This article breaks down the steps to getting started with REX. After reading and implementing the steps in this article you will be ready to start accepting reservations online.
To jump to a specific section of this article, click on a Quick Link below:
Quick Links
- Accessing Your Admin Dashboard
- Theme Design - Customize the branding of your reservation page
- Global Settings - A set of options for how you would like to configure your reservation page
- Adding and Managing a Venue - Set the rules for how your venue operates
- Setting up Payments - Sync REX with your payment processor
- Testing & Going Live
Accessing Your Admin Dashboard
To log-in to your Admin Dashboard go to app.reservewithrex.com and enter your username and password. If you do not have a username or password you may request one by emailing support@reservewithrex.com.
Once you’ve successfully logged in, take a second to familiarize yourself with the Admin Dashboard. Notice the blue question mark on the bottom right of your screen? That's our Support Center. Click on that to find helpful "how-to" articles and to reach out to our support center should you have any requests or questions.
On the left-hand panel of the admin dashboard there are 6 pages:
1. Reservations
2. Venues
3. Settings
4. Reports
5. Promotions
6. Make Reservations
In this article, we will only touch on the pages that are pivotal to getting started. Those are Settings and Venues
Ok, now that you’ve had a look around let’s start customizing your Reservation Page.
Settings - Theme Design
REX gives you the ability to customize the branding of your reservation page. We think it's important for your brand identity to carry over from your website to your reservation page. Theme Design gives you the power to customize the branding for your page. This is where you add your logo, brand colors, and background image.
You can access Theme Design from the Admin Dashboard by clicking on Settings on the left sidebar. By default, the first tab Theme Design will be selected.
Once you’re ready to start adding your branding elements check out our article on How to Design and Modify Your Theme .
Settings - Global
Global Settings provide a set of options for how you would like to configure your reservation page. These settings are set prior to launch and are not changed often. To navigate to the Global page click on Settings > Global.
There are 3 key sections under the Settings > Global tab:
1. Global Settings
2. Reservation Settings
3. Occasions
1. Global Settings
On the right side of the Global page, you’ll see a section for Global Settings. Here you will choose your Reservation Settings, Pricing Model, and Time Options.
- Reservation Mode
This setting controls the types of reservations you accept.
- Default: This option gives venues the flexibility to accept General Reservations and Party Packages. This is the default choice and the most common.
- Package Only: If your venue only uses Packages, then your venue should be set to Package Only mode. This will remove the "Reservations" tab from the reservation page and visitors to your page will only see Packages. This setting is for venues that don't have 1 main activity or for restaurants that want to offer private dining or experiences.
- Third Party Reservations: This option gives you the choice to accept reservations using another software (i.e OpenTable or Resy) as well as packages from REX. It's mostly used for restaurants who want to have one page for all types of reservations. They can continue to accept dining reservations from their current provider while adding packages. We recommend you speak with your onboarding specialist before toggling this option on.
- Pricing Model: Set the rules for how your venue will charge guests. You have the following options:
a. Per Lane - This will charge guests per lane per hour. Use this if the price is the same whether 2 guests or 4 guests are reserving. The price you enter in the schedule will be by the hour. For example, if you put $22 in the schedule it means the price is $22/hr per lane. Note: You can still limit the max number of guests in a different setting.
b. Per Person - This will charge guests per person per hour. The price you enter in the schedule will be by the hour. For example if you put $22 in the schedule it means the price is $22/hr per person playing. If there are 4 guests reserving then the total price would be $88per hour.
c. Flat Rate - This will charge guests a flat rate regardless of number of lanes, guests, or duration of reservation. Typically this setting is used if Hide Duration is on and it is used for ticketed style events where one table is reserved for multiple guests.
d. Flat Rate (per lane) - This will charge guests a flat rate for each lane reserved. It will ignore the number of guests and the duration of the reservation. For example if you entered $100 in the schedule, the price would be $100 for each lane reserved regardless of duration or number of guests. If 2 lanes were reserved the price would be $200.
e. Per Person Flat - This setting will charge each guest a flat rate regardless of the duration of their reservation. For example if the price entered in the schedule is $50 this means each guest pays $50 whether the reservation is 1 hour or 2 hours. This setting is typically used with Hide Duration on and used for ticketed evens where each guest pays an entry fee.
Curious which pricing model is best for you? Check out How to set your pricing model. - Time Slot Duration: This setting controls the time increments that reservations are available to your guests. For example, if Time Slot Duration is set to 30 minutes then your guests can make a reservation every 30 minutes (i.e 5:00 pm, 5:30, pm, 6:00 pm, 6:30pm etc.). If it is set to 15 minutes then guests can start their reservation time every 15 minutes (i.e 4:00pm, 4:15pm, 4:30pm).
- Hide Duration: If toggled on, this setting will hide the duration option for your guests. If your venue only offers 1 option for the duration, meaning every reservation is a set amount of time (i.e every reservation is 2 hours) then you should turn Hide Duration on. If you want your guests to be able to choose their duration then leave this setting off.
- Default Duration: This is only applicable if you chose to turn on Hide Duration. Here you can set the Default Duration for a reservation here (i.e 2 hours)
- Hide Number of Lanes: If your reservations are all 1 lane and showing the number of lanes is not important, you can choose to hide that option from the reservation page.
- Subtract Multi-Lanes from Inventory - If Hide Number of Lanes is ON and your reservations can be 1 or 2 lanes or more then you should turn this setting ON to subtract all the lanes from your inventory count. every reservation is 1 lane, then you can ignore this setting.
- Show Time Window - This setting will show reservation start times as a time window rather than a specific start time. For example "4:00pm - 5:00pm" instead of 4:00pm. The window shown is based on the duration selected. If the duration is 1 hour then the window is 4-5pm. If the duration is 1.5hrs then the window is 4-5:30pm Typically this setting is used in combination with Hide Duration ON and a default duration is set. For example the default duration could be 1.5 hours and each reservation start time shows up in 1.5 hour windows.
- Disable Guest Checkout: REX allows users to "checkout as guests." If you prefer they create an account while checking out you can disable the guest checkout option here. We recommend leaving this setting OFF so that guests need to create an account to make a reservation.
2. Reservation Settings
- Action Icon: Choose an icon that best suits your venue. This icon will appear on the reservation page next to the number of lanes. Some options include bowling pins, tables, golf flag, or star.
- Language: Determine the language for your reservation asset (lane, bay, court, table, etc). This will show up on guest emails and other places in the dashboard. Note: We use "Lane" in our documentation but "Lane" can be replaced with any other asset like a table, bay, court, or round.
- Party Title: The Party Title controls the language on the party inquiry page. By default, it is set to "Event Inquiry" but can be customized as needed.
- Groups of X or more: This is the language used to direct guests over X to your Event Inquiry page. The default is "Groups of %n or more click here to %s" Note: %s is a variable that represents the max number of people who can make a regular reservation. You can choose to keep this variable or type in a number here directly.
- Occasion Title: This is the title of the Occasion drop-down. By default, it is set to "What's the Occasion?"
3. Occasions
The Occasions listed in this section appear as a user is checking out and provide insight to people who are visiting your venue. By default, there are a few occasions that are provided. To add more to the list, simply type the Occasion in the text field and click save. This field is not required when guests are checking out.
Venues - Adding and Managing a Venue
Click the Venues tab from the left sidebar and select the venue you want to manage. If you have not added a Venue yet, click the blue Add Venue button and enter your Venue Info where prompted. Apart from the venue name, address, and contact information, there are a few fields that may need explaining:
Prefix: The prefix is a 3 letter identifier that displays as a prefix to each reservation number that's created when a guest makes a booking. For example ATL-262896. This is most commonly the abbreviation of the city for the particular venue or the abbreviation of the activity that is being reserved.
Reservations Email Address: Every time a reservation is made, a copy of the confirmation email will be forwarded to the email address provided here (Example: chris@demobowl.com)
Events Email Address: Event inquiry emails will be forwarded to the email address proved here (Example: events@demobowl.com)
Location URL: Provide a link to your main website or location-specific page of your website. (Example: www.demobowl.com/atlanta)
Map URL: Provide a link to your google maps listing. This will link the map image on the reservation page your google listing.
Once you've added all your Venue Info click Save Changes to create your venue.
The next step involves updating all your venue settings.
Schedule
Every venue needs at least one schedule added before going live. Click the Add Schedule button and add your venue hours, pricing, and availability.
To learn more about setting up the schedule for your venue, check out: Create and Manage Schedules for your Venue
Reservation Settings
- Cut off time (in minutes)
How long before a reservation time can a guest make a booking? 1 hour = 60. - Duration Options
This controls how long a guest can make a reservation for. - Max guests on One Lane
The maximum number of guests allowed on one lane (Example: 8) - Max Guests Per Reservation
The maximum number of guests allowed per reservation. If you'd like to allow 2 or 3-lane reservations this number should be greater than the max number of guests on one lane (For example if this number is set to 16 it will create a 2-lane reservation. If its set to 24 guests will be able to book up to 3 lanes) - Total # of Lanes (bays, ranges, etc)
How many total lanes do you have in your venue (this is different from how many lanes are available online) - How Far in Advance Can Users Book
Choose how many days, weeks, or months in advance guests can make reservations at your venue - Limit reservations to # of people
If your venue is set to a maximum capacity you can set reservations to stop after the limit is reached (lear more.) - Buffer time after reservation
If you require a buffer time on each lane after a reservation enter the desired time. This number will be in increments - Daily Report
Seelct Yes if you'd like to receive a daily report of all reservations - Daily Report Emails
Enter the email address(es) that the daily report should be sent to - Daily Report Time
Select the time you'd like to receive the report
Payment Settings
The next section (underneath Reservation Settings) is Payment Settings. Here you can set venue-specific payment and cancelation rules.
- Deposit
Enter the percentage you want to collect (100 means you are charging 100% of the reservation price). - Service Fee
Option to include a Fee to the total reservation amount. The service Fee is a percentage so 3.5 would equal 3.5% - Service Fee Name
You may want to give the Service Fee a custom name in the Order Summary. Some examples are Processing Fee, Gratuity, Convenience Fee, etc. - Allow Cancelations
If you want to give guests the ability to cancel reservations, select Yes - Cancelation Fee
Set a cancelation fee (percentage) that guests will pay if they cancel their reservation. - Cancelation Cut Off
Set the cut off for when guests will be charged the cancelation fee. For example, 24 hours means that any reservation within 24 hours of the reservation time will be charged the cancelation fee. All other cancelations will be allowed at no charge.
Language
At the top of the Venue page locate the Language tab. The language tab gives you the ability to customize all the verbiage on your reservation page. Use the language tab to add descriptions, venue policies, alert notifications, and more.
How to Update the Language of your Page
Setting up Payments
From the Venue page click on the Integrations tab and scroll down to the Payment block.
If you are still in test mode you can run test transactions using Stripe or Heartland test keys. When you are ready to start accepting payment, select your processor.
For Stripe enter your Public and Secret Keys
For Heartland
Make sure to click Save in the upper right corner of the Payment block.
Testing and Going Live
Every Venue is different, which is why we always recommend running test transactions to make sure your reservation page is configured exactly as you intend. Some key things to test for before going live are:
- The schedule and availability are displayed correctly.
- Make sure that pricing is correct at all times and days of the week
- Check that managers/admins are receiving email confirmations every time a reservation is made
- Payment is being processed and deposited into your account
- All key team members have access to the admin dashboard.
Once you are ready to go live, Set up Your Custom URL. This is the URL you will link to from your brand's website. For example reserve.venuename.com. Your own website should have a clear call to action (CTA) button that directs users to the reservation page.
You can link to the use on your brands website