In Fieldbook, services can be designated as either shared or non-shared. Understanding these settings is crucial for managing how your guests are assigned to services within a tour.
Shared vs. Non-Shared Services
When creating a service, you can choose whether to make it shared or non-shared:
Shared Services allow guests from different bookings to be assigned to the same service unit.
Non-Shared Services keep guests from different bookings assigned to separate service units.
These settings determine how Fieldbook initially assigns guests to services, though you can still manually adjust assignments if needed (see below).
Setting a Service’s Sharing Configuration
When you create a service in Fieldbook, you can select whether it will be shared or non-shared. This setting is applied when the service is added to a package or departure, but you can modify it later at the package or departure stage.
Shared Services
How Shared Services Work
When a service is set as shared, Fieldbook automatically fills any available spots within that service unit before creating a new one, maximising resource use.
Example:
The Standard Room is a non-shared service. Joey is already assigned to Room 1.
When a new booking with a couple (Chandler and Monica) is added, Fieldbook will assign one of them to the available spot in Room 1 rather than placing them in a new room.
When to Use Shared Services
Shared services are ideal when guests from different bookings can share a service, especially when the service is designed to accommodate multiple guests who may not know each other, such as a shuttle bus or a group surf lesson. Examples of shared services:
A 12 seater bus being used for the trip
A dorm room
A twin share room
A meeting room
A group surf lesson
For tours that primarily attract solo travelers, setting accommodation services like twin rooms or dorm rooms as shared ensures that solo travelers are placed together, maximising the use of available capacity.
Non-Shared Services
How Non-Shared Services Work
Non-shared services keep individuals or groups from different bookings separate, ensuring a private experience. When a service is set as non-shared, Fieldbook assigns guests from each booking to their own service unit, without combining them with guests from other bookings.
Example:
The Standard Room is a sharfed service. Joey is already assigned to Room 1.
When a new booking is added with a couple, Chandler and Monica, Fieldbook will assign Chandler and Monica to the second room rather than placing them in a new one as Joey is from a separate booking.
When to Use Non-Shared Services
If your tours typically include couples and groups (not just solo travelers), we recommend setting room services as non-shared. This ensures that couples are kept together in private rooms, while solo travelers can be manually assigned to share a room if needed. For details on how to manually assign solo travelers to a room, please continue reading.
Examples of non-shared services:
A private double room
A couples spa
A private surf lesson
Manually Adding Guests from Different Bookings to a Non-Shared Service
While Fieldbook’s default is to keep non-shared services separate, there may be situations where you want to manually assign guests from different bookings to the same non-shared service. This could be useful when, for example, two friends who booked separately want to share a room or service.
To manually assign guests to a non-shared service:
Go to the service within the booking.
Click Edit Passenger Assignment
Click the down arrow next to the person you want to assign the guest to.
If the service is part of an option, navigate to the option and follow the same steps for all services within that option.
If you need further assistance, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. We're here to help.