Introducing: Parent Child Reservations

Introduction

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At GoMeddo, we're always looking for ways to innovate and improve our advanced scheduling solution with the objective of serving our customers main use cases. That's why we're excited to introduce our latest feature: Parent Child Reservations. This new feature was designed to help organisations streamline their booking and scheduling processes, making them more efficient and user-friendly, further adapting the tool to real life use cases. In this blog post, we'll walk you through what this feature is all about, why we developed it, and how it can benefit different industries such as Healthcare, Education, Travel & Hospitality and Non-Profit organisations.

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What is the Parent Child Reservations feature?

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The Parent Child Reservations feature allows you to create a parent reservation and then plan child reservations that automatically follow the main reservation's restrictions.
For example, organising a series of medical appointments: you book the main surgery (the parent reservation), and then you add specific pre-op consultations, operating room bookings, and post-op follow-ups (child reservations) for the patient. This tool helps break down complex scheduling into manageable parts, optimising planning and resource use.

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Why we developed this new feature

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We developed the Parent Child Reservations feature in response to the growing demand for more granular booking options that provided full visibility and control on the resources and locations needed. Many organisations struggle with basic scheduling tools that can't keep up with their needs, leading to inefficiencies and errors. By listening to customer feedback and analysing industry trends, we realised there was a significant gap that needed to be filled. Our goal was to create a solution that offers flexibility, visibility and precision, ensuring that even the most complex bookings are handled smoothly and efficiently.

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Industry Applications

Healthcare

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Healthcare providers face significant challenges in managing appointments, surgeries, and resource allocation. The Parent Child Reservations feature can revolutionise how hospitals and clinics schedule their services. For example, a main reservation can be made for a surgery, with sub-reservations for pre-op consultations, operating room bookings, and post-op follow-ups. This ensures that every step of the patient’s journey is meticulously planned and coordinated, reducing the risk of scheduling conflicts and improving patient care. Medical staff benefit from a streamlined workflow, allowing them to focus on delivering high-quality care whilst reducing time wasted with unnecessary booking of medical staff.

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A recent implementation in an eye surgery clinic, Betterview, had the objective of optimising the patient journey and the usage of staff and clinical rooms. Previously, a patient would occupy the time of a surgeon through the pre operative, operative and postoperative process, when the surgeon is only needed during the operative period, additionally, multiple rooms were occupied and restrained the clinics ability to increase the number of patients. GoMeddo aimed to break the procedure into optimal usage combinations of resources and rooms, this allowed for the clinic to optimally deploy staff, only needing the surgeon to be present in the operatory process, consequently optimising resource usage and providing the clinic an estimated 20% profit increase, per location.

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Education

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In educational institutions, managing room bookings and event schedules can be a complex task. The Parent Child Reservations feature simplifies this by allowing administrators to create a blueprint schedule for events, like a university sports day, and then add specific activities, such as individual games, practice sessions, or workshops, as child-reservations. Students can easily sign up for different activities, while administrators ensure that resources like sports equipment and venues are efficiently allocated. This reduces the administrative workload and prevents scheduling conflicts, offering a smoother, more organised experience for everyone involved.

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Travel & Hospitality

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The travel and hospitality industry thrives on efficient booking systems. With Parent Child Reservations, hotels, travel agencies, and tour operators can streamline their processes significantly. For instance, a hotel can use this feature to manage large events like conferences or weddings, creating a main reservation for the event and sub-reservations for individual rooms and activities such as break out sessions for corporate conferences and the lunch room for weddings. This ensures that all bookings are interconnected, reducing the risk of errors and enhancing customer experience. Travellers enjoy a seamless booking process, while staff benefit from reduced administrative tasks and improved resource management.

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Non-Profit

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Non-profit organisations often juggle multiple events, volunteer schedules, and resource allocations. The Parent Child Reservations feature can help streamline these processes by allowing non-profits to create main reservations for events like fundraisers or community services and then add specific tasks or volunteer shifts as sub-reservations. This ensures that all aspects of the event are coordinated and no details are overlooked. The result is a more organised and efficient operation, allowing non-profits to focus on their mission rather than administrative headaches.

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Benefits for organisations

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Regardless of the industry, the Parent Child Reservations feature offers numerous benefits. By centralising information and providing a single source of truth for bookings and scheduling, organisations can improve their efficiency and reduce the risk of errors. The ability to create interconnected reservations enhances operational control and ensures a seamless experience for customers and staff alike. This tool not only optimises resource use but also frees up valuable time for employees to focus on more important tasks.

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"Developing the Parent Child Reservations feature was an exciting challenge," says Luuk Koetsier, GoMeddos Product Manager. "We wanted to create a feature that would address real pain points faced by our customers. By allowing organisations to break down complex bookings into manageable parts, we've provided a solution that enhances efficiency and reduces staff downtime. We're thrilled to see how this feature will transform our customers' operations."

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Conclusion

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The Parent Child Reservations feature is a game-changer for organisations looking to optimise their booking and scheduling processes. By offering a flexible, efficient solution that can be tailored to various industries, GoMeddo continues to deliver on its promise of innovation and customer satisfaction.

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We encourage you to explore this new feature and see how it can benefit your organisation. For more information, check out our demo or contact us directly to learn more.