Critical Booking Report
This report addresses key questions that affect business’ success:
- What is the progress of our highest value unconfirmed bookings?
- Which bookings have we won or lost?
- What is the revenue value of bookings converted to Definite status in a selected time period?
The first two tabs show you Prospect
The booking status of an unconfirmed event. You have no verbal or written confirmation, but you might hold space provisionally. and Tentative The booking status of an event that the client has verbally confirmed. You have sent them a contract. bookings that exceed a revenue threshold that you define. The Change tab shows all bookings for which the status changed to Lost/Cancelled Lost: the client decides not to hold a prospect or tentative event at your venue. or to Definite The booking status of an event for which you have received the signed contract from the client., based on time period that you define. The Conversions Shows how much of your potential business you convert into definite business. Conversion percentage equals potential business divided by Definite bookings. Potential business includes Tentative, Prospect and Cxl/Lost bookings, but excludes Turn Down status. tab displays all bookings that were converted (changed status to Definite in the time period regardless of date created or arrival date of the enquiry).
Tracking this data regularly helps you improve conversion. You can focus on the most valuable opportunities and ensure regular sales contact. Therefore, this is often the favourite report of supervisors and users that are not in the Sales and Catering system The system that you use to manage the bookings for your function rooms. Also known as a diary management, or meetings and events reservation system. Examples include Delphi and Opera. daily, like a Director of Sales and Marketing, a General Manager. or Regional Teams.
View this video to understand the benefits of using this report:
Using the Report
- On the Trend Analysis menu, click Critical Booking Report.
- Select the property or, if available, multiple properties that you want to view from the Current Property list.
- Click one or more filter buttons to change the data that you review.
See Filters for more details. - Enter a value in the Revenue Threshold field and click anywhere outside of the field to update. For all tabs, only bookings above this threshold appear in the table.
- If applicable, select the Include accommodation revenue checkbox to include non-Meeting and Events revenues in the Value column, for example, from hotel guest rooms.
- Click the Prospect or Tentative tabs if you want to view the data by a specific status
- Click the Changes tab if you want to view the bookings that are no longer Prospect The booking status of an unconfirmed event. You have no verbal or written confirmation, but you might hold space provisionally. or Tentative The booking status of an event that the client has verbally confirmed. You have sent them a contract.. Enter a number in the Changed status in the past _ days field to define the monitoring period. The default value is seven days.
- Click the Conversions tab to see all bookings that were converted during the selected time period, regardless of the creation or arrival date. Select Status Changed To options (Definite or Lost) to filter the items. Enter Status Change dates to see a specific date range.
- Click Export to Excel to further review the data.
Data Details
All Tabs
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Revenue Threshold | Only bookings with Meetings and Events revenue above this threshold appear in the table. If you update the value and leave the page or log off, it resets to the default Settings. |
| Include Accommodation Revenue |
If selected, the Value column also includes non-Meetings and Events revenues, for example, from hotel guest rooms. Bookings that have only accommodation and no Meeting and Events revenues are never shown. This selection doesn't impact the Revenue Threshold, which only considers Meetings and Events revenues. |
Prospect and Tentative Tabs
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Booking ID | The unique identifier for the booking Also called an enquiry. A piece of business that consists of one or more events over one or more days. Can be of any status, for example Prospect, Definite, or Lost/Cxl. from your Sales and Catering system The system that you use to manage the bookings for your function rooms. Also known as a diary management, or meetings and events reservation system. Examples include Delphi and Opera.. |
| Booking Name | The booking party or event header name from the Sales and Catering system. |
| Booked By | The name or user ID of the person who created the booking in your Sales and Catering system. |
| Arrival Date | The event start date or first arrival date of the booking. |
| Create Date | The date when the booking was first entered into the Sales and Catering system. |
| Days on File | The number of days between the Create Date and today’s date. Shows you the duration of the sales process for the booking. |
| Value | The amount of Meetings and Events revenue of the booking. If you selected Include accommodation, it shows the full value of the booking. |
Changes and Conversions Tab
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Status | The current status of the booking Also called an enquiry. A piece of business that consists of one or more events over one or more days. Can be of any status, for example Prospect, Definite, or Lost/Cxl.. |
| Previous Status | The previous status of the booking. |
| Last Status Change | The date of the status change. |
| Lost Reason | The reason for the change to a Lost/Cancelled Lost: the client decides not to hold a prospect or tentative event at your venue. status. |
| Booking ID | The unique identifier for the booking from your Sales and Catering system The system that you use to manage the bookings for your function rooms. Also known as a diary management, or meetings and events reservation system. Examples include Delphi and Opera.. |
| Booking Name | The booking party or event header name from the Sales and Catering system. |
| Booked By | The name or user ID of the person who created the booking in your Sales and Catering system. |
| Arrival Date | The event start date or first arrival date of the booking. |
| Create Date | The date when the booking was first entered into the Sales and Catering system. |
| Days On File | The number of days between the Create Date and today’s date. Shows you the duration of the sales process for the booking. |
| Value | The amount of Meetings and Events revenue of the booking. If you selected Include accommodation, it shows the full value of the booking. |
Best Practices
Focus on Your Highest Value Bookings
For your regular review, set the Revenue Threshold so the report shows only 10 to 15 bookings. Spend more time reviewing the highest value bookings in detail, instead of glancing at a larger number. If you notice that the default threshold regularly results in less or more than the top 10 to 15 bookings, adjust the default Settings in Database Setup.
Review Regularly
How often you review the Critical Bookings report depends on your role and the number of bookings at your venue. We recommend that at least one person review the report daily.
Take Actions
Review all three tabs and take action. Examples include:
- Do the bookings follow your pricing strategies and standards? For example, were too many concessions made to convert a booking over high demand?
- When a very desirable booking cancels, can anything be done to save it? Was everything done to convert it?
- Use the filters to target bookings that support specific strategies, for example, to fill your ballroom by targeting weddings and gala dinners.
- For bookings with high Days On File, why is the decision taking so long and can anything be done to influence it?
