Features
Every feature starts with a problem
We didn’t start from a list of features. We started from what goes wrong on a busy day at a tour desk, a rental counter or a ticket booth, and fixed those.
- Works offline
- A real till
- Online shop on your site
- Agents and commission
- Rosters
- Waivers on the phone
- iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, web
Point of sale
One sale with everything on it
The problem. Most booking systems were built for the website, with a till added later or not at all. The counter runs on a second system, and someone matches the two up at night.
What BookingPOS does. The till is the centre. A walk-in’s tour, the bike or wetsuit they hire and the hat they buy are one sale, one receipt and one payment record. Online orders, agent bookings and gift vouchers arrive as sales the same way, so the money only ever lives in one place.
- Cash, your card terminal, split payments, deposits and pay later
- Retail stock, gear hire and servicing in the same cart as the trip
- Places held while you take names and payment
- Close the till with counted cash and card totals
Works offline
Keeps working when the internet doesn’t
The problem. A trailhead, a jetty, a desk with patchy Wi-Fi, or an outage at the provider: most booking software is a web page, and a web page stops when the connection does. Staff go back to paper and type it all in later.
What BookingPOS does. Approved phones, tablets and computers keep a copy of yesterday to the day after tomorrow: manifests, check-in, head counts, trip logs and the till for retail and hire. Changes wait on the device and go through when the connection is back. Anything that clashed is flagged for a manager, never lost.
- Check people in and mark no-shows with no signal
- Sell retail, hire and custom items, with an “offline sale” receipt
- Head counts with GPS and the trip log, out in the field
- Encrypted on the device and wiped when a device is removed
What waits for a connection: new bookings and anything that changes how many places are left, so a trip is never oversold.
Online shop
Your shop, on your own website
The problem. Guests book at 10 pm on their phone. Send them to someone else’s booking page with someone else’s logo and some of them never come back.
What BookingPOS does. Your shop opens inside your own website, as a page, a widget or a pop-up, in your colours: the departures calendar, multi-trip passes, extras, gift vouchers, waivers and payment. It sells from the same places as the till, so a counter sale and an online sale can never both take the last spot.
- Multi-trip passes: buy three trips now, pick the dates later
- Gift vouchers emailed straight away, spent online or at the counter
- A waitlist when a trip is full
- Minimum numbers: the trip confirms itself when it reaches four
Check-in and calls
Know who’s coming before you leave
The problem. The night before, someone rings round from a printed list. On the day, the guide counts heads on a clipboard and finds the unsigned waiver after you’ve left.
What BookingPOS does. Check-in shows who’s booked, who has paid, whose waiver isn’t signed and who said they can’t swim well. When the weather turns, start a call list, log each call and see who still hasn’t been reached. On the tour, the roll call is by name.
- Money owing, waivers and medical answers flagged on each person
- Call lists for weather, time changes or anything else
- Move a group to another trip and keep them together
- Works offline, like the rest of the day
Head counts
A roll call by name, not a tally
The problem. The skipper counts heads on a clipboard. The numbers match, so nobody notices it was the wrong 15 people.
What BookingPOS does. The crew tap each guest’s name as they come back on board. Anyone missing shows in red by name, the count stays open until a recount finds them, and a count that’s off needs a note. Every count saves the time, the staff on board and where it was taken by GPS, on a map of the trip.
- The counts each trip expects: leaving the dock, before and after each dive
- Walk-ons added, staff counted too
- A map and timeline of every count
- Works with no signal, out on the water
Trip logs and incidents
A safety record that writes itself on the trip
The problem. Dive logs and incident notes are on paper, filled in back at the shop, if at all. When someone asks what happened, nobody can find it.
What BookingPOS does. Each trip keeps a log: the trip details for each dive or round (site, conditions, times) and each person’s own entry, signed by them on the phone. Someone who sat it out picks why. Incidents are written down as they happen. The tab shows how many logs are still to do.
- Logs you design for any activity, by trip or by person
- “21 of 30 logs made” on the trip, so none are missed
- Each person signs their own log
- Sat out: seasick, unwell, cold, or a reason typed
Minimum numbers
Trips that confirm themselves
The problem. A trip needs four people to run. Someone checks the bookings every night and rings round when it doesn’t fill.
What BookingPOS does. Set a minimum and BookingPOS does the watching. The trip shows “Pending: 4 more to run” everywhere it’s sold, confirms itself and tells the guests when it gets there, and warns you 48 hours out when it hasn’t. You can take payment up front or hold it until the trip is confirmed.
- Pending and confirmed shown online, at the till and at check-in
- Guests told automatically when it’s confirmed
- One warning per short trip, 48 hours out
- Managers can confirm a trip to run anyway
Rosters
Trips that need staff, seen before the morning
The problem. Tours get sold with no guide, driver or instructor rostered on. The roster is a spreadsheet or a group chat, and the gap shows up at 6 am.
What BookingPOS does. Each activity says which roles and qualifications it needs. The roster sits on the same calendar as the trips and shows every one that’s short, in red when guests are already booked. Staff see their own shifts on their phone.
- Roles and certifications checked when you roster someone
- Day, week and month views; tap a person, tap the tours
- Shop and desk shifts with hours, beside the tours
- Undo for every change
Agents and resellers
Agents book themselves, commission adds up on its own
The problem. Hotel desks and travel agents email to ask what’s free, then commission is worked out in a spreadsheet at the end of the month.
What BookingPOS does. Agents sign in to their own portal, see live places and their commission, book, and pay or put it on account. Commission is recorded beside each sale, so reports, balances and payouts agree. They can sell gift vouchers too.
- Live availability with each agent’s own commission
- Agent accounts, credit limits and a running balance
- Agent bookings land as ordinary sales
- Commission is never shown to the guest
Waivers and forms
Signed on the guest’s phone before they arrive
The problem. Paper waivers on a clipboard at the meeting point, a date of birth nobody can read, and a copy of a licence or certificate that lives in someone’s inbox.
What BookingPOS does. Guests sign on their phone, for themselves and their children, as part of booking or from a link. Check-in flags anyone who hasn’t. Card photos and documents are asked for once and kept on the customer for next time.
- Sign with a finger or type a name
- One waiver per activity, versioned
- Ages and dates of birth checked against the activity
- Card photos kept on the customer for next time
Reports
This season against last, without a spreadsheet
The problem. Season numbers come from three exports, a till report and a spreadsheet nobody trusts.
What BookingPOS does. Reports read the same sales the till, the shop and the agents write: revenue by channel, guests carried, cancellations, how far ahead people book, and this season side by side with last.
- Revenue by channel: counter, online, agents
- Guests carried by tour, vehicle or boat, by month
- Cancellations, refunds and money outstanding
- Settlement report for the bank and the accountant
Flagged automatically
It tells you before it becomes a problem.
Nobody has to remember to check. BookingPOS flags these on the screens your team already uses.
Unsigned waivers
On the booking, the call list and at check-in, by name.
Medical and swimming answers
A guest who said they’re not a confident swimmer is flagged before the trip, not after.
Money owing
Shown on every trip and every person, so it’s collected before they leave.
Missing cards and documents
A certification card with no photo yet.
Trips short of staff
Red on the roster when guests are booked and no guide or skipper is.
Trips short of numbers
“Pending: 4 more to run” until the minimum is reached, and one warning 48 hours out if it isn’t.
A head count that’s off
Stays open with who’s missing until a recount finds everyone, and needs a note why.
Offline changes that clashed
Shown to a manager to decide. Nothing done offline is ever lost.
And the rest of the day
Gift vouchers and passes
Sell them anywhere, spend them anywhere: online, at the counter or through an agent. Batches for Groupon-style deals.
Hire and servicing
Hire by the hour or day with a signed agreement, and track gear in for servicing.
Stock and stocktakes
Stock per shop, consignment, order-in for customers, and stocktakes on a tablet.
Inbox and emails
Customer emails in a shared inbox linked to their bookings, and automatic emails before and after each trip.
Shared vehicles and boats
Several activities on one bus or boat, linked options, cabins and rooms on multi-day trips, and minimum numbers to run.
Website builder
Build your site with your activities and vouchers on it, kept up to date from BookingPOS.
See it with your own trips
A 30-minute walkthrough on your activities and your busiest day, not a slide deck.
