A second-grade class is booked for an outdoor garden tour on Thursday. The forecast says thunderstorms. The teacher calls Tuesday asking whether they can “just use the rain date,” and the person who answers the phone opens the group reservation in Altru and finds one date, one set of times, and nowhere obvious to put a backup.
That’s the core issue. As far as we know, Altru’s group sales module is built around a reservation that happens on a single scheduled date. It doesn’t have a dedicated “rain date” field or a built-in way to keep a second, contingent date attached to the same booking. If you’re unsure whether your version or configuration offers something we haven’t seen, test it in a sandbox or ask Blackbaud support before you build a process around it. Otherwise, the work comes down to choosing between two approaches and being consistent about it.
Option 1: Reschedule when the weather call is made
This is the simpler approach and works for most organizations. The group books one date. If weather cancels the visit, staff edit the existing reservation and move it to a new date and time, keeping the same constituent, the same itinerary, and the same payments and deposits.
Why it works well:
- One reservation means one record of revenue, one balance due, and one history. Nothing has to be reconciled later.
- Capacity is only held once, so you aren’t blocking slots on a backup day that most groups will never use.
- Deposits stay attached to the reservation that actually happens.
The catch: there’s no guarantee the group’s preferred backup date will still be open when they need it. In spring, when field trips stack up, popular days fill early. If that’s a real risk for you, look at Option 2 or a hybrid.
Option 2: Hold a backup reservation
Some sites, especially those with heavy school traffic and outdoor-only programs, create a second reservation for the rain date at booking time. It’s marked as tentative and linked to the primary one by a note or a shared reference in the name. If the primary date goes ahead, the backup is canceled. If weather hits, the primary is canceled and the backup is confirmed.
This guarantees capacity, but it costs you:
- Phantom capacity. Every backup hold blocks slots that other groups could have bought. Set a firm release deadline (for example, the backup is canceled automatically once the primary visit is completed) and assign someone to do it.
- Payment complexity. Keep all money on the primary reservation. If you have to move a deposit from a canceled primary to the backup, decide in advance how your finance team wants that handled, and confirm with them how it should show up in batches and revenue reports.
- Reporting noise. Tentative backup reservations can inflate expected attendance and group counts. Make sure anyone reading group sales reports knows how to exclude them.
A hybrid that works for many sites
Use Option 1 by default and reserve Option 2 for groups that truly need it: large school groups, outdoor programs with no indoor alternative, or dates that you know will sell out. That keeps backup holds rare enough to manage by hand.
Make the rain date findable
Whichever approach you pick, staff need to see at a glance that a group has an agreed backup date. Since there’s no native field for it, choose one consistent place to record it:
- A note on the group reservation using a standard format, such as “RAIN DATE: 5/14, 10:00 AM, confirmed with teacher.” A fixed prefix makes notes easy to scan.
- An attribute on the reservation or the organizer’s constituent record, if your setup supports attributes in that context. Attributes can be queried, which notes often can’t do as cleanly.
If you go the attribute route, build a query of upcoming group reservations that have a rain date recorded. On a stormy morning, that’s the list the group sales lead works from instead of opening each booking one at a time.
Decide the weather call before you need it
The software side is usually the easy part. Most rain-date trouble comes from unclear policy. Settle these questions and put the answers in your group confirmation letter:
- Who makes the call? Your organization, the group leader, or either one? Schools often have their own bus cancellation rules.
- By when? A fixed deadline (say, 7:00 AM the day of the visit) prevents half-arrived groups and staff waiting around.
- What happens to the deposit? Transfers to the new date, refunded, or held as credit for a set period.
- How many reschedules are allowed? One rain date per booking is a common limit. Beyond that, it’s treated as a cancellation.
- What if the visit can move indoors? If you have an indoor alternative, say so, so groups don’t assume a rain cancellation is automatic.
On the morning of a weather cancellation
- Pull your list of affected groups for the day.
- Contact each organizer using the phone number on file, not just email, since teachers rarely check email before the bus leaves.
- Reschedule or swap to the backup reservation in Altru while you’re on the phone, so the new date is confirmed in the same conversation.
- Update the note or attribute so it no longer shows a pending rain date.
- Send a fresh confirmation with the new date, time, and any changed details.
- Tell your guides, educators, and front desk which groups moved, so nobody waits at the entrance for a bus that isn’t coming.
Quick answers
Can I attach two dates to one group reservation in Altru?
Not that we’re aware of. Record the backup date in a note or attribute, or create a separate tentative reservation. Confirm in a sandbox if you want to be sure for your configuration.
Will rescheduling a reservation lose the deposit?
Editing the existing reservation’s date should keep its payments with it. Canceling and rebooking is where deposits get messy, so check with your finance lead before using that method.
