How can I upload a Rooming List into the MCP to create reservations? (Video)

How can I upload a Rooming List into the MCP to create reservations? (Video)




Preparing your Import

The Rooming List Import tool is now more flexible, accepting any Excel, CSV, and Open Document spreadsheet file as a rooming list with the functionality to choose which columns in your spreadsheet contain certain pieces of reservation data.

Prior to data import from this spreadsheet, the following must be ensured:
  • Event must be enabled
  • Hotel must be added to event as an event hotel. (Sub-blocks set up are optional)
  • Inventory must be loaded for the rooms that will be used in the spreadsheet. If you do not have available inventory for the reservations you are adding, the upload will fail
  • If making multiple reservations for the same contact information, copy and paste spreadsheet row, then modify room and guest information as needed 
  • There cannot be blank rows between the records in the spreadsheet, or any spaces before the first or after the last character of text in each field. Spaces between words in the name of a city or country, such as “United States”, are okay
  • All information is correct and in the appropriate format, as otherwise the document upload will fail. Specific line errors will appear to indicate what needs to be corrected 

The system does require that certain pieces are provided such as check-in dates and payment methods, shown in the list displayed at the top of the "Import Rooming Lists" page. It is recommended that you download the Rooming List Template to help with formatting all the required information correctly. For data in the spreadsheet, we also provide a Cheat Sheet to help you out - more on the Cheat Sheet at the end of the article.



When you upload your completed rooming list, The Master Control Panel will attempt to automatically detect your spreadsheet's columns based on their titles. If successful, the system will pre-select the correct reservation data type in each of the according drop-downs. If you use the rooming list template straight from the MCP, the system will know exactly what each of the columns contain.

Please note when importing a rooming list, the default behaviour is to send an acknowledgement email to the reservations' contacts.  If you don't want an email acknowledgement to send, please toggle this box. If you’re using your own rooming list format, and the first row is not a header row with column names, be sure to toggle the option labelled “First row of list is a header” as well.



Please review the data to ensure that the system has mapped the columns properly.  If you find an error, you can update the mapping by clicking on the drop-down menu, and choosing the appropriate field.



The “Process Rooming List” button will remain unavailable until all the required fields have been mapped properly. When clicked, the system will do a check to ensure that all required fields are completed.

But what happens if the spreadsheet's information is incorrect?

Partial Rooming List Imports

If your Rooming List contains any inaccuracies in its content, such as an incorrect credit card number, a night that's sold-out of inventory, a non-existent ID of some kind, etc, the system will process all rooms where the data is correct, and will provide you the ability to correct the improper records right from within the Meetingmax system. You won't be required to return to your spreadsheet.

Let's take a quick tour of the important parts of the interface!



In the "Needs Fixing" tab, the system provides a data table displaying all rooms which contained an erroneous cell in your rooming list. To the left of each record is an error icon. If you hover your mouse over the icon, you can get glimpse into what's wrong with the room. To the left of this icon is a toggle box, checking this will include the room when clicking on "Edit" or "Delete". Clicking "Delete" will simply delete all selected rooms from the partial import, meaning you'll need to upload them again if you want to retry those rooms. 

Clicking the "Edit" button is where the system enables you to fix the rooms right from within the system! You can edit every associated piece of data for each room that needs fixing.



Once you've made the necessary edits, you can either save the updates for just this room by clicking "Update", or you can save the updates and import the room again right away by clicking "Update & Import". You can also just delete the room and move on by clicking "Delete".



If you'd rather update your rooms separately and then import them all in one go, you can do that too. Once all errors have been corrected, you can click "Retry Import" to import the outstanding rooms.



Cheat Sheet

To help you with adding the various IDs from the system into your rooming list, we've created a little Cheat Sheet you can use!



Clicking on Cheat Sheet will bring up a box asking which Event, Hotel, and Sub-block it is you're looking for. This will populate an excel spreadsheet with the Event ID, Hotel ID and Room Type IDs needed!  No need to look in a bunch of different places



Rooming List

If you choose not to use the template provided to upload the reservations, the below bolded fields are required for your Excel. If you use the template the below list will still be of use providing information on where to get information from and required fields.

Field Descriptions:
Note: the lines bolded must be represented with a column and are required fields in your rooming list, the lines not bolded are optional and the import will be successful without these fields.
  • EventID: found in the cheat sheet.
  • HotelID: found in the cheat sheet.
  • SubBlockID: found on sub-blocks table or sub-block profile; if you include the Sub-block column, leave the cell blank for main block.
  • RoomTypeID: found in the cheat sheet.
  • CheckIn: format YYYY-MM-DD, i.e. 2017-05-18.
  • CheckOut: format YYYY-MM-DD, i.e. 2017-05-25.
    • Please note, the date will revert to written format once entered as the above and change of cell, this is for legibility.
  • SpecialRequest: optional, up to 500 characters.
  • Guest1_FirstName: up to 20 characters.
  • Guest1_LastName: up to 20 characters.
  • Guest1_ChildAge: numeric, if present the Guest 1 will indicate a child.
  • Guest1_Email: up to 100 characters.
  • Guest2_FirstName through Guest4_ChildAge are optional, and are used to further add guests to the room.
  • C_FirstName: up to 20 characters.
  • C_LastName: up to 20 characters.
  • C_Phone: up to 20 characters, with no dashes or symbols between numbers, i.e. 6048991069 and not (604) 899-1069.
  • C_Email: up to 100 characters.
    • All fields with 'C_' are for the contact person of the reservation, this may be one of/the only guest, or it may be a third party.
  • NoteToHotel: No limit!
  • AttendeeID: found on registration profile.
  • RegistrationEventID: found on registration profile.
    • The following applies to the payment method added to bookings. The system checks for at least one payment type to be filled out. If filling out CC information, all CC fields must be populated. If Payment Note or Purchase Order, just the according fields needs to be populated. If there are multiple payment types or no payment types entered for a record, the MCP will report an error.
  • CC_Email: up to 100 characters
  • C_Company: up to 20 characters
  • C_Address1: up to 100 characters
  • C_Address2: up to 100 characters
  • C_City: up to 20 characters
  • C_State: must be entered as they appear in State/Province drop-down in the system
  • C_ZIP: up to 15 characters
  • C_Country: must be entered as they appear in Country drop-down in the system
  • CC_Type: use only the following types: VISA, Master Card, American Express, Diners Club, and Discover
  • CC Number: up to 30 characters, with no dashes or symbols between numbers, i.e. 4444333322221111
  • CC_ExpMonth: choose between 1 through 12
  • CC_ExpYear: 4-digit year value
  • CC_NameOnCreditCard: up to 50 characters
  • PurchaseOrderNumber: up to 20 characters
  • PaymentNote: No limit!
    • As metioned above, at least one payment method needs to be supplied, Credit Card (cc), Purchase Order or Payment Note.