Before deciding how to set up and enter a group's reservations in Tres, consider two key factors:
- Payments: Who will be responsible for paying for the trip?
- Visibility: Does each traveler need access to their own itinerary and trip statement?
Option A: Individual Travelers or Families
If each traveler or family needs their own itinerary or trip statement, we recommend:
- Creating a Personal Client Profile for each traveler, couple, or family.
- Create a single Trip for each client.
- Record all Reservations under that Trip.
- Using a Tag to associate all related profiles with the group.
This approach allows you to send individual trip statements while keeping everyone organized as part of the same group.
Option B: Groups Managed by a Leader or Organization
If a group leader or organization is handling all payments and the group only needs a single itinerary and trip statement, this is the simplest group structure to manage.
For these groups, we recommend:
- Creating a Corporate Client profile.
- Entering the group's name in the Company Name field.
- Creating a single Trip for the entire group.
- Record all Reservations under that Trip.
Using a Corporate Client makes it easy to view all related Trips, Travelers, and Payments in one location.
Associate existing Travelers—or create new ones—with the Corporate or Personal Client.
Entering Trips and Reservations for a Group
For all other group types, we recommend creating a template Trip that includes all possible reservations and trip details.
For example, if you're managing a cruise group, your template Trip might include reservations for:
- Each available cabin category
- Pre-cruise hotel stays
- Post-cruise hotel stays
- Shore excursions or optional activities
As travelers confirm their plans, simply duplicate the template Trip and update the reservations as needed for that traveler or booking.
Be sure to associate each duplicated Trip with the appropriate group Client.
Payments
Regardless of which type of group you are creating, document Payments in the trip.
Utilize Client Vouchers and Supplier Vouchers for the instances you need to hold funds before paying them out.
- If you receive a large payment from a Client, but the payment to the Supplier is not due, create a Client Voucher.
- If you need to pay the Supplier in advance, such as a deposit to hold group space, create a Supplier Voucher.
Using Tags
We strongly recommend creating a Tag for every group.
Apply the Tag to:
- Client profiles
- Trips
- Payments
Using Tags makes it much easier to search, filter, and report on all records associated with a particular group. Whenever you need a code or label that is specific to your agency, use Tags rather than creating additional custom fields.