How to Set up Checkfront to work with Room Types

Scenario

Many properties have multiple units within a single room type, such as:

Double Private (3 Units -A,B,C.)
Standard Suite (2 units)
etc

Within Checkfront, many properties create unique "Items" for each of these rooms (units), such as:

Mapleview 1 (Double Private A)
Mapleview 2 (Double Private B)
Mapleview 3 (Double Private C)
And So On...

However, most External Channels (such as booking.com and Expedia) require you to market rooms (units) within one single "Room Type", for example:

Double Private Room (Qty of units: 3)
Standard Suite (Qty of units: 2), etc

When this happens, it creates a mismatch between the room setup within Checkfront, myallocator, and your external Channels:

Due to this mismatch, neither the channel nor myallocator know which Room (Mapleview 1, 2 or 3) the booking is for. When this happens, myallocator sends the booking to Checkfront, but does not know or state which specific room the booking is meant for. In this case, the property is required to select the appropriate room for the booking.

Solution

In order to solve this dilemma, you can setup Checkfront to work with "Room Types" instead of "Individual Rooms", by following the steps below:

1. Myallocator setup

Your first step is to setup the room type within myallocator properly. In order to do this, you need to create the Room Type, and specify how many rooms (units) you have within this same type, such as:

One Bedroom with Kitchen
Occupancy: 4 People
Number of Rooms (units): 2

2. Channel Setup

Once the Room Type is setup in myallocator properly, next you will map the Room Type to your Channel Room Type.

If you need help with this process, please check this article: Step 4: Connect Your Channels and map your rooms

Checkfront Setup

Your next step is to create or modify the Item (units) within Checkfront to include the correct Quantity. Follow the steps below:

Login to Checkfront

Open the 'Inventory' tab
Click on 'Items'
Select the 'item' to be modified, if it already exists, or click on 'New Item'

Assign the proper 'Category' to this item
Near the bottom, click on 'Attributes'

Set the 'Inventory' to the number of rooms (units) you have for this room type, for example, 2 units of the same room type.
Click on 'Next'

Click on 'Save'
Confirm if Checkfront informs it is updated.

Checkfront and myallocator Calendars

Once the above steps have been completed, you will see a Quantity next to your desired Room Type, and it should match between Checkfront and myallocator:

External Bookings - Calendar Quantities

When a booking comes in for the room type from one of your connected channels, the Quantity will be reduced correctly in both myallocator and Checkfront:

External Bookings - Customer Calendar

When the booking is imported, the Customer Calendar will show one entry for each booking, as shown below:

External Bookings - Status

When the new booking comes in, it will be designated as "New". You must open the booking and update the status to reflect in the Calendar, according to the steps below:

Click on 'new' to open the booking

Import Booking

Verify if the Room Type is correct
Click on 'Add to Booking'
Click on 'Next'
Click on 'Continue'

'Continue' again
Change the status from 'Pend' to 'Booked'
Click on 'Update'

Multiple Bookings within a Single Room Type

When another booking comes in for that room type, once you have imported the booking as shown above, the additional booking will be displayed accordingly: