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How to Manage Registrations

Registration Features, Processing Refunds, Registration Statuses, and other Important tools regarding Registration Management.

Last Updated: May 2024

Quick Overview:

Registrations are a very important aspect of how you manage your programs/events and bookings. This overview will help you understand all of the important details and features in registrations, how to process refunds, and understanding statuses and tools for your registration management.

Quick Add Reg vs. Register as Guest:

The main difference between Quick Add Reg and Register as Guest is that Quick Add Reg allows an admin user to quickly register someone, skipping any required questions and payment. Register as Guest is the public registration form for the program, where users have to fill in all required questions and make payment if enabled.

Quick Add Reg:
- Allows admin users to quickly register someone
- Skips required questions and payment
- Allows the ability to register faculty or volunteers into admin only lodging types
- Redirects admin users to the new registration page after form is completed

- Once in the Quick-Add Registration Form, you have the option to send a registration notification email or not.
- You can also make adjustments to transactions or add payments prior to emailing the guest. Ability to send registration questions link as well as Guest Statement for payment

Register as Guest:
- Public registration form for the program
- Guests go through required questions and payment

Understanding Registrations:

Registration ID vs. User/Person ID:
- ID at the top is the Registration ID
  - Registration ID is specific to the registration
- User/Person ID is linked to the person record
  - This links registrations to the same person for all person fields
  - Helpful in syncing information for returning guests and managing personal credit
  - Article: Matching People and Registrations

Person vs. Registration Fields
- All fields visible are based on the selected questions on the program the registration is attached to
- Everything on the left hand side is related to the specific registration
- Everything on the right hand side is related to the person
- The registration ID is unique for each registration, the user/person ID is unique to the person who registered
- Registration fields (left side) are specific to that registration and don't sync
  - There are also secondary registration fields that will display when using secondary forms

- Person fields (right side) are linked to the person and sync across multiple registrations for one person/user ID
  - There are also secondary person fields that will display when using secondary forms
- Questions can be saved to either person or registration fields, depending on how they are set up

- - Article: Create and Edit Questions

Sections of Registrations:

Registration Details:

Program Details:
- Hot Links: Directly under the Program Name for quick access to important booking functions related to this registrations program.
Stay Dates:
- When the registration is booked for
  - Not necessarily program dates as the event could be flexible dates or have custom options such as additional nights before or after the program dates.
Statuses:
- Different statuses dictate room availability and bookings, some statuses reserve rooms where others do not.
- Failure to reserve rooms can result in a double booking, and statuses also prompt automation such as updating a room status to dirty upon guest checkout.
- You can control whether rooms should be blocked or not with custom statuses.
  - Needs Approval by default books a room, Unconfirmed does not
- If a room is booked it doesn't necessarily prevent bookings within the same room. For example: a shared room with a capacity of 10.
Guest Types:
- Default guest type is usually "Participant". Guest types allow you to target specific groups with emails and other settings, and you can set up different emails to go to different guest types.
- Guest Types can be adjusted within the Guest Type question.
Submitted:
- When the registration was initially completed

Room Assignment:

Room Assignments:
- Links to room bookings to manage room assignments and upgrades.
- Learn more about Rooms here

Registration Transactions:

Key Points:
- Automatically generated transactions.
- View and manage payments and refunds.
- Optional items can only be selected if they are enabled on the program this registration is attached to
Admin Functions:
- Add refunds, change payment methods, manage credit cards.
- Charge balances and view guest statements.

Registration Fields:

Questions (saved to the registration) answered during registration or on another form.
Link to the guest view when adding or updating registration details - useful when registrations are added through Quick Add Reg or for group registrations. This link can also be generated using a template code within emails.
Admin Only - Internal communication with staff, specific to this registration.

Jump down to Additional Features in Registrations

Managing Transactions:

Transactions and Payments
- Transactions are automatically generated based on the program settings
- Refunds should be handled carefully to avoid additional payment processing fees

Differentiating Transaction Categories:
- Items: Typically the cost of the program, but other items may include additional options available for purchase, or additional charges you need to add on
  - In the registration, select 'Add Item' to create a new transaction
- Discounts: Any price reduction to your booking/registration (Example: Early-Bird Discount, or a Couples Discount). Percentage discounts are applied to a billed transaction, fixed amount discounts are a separate transaction.
- Payments: Any payments for the registration
- Refunds: The refund, or partial refund, for the registration

Refunds

Here are the steps to issue a credit card refund when you are cancelling a registration:

Click Cancel registration button
Select Cancel all transactions (does not include payments)
Refund all credit card payments

If you are applying a cancellation fee or not refunding the full payment amount, best practice is to not refund all credit card payments or send a cancellation email at this time: Follow Partial Refund process instead.

Partial Refunds

Here are the steps for issuing a partial refund after cancelling a registration:

Use this process if you are applying a cancellation fee to avoid additional fees from your payment processor.

Please note: If the guest is not cancelling, skip to Step 3

Cancel Registration:
- Click 'Cancel Registration' button
- Select 'Cancel all transactions': This only cancels Registration Item Transactions, not Payments
- Complete Cancel Registration (Skip sending Cancellation Email until later)
Add Cancellation Fee: Select 'Add Item'
- Select Cancel Fee
- Set Cancellation Fee Amount
- Save Transaction
Add Refund/Apply Partial Refund: Select 'Add Refund ->' on the payment transaction line.
- Set Refund Amount
- Add Description
- Save Transaction
  - If you do not cancel the registration you may need to add in an adjusting transaction to balance out the registration. Complete this by selecting Add item or edit an existing transaction.
Finalize and Confirm: Ensure that the balance due shows $0, confirming that the refund process is complete.
Send Cancellation Email (Optional): Email the guest to inform them about the cancellation and refund details. You can manually send this through sent messages once the registration transactions are accurate and the refund is complete.

Visual Steps:

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Additional Features in Registrations:

Double Booked Rooms:
- This most often occurs when admin users manually move guests into different rooms or if there is a room/lodging type mismatch. You can click Move Room+ to manually move the guest into an available room within their existing Room Type. Alternatively, you can go into the Room Bookings chart to view all room availability and drag/ drop the registration into an open room. Also, if someone double booked a room you need to move rooms and perhaps change room type to get the pricing correct. If you cancel the registration you will need to start again.

Accounting Mode:
- For those with the Accounting Report and Account Mode features enabled. If making changes to a transaction item that has been realized, only team members with accounting mode override are able to make changes. Each transaction category has it’s own realized date set under Settings, which determines when that transaction category is considered realized in your accounting reports. Any team members without accounting mode override privileges will not be able to make or save changes to transactions.
How to send emails from a registration:
- You can send emails on a registration level by scrolling to the bottom of the registration. The Sent Messages area is a log of all emails that have been sent via Retreat Guru for this registration as well as where you can email a guest directly, either by loading in an email template or typing out the email in the text editor.
Applications:
- You can setup your initial registration form questions to work like an application and use a default initial registration status that does not block a room. Then use Secondary Form Questions to follow up with other registration specific questions once a guest has passed the application phase.
Secondary Forms for Secondary Registration or Person Fields:
- Additional information beyond initial registration or person fields.
- Typically used for guest information that is unlikely to change, like phone number or address as well as being useful for applications.

- Other Helpful Knowledge Base Articles:

Reporting Options:
- You can exclude certain registrations from meal, arrival, and departure reports. This is useful for volunteers or others who don't need to be included in those reports.
- Knowledge Base Article: Reporting and Exports
Personal Credit and User Options:
- Connect registrations to specific users.

- Manage personal credit for people/users.

- Knowledge Base Article: Creating and Using Personal Credit
Printable Documents:
- Print registration overview and liability waivers.
Delete:
- Best practice is to cancel registrations and not delete them. This option is typically limited to those with accounting mode override or on registrations with credit card payments.
Changes Log:
- How you view all of the changes for a specific registration by admin users or guests.

Change Credit Card on File:
- Remove the original credit card on file for this registration (this is permanent). Helpful if you experience payment issues with a particular card, you can remove the card on file and send the guest statement to enter in their payment details again.

Alternative Payment Methods:
- Using other payment categories and fund methods
- Go through Add a Payment > Other > Other payment - Label in the description so you have a record. This is a manual way of tracking payments/refunds that were not processed via credit card and outside of Retreat Guru.

Understanding Transaction Logs:
- Quickly view all existing registrations attached to the same person/user ID and easily identify other registrations with a balance due. Clicking View all transactions takes you to a filtered list of all transactions associated with the person/user ID.

Utilizing Safety Waivers:
- By clicking Print template you can generate and print a liability form specific to the registration, template can be adjusted within Settings.

Congratulations on becoming a registration expert!

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