Events and tickets

Events (next to Courses) is for things anybody can come to — an open day, bonfire night, a family camp weekend. Give it a name, its day or days and times, where on site, how many people can come in all, and when booking closes (by default, when it starts).

Tickets are yours to name and price. Add as many types as you like — Adult, Child, Family, Under-5s — each with a price and how many of the event’s places one uses: 1 for a person, 4 for a family of four, 0 for anybody who doesn’t count against the limit. A type can have its own limit too (only 20 family tickets, say), and can be taken off sale without touching what’s been bought.

Holding the site. Tick the fields and buildings the event uses and they’re held for every day of it, so nobody can book them; anything already booked is listed instead of being double-booked.

The events page. Switch it on at the top of Events and share its link; your availability page links to it too. Put an event on sale and it appears there, with what’s left. People choose their tickets, give their name, email and phone and anything you should know, accept your terms if you publish any, and can join your mailing list. The places are checked as the order is made, so two people can’t both get the last ones.

Paying. Each event chooses. Pay when they book (needs Stripe or GoCardless connected on the Plan page): the buyer goes straight to paying by card or bank, and their places are held for 30 minutes while they do. Paid, the order is confirmed and they’re emailed that they’re booked; not paid in time, the order is released and the places go back on sale. A bank payment that’s still going through is never released, and money that arrives after a release still confirms the order — the event page flags it so you can check you have room. Reserve, pay later: the tickets are booked at once and the buyer pays from the link in their email by the day of the event, or on the gate. Either way each order is a booking, so it’s on Owed, gets chased like any other invoice, and can be credited or refunded from its booking. Free tickets have nothing to pay.

Checking people in at the gate. Make a check-in link on the event’s page and open it on a phone, or send it to whoever is on the gate — it needs no login. Search by name or booking reference and tap Arrived; if fewer came than booked, adjust the number. Everybody checked in is on Who’s on site, so the fire register counts them, until they’re checked out: one at a time with They’ve left, or all at once with Everybody has gone home at the end of the night. Nothing checks them out by itself — the register only shows what somebody recorded. Two phones on two gates catch up with each other every 20 seconds. Anybody who still has something to pay shows To pay with the amount, so the gate can collect it; record what’s taken against the booking afterwards. The link only works on the day of the event and never shows contact details; Make a new link or Turn off stops the old one.

The event’s page lists every order, what was bought, and — for whoever can see money — what’s been paid. Door list, to print gives the gate everyone booked, A to Z, with their reference, tickets, how many people that is, any note, a phone number and a box to tick as they arrive — and, for whoever can see money, what each still has to pay. Reports has an Events section with orders, tickets, people and takings for every event in the period. Cancelling an event cancels its orders and lets go of anything it held; refund anything already paid from each booking.

Message everybody with tickets. Under the orders, write a subject and a message and it goes by email to every buyer whose order holds places — not released or cancelled orders. It comes from your campsite’s name, replies come to you, and it isn’t marketing, so it goes whatever they’ve agreed to. Anybody who can take bookings can send one, and what’s been sent is listed with who sent it.

There’s a limit on how many emails can go in a day, shared with your booking confirmations and invoices. The button says how many are left today, and won’t send a message that would go over it, so a big event can’t stop an invoice going out. If it’s refused, send it the next day.