You can manually match roommates or let the system match based on preferences by going to Plan > Accommodation > Roommates.

Roommate Overview and Auto-Match

The Auto-Match Roommate page (Plan > Accommodation > Roommates > Auto-Match) contains three sections: Summary, Auto-Match, and Match Preferences.

• Summary: contains a non-editable table with these rows:
  • Shared Rooms (matched) – Total number of Registrants who are sharing a room and have a roommate
  • Shared Rooms (not matched) – Total number of Registrants who are sharing a room but don't have a roommate
  • Shared Rooms (match pending) – Total number of Registrants who are sharing a room and have a pending roommate assignment. This row only shows if the Pending tab is visible (i.e., there are one or more matches pending.)
  • Single Rooms (not shared) – Total number of Registrants with a room reservation who are not sharing
  • No Room Needed – Total number of Registrants who do not need a room
  • Total Complete Registrations – Total of all above. Note that this total excludes Pending, Denied, and Cancelled Registrations.
  • Note: The system calculates the values for each row based on each Complete Registration's "Primary Room Reservation", which is defined as the first non-cancelled room reservation in each Registration record, based on date created (i.e., the same room reservation that is required to have Guest 1 Name = Registrant Name).

• Auto-Match: Enables planners to initiate Certain's automatic roommate matching feature.
  • Re-do auto-match – If this checkbox option is selected and the Auto-Match button is clicked, all existing matches are broken and all registrants are re-matched. The checkbox default option is "not-selected."
  • Auto-Match Button – Clicking the AUTO-MATCH button automatically matches roommates based on the preferences in the Roommate Matching Preferences section. The processing page is displayed while the auto-match completes. The spinning arrow icon indicates that the process is running. This page also lists the match criteria for the Event.
    • After the Auto-Match is finished processing, the Information icon appears in the upper right corner of the page. When the user clicks this icon, the message "Roommate matching has completed" displays.

• Roommate Matching Preferences: Here, you can set the criteria for the Roommate selection process.
  • Registrant can select roommate from a drop-down list: If selected, Forms will display a drop-down list of roommates.
  • Registrant can provide a roommate request: If selected, Forms will display a text box in which the Registrant can enter a roommate name, and the Matched Roommates page will display a Roommate Request column in its list of matches.
  • Priority / Data Fields / Conditions: The preferences set here will restrict which attendees can be matched to each other. You can use up to 6 data fields, each with conditions of "Equal" (i.e., values must be the same for a match to be made) or "Not Equal" (i.e. the values must be different).
    • For example, planners commonly wish to match Registrants' gender and smoking preferences, but they may wish to set additional criteria, such as stipulating that roommates must be from the same organization.
    • Existing data fields for these preferences are organized in groups: Standard Registration Fields, Standard Profile Fields, Roommate Data Fields, Custom Profile Data Fields, and Custom Registration Data Fields.
  • Match Required: 
    • If checked, the values of this field are required to match for all roommates sharing a single room.
    • If unchecked, the system will try to match the values of this field for all roommates in the room, but if it cannot match these values, it will still put the roommates together, rather than having two people in two separate rooms.

Tip for Manually Matching Roommates

To match two or more specific people to a room (especially useful when you have 250 or more unmatched Registrants):

1. Run Auto-Match first. This will reduce the number of people in the No Match tab.

2. Find the desired roommates in the Matched tab, and break their existing Auto-Match.

3. Using the No Match tab, pair the desired roommates together.

Pending Roommates

Note: The Pending page (Plan > Accommodation > Pending) only displays if the "Registrants can select roommate from a drop-down list" or "Registrants can provide a roommate request" option is selected on the Plan > Accommodation > Roommates page.

This page lists the roommate pairs that are pending approval by the planner. The pairs are created when (1) a Registrant successfully enters another Registrant's registration code on the Form, or (2) a Registrant selects another Registrant from the drop-down list on the Form.

These columns are included in the table:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Hotel
• Room Type
• Arrival
• Departure
• Special Requests
• Any data fields that have been selected as matching preferences on the Plan > Accommodation > Roommates page are also listed here, as columns.

There are two links at the top of the Pending page:

• Approve All: Click to approve all pending roommate pairs and move them to the Matched tab.
• Decline All: Click to delete the requested roommate data from all room reservations in the Event.
  • Note: This includes not just those on this Pending page, but also those on the Matched and No Match pages.
    

All column names have Ascending and Descending sort options which will sort the data in that column. The Rolodex works on the currently selected column.

Matched Roommates

The Matched page (Plan > Accommodation > Matched) contains a list of all matched roommate pairs (room reservations that are being shared and that have been matched).

These include roommates that were manually matched by the planner and those that were matched by the Auto-Match feature on the Roommates page. Registrants that appear on this tab do not appear on the Pending or Unmatched tabs.

These columns are included in the table:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Hotel
• Room Type
• Arrival
• Departure
• Special Requests
• Any data fields that have been selected as matching preferences on the Plan > Accommodation > Roommates page are also be listed here as columns.
• If the "Registrants can provide a roommate request" option was selected on the Roommates page, the Roommate Request column is also displayed.

All column names have Ascending and Descending sort options which sort the data by that column. In addition, the Last Name column links to that Registrant's Accommodation page so that the planner can make changes to their room reservation details, if necessary.

The Rolodex feature works on the currently selected column.

"No Match" (Unmatched) Roommates

• Roommates to Match: When the No Match page (Plan > Accommodation > No Match) is first displayed, this section is empty. When a check box in the Match column is clicked in the Available for Matching section, the roommate is added to the Roommates to Match section.
  • All roommates are listed in a single table, with a Match button in the Match column. When this button is clicked, the roommates are matched and moved to the Matched tab.
• Available for Matching: The columns included in the table are:
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Hotel
  • Room Type
  • Arrival
  • Departure
  • Any data fields that have been selected as matching preferences on the Event > Accommodation page are also included in the columns.
  • If the "Registrants can provide a roommate request" option was selected on the Event > Accommodation page, the "Roommate Request" column is also displayed.

When the user clicks the "Match" button in the Roommates to Match section, the system enforces the matching rules that were defined on the Event > Accommodation page. If a potential match breaks a rule, a warning displays. The User is able to over-ride and force the match, if needed.

The system enforces this rule at all times: Registrants must be in same hotel and room type to be matched. In other words, the planner cannot match someone in Hotel A with someone in Hotel B or someone in Room Type A and someone in Room Type B.

All column names have Ascending and Descending sort options which will sort the data in that column. The Rolodex feature works on the currently selected column.

Each Registrant's last name is hyperlinked. When clicked, the User is taken to the Accommodation page for that Registrant, so that the planner can edit their room reservation as necessary.