function spaces. Held spaces can be individual spaces or configured spaces.
• Keep the space hold active for up to 24 hours.
• Schedule functions and subfunctions for an event in the held spaces.
• Either release the space hold or keep the space hold in place.
• Create event orders and banquet event orders (BEOs), and display the revenue correctly at a function level whether or not a space hold is active.
• Display blocked space and function bookings for a space hold in the Function Space Diary.
• Remove a space hold by detailing out the functions.

  The process of dividing a function into many smaller functions is called detailing. For more information about detailing, see Detailing a Function.

Users can apply a space hold to any space that is set up in the Siebel Hospitality inventory as a function space. The space might be a specific space or a configured space. For example, if a user wants to apply a space hold to the function spaces on the first floor of a hotel, then a configured function space that corresponds to the first floor of the hotel, made up of the indivisible function spaces on that floor, must exist in inventory.

Space hold bookings follow the availability rules for function spaces that are set up in your Siebel application. In other words, booking a space hold is the same as booking a non-space hold from an availability standpoint.

For more information about setting up function spaces and availability rules in inventory, see Defining Function Space Inventory Controls.

Scenario for Managing a Space Hold

This topic gives one example of how a space hold might be used. You might use the space hold functionality differently, depending on your business model.

A corporate client contacts a hotel sales representative with a request to book all the function spaces and sleeping rooms in a hotel during a specified week for an annual conference.

The sales representative creates an opportunity and fills out the opportunity details including the property that the customer wants to reserve. The sales representative then generates a quote for that property and secures the inventory. To secure the function space (which in this case comprises the entire hotel), the sales representative creates a function space hold record and selects a configured space that represents the whole hotel. The sales representative then reserves this space.

After securing the space, the sales representative obtains specific event details from the client, including the functions and subfunctions that might be held during the event. The sales representative enters the event details, creating functions and subfunctions within the space hold.

At this time, all the space in the hotel is reserved by the space hold. To see what spaces are actually used and not used, the sales representative goes into the Function Space Diary. The diary displays what spaces are reserved by the space hold, and which of those spaces have functions planned in them. The diary also displays any conflicts, such as functions in the same space, overlapping functions, or empty time slots.

The corporate client insists on excluding other groups from the hotel during the conference, so that all the space in the hotel remains blocked for use by the corporate client. The sales representative therefore decides to keep the space hold active so that Siebel Hospitality continues to show all the space in the hotel as booked.

Subsequently, the sales representative follows the standard group sales process to complete the event booking and conduct the event. The sales representative might then turn this event over to an event manager at the property. The event manager reviews the details of the event and continues to work with the corporate client to fine-tune the details. During this time, the space hold remains in place so that Siebel Hospitality continues to show all the space in the hotel as booked.