Book and Cost Engineer Overnight Stays, Automatically
When a job needs an overnight stay, Build Concierge finds a hotel to your rules, sends the office a booking link and puts the cost straight on the job.
When a job needs an overnight stay, Build Concierge finds a suitable hotel to the rules you set, sends the back office a ready to book option, adds the cost to the job and updates the worksheet, all from a single answer on site.
The problem
Jobs that run late, or that sit a long way from base, often mean an engineer staying over. On its own that is fine. The friction is everything around it. The engineer calls the office. The office searches for a hotel near site, compares a few, checks the price is reasonable, books it, then remembers to note the cost somewhere so it makes it onto the invoice. If they are busy, it waits, and the engineer is left not knowing where they are staying.
None of it is difficult, but it eats time, and the small steps are the ones that get dropped. The cost gets forgotten and never reaches the invoice, so you carry it. The worksheet never gets updated, so the record is incomplete. And the back and forth of calls and texts to sort one hotel room is time neither the office nor the engineer should be spending.
What the automation does
- It starts from the worksheet. When a technician answers "yes" to needing an overnight stay on the job worksheet, the workflow kicks off automatically.
- It finds the location. It looks up the job in your job management system to get where the engineer is working.
- It searches for a hotel. It queries nearby hotels and picks the best match against the requirements you set, for example the cheapest four star option closest to site.
- It gets the booking link. It pulls the specific property details and the reservation link for that hotel.
- It notifies the office. It emails the back office with the hotel details and the link, ready to book for the engineer.
- It costs the job. It adds the hotel cost as a line item on the job, so it is captured for invoicing and reporting.
- It updates the worksheet. It writes the hotel name, link and cost back onto the job's worksheet, so everything is visible in one place.
Your rules, every time
The rules are yours. Set the star rating, the budget and how close to site it needs to be, and the workflow only ever returns options that fit. No manual hunting, no manual cost entry, no manual worksheet update.
What you get
- A ready to book stay the moment an engineer flags one, chosen to your rules
- The cost already on the job, so it always reaches the invoice
- The worksheet updated automatically, with everything in one place
- No back and forth calls between the office and the engineer
- No overpaying, because the search always respects your budget and standards
Ways to run it
Set your hotel standard.
Decide the star rating, price ceiling and proximity to site, and the workflow applies them every time.
Notify whoever books.
Send the ready to book option to the back office, a specific coordinator, or a shared mailbox, whatever suits your process.
Choose how the cost lands.
Add the stay as a standard line item so it flows into invoicing and reporting the way your other costs do.
Keep the engineer informed.
Optionally confirm the details back to the engineer so they know where they are staying without chasing the office.
What you need
- An overnight stay question on your job worksheet for the engineer to answer.
- Job locations available in your job management system, so the search knows where to look.
- Your hotel rules, so the workflow knows what a good option looks like.
The Build Concierge team sets the search rules up with you and tests them against real job locations before you go live.
Getting set up
- Add or confirm the overnight stay question on your worksheet and share your hotel rules.
- We support you in building the workflow, connect the hotel search and test it against real jobs.
- Switch it on. Most businesses are up and running within days.
Common Questions
The workflow does the searching, costing and admin and sends the office a ready to book link. A person completes the booking, so you keep control of the final click.
Yes. Star rating, budget and distance from site are all yours to set, and the workflow only returns options that meet them.
It lets the office know rather than booking something outside your rules, so a person can make the call.
The cost is added as a line item on the job automatically, so it is captured for invoicing and reporting without anyone keying it in.
Yes. It reads the job location from, and writes the cost and details back to, whichever system you use.
Ready to take the admin out of overnight stays?
Get in touch with the Build Concierge team and we’ll set it up around the way you work.
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