Company admins can now classify their inventory using Types.
This will make it so that you can pull from a pool of the same type of item (e.g. bikes or kayaks) instead of having to deal with specific individual inventory items.
How this will help you:
When you have multiple inventories of the same type, you can create an add-on with that type of inventory attached to it (e.g. "bikes") instead of a specific piece of inventory (e.g. "red bike #2").
If you have a fleet of 20 bikes, instead of each one being attached to its own add-on and having 20 add-ons listed on the checkout page, you can have just one add-on listed and the quantity can be chosen. Then that quantity will be pulled from the pool of bikes and added to their booking.
Quick Terminology:
"Inventory": Inventory items are the pieces of gear/equipment you have. If you select a listing for the inventory item, that item will be required for that listing, and it must be available in order for that listing to be booked. Read more about inventory here.
"Add-ons": Add-ons with inventory attached are optional, chosen by the customer, and will not be displayed at check-out unless inventory of that type is available after accounting for inventory attached to bookings. Read more about add-ons here.
"Types": Types allow inventory used for add-ons to be pulled from a pool of the same type of inventory. Instead of each individual piece of inventory having its own add-on that is listed at checkout, this allows the customer to see just one add-on and adjust the quantity as needed. They also cut down on the admin work of creating a specific add-on per inventory item.
How to use it:
Create the Type (Inventory>Types>“Mountain Bike”>Save).
Next, add the Inventory Items (Inventory > Edit). Make a separate Inventory Item to account for every piece of gear/equipment that's available to use during an Adventure or to rent.
For example, if you have 10 mountain bikes available, make 10 separate entries. If you already have your inventory created, select the Type from the dropdown menu next to the inventory item.
So it’d be something like:
Entry #1:
Name: MTB 1
Identifier: Black
Type: Mountain Bike
Seats: 1
Listings: MTB-specific listings (Remember: If an inventory item is tied to a listing, that means it automatically comes with that listing. So, a guest wouldn't have to also select an add-on at checkout. Because of this, if you have only a certain number of inventory, they will default to booked tours before being available to select as an add-on at checkout.)
Entry #2:
Name: MTB 2
Identifier: Red
Type: Mountain Bike
Seats: 1
Listings: MTB-specific listings
And so on until you've made an entry for every piece of gear/equipment.
Then go to Payments > Add-Ons > New Add-On
Enter the name of the equipment/gear
Select the listings for which this is will be available
Enter a description
Enter the add-on price.
Select the Inventory Type.
Enter Quantity (this is the number of the gear/equipment someone will get when they choose the add-on at checkout. For this example, you'd enter 1 so your guest only gets one mountain bike when they select your add-on. Alternatively, if you entered '10,' and a customer selected this add-on, they would have 10 bikes registered to them to rent all at once.)
If you've already been using Inventory and Add-ons, and attaching them to listings, nothing has changed in that regard. Adding inventory is still a manual process.
This new addition makes it so you can assign a type to your inventory to use for add-ons, which you can then attach to a listing. Further, this prevents your customers from having to choose from a list of 10 bikes, and instead, they can just choose ‘bike’ and it’ll pull from your entire inventory.