2008 Procedure 38 GolfSwitch

Fore! Reservations can be used with GolfSwitch as an Internet booking engine. In addition, Fore! Reservations gives you control over what tee times are made available to the Internet and what fees are to be charged. Additionally, with the GolfSwitch Direct Access product, concierge, hotels and destination golf travel agencies can make bookings.

After GolfSwitch installs its client software on your system, you need to enter information that is used by the interface.

Set Up GolfSwitch Course ID

GolfSwitch assigns a Course ID that is unique to your golf course. If you have more than one course, then you will get multiple IDs. This ID is viewed from the Internet as one course. Thus this ID must map to your course definition in Fore! Reservations. The Internet ID in the Course Setup screen is used for this mapping. If you have multiple logical courses defined to represent a physical course, you need to enter this ID for each. For example, you could have a twilight course, a weekend course, etc. defined for one course but different rates. Alternatively, you restrict tee times available on the Internet by only defining some of your logical courses (i.e. not your weekend).

To map the GolfSwitch ID to Fore! Reservations:

1) Log into Fore! Reservations.

2) Open the Course Setup screen by selecting the File | Setup | Course menu item.

3) Select the course to use the GolfSwitch interface.

4) Enter the ID assigned to you in the Internet ID field.

5) Check the Internet ID checkbox if the tee times for this course are to be released to the Internet.

6) Repeat steps 3) - 6) for all other courses that represent this ID.

7) Click OK and exit Fore! Reservations.

GolfSwitch Customer Type

GolfSwitch uses the customer type to determine booking rules. Therefore, you need to define a customer type for the GolfSwitch interface. You could define multiple customer types so you can charge different rates based on the portal booking. For example, you could book at a lower rate from your own web page. However, it is simpler and easier to manage by defining one customer type.

To add a GolfSwitch customer type:

1) Log into Fore! Reservations.

2) Open the customer type screen by selecting the File | Setup | Customer Types menu item.

3) Move to the bottom of the screen to open a new line and enter the GolfSwitch customer type.

4) Check the Active box and click OK to save and exit.

Internet Customer Types

GolfSwitch needs to know what additional rules apply to this customer type. These rules include which portals can book, how many days in advance and start and end time by day of week. This is all defined in the Internet customer type screen.

To set up your Internet customer types:

1) Log into Fore! Reservations.

2) Open the customer type screen by selecting the File | Setup | Customer Types menu item.

3) Click the Internet button to enter the Internet customer types screen.

4) Scroll down the left column to the Internet Type or "partner" to be permitted to book through the Internet. GolfSwitch should give you information on who is who. In addition, holding your mouse over the Internet Type gives you additional information about the "partner".

5) Select the GolfSwitch customer type in the customer type pull-down menu for the desired "partner."

6) Scroll to the far right column and check the Active checkbox to activate this "partner."

7) To further refine restrictions to this "partner" enter values in the following columns:

a) Advance is the number of days in advance you release to the Internet (i.e. 30 for thirty days).

b) Inside indicates how many days before tee time bookings are restricted. For example, 2 indicates tee times will not be released for tomorrow but will be released the day after tomorrow.

c) Sun Begin and Sun End are the start and end times for each day of the week.

d) Begin and end times can also be entered for each day of the week.

8) Once complete, click OK and then OK again on the customer type screen to save and exit.

Define Fees

GolfSwitch needs to know what fee to charge customers. GolfSwitch uses the GolfSwitch customer type and fee matrix to determine this rate. Therefore, you must make sure you have the correct fee associated with this customer type course combination:

1) Log in to Fore! Reservations.

2) Open the Fee Type screen by selecting the File | Setup | Fee Types menu item.

3) Make sure the fee to associate with Internet bookings is defined. If not and you are using the Fore! Sell option (see Green Fee on page 150). Otherwise, open a new line and enter the fee type and dollar amount.

4) When complete click on OK to close the Fee Type screen.

5) Open the Fees screen by selecting the File | Setup | Fees.

6) For each row with the GolfSwitch customer type, select the fee in the left column.

7) Click OK when complete.

Blocking

If you have an agreement with a GolfSwitch Partner using the Direct Access product, you can define tee time exclusivity rules by using the Season Template. Set up a template with the times to be given to the partner. After selecting load, select the block option and specify the partner from the pull-down menu.

Operation

Any tee times booked by GolfSwitch are displayed on the schedule in italics. In addition, a confirmation string is viewable in the modify reservation screen.

The default fee rule for a GolfSwitch customer is slightly different. For example, a normal foursome fee for the shopping cart screen is the fee of the person making the reservation and three fees for an unknown customer type. For the GolfSwitch customer, all four are the same. This allows you to charge a premium or discount for Internet times and reduce the likelihood of a dispute.

So that tee times can be booked overnight, leave the computer with the database and the computer connected to GolfSwitch running overnight. However, recycle the machines at least once a day for maintenance purposes.

Once the GolfSwitch interface is running, e-marketing correspondence is enhanced with hyperlinks to book tee times. Make sure you select the Internet ID to take advantage of this feature.