Setting up amenities

Before residents can reserve the pavilion or sign up for a gym slot, you need to tell HomeHerald what amenities exist. This article is the setup. Once it’s done, the booking system works.

What an amenity is

In HomeHerald, an amenity (also called an asset) is anything community-owned that residents reserve or use on a scheduled basis. Common examples:

• Clubhouse / community room
• Pool (especially if reservations are required)
• Gym / fitness room
• Pavilion or picnic area
• Tennis / pickleball / basketball courts
• Parking spots (guest parking, reserved spaces)
• Boat slips, RV storage, anything bookable

Amenities can be set up as bookable (residents reserve time slots) or link (informational, with operating hours and a way to direct residents elsewhere).

Don’t model these as Properties — properties are billable units like homes/lots. Amenities are shared community assets.

Where to set them up

Amenities (in the admin sidebar under Manage) → page header “Community Amenities”.

You’ll see a list of existing amenities with options to add or edit each.

Adding an amenity

When you create a new amenity, you’ll typically configure:

Field	What to enter
Name	What residents see — “Clubhouse,” “Pool,” “Pavilion A”
Description	Optional, shown on the booking page — capacity, what’s included, rules
Type	Bookable (residents reserve) or link (informational with hours)
Approval required?	Whether bookings need admin sign-off before confirming
Booking mode	Free / Payment required / Approval-required (these reflect the amenity’s billing flow)
Rental fee	Optional — see Rental fees and deposits
Cleaning deposit	Optional refundable hold

For link-type amenities (e.g., common areas with set hours but no reservation), you can include operating hours and seasonal info.

Examples — typical configurations

Clubhouse (bookable, requires approval)

A high-value, frequently-abused amenity. Worth a board review on each booking.

• Approval: Required
• Rental fee: $100
• Cleaning deposit: $200 refundable

Pool (bookable or info-only)

If you require reservations, set it as bookable with auto-approve. Lots of slots, low-stakes — residents would revolt if every swim required board sign-off.

If you don’t require reservations, set it as a link/info-only amenity with operating hours displayed.

Pavilion (party / event)

Mid-tier — often a small fee, sometimes deposit, sometimes approval depending on guest count.

Guest parking spot (bookable, auto-approve)

Low-stakes; auto-approve and let residents self-serve.

Blocking specific dates

If you need to block off dates for maintenance, holidays, or board events, the practical approach is:

• Create an admin-side booking that occupies the slot (“Maintenance — pool closure”)
• The system reserves the time and prevents resident bookings on those dates

There isn’t a separate “blackout dates” config — admin-side bookings are how you do this in practice.

Visibility

By default, every amenity is visible to all residents. The system supports configuring whether an amenity is shown or hidden — useful when an amenity is undergoing maintenance or being phased out.

When residents see “amenity unavailable”

A few causes:

• Already booked — the slot is reserved by another resident
• Outside operating hours — they’re trying to book a 6 AM slot for a pool that opens at 8
• Capacity reached — slot is full
• Approval still pending — they submitted a booking but it’s waiting on admin

Removing an amenity

If an amenity is no longer available (sold, demolished, permanently closed), remove it from the configured amenities list.

Don’t delete if there are past bookings tied to it — bookings linked to a removed amenity may cause display issues. Better to keep the amenity in the system but mark it as unavailable for new bookings.

Where to go next

• Approval workflows — for amenities that require admin sign-off
• Rental fees and deposits — money side of bookings
• ARC bookings — when bookings link to architectural review