Outlook

We probably don't need to explain what Microsoft Outlook is, as it's one of the most widely used calendar systems in the world. It's also part of Office 365. By i-Reserve in Outlook to a calendar of your choice, such as the calendar for reception, trainers, meeting rooms, or boats , all sorts of possibilities open up.

How does it work?

Customers who have made a reservation usually receive a calendar item via email, which they can add to their calendars immediately. You'll see the reservation immediately in the reservation system . But would you also like the reservation to appear in an Outlook calendar? No problem with an Outlook integration from i-Reserve .

Once you've created the connection, and a reservation is made, it's automatically added to a selected calendar. If there's a change to the reservation, i-Reserve will automatically send notifications to Outlook and update the calendar item. This way, you and your team are always up-to-date!

Most users and/or employees have a calendar on their phone and are reminded of appointments that way. This integration allows you to add calendar entries for users, such as a trainer who courses , or a reception desk at a venue that rents out rooms. The great thing about this is that they can also see their availability directly in the calendar. This way, their schedule is always with them, even when they're on the go.

Benefits of the Outlook integration

This integration offers many possibilities and makes working with i-Reserve much easier. We'd like to provide an overview of some of the benefits of integrating the i-Reserve reservation system with Outlook. By integrating the reservation system with Outlook, you can:

• Automatically track reservations and bookings
• Never worry about double booking or forgetting an important appointment again
• View availability in real time

What information is provided?

The integration seems straightforward enough, and it's a great way to get started. However, it offers some interesting possibilities for getting more out of your calendar.

In principle, all object, customer, and reservation fields can be used in either the title (subject) or the description (body). This allows for a combination of fields within the integration platform. i-Reserve can include all kinds of custom fields, which can be combined into a logical title. This can be done with abbreviations and formatting.

How to connect Outlook to the reservation system

Now that we've discussed the benefits and possibilities of connecting Outlook to the reservation system, let's look at how to do it.

The booking system's connection to Outlook is bidirectional. This means data can be sent in both directions. However, this isn't mandatory. A one-way connection is often sufficient. Has a reservation been made? Create a calendar item. Period.

But it's also possible that changes need to be made. Or that a calendar item is dragged from the calendar by the user to a different time. Is the reservation supposed to "move along" in that case? This is also possible with i-Reserve. By using the calendar ID in the external ID in the reservation, we link the calendar item to the reservation. A flow then has an extra step. An example:

What is being linked?

To ensure both systems work well together, they exchange data. The data being sent can be seen in the table below.

Want to know more?

Integrating Outlook with the i-Reserve reservation system is a great way to increase efficiency and prevent double bookings. Want to learn more about the Outlook integration or try our reservation system for 30 days ? Contact us.