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Setting up Ticket Activities

  • Updated
ticket.png Ticket Activity: This is an activity that may not have a pre-defined start time and allows for bar code uploads and individual ticket scanning. 
Use tickets for activities such as hop on hop off (HOHO) transportation, attraction admission, event admission and for entry to activity centres such as waterparks and snow tubing parks.

 

Overview

Before learning how to set up a Ticket activity, please make sure you have completed the following:

This article will cover the following topics:

Introduction to Ticket Activities

Tickets are unique from other activity types in Zaui in that setting a specific start time is optional. For instance, hop on hop off operators might sell tickets that have a valid duration of 24 hours, starting from the time a ticket is first scanned. Another case could be selling entry to an attraction where the ticket is expired the first time it is scanned. See below for more information on the various options when configuring ticket activities. 

Where do I go to create a new activity?

  1. From the navigation bar, select Activities > Activity List.
  2. Click on the Activity type you wish to create on the shortcuts panel (in this case, select Ticket). 
  3. You will be brought to your Basic Settings tab, which is where the majority of your configuration occurs.

Activity Name/Date Information

As soon as you have saved your new activity, the system will auto-generate a unique Activity ID which is useful for differentiating between similarly-named activities. The Activity ID will also need to be provided for OTA connections. 

  1. Enter a Name for your activity.
  2. Select a Category Name (which should have previously been created).
  3. Enter the Activity Location (where does this activity take place).
  4. Insert an Image and Image Caption to display on your online booking engine. Ensure you upload high-resolution images.
    noun_attention_1436012__1_.png Image file size must be less than 781.25 KB, at least 765px x 430px and must be .jpg / .jpeg.
  5. Set the Start Date and End Date.
  6. Configure your Activity Time and Days. You have the ability to add activity time ranges if your activity starts at different times during different date bands. This is important to include if you are partnering with OTAs. 
    noun_attention_1436012__1_.png Date ranges cannot overlap! Make sure your activity date/times are set up properly and lineup correctly.
  7. If your Activity does not have a predetermined start time, set the start time at 00:00
  8. Configure your Activity Duration in days and/or in time. 

Ticket-specific configuration settings

noun_attention_1436012__1_.png Tickets are based on the number of people in the booking. For example, if 5 people book a Ticket activity, the system will generate 5 individual tickets. With any other activity type, the system will print one ticket with 5 people on it. This allows a group to split up, while each member retains a valid individual ticket.
  1. Ticket sales cut-off time. This optional setting allows for tickets to be sold after the activity has started up until the cut off time, for example 2 hours before an attraction closes for the day*.

*Ticket activity cut off time rule hierarchy and interplay with booking threshold time:

    • If a sale cut-off time is set, the activity can be booked up to that cut-off time.
    • If the sale cut-off time is not set and a minimum booking threshold time is set, the activity can be booked up to the minimum threshold of the activity start time. For example 12 hours before activity start time.
    • If the sale cut-off time is not set and the minimum threshold is not set, the activity can be booked up to the activity end time (activity start time + activity duration).

2. Limit number of ticket scans. This setting allows you to control how many times the ticket can be scanned before it expires. Set it at 1 if you will not allow re-entry. This setting works in conjunction with the expiration method setting: 

3. Choose how a ticket is expired. Settings to fine-tune the ticket expiration methodology:

Setting

Definition

First Scan (Default)

The ticket is valid anytime from the first scan plus the activity duration

Never

The ticket does not expire with respect to time

Activity Date

The ticket is only valid to be scanned during the activity time on the date the activity is sold for

End Date

The ticket is valid to be scanned until the end of the date band on the Activity Time and Days set-up. This could be the last day a seasonal attraction is operating

 4. Warn when first scan is not the activity date. With this enabled, if customers are attempting to       redeem their ticket on a date that is not the date they purchased the ticket for, a warning message will populate on the Point of Sale app when the ticket is scanned. 

5. Generate Unique QR Code. This setting determines whether when booked, this activity will generate one QR code for the whole booking, or one QR code for each guest on the booking. QR codes are designed to be used in conjunction with the Zaui Mobile App only.

Setting

Definition

Per Person (per activity) (Default)

When the activity is booked, one QR code will be generated for every guest on the booking. Each guest's code needs to be scanned individually to check them in, much like airline tickets. This allows groups to split up and check in at different times.

Per Booking (per activity)

When the activity is booked, one QR code will be generated for the entire booking. Once the single QR code is scanned, every guest on the booking will be checked in. This allows for efficient checking in of large groups groups and in cases where the ticket is expired at first scan, such as single entry to an attraction.

 

Third-Party Bar Codes

Ticket activities are unique in that it is possible to upload third-party company barcodes to be distributed upon sale. Upon first saving a new Ticket activity, you will notice new tabs appearing on your menu  which allow you to upload third-party bar codes to your ticket activity.

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This uploader allows you to specify the type of bar code to be generated when this ticket is sold through the system. The bar code values that you supply here are linked to a specific passenger type when the activity is sold and must be uploaded in separate batches.

If you decide not to supply bar code values, Zaui will automatically generate 2-D (QrCode) bar codes encoded using our internal algorithms. 

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  1. Click on Upload Bar codes to configure this setting. 
  2. Choose a file of the desired bar codes. Files must be in CSV format, containing one single column of codes (no headers or other formatting).
  3. Select the Bar code type. Note that the Zaui apps read QR codes only.
  4. Select the Passenger Type to which the file of codes should be associated.
  5. Optional: select the Company from which the bar codes were received. This will be used for reporting later.
  6. Submit your bar codes to upload them. 

Internet Booking Configuration

Check the Publish to Internet? flag if you wish to allow this activity to be booked on your front-end website.

For the passenger types settings, you can customize which are enabled and redefine them if needed. If you leave the User Defined field blank, the system will use the default definitions.

Keep in mind that the customization you make here is specific to this activity. To customize your passenger types system-wide, check out this article. 

 The Advanced Settings tabs allow further customization.

Activity online booking threshold time allows you to configure a minimum time limit (for example, if you put in 24, this means customers cannot book within 24 hours of the activity), as well as for a maximum time limit (for example, if you put in 72, the online booking engine will only show options until 72 hours into the future). 

noun_attention_1436012__1_.png Keep in mind the threshold times entered here are specific to this activity. If your threshold settings will be the same across all of your same-type activities, you can configure those system-wide under your Portal Settings. Check out this article for more information on setting system-wide thresholds. 

The Activity Web Sort Priority box allows you to organize the order in which each of your activities will display, both online and in Zaui Core (back office). A priority of 1 will put the activity at the top of the list. A value of 0 (default) does not consider priority and will place the activity below any prioritized tours. 

Activity Notes and Restrictions

This section is where you can attach any Activity Notes/Restrictions that you have created.

To create Activity Notes/Restrictions,

  1. From the navigation bar, Select Settings > Online Booking > Notes & Restrictions.
  2. Click on Create Note/Restriction on the shortcuts panel. 
  3. Note that the text field is limited to 100 character counts. 
  4. Click on Save. 
  5. These notes will be displayed on the activity and checkout pages of the online booking engine, as seen below.

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Pricing Information

This section is where you will attach the price codes that you have previously created. Check out this article for information on how to create price codes. If you are offering different prices on different date ranges, you can attach more than one price code. 

noun_attention_1436012__1_.png If no price code is attached, your activity will display as $0.00 on your Online Booking Engine, so make sure to add it before going live!

 

This section is also where you can add price codes that are either based on the Activity Date or the Purchase Date. For example, you would like to offer a cheaper price for bookings made from November 2020 to March 2021 for your April-June 2021 tours, and a regular price for bookings made during your operating season. For this example, make sure you base your activity price on the Purchase Date.  

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When entering the start and end date of your price code, ensure the end date is always past the end date of the activity (in Activity Name/Date Information section) to prevent any pricing errors. 


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Taxation Information

Only taxes that have been previously created will be listed in this section. Check out this article for information on how to create taxes/fees. 

Enabling When booking this activity apply all per person per day charges will apply the tax per person, per day for Rental or Multi-Day activities. This flag needs to be enabled in conjunction with the Per Person Per Day taxes mentioned in this article. 

Capacity and Inventory Assignment

This section is where you will attach equipment or set the capacity for your activity. Please check out this article for information on how to create and assign capacity/inventory to each different type of activity. 

Pickup/Dropoff Locations

If your Ticket activity offers pickup/dropoff services, this section is relevant to you.

 

You want to ensure you have your Zones created prior to continuing this setup.

  1. To allow customers to choose their pickup locations when booking online, check the Enable guests to select pickups for online bookings box. 
  2. Click on Add Pickup Configuration.
  3. Set the Start and End Dates of when this pickup location will be available to choose from.
  4. Select the Pickup Zone previously created.
  5. Pickup Offset is used for an overnight trip where the dropoff might occur the next day.
  6. Pickup Start and End Time refers to the window of time within which the pickup will occur.
  7. Repeat steps 2-6 for all additional pickup zones offered. 
  8. The Dropoff Assignment works the same way as the Pickup Assignment.

Activity Description

Setting

Definition
Short Description Line 1 This field will be part of your page title when customers view this activity on the online booking engine. The description here will be important for any search engine placement.
Primary Activity Description This field is where you will want to provide your customers with details about your activity. This information will be displayed online before the customer purchases the activity as well as on the Zaui Core (back office) dashboard, by hovering or clicking on the I icon.
Additional Activity Information This field will be visible to the customer on the online booking engine as well as on email confirmations. 
Ticket Text This field will only display on Point of Sale tickets. 

 

Activity Specific Cancellation/Reservation Policy

You learned where to add your overall company Terms and Policies under System Settings. This section is where you may wish to add activity-specific cancellation/reservation policies. For example, perhaps you would like customers to know before they purchase one of your tours that there is a 4 passenger minimum requirement to run this specific tour. 

  1. On your activity set-up page, you will want to select the Additional Settings tab.
  2. Scroll down to Activity Specific Cancellation/Reservation Policy and enter the activity-specific policies here. 
  3. Don't forget to click Save.
  4. You will now be able to see Cancellation Policies on the Online Booking Engine's specific Activity Booking page.

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