Create Group Block (V2 Groups) in EventKey

There are two ways to add Group Blocks to your event in the EventKey Sales & Catering System. This section covers the first method, which integrates block creation directly into your initial sales workflow to ensure your room inventory is secured from the very beginning.

Method 1: During the Event Proposal Creation Flow

Follow these steps to build a Group Block while simultaneously generating an event proposal:

1. Navigate the Proposal Steps: Begin creating your event proposal as usual, progressing through the initial setup screens.

2. Access the Group Blocks Step: Advance to Step 5: "Group Blocks" within the Event Proposal Creation flow.

3. Initiate the Block: Click the blue New Group Block button located at the top right of the workspace.

💡 Note: Creating the block during this flow ensures that the tentative room inventory is linked directly to the proposal document sent to your client.

Step 1: Basic Data

The first phase of creating a Group Block (v2) requires establishing the foundational parameters of the booking. This data forms the core profile that will eventually sync with your PMS.

Required Actions & Field Definitions

To complete the Basic Data setup, fill out the following primary fields on the initial screen:

⚠️ Important: Required Fields are indicated with a red dot 🔴

1a. Stay Dates & Extensions

• 🔴 Arrival Date & Departure Date: Enter the applicable check-in and check-out dates for the core group block.

• Elastic Block: Toggle this ON if the group is allowed to book above the contracted and authorized room counts (provided the hotel has general house availability).

  💡 Note: This feature is enterprise-dependent and may not be utilized or visible for every organization.

• Shoulder Start & End Dates: Use these fields to select dates immediately preceding the check-in date or following the check-out date. This extends the booking window, allowing guests to access group rates if they arrive early or stay late.

1b. Cut-Off Type Configurations

The Cut-Off Type defines how and when unsold rooms held in the block are automatically released back into the hotel's general inventory. Select one of the following options from the dropdown menu:

• Fixed Cut Off: Sets a single, specific calendar date when all remaining unsold rooms are released back to general inventory simultaneously. Choosing this option requires you to fill out the mandatory 🔴 Group Cut-Off Date field.

• Rolling Cut Off: Allows for a flexible, gradual release of unreserved rooms. The system automatically releases unreserved rooms day-by-day as the night audit runs, based on your specified window. Choosing this option requires you to fill out the mandatory 🔴 Days Prior field to dictate how many days before arrival the release triggers.

• No Cut Off: Provides maximum flexibility by removing any automated release rules. Unreserved rooms remain blocked until the group's arrival date or until a staff member manually releases them. No additional fields are required for this selection.

📑 Rolling Cut-Off Example: With a 10-day rolling cut-off for a group arriving January 19:

• The night audit on January 9 releases unsold rooms for January 19.

• The night audit on January 10 releases unsold rooms for January 20.

• The night audit on January 11 releases unsold rooms for January 21, continuing day-by-day.

After setting up your stay dates and cut-off rules, scroll down to configure the booking source, restrictions, financial policies, and tracking metrics for the group block.

1c. Rate, Source, & Pickup Channels

• 🔴 Rate Plan: Select the applicable group rate plan from the dropdown menu to link specific pricing to this block.

• 🔴 Source: Choose the booking source from the dropdown menu to track how the business was acquired.

• 🔴 Pickup Restriction: Define how guests can reserve rooms against this block's inventory by selecting one of the following:

  • Restrict to PMS Only: Group reservations can only be made directly through the Property Management System (PMS) by hotel staff.

  • Open to All Channels: Group reservations can be made via any authorized booking channel.

1d. Market Segments

Use these fields to ensure accurate corporate and local revenue tracking:

• Corporate Market Segment: Select the corporate-level classification for tracking.

• Local Market Segment: Select the property-specific classification.

  📊 Note: Selecting a local market segment ensures the group’s production data properly populates your Local Market Segment Reports.

1e. Deposit Policies

The system allows you to configure automated financial rules to secure the block. You can add up to three separate deposit policies per block by defining the following criteria:

• Start From: Defines the anchor event for the policy (e.g., Start Date of the group).

• Rule Type: Defines the timing mechanism, specifying how many days prior to the anchor event the deposit is due.

• Value Type: Defines the format of the deposit amount (e.g., Fixed Amount or Percentage).

📑 Deposit Example: To require a $100 deposit two weeks out, configure the policy to collect a Fixed Amount of $100 exactly 14 days prior to the Start Date of the group master.

⚠️ System Integration Note: If your property is connected to a central guest reservation system, updates are automatically synced. This will activate the deposit requirement and overwrite any previous manual values in the system.

1f. Commission & Block Status

• Commissionable: Toggle this flag to ON if this group block is subject to travel agent or third-party commissions. Leave it OFF if net rates apply.

• 🔴 Group Status: Select the current lifecycle stage of the booking. This setting directly affects your room inventory:

1. Prospect Group: This status does not deduct or hold rooms from the hotel's general inventory, and guests cannot make individual reservations against it.

2. Tentative Group: This status blocks and holds rooms from the hotel's general inventory, but guests cannot book individual reservations yet.

3. Definite Group: This status blocks and holds rooms from the hotel's general inventory, and guests can actively book individual reservations.

4. Schedule Convert to Sale: This field becomes editable only when the group status is set to Tentative. Enter a target date here to serve as a system reminder for when the group must either be converted to Definite or canceled.

Reviewing the Summary Sidebar

Throughout the creation process—from Step 1 through Step 5—the Group Summary Details sidebar on the right side of the screen will dynamically update. Use this pane to verify your progress, check configured room types, and ensure that your Stay Details (such as the selected Rate Plan and Source) are accurate before advancing.

Once all required fields in this section are complete, click the navigation buttons at the bottom of the window to proceed to Step 2: Inventory & Pricing.

Step 2: Inventory & Pricing

After establishing your basic data, you will define how your room rates are structured, choose your contracted room types, and allocate your inventory for the block.

2a. Selecting the Pricing Method

The system allows you to choose how rates are calculated based on your property's commercial strategy. Select one of the two pricing methods:

• By Product (Default): Sets group rates based strictly on specific room types, completely independent of the number of guests staying in the room.

  • Extra Person Charge: When using this method, you can input a flat fee to be added to the base price if additional guests occupy the room.

• By Occupancy: Sets rates dynamically based on both the room type and the specific combination of guests (e.g., Adults vs. Children) within each date range.

  • Rates must be configured for each individual occupancy breakdown (e.g., 1 Adult, 2 Adults, Child, etc.).

2b. Allocating Room Types & Allotments

Select the room types required for the group block from the available inventory checklist, then define their constraints:

• 🔴 Contracted Rooms: The maximum number of rooms the group is allowed to book, representing the quantity requested in the client's contract.

  💡 Note: The contracted amount is for tracking and contract compliance; it does not reduce your hotel’s live inventory.

• 🔴 Authorized Rooms: The actual number of rooms confirmed and dedicated to the group block. This is the specific quantity that will be instantly removed from general house inventory and held exclusively for group pickup.

• 🔴 Price per Night: Input the baseline nightly rate for the selected room types.

🛠️ Efficiency Tip: You can select multiple room types simultaneously to apply identical allotments and pricing across them at once, or configure each room type individually to support tiered pricing. Click Apply to save your distribution.

2c. Handling Unselected Room Types

• Unselected Room Types: This section displays the remaining room inventories not explicitly included in the active block. Enter a baseline room rate for these types to ensure a fallback rate exists if the block parameters scale or change during the reservation lifecycle.

Step 2 Alternative: Inventory & Pricing via the "By Occupancy" Method

If your property utilizes the By Occupancy pricing structure instead of the default By Product method, follow these steps to configure your room counts and tiered guest pricing.

2a. Allocating Room Types & Allotments

Select the room types required for the group block from the available inventory checklist, then define their constraints:

• 🔴 Contracted Rooms: Enter the maximum number of rooms requested in the client's contract for tracking and compliance purposes. This count does not reduce your hotel’s live inventory.

• 🔴 Authorized Rooms: Enter the actual number of rooms confirmed and dedicated to the group block. These rooms are instantly removed from general house inventory and held exclusively for group pickup.

2b. Setting Occupancy-Based Rates

Unlike the flat-rate product method, you must define specific pricing for each individual guest configuration within the selected room types:

• Occupancy Tiers: Input the distinct nightly rates for each guest breakdown (e.g., 1 Adult, 2 Adults, 3 Adults, etc.).

• Child Rate: Set the specific nightly fee applied when a child is added to the room allocation.

• Extra Adult: Define a fallback flat fee that automatically applies to any selected room type if an adult count is booked that exceeds your explicitly defined occupancy tiers.

📑 Occupancy Pricing Example: For a standard double room, your tiered pricing grid might look like this:

• 1 Adult: $200

• 2 Adults: $215

• 3 Adults: $230

• Child: $210

Once your inventory counts and occupancy rates are entered, click Apply to save and distribute the matrix.

2c. Handling Unselected Room Types

• Unselected Room Types: This section displays the remaining room inventories not explicitly included in the active block.

  ⚠️ Important: Occupancy-based pricing rules do not apply to unselected room types. You must enter a single, flat baseline rate for these room types to serve as a fallback if they are added to the block later.

Once all inventory counts and tiered rates are successfully applied, click the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen to advance to Step 3: Inventory & Pricing Overview.

Step 3: Inventory & Pricing Overview

The Inventory & Pricing Overview screen acts as your master verification dashboard. Before moving forward, use this page to audit your daily room allocations, cross-reference house availability, and review your pricing structures.

3a. High-Level Block Summary

The primary information card at the top of the screen provides a consolidated, real-time matrix of your property's total inventory metrics across the entire date range of the block:

• Total Contracted: The cumulative number of rooms requested by the client's contract.

• Total Authorized: The cumulative number of confirmed rooms currently carved out of general inventory and held exclusively for this block.

• Group Sold: The number of rooms within the block that have already been picked up or reserved by individual group members.

• Group Available: The remaining balance of rooms left in the block that are still open for group pickup (calculated as: $\text{Authorized} - \text{Group Sold}$).

• Total House Available: The total number of unreserved rooms remaining in the hotel's general inventory (outside of this specific group block).

3b. Selected Room Types Breakdown

Directly below the summary card, your explicitly selected room types are listed first. Click on any individual room type row to expand its detailed nested view, which displays:

• Daily Inventory Tally: Day-by-day metrics for Contracted, Authorized, Group Sold, Group Available, and House Available rooms.

• Group Room Rate Price: The configured nightly rate assigned to that specific room type (either flat or occupancy-tiered, depending on your Step 2 selections).

3c. Unselected Room Types Breakdown

Scroll to the bottom of the page to review the Unselected Room Types section. This area displays the property’s remaining room types that were left out of the active block setup.

🔍 What to look for: Unselected room types will automatically display a value of 0 for Contracted, Authorized, and Picked Up (Sold) counts. However, they will display the baseline fallback Room Rate you assigned to them during Step 2. Verify that this fallback price is correct in case these room types need to be utilized later.

Once you have verified that all figures, rates, and inventory counts are accurate, click the blue NEXT button at the bottom right of the screen to advance to Step 4: Guarantee Information.

Step 4: Guarantee Information Screen

In this step, you will select the Billing Type for the group block. This determines who is responsible for which charges—the group or the individual guests.

Use the Billing Type dropdown menu to select one of the following options:

Custom Billing

Allows for a combination of charges split between the group and the guest.
Example: The group pays for Room Accommodations and Parking, while the guest is responsible for all other charges.

Full Coverage

The group is responsible for all charges, including accommodations, incidentals, and any additional services.

Individual Billing

Each guest is responsible for all charges, with no charges billed to the group.

Room Coverage Only

The group pays for Room Accommodations only. Guests are responsible for all other charges (e.g., meals, parking, incidentals).

📌 Note: Once the group block is created and reservations are made, you can manage or override the billing type for individual reservations within the PMS, if needed.

When finished, click the blue “Next” button to continue.

Step 5: Contact Information Screen

In this step, you’ll enter the final group details before creating the block in the PMS.

5a. Group Contact Information

The Group Contact is automatically populated based on the Booker or Contact selected during Step 2 of the event setup.
This person will serve as the primary contact for the Group Block.

📌 No additional action is required. You can change this information once the block is created in the PMS.

5b. Enter the Group Block Name

Enter the Group Block Name — this is the name guests will reference when calling to make a reservation (e.g., "Smith Wedding Block", "ABC Corporation Conference").

5c. Enter or Confirm the Group Code

• Enter a Group Code, which serves as the unique identifier for the group block.

📌 Important Notes:

• Depending on your CRS integration, the Group Code may be auto-generated.

• In some systems, this code is used for online booking (e.g., via a brand website).

• If your CRS does not use or auto-generate a Group Code, you can enter any custom code that helps you easily identify the group in the PMS.

5d. Create the Group Block

Once all information has been entered, click the blue “Create” button.

This action will write the Group Block to the PMS, completing the setup process.

Step 6: Review Screen

The Group Block has now been successfully created in the PMS.

On the Review Screen, you’ll see a summary of the key details related to the group block, including:

• Group Name

• Stay Dates

• Billing Type

🔄 If Changes Are Needed

If you need to start over for any reason, you can click the red “Cancel and Create New Group Block” button to discard the current block and begin a new one.

⚠️ Use this option only if you need to fully reset the group block setup. You can make edits from the PMS now that the block is created.

✅ Continue Event Setup

In most cases, you’ll simply click the blue “Next” button to continue building the rest of your Event.

Method 2: Post Event Creation

To begin, navigate to the Dashboard and use the Search box to locate the event.

Enter the full or partial Event Name into the search field. The system will display a list of matching events, or, if there is an exact match, it will appear directly.

Once you’ve identified the correct event, simply click on the event name to open it.

To create a new group block associated with an event:

1. Navigate to the Event Record (Reservation) screen.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen.

3. Click on the “Group Blocks” section

4. Click on the “New Group Block” button

⚠️ Next: To ensure accurate setup and a successful PMS sync, follow the Method 1 steps above sequentially, beginning with Step 1: Basic Data from this point forward.