The Planniac Planns screen, which we refer to as the dashboard, the calendar, the Planns page or the Front Desk view, is the place it all comes together.
It's the first thing you will see when you log in.
The Planns page
This is the main screen that the front desk staff, concierge staff and managers will utilize and view throughout the day to keep track of all guest-related activities.
Today, Tomorrow and Upcoming
Once you have entered some Planns, you will see them separated by Today, Tomorrow and Upcoming dates. If you prefer not to separate them, you can toggle off that option in Settings > General Settings.
You'll also see that today's activities have a background color behind them, and tomorrow's as well. You can set the background colors in Settings > General Settings.
Filtering by activity type
The Planns drop-down menu lets you filter the list by activity group. It also has the option to show the calendar seven days back, thirty days back or one year back. This is useful for seeing past activities where guests have already checked out and paid. This drop-down filters by activity groups which are Tours, Transfers (Arrivals, Departures, Flights, Taxis / Shuttles), Concierge (Car & Golf Cart Rentals, Spa Bookings, Restaurant Reservations).
Planns dashboard content
Date
This is the date the activity has been scheduled. If you need to change the date the activity is scheduled, or modify any other activity details, just click on the date.
Type
There are a number of activity types in Planniac.
You can filter the Type on the Planns dashboard view by clicking on one of the types that you want to see. The result will display only the activities of that type. The following example shows the data filtered by Tour type. PKG indicates the tour was part of a package.
Guest Name
The Guest Name column will show the name of the primary guest in the room.
You can filter by guest name so that you see all activities related to that particular guest.
If it's a group reservation, you will see all the activities for the entire group, not just the primary group reservation.
Room Name
The Room Name column shows the name or number of the guest room associated with an activity.
The Room Name (or number) can be clicked to take you quickly to that individual Room/Guest's record. If the name of the room does not display but you get one of the following warning messages, you should check the activity detail to make sure you have not scheduled something that should be moved to different dates or cancelled.
A CHECK DATES warning means an activity is scheduled outside of the guest's stay at your property. This could mean the room reservation dates had changed and no one had rescheduled the activity. It could also mean the activity was put on the dashboard in error. Either way, by clicking on the CHECK DATES error message you would be taken to the GUESTS reservation details page.
NO SHOW would mean the guest never checked in for their reservation.
RES. CANCELLED would indicate the room reservation had been cancelled and in that case you should check to be sure the activity had been cancelled with the resource.
DELETED means the room reservation was deleted from Cloudbeds. Make sure you have contacted any operator who had confirmed plans for this guest to let them know.
Time
This is the time scheduled for the activity to begin. Activities are displayed chronologically so earlier activities will display above later ones.
If the time shows Not Set in red, it means you need to edit the activity to include the time information.
Remember that everything that shows up red on the dashboard indicates followup is needed!
The time and date formats will depend on your computer settings.
Activity
This displays the name of the activity scheduled. You can click on it to open the activity edit tool in case there are updates or changes that need to be made.
If there's an info symbol (i) on the activity name, it means there is a note to read. You can see it when you hover over the activity. The note is normally something important that needs to be seen by the Front Desk associate. That could be notes input by you or another a team member, or dietary information so that you have a quick reference when calling a tour operator or other resource to schedule something for a guest.
Note: Only Planniac users with Front Desk + Resources (or higher) access can add new activities that you can select from. If you are trying to change an activity or customize it, it must be set up first using Resources. An activity always has to be set up first before you can choose it from a list.
Operator/Vendor/Assigned
This column on the Planns page indicates who is responsible for providing the activity.
When you hover over the name of the resource (supplier / operator / vendor / assigned), you'll get a phone number for quick reference. Note the phone number will only appear when it has been entered on the resource's profile in the Resources section of Planniac.
You can sort the Resource column by clicking on the provider you'd like to see. Once you click, you'll only see activities provided by that resource.
Status
The Status column indicates the stage of planning the activity is in. The user who initiated the activity in the first place would have selected a status. Something may have been planned and confirmed right on the spot, or it may have been just an inquiry that requires followup.
How to Keep Your Status Updated for a Smooth Shift Handover
A front desk associate or concierge, it's important to keep track of what's happening at your property. This not only helps you stay organized, but it also ensures that your guests receive the best service possible. One way to do this is by updating your status regularly throughout the day.
Pro Tip: Keeping Status updated daily, even throughout the day, is the best way to see what's happening at a glance. And when it comes time to hand over your shift, details are accurate and the incoming front desk associate or concierge will know exactly what needs to be done and what's happening with guests right now.
What is Status?
Status is a feature in our system that allows you to update your current tasks, notes, and any important information for your team to see. It's a great way to communicate with your colleagues and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Why is it Important to Keep Status Updated?
By updating your status regularly, you are providing your team with real-time information about what's happening at the property. This can help them prioritize tasks and handle any urgent situations that may arise. It also helps to avoid any miscommunication or confusion during shift handovers.
How to Update Your Status
Updating your status is quick and easy. Simply follow these steps:
It's important to update your status throughout the day, especially when there are changes in your tasks or any important information that your team needs to know.
Benefits of Keeping Status Updated
By keeping your status updated, you are not only helping your team, but you are also improving the overall guest experience. Here are some benefits of regularly updating your status:
So, make it a habit to update your status throughout the day. It will not only make your shift smoother, but it will also contribute to the success of your team and property.
Changing a status
You can update a status from the PLANNS calendar by opening the dropdown menu and selecting a status from the list.
Status Settings
To add or edit the available status options, an Admin with Level 6 access needs to go to Settings > Status Lists. Setting up the status options carefully, in order to reflect the way you do business, is essential.
A C I
The A C I column shows the number of Adults, Children and Infants participating in an activity.
Payment Method
The Payment Method column indicates how a charge is paid or intended to be paid. If the field is blank, it means no payment method has been added yet. An activity with a balance will stay on the PLANNS calendar until a payment method has been chosen and the charge is cleared. This helps keep staff accountable for charging every activity on a daily basis.
See the Settings > Payment Types article and the Applying Payments article for more information about how those payment types are set up and applied.
Balance
The Balance column indicates how much has been billed to the guest.
Note: A number in the Balance column that shows in a red color means a payment has not yet been recorded on Planniac.
Refresh Screen
If you're working quickly with changes and you don't see them on the screen, you might be faster than Planniac! Try using the Refresh button and see if your plans appear. If they don't, check to see whether you may have entered an incorrect date.
How quickly does Planniac refresh?
The Planniac system is fully synchronized with CloudBeds. Whenever there is a change to a reservation in CloudBeds, those same details will be changed in Planniac within two minutes. Additionally, the Front Desk system queries CloudBeds every 15 minutes to synchronize any data that may have changed in CloudBeds but was not pushed through to the Front Desk system. Examples of this are changes to folio balances or when notes are added to reservations. Individual reservations can also be manually synchronized with CloudBeds through a button on the Reservations tab.
Hands-free Planns
Include your Cloudbeds Add-Ons in Planniac in a few easy steps
When you sell extra services on your Cloudbeds booking engine, or with reservations made by phone or email, you can have them automatically show up as activities or tasks on Planniac. They look like this when they import:
You can clearly see the add-on activities on the list, and they are highlighted in red so that it's clear that follow-up is needed.
There is a small symbol on the far left that indicates this is an Add-On.
This will work automatically with your add-ons if you follow the right steps to set it up.
Legend
At the top right of the screen under your user icon you will see the link to a Legend.
Clicking on this will show the meaning of symbols used on the screen.
Symbols that may appear next to scheduled activities include:
A red square in the far-left column means that the guest has already checked out.
An orange square in the far-left column means that the guest is checking out today.
A black circle in the far-left column means that the guest’s room reservation has been cancelled. Any activities that had been planned will remain on the list until they are cancelled. The purpose of this is to make sure that any booked activities for a guest who is no longer participating are cancelled with the tour operator or other resource, and, if the cost was already charged to the guest folio, then that charge is deleted.
A red question mark indicates that a guest should have checked out already but is still showing as in-house.
An orange triangle means there is an inconsistency with a group activity reservation.
The purple arrow indicates a Placeholder which someone needs to complete. Placeholders are made on-the-fly from the Guests screen and they serve as reminders on the main Planns dashboard.
Diverging arrows indicate a Split Reservation (a guest is moving from one room to another)
An Up Arrow with tiny little lines means this was a Cloudbeds Add-On automatically imported into Planniac
Two little orange gears indicate an auto-generated entry (these are for certain activities or tasks that you want automatically included with every reservation that meets the criteria
The legend also explains what happens when you click on certain items on the PLANNS dashboard. Click on:
Date or Activity Name to edit the activity details
Activity Type to show all activities of that same type
Guest Name to show all activities related to that guest
Room Name to edit the details on the GUEST screen
Changing the activity status to ‘Room Cancelled – No Charge’ will remove this activity / tour from the dashboard (it still exists, it is just no longer displayed).
Planniac Help Center
On the lower right-hand part of every page on Planniac, you will see a blue button where you can contact support and view articles in our Help Center.
When you press the button, you'll see all our support options.
Help takes you to our Help Center (also known as a user guide or knowledge base).
Messages are a log of the messages sent to you by the Planniac team, or conversations you've initiated in the past
Ask a question allows you to chat with Planny, our AI support chatbot. We believe many of your questions about using Planniac can be answered this way, but if Planny can't come up with the answer, you'll be offered the chance to ask a human instead
Feature Request is extremely useful to us. If you think there is a way to improve Planniac we'd like to know
Report a Bug is a way for you to tell us when something is not working properly. Your report could alert us to something important that affects all Planniac users