How to insert pictures for online booking?
Click on Hotel in the menu on the left.
Click setup (the gear icon) at the top right.
Now select ''On-line'' and ''photos and description''
Now you see an overview for hotel and your room groups.
For hotels you can add all the pictures from your place and for the different room types, you can add pictures, then the guest has the possibility to see how the room looks.
To the right of each of these lines, you can simply click on the camera icon to add one or more pictures.
Now you have to press save in the right corner and to save added pictures and changes
you have to press save again.


How to change check-in and checkout date?
There are several options for changing the date of checkin / checkout on a reservation.
Click on Hotel in the menu on the left.
Find the booking and open the booking to change the date.
Insert check mark in the square to the left in the gray line above the room information.
Press the ''Check-in'' and change the date for check ind and check out or only one of them you want to change.
To save your changes you simply close the booking.

How to add an addon on a booking?
Click on Hotel in the menu on the left.
Find the booking and open booking to add an addon.
To add the addon, you now have to press the room number / name.
When you have done that, the information for the room will show.
Now press the ''search button'' below the text ''addon''
Choose the add-on you want to add to this booking.
To save your addons press ''save''
Now you are back to where you can see the room information.
If you are finished making changes you can save again and then close the booking.

How to add a room guest?

Click on Hotel in the menu on the left.
Find and open the booking, to add guest to the room(s)
Find the room where you want to add guest in the details of rooms
Press ''edit'' in the column ''guest''

How to add a payment plan ?

Click on Hotel in the menu on the left.
Find and open the booking
At the top of the booking, you can see some different tabs.
Choose ''Payments''
Press the orange plus in the right corner
Insert informations about the payment, you can insert amount as a percentage or
only the amount.
System adds the due date automatically but you can also change it manually.
To save payment plan press ''save''
How to send payment link to guest
Press the mail icon, it will show some different options.
Choose ''send prepayment by paymentlink'' or you can send confirmation
if the addonsite link is added.
If you want to see if the addonsite link is added you can search ''How to change messages''

How to see history on a booking?
Click on Hotel in the menu on the left.
Find and open the booking
At the top of the booking, you can see some different tabs.
Choose ''Booking information''
Press the blue line ''View History''
Overview shows up
In history you can see what has been done and all the changes.


How can I use the help function in OCTOPUS PMS?, Click on Help in the left hand menu and type your question.



How can I edit content on invoice and confirmation?

Click on the show menu (the 3 dots icon) on the top right.
Click on system.
Click on offer report options.
Here you will see a list of options you can mark.
Show zero offer line = all products with the amount 0 will be shown on the document.
Show addons by room date = When there is an addon on booking it will
add the same date on addon as the check in and out date.
Consolidate products on same date = All products with the same date
will be consolidated on the same line on the document.
Consolidate rooms on same date = All rooms with the same date will be
consolidated on same line on the document.
Consolidate template on same date = All templates with same date will
be consolidated on the same line on the document.
Enable report editing = When this is marked you can always edit
document file before you send it to the guest.
Show room names beside products = It will show the room name beside
the product on the document.
Zero amount should be blank = All zero products will not be shown on
the document.
Show details from transferred invoice = It will show the product name
that has been transferred to the invoice. If it's not set it will show an
ID instead
Show template description on receipt = It will show the description
from template on document.
Show room number on proforma invoice = It will show the room number on
proforma invoice.
Show product description on offer = It will show the description added
on product on document.

How do I make a special event?

Click on the show menu (the 3 dots icon) on the top right.
Click on system.
Click on special events.
Click on the orange plus to create a special event.
Add a name for the special event.
Add a from and to date, where the special event should be shown in the
hotel view.
Add a color that will be shown in the hotel view on the date where the
a special event is active.
It is possible to mark ''exclude discount code'' if you don't want it
to be possible to use a discount code in the period where the special event is active.
Click on OK on the top right.

How do I cancel a booking?

Click Hotel on the left menu.
Click on the booking you want to cancel.
In the booking view you click on ''cancel booking'' (the trash icon)
on the button left.
It will now ask if you are sure you want to cancel the offer, press yes.
Now you will see a list of cancellation reasons.
Click on one of the cancellation reasons.
It will now ask you 2 questions.
''Do you want to send cancellation to the guest'', press yes or no.
''Do you want to charge a cancellation fee to the guest'', press yes or no.

If you press no to both and save, the booking will be cancelled.

If you press yes to ''Do you want to send cancellation to the guest''
and save, it will open a cancellation mail you can send to the guest.

If you press yes to ''Do you want to charge cancellation fee to the
guest'' and save, it will open the cash register where you can add a
cancellation fee to the order and then close the cash register on X.

If you press yes to both and save, it will first open the cash
register where you can add cancellation fee, and close the cash
register on X. Then it will open a cancellation mail that you can send
til the guest.

How do I close a room or a room group?

Click Hotel on the left menu.

If you want to close all rooms, make a long click on the orange bar at
the top of the hotel view.
Choose from and to date.
You can add a comment that will be shown on the closure.
If you close a long period but only want it to be closed on
for example, you can mark monday.
Click save to save the closure.

If you want to open all rooms again, make a long click on the date in
the hotel view again.
Choose ''open all rooms''
Choose from and to date.
Click save to save the changes.


If you want to close a room group, make a long click on the blue bar
in the room group.
Choose from and to date.
You can add a comment that will be shown on the closure.
If you close a long period but only want it to be closed on for
example mondays, you can mark monday.
Click save to save the closure.

If you want to open all rooms again in the room group, make a long
click on the orange bar on the date in the hotel view again.
Choose ''open all rooms''
Choose from and to date.
Click save to save the changes.


If you want to close a room make a long click on the room line in the
hotel view.
Choose from and to date.
You can add a comment that will be shown on the closure.
If you close a long period but only want it to be closed on for
example mondays, you can mark monday.
Click save to save the closure.

If you want to open the room again, make a long click on the closure
in the room in the hotel view.
Choose delete.

How do I change my hotel details?

Click Hotel on the left menu.
Click setup (the gear icon) on the top right.
Click hotel, and then the sub-tab hotel.
Here you can change all hotel details. These details will be shown on
the documents you send to your guests.



How do I draw virtual cards?

Click Hotel on the left menu
Click on the credit card icon on the blue bar at the bottom
Click on the orange plus in the bottom right corner and the system will now start withdrawing money on all the virtual cards that are ready to be withdrawn.

Where do I add the EAN number?

Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner
Click on guests
Search for the guest you want to add the EAN number to
Click on the guest
Now enter the EAN number in the EAN field
Click Save

How do I check-in a booking?

Click Hotel on the left menu
Click on the booking you want to check in
Click on the circle with a tick inside in the lower left corner
Click check in

How do I check-out a booking?

Click Hotel on the left menu
Click on the booking you want to check out
Click on the circle with a tick inside in the lower left corner
Click check out
If the booking is not paid when you click check out then the cash register will open so you can pay the booking


How do I close a room or a room group?

Click Hotel on the left menu.

If you want to close all rooms, make a long click on the orange bar at
the top of the hotel view.
Choose from and to date.
You can add a comment that will be shown on the closure.
If you close a long period but only want it to be closed on for
example mondays, you can mark monday.
Click save to save the closure.

If you want to open all rooms again, make a long click on the date in
the hotel view again.
Choose ''open all rooms''
Choose from and to date.
Click save to save the changes.


If you want to close a room group, make a long click on the blue bar
on the room group.
Choose from and to date.
You can add a comment that will be shown on the closure.
If you close a long period but only want it to be closed on for
example mondays, you can mark Mondays.
Click save to save the closure.

If you want to open all rooms again in the room group, make a long
click on the orange bar on the date in the hotel view again.
Choose ''open all rooms''
Choose from and to date.
Click save to save the changes.

If you want to close a room make a long click on the room line in the
hotel view.
Choose from and to date.
You can add a comment that will be shown on the closure.
If you close a long period but only want it to be closed on for
example mondays, you can mark monday.
Click save to save the closure.

If you want to open the room again, make a long click on the closure
on the room in the hotel view.
Choose delete.
How do I create review messages?

Click Hotel on the left menu.
Click setup (the gear icon) on the top right.
Click messages, and then the sub-tab review.
Click on the orange plus to create a new review.
In name, you can for example write the name of the hotel, or standard.
When you press OK, it will appear with the first question you can write.
Here you write the question, and then choose whether it is a rating or a text.
Rating is rating with stars from 1 to 5, and text is a comment the
guest can write.
Then press OK
You will now see the first question on the blue bar.
To create a new question, tap the 3 dots on the right side of the
orange bar, then add a new question.
This is how you continue until you have all the questions you want.
When you have finished all the questions, press save in the right corner.

Now you have to create the email text send to the guests:

Click into messages and then the sub-tab message.
Select message ''review email''.
Here you insert an email text that the guest will receive by
email/sms, and insert a variable that makes the link with questions
appear in the email/sms.
You can find the variable on the 3 lines in the bottom left corner.
Select the variable called ''Review App Link'' and then the review
group that should be available.
The variable will now appear on the message.
Mark ''send email'' and/or ''send SMS'', and then press OK.
Your guests will now receive a notification email/sms when they have departed.


How to use help for OCTOPUS PMS:

Here is some examples of question you can make:

How do I make a booking?
How do I make a seasonal price?
How do I create room and room groups?
Explain allocation.




How to create room groups and rooms for the hotel:

Normally you will have a number of rooms divided into different room groups such as single rooms, double rooms, suites etc.

This is how you create room groups:
Click Hotel on the left menu
Click setup (the gear icon) on the top right.
Click rooms and you will see all room groups created for your hotel
The orange line at the top is you hotel
Click on the three dots on the right of the orange line
Click new group to add a new room group
Give the room group a name (single, double etc.)
Perhaps you want to limit the number of rooms you can sell online in one booking then enter the number here
If you want you can enter number here to limit how many can be sold online in total
Product: choose which product should be used for accounting

When a room group is created you can now edit the room group by clicking on the three dots on the room group. You can add rooms that belong to this room group like this:
Click on the three dots on the room group and choose New room
Add the name of the room
Maybe add a tooltip that can be seen when you mouseover the room name
Give some room instructions such as how to find the room in the hotel
Choose which room group the room belongs to
Parent room: this is if you rent beds in a room.
Click OK to save the room.

When a room group is created it is possible to add rate plans for the room group like this:
Click on the room group line and you will see a rate plan line
Click on this rate plan line and you will see all rate plans for this room group
To add a new rate plan click on the three dots on the rate plan line and choose New Rate Plan
Choose the room group this rate plan belongs to
Type a name for the rate plan
Give the rack rate for this room group
Enter all other fields and click OK to save

How to change room group order: You can reorder all room groups by clicking and holding the room group and drag/drop to the position you wish.

How to change room order: You can reorder all rooms by clicking and holding the room and drag/drop to the position you wish.

How to change location order: Click the Show locations switch at the bottom blue line you can add location in your hotel ex: 1. Floor, 2. Floor etc. Now you can also reorder the rooms according to location in the hotel.

How to change sales order: If you click view sales order at the bottom blue line you can order the room groups and rooms the way you would like to sell the rooms.

In the hotel overview screen you can now click at the top line with the icon (two arrows pointing opposite ways) to change the order your rooms are shown. Ex: Room order, Sales order or Location order

IMPORTANT: Always click the diskette at the top right of the screen to save your changes.How to see check-ins, check-outs and stay-overs for a certain date:

This you must always do:
Click hotel on the left menu
Click on the date in the top of the screen you want answers for and here you can choose check-ins, check-outs or stay-overs for chosen date.

Check-ins:

Here you can see all arrivals for this date
As default you can see all guests that have not checked in yet and if you want to see all guests checking in today you must turn on the switch on the blue line at the bottom.
Tick the check box on the line for the guests you want to check in and click the check in icon on the blue line to check them in
You can also make cards (chips) for the electronic doors and print registration cards for check ins on the blue line at the bottom
Click on any line and you will open the booking for the guest
Hold the mouse over any line and you will see comments for that booking on the tooltip

Check-outs:

Here you can see all departures for this date
As default you can see all guests that have not checked out yet and if you want to see all guests checking out today you must turn on the switch on the blue line at the bottom.
Tick the check box on the line for the guests you want to check-out and click the check-out icon on the blue line to check them out
Click on any line and you will open the booking for the guest
Hold the mouse over any line and you will see comments for that booking on the tooltip

Stay-overs:

Here you see all guests that are staying-over until next day
Click on any line and you will open the booking for the guest
Hold the mouse over any line and you will see comments for that booking on the tooltip



How to create a guest discount or make an allocation of rooms for a guest.

This is used if you want to give a discount because they are good customers with your hotel, or you want to reserve some rooms for a guest - perhaps even a combination of both.

You make allocations for guests who want to make sure that you have a number of rooms available for a set period. The rooms will be closed for other guests who can’t book them.

Click the three dots top right hand side of the screen
Click guests
Click guest discounts
Now you see a list of guest discounts already created
To make a new guest discount, click the orange button button right hand side
Fill in name, date interval, Event if this discount has to be connected to an event, language for the guest, reminder date for you if you need a task reminder sent to you, cut off days is the number of days the rooms will be released for general sale if not booked by the guest.
Hotel online booking link is the link you can use to send to the customer when the guest discount is created.
Click discounts at the top
To create a code for the customer, click the orange button and fill in the code. This code is used so the customer can type it on the online hotel booking site to get the discount.
Click room groups to choose the discount you want to give on room groups.
You can now choose a certain rate plan if the discount only applies to this rate plan.
Click the orange button to add a room group and choose which kind of discount you want to give. Fixed sales price or percentage on your currently advertised sales price for the day of booking.
Type the fixed price or the discount.
You can also demand that it only applies to booking with a min. number of persons.
Product groups. Here you can define discounts for chosen product groups in percentage or fixed sales price.
Product tabs. Here you can define discounts for chosen product tabs in percentage or fixed sales price.
Allocations. Define how many rooms for each room group you want to allocate. These rooms will now be blocked in the hotel overview.
Click save

How do I create seasonal rates, room discounts, rates for early or late bookers and minimum rates?

Seasonal rate changes are used when you want to change the rate for your rooms for a certain period of the year.

Room discounts are a way to set the price for a room depending on the number of rooms already booked.

Rates for early or late bookers is a way to give discounts to guests that are booking early or late.

It can be done for:
Certain date period.
Channels (Booking.com, Expedia, Hotel online or your own Hotel)
Room groups ex: single rooms, double rooms or suites etc.
Certain days of the week.
and many more things

How to make a new rate:

Click hotel in the menu on the left
Click setup at the top right (gear icon) and select rates.
To create a new rate, click the orange plus in the bottom right corner.
Insert from date and to date for the period you wish to make a rate adjustment.
Then select which channels it should be, e.g. booking.com, expedia, Hotel online or your own Hotel.
You then tick the rate plans it applies to.
In Rate adjustment, you can write e.g. 100 or 10% which is the change you want to make to the rate. You also have the option of putting a minus in front of the rate adjustment which will reduce the price.
In the columns below, it is possible to select the minimum days and maximum days that guests can stay for this rate adjustment in the selected period.
If you want to close for a period, put a tick in closed for arrival, closed for departure or close.
Below you can further choose whether the change you have made should only be valid on certain days in the week.
To update your changes, press OK at the top right.
If you want to make more price adjustments, you simply press the orange plus again and create a new period with a new price adjustment

It is possible to move each line by dragging up or down.

Remember rate adjustments on the rack rate are adjusted in the order they appear.

When all changes are made click the diskette icon at the top right.
All changes will now be updated to all channels within about 10 minutes.

Make a new room discount:
Click hotel in the menu on the left
Click setup at the top right (gear icon) and select rates.
Click room discounts
Now you see a list of room discount already created
Click the orange button to create a new room discount
Insert from date and to date for the period you wish to make a room discount
Then select which channels it should be, e.g. booking.com, expedia, Hotel online or your own Hotel.
You then tick the rate plans it applies to.
In Rate adjustment, you can write e.g. 100 or 10% which is the change you want to make to the rack rate. You also have the option of putting a minus in front of the rate adjustment which will reduce the price.
Rooms booked< means when less than this number of rooms are booked the rate will be applied.
Days forward in time: Means that the rate will be applied X number of days into the future

When all changes are made click the diskette icon at the top right.
All changes will now be updated to all channels within about 10 minutes.

Create discount for early or late booker:
Click hotel in the menu on the left
Click setup at the top right (gear icon) and select rates.
Click on early/late booker
Now you see a list of discounts already created
Click the orange button to create a new discount
Insert from date and to date for the period you wish to make a room discount
Then select which channels it should be, e.g. booking.com, expedia, Hotel online or your own Hotel.
You then tick the rate plans it applies to.
In Rate adjustment, you can write e.g. 100 or 10% which is the change you want to make to the rack rate. You also have the option of putting a minus in front of the rate adjustment which will reduce the price.
Days before: the number of days before the booking that the discount must apply.
Choose if this applies to an early or late booker

When all changes are made click the diskette icon at the top right.
All changes will now be updated to all channels within about 10 minutes.

How to set minimum rates:

This is to ensure that you will never sell your rooms below this rate. It can be confusing when you have a lot of different discounts to actually calculate the selling rate for a room.

Click hotel in the menu on the left
Click setup at the top right (gear icon) and select rates.
Click minimum rates
Here you see the minimum rates for each room group.

Rate management calendar:

This is for you to get an overview of your selling rates at a certain period of time.

Click Rate management calendar
Select hotel in the menu on the left
Click setup at the top right (gear icon) and select rates.
Type the period you want to see the rates for and a list of all your rates will be presented.


How to create a booking.

It can be done in several ways, one way is this:
Click Hotel on the left side of the menu
press on a free room in the hotel overview on the from-date and then click on the to-date.
A search field will then open where you can search for a guest who needs a booking.
If the guest cannot be found, press the icon with a picture of a plus and a person, then you can fill in the guest's information.
If the guest is found, you simply select the guest and the booking form opens.
Now you can fill in all the necessary information about the booking.
You then simply close the booking to save it.

You have now created a booking.

Another way to create a booking is by clicking on the orange button at the lower right of the hotel overview screen.

Here you enter a period you want to look for availability and also how many rooms you want and how many adults and children you want per room.

The system will now find what is possible if possible and you can just click Book.

After you click book a search window where you type the name, mobile or other things to find your guest and here you select the guest you are making the booking for, the booking form will now open.


How to edit the guest information on a booking:
Click on Hotel in the left hand menu
Find the booking that you want to change in the hotel overview and click on it
On the booking tab click on the pencil icon top right
Now you can edit all the information on the guest. Remember this will also change all the bookings made for this guest.
Click save.
How to change the guest to another guest on the booking:
Click on Hotel in the left hand menu
Find the booking that you want to change in the hotel overview and click on it
On the booking tab click on the "+" icon top right
A search field will then open where you can search for a guest who needs a booking.
If the guest cannot be found, press the icon with a picture of a plus and a person, then you can fill in the guest's information.
If the guest is found, you simply select the guest and the booking form opens.
Now you can fill in all the necessary information about the booking.
You then simply close the booking to save it.


How to create a credit note for a closed booking?

Click Hotel on the left side of the menu
Select the booking that you want to change and click on it.
On the booking you will see the text "invoice has been printed, booking cannot be changed"
Press the edit invoice button at the bottom of a blue bar.
Now you are asked if you are sure you want to make this change and then a credit note and a new offer will be generated.
The new offer will be a copy of the booking you have just edited.

If you want to send the credit note to the guest, you type yes in the box that appears when you have pressed the edit invoice, then it will open the mailbox with the credit note as attachment. If you do not want to send it, simply click X to cancel this.

The new booking is now open, and you can make any changes you need and start over as before the guest had arrived.

You always have the option of finding the original booking under the tab linked offers in the booking. Then you have an overall overview of the original, the new and the credit note for the booking in question.

If you did not send the credit note to the guest, the system has saved the credit note in linked offers and you will be able to send it at any time.



How do I make a cash reconciliation?

Click Cash register in the menu on the left,
At the bottom of the screen on the blue bar, select reconciliation ($100 note icon)
In the top left corner is shown the POS (register) for which the cash statement is made, for example Reception.
You can use the down arrow to switch to another POS, e.g. Restaurant.
Now all the payment methods for the selected POS are listed. Amounts with expected balances are shown next to each payment method – in the Counted column the actual counted amount is entered.
The system automatically calculates the difference in amount between expected and counted.
Any difference is a cash difference.
When you have counted everything, save the cash statement by pressing the Save icon in the right corner.
If there is a cash difference, a warning will appear "Are you sure - There is a difference on xxx - do you want to save with differences, You can type yes or no here.
Note that once you have approved the cash statement, this cannot be undone.

For customers who have integration to the financial software e-conomic, the cash statement is sent for accounting immediately after approval.

How to change messages sent from OCTOPUS PMS to guests:
Click on Hotel in the menu on the left.
Click setup (the gear icon) at the top right.
Now select ''messages''
Here is an overview of the different templates for the different messages you can send from the system.
For example, click on ''confirmation''
Here you can now adjust the text to what you want
at the bottom left is a button for ''variables''
here you can insert various variables that you can use to insert information automatically.
To save, press ''okay'' and then save.


Hvordan bruges hjælpefunktionen i octopus pms? Tryk bare hjælp i venstre side af skærmen og tast dit kloge spørgsmål.

You can also make a reservation by calling Lonnie in OCTOPUS PMS support and ask her to make the booking. That is probably the easiest way.