Troubleshooting: Missing Operators

Occasionally when using the TMO, an agent may struggle to find the activity operator they require in the drop-down operator lists. This should never lead to the loss of a sale; as the ‘Manual Booking’ function allows an agent to generate a blank ticket and enter in activity and operator information to make the booking.

Before resorting to a ‘Manual Booking’ however, users should always try the following steps:

Step 1 - Consider Variations on the Name

Operators often go through a myriad of name changes, and may even be referred to by several different names at any one time, depending on who you speak to! As each operator can only be referred to by one name in the system; it may not always be the first thing the user looks for.

Some examples:

Known as ‘Queenstown’s Party Boat’, the Luanda Experience is listed under ‘L’, in RTBS. However, it could easily have been listed under ‘T’ - ‘The Luanda Experience’, or even ‘P’ or ‘Q’ for ‘Party Boat Queenstown’ or ‘Queenstown’s Party Boat’ respectively.

Similarly, it can come as a surprise to people that what everyone refers to as ‘The Shark Boat’ is actually called ‘Hydro Attack’, and Queenstown’s ‘Haunted House’ is located under ‘F’ - for Fear Factory.

Step 2 - Use the Categories

If variations on the operator name don’t yield success in the operator list; another course of action would be to attempt to find the operator through the category system. Narrowing a list of all the region’s activity operators down to just a handful that provide the activity in question could jog the user’s memory or reveal a newly updated operator name.

For more information on using the category system, see Categories.

Step 3 - Check other Regions

Sometimes users can become so accustomed to only booking activities in their own region that they don’t remember to switch regions when booking out-of-town activities. As a general rule, activity operators will be listed in every region that they offer activities in, PLUS any regions that they offer transport pickups from.

Therefore; most Akaroa day tours will be listed in both Akaroa and Christchurch, and several Canterbury ski fields will show in Christchurch, despite being over 100km away from the city.

Conversely, although Wanaka and Queenstown are located less than 70km apart, only a handful of activities offer transport between the two towns and so an agent from one booking activities in the other, will need to switch between the two region lists. 

Step 4 - Manual Booking

If the above steps don't succeed in finding the required operator, a Manual Booking can be used to create a ticket for any activity and operator.

The ticket screen for a manual booking is essentially the same as for a regular booking, except that the Operator and Activity fields at the top which are usually completed automatically by the system are left blank, and must be completed by the user.

In the absence of any product pricing information, the user will also have to enter the total price of the booking. The ‘Notes’ field should be used to explain the unit price, type, and number of units sold.

For a more detailed explanation of Manual Bookings, see Manual Bookings & Referral Vouchers.