Understanding the new booking reference format

Created by Emily Campbell, Modified on Fri, 14 Aug at 8:49 AM by Emily Campbell

This is an experimental feature.

In short: BRM is introducing a new booking reference format. Once it's enabled for your store, new bookings get a reference like U26-4KQ7X9 instead of the familiar Jul0001-26 style. Existing bookings are never renumbered, and there's nothing for you to set up.

Why the format is changing

The classic reference format restarts its numbering every month and is only unique within a single store — many stores can have their own "Jul0001-26". The new references are unique across the entire BRM platform. That makes payment records, exports, integrations and support conversations unambiguous: quoting just the reference is now enough to identify a booking, with no risk of it matching a booking at another store.

How to read a new reference

A new reference looks like U26-4KQ7X9:

Part	Meaning
U	The platform region the booking belongs to — U for the US platform, E for the European platform.
26	The year the rental starts (same meaning as the -26 at the end of the old format).
4KQ7X9	Six characters that make the reference unique.

Two details make the new references easy to read out over the phone:

The letters I, L, O and U are never used in the six-character part. So a character that looks like a zero is always the digit 0, and one that could be a capital I or lowercase l is always the digit 1.
References are always displayed in capitals, but Back Office search finds them whichever case you type.

What stays the same

Existing bookings keep their current references forever. Nothing is renumbered, and both formats continue to work side by side.
Confirmation emails, booking links, receipts, reports and Back Office search all handle both formats.
Your customers don't need to do anything differently, and neither do you.

Anything to watch for?

When searching the Back Office for a new-format booking, use the full reference (e.g. U26-4KQ7X9). Partial shortcuts like typing jul1 to find Jul0001-26 apply to the classic format only.

When does my store switch over?

The new format is being enabled store by store. There is nothing to set up — once it's switched on for your store, new bookings simply start using the new format automatically. Please contact your account manager for further information.