Tutorial: How to tell Planyo when my resources are available for rental (3 / 4)
If availability of a resource depends on the availability of other resources, planyo also lets you set up dependencies using the packages feature.
The first type of dependency is between different resources. You can set this up by creating a new package-type resource or by converting an existing resource into a package. This is often used when you have a resource like a conference hall which is divided into two parts. This means that a customer can reserve the entire hall or just a part of it. If one part is reserved, the other one can still be reserved by another customer. In this example, you’d set up two normal resources: part A and part B, and the hall as a package (which includes both A and B). Please note that packages also let you set the quantity. You can tell planyo how many units of a resource are made unavailable by reserving a package.
There's also a more advanced type of package, called flexible package. A flexible package lets you specify multiple groups of similar resources. When the package is reserved, only ONE of the resources from each group is reserved. This way you can handle reservations of multiple items at once, such as a tennis lesson where both one of the instructors must be reserved as well as the tennis court.
Except for reducing availability of resources included in the package, packages are normal resources. You can define their reservation fields, additional products, custom email messages etc. To add a package, go to
Site settings or click on the
Resources tab. Here you'll find a button which can be used to add a new package resource.
See
the FAQ question 232 to read a detailed explanation of packages including real-life examples.