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FX Team: Blocking and Sweeping

A block is a preventive measure that removes booking access from our website. Our team also performs regular sweeps of venue calendars for sold out time slots and closure dates.

RELATED CARDS

Admin Quotidian: Available Tours Tool

FX + CX WORKFLOW FOR CONTEXT-INITIATED RESCHEDULES

C/AX MANAGERS & FX WORKFLOW FOR PROCESSING RESCHEDULES

When do we block?

While performing regular sweeps of venue calendars

    • Be sure to have the availability tour tool open so that you’re not checking on dates you’ve already blocked!
      • If you are checking a venue with multiple tours that have different ticket times, you should check the availability of all tours
    • No need to block dates within lead time
    • Make sure that the block is correctly in place to prevent bookings of any other tours that visit the venue

While fulfilling a sched walk

    • Inventory has been used up and the venue is sold out
    • A mandatory vendor is unable to provide a service
    • Rule of thumb: if you’re setting a reschedule task for tickets/vendors, you should already have blocked the tour!
    • Go a step further - if you’re blocking a time slot, this means that CX will be alerting clients that they’ll need to choose another option. We should be proactively checking at the very least the alternate ticket time (if there is one) to see if tix are available.
      • Ex: 2:30 Louvre tix are sold out. Check on 9:30 tix before blocking

Where do we block?

Venue level if:

  • The fulfillment issue affects all tours connected to the venue (if marked as mandatory)
    • Keep in mind you can use the train/boat venues for this as well!
  • The block is for partial or full day time slots
  • The block is for multiple days
  • Proceed with caution: Venue level blocks will also block any product that has the venue listed as mandatory, whether or not the tour is actually affected by the fulfillment issue.

Product level if:

  • The block only applies to that tour
  • The tour doesn’t have a mandatory venue
  • The block is for partial or full day time slots
  • The block is for one day
  • Note: When in doubt, a product level block is fine to use in any scenario. However, it’s important to ensure that you’ve blocked all related products that are affected by the fulfillment issue.
    • Related tours are listed on the Venue page and marked with non/mandatory tags

How do we block

If it's a large impact block, post in the regional channel in slack, tagging CX FX and Portfolio as an FYI.

Note: admin sometimes takes a bit to "speak" to the FE, so if there is a delay please keep an eye on it. If the block does not appear after an hour, there may be a bug. Please alert your teammates in our team channel.

Venue Level Blocks

  • Search for the applicable venue on the Venue page in admin
    • you can also get here through the product page venue tab!
  • You can enter through the ‘edit’ or ‘edit blocks’ button
    • ‘Edit’ leads you to the full venue page including venue info
    • ‘Edit Blocks’ leads you to the blocking view only
  • Add a ‘new venue block by clicking the blue plus sign button
    • Select the start date and time frame of the block
      • The end date will auto populate to match the start date, but can be modified
      • You MUST block for the schedule of the tour, not the timing of the tix
        • The start time of the tour is the block trigger.
        • The time frame of the block needs to cover the start times of all the applicable products.
        • Ex: If the Vatican is sold out of 8:30 am tix, we can block on the venue level from 7:30-8:45 am in order to not block the full day tours that utilize 1:30 pm tix and begin at 9:00 am.
        • Please note: if you are setting blocks for ticket sell outs, best practice is to set these one day at a time in order to allow for easy future adjustments as needed as well as data integrity.
    • If it’s a full day block, leave the time fields blank and check the ‘full day’ box
    • Select the reason for the block
    • Before hitting ‘save’, check for any overlapping scheduled walks that are in the system.
      • It’s good to review these and ensure that any bookings with pax are either already fulfilled or in the process of being rescheduled, and that guides are removed from 0 pax tours if appropriate.
      • Prescheduled tours should be double checked to ensure they are ‘marked unbookable’.
      • Note: # of tickets is connected to the # of uploads on the sched walk, not the actual # of tickets within those uploads.

  • Save!

Product Level Blocks

  • Operations > Tours
  • Search for the applicable tour product and go to the Availability tab
  • Under the Blockout Dates section, select the ‘add blockout date’ button
    • Select the date and time frame of the block
      • You MUST block for the schedule of the tour, not the timing of the tix
      • The start time of the tour is the block trigger.
      • Be sure to pay attention to the tour schedule and if there are multiple start times in one day.
    • If it’s a full day block, leave the time fields blank and check the ‘full day’ box
    • Select the reason for the block
    • Before hitting ‘save’, check for any overlapping scheduled walks that are in the system.
      • It’s good to review these and ensure that any bookings with pax are either already fulfilled or in the process of being rescheduled, and that guides are removed from 0 pax tours if appropriate.
      • Prescheduled tours should be double checked to ensure they are ‘marked unbookable’.
      • Note: # of tickets is connected to the # of uploads on the sched walk, not the actual # of tickets within those uploads.
    • Save!

ADDITIONAL INFO ON BLOCKS

  • The calendar view displays 3 months at a time, but is not clickable. Adjusting the months does not alter the list shown below the calendar.
    • Any blocks are noted by a dark red dot
    • Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 3.14.08 PM.png
  • Blocks are listed in descending order by farthest date.
  • Clicking the 'pencil' icon will allow you to edit any future blocks, and view the overlapping sched walks
    • We cannot edit/remove past blocks, but are still able to click into this view for the overlapping sched walks
  • Expired date blocks are located under the 'Past' tab by year.
  • On both the venue and product level we are able to filter for specific blocks views. Utilizing the filters shown below, we can search by time/date frame and block reason.
  • Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 3.12.16 PM.png

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