❓ FAQ - Hotel Sales Platform

What affects response time ?

Answer:

  1. Supplier Response Time: This refers to the time it takes for a supplier to provide their response to a request.
  2. Timeout Settings: Timeout settings can be configured at both the user/API level or for individual hotel search requests. These settings determine the maximum amount of time you are willing to wait for a supplier's response. If this time limit is reached, HSP will cease waiting and return a response to you.
  3. System Scale-Up: Currently, if you are operating within a shared cluster along with other small to medium-sized business clients. This means that any abuse or stress testing by a particular client within the shared cluster can result in slower response times for all clients sharing that cluster.
    You can set a lower Timeout setting or contact the supplier and ask to return a faster response.
    If you expect to have a high number of searches and would like to have your own dedicated cluster, it's doable, take into consideration it comes with costs .

I am trying to make a hotel booking request but I'm receiving the following error: "Book request does not match selected package - room 6b1ee20d-7545-4acb-9730-fa80813afd5a should contain 1 adults."

Answer: This error is returned when there is a mismatch between the package ID and the room ID.
When submitting a booking request, the most important fields are HotelID, LeadPaxRoomId, PackageID, and Allocation,
While LeadPaxRoomId and Allocation are the room ID from "GetPackages", and the package ID is simply the package ID from "GetPackages".
In order to solve this issue, make sure you're grabbing the correct Package ID and room ID of the same package.


Instead of CXL/NR there is a sign → ℹ️ , Why ?

Answer: The Cxl-Policy from supplier is missing some fields , so we don't trust fully on the policy.


Net vs Gross Supplier , what is the difference ?

Answer: Net - Can pay Cash. May also have a payment gateway of yours (CreditCardInternal).
Gross - Client/End customer sends CC in the Book-Request to supplier (CreditCardExternal).


I cannot book an Item.

Answer: You can book only items that returned in the last search results of the current session!
Check in the Log Viewer the Error message and the response from the Supplier (Supplier Book Response) - in most of the cases the Room is Sold-Out.



How does the Hotel Rules engine work ?

Answer: Root node has no rules :

  • Child node should be able to assign rules to his node.

Root node has defined rules :

  • Child node should inherit parent's rules
  • Child node can override existing rules:

As a guideline, all parent rules are checked for child node. Child node can:
Assign new rules (add to parent's existing)
Uncheck existing rules from parent.
If all rules match parent node, all rules are defined as inherited and not self-assigned.


Why the reservation is Canceled on Supplier side , but remains with status "OK" in Gimmonix ?

Answer: The best practice - is to cancel the segment in HSP side .
In case the reservation canceled on Supplier side - please initiate "Check Status" request to update the updated status .


New user can't see the "Book Hotels" / "Manage Orders" and etc. in the Back-Office .

Answer: Make sure that the specific user is assigned with the correct and relevant User Permissions .


Can we place a booking for a hotel with multiple rooms? if so, how does that work?

Answer: The handling of multi-room bookings depends on the type of suppliers involved.
When a search request for multiple rooms is made, the information is forwarded to all connected suppliers. However, only those suppliers that support multi-room bookings will receive the request.
For suppliers that support the combinatorial method, we combine and create packages based on the options provided.
For example, if a supplier offers a standard room and a superior room, we will suggest three different combinations:
Both rooms standard
Both rooms superior
One standard room and one superior room
Some suppliers provide predefined combinations of rooms.
In these cases, the returned package must be presented as-is.
For instance, if a supplier offers a package where one room is standard and the other is superior, this combination cannot be altered.
Rooms from different suppliers are not combined. Each room in a multi-room booking will be sourced from the same supplier to ensure consistency and avoid complications.


What is the difference between Cancellation & Hotel policy ?

Answer: Both are the same.


Can HSP provide a city mapping file that includes coordinates (longitude and latitude) along with the respective city names and codes?

Answer:To map cities effectively, clients should utilize a third-party tool for converting city names into their corresponding latitude and longitude coordinates. For example: Geocoding API overview
Or use the Location Service - Click here.


What is Commission / TotalProfit field in GetPakcges RS ?

Answer: "Commission" - in ‘Net’ contacts. (The commission the Client will get from the Supplier) .
"TotalProfit" - in ‘Gross’ / ‘Gross as Net’ contacts . (The Total profit the Client will get from Supplier).


What is the difference between 'OriginalPrice' and 'FinalPrice' ?

Answer: 'OriginalPrice' - what displayed to agent (before markup)
'FinalPrice' - what is displayed to the end customer → selling price (after markup).


What amount do we charge the end customer ?

Answer: “FinalPrice”.


Prices we received in our first search request become much higher at a later stage.

Answer: When initiating a search for rates from suppliers through HSP, the initial rates provided are often cached and not live. This caching is done by suppliers to reduce strain on their servers. When you proceed to book the rate, our system validates the price by fetching the actual live rate from the supplier. This can sometimes result in a higher price than the originally quoted cached rate. Consequently, you might encounter an error indicating that the rate is no longer accessible or that the price has been altered. The extent of this issue depends on how much the price has increased from the initial cached rate.


Why does the room continue to return in the search response although the room is not available.

Answer: The inventory is dynamic. Hence, it could be that the room was already booked by the time you have decided to book it. Also, please note - we are only sending the inventory that the suppliers respond to us without manipulation on the received data.
Please contact the Supplier and ask to check on their ends.


Why do I see less hotels through the API or EKK vs. the Supplier website/portal ?

Answer: HSP is loading and mapping Hotels from each Supplier on weekly basis,
Once the process of loading and mapping Hotels completed successfully Hotels are available to be searched and booked.
If you are searching Hotels by IDs - make sure that you loaded and mapped all Hotel IDs we recommend downloading Hotels on a weekly basis - via Mapping.Works lite.
Can be that the Supplier didn’t update the Inventory list that should be loaded by HSP. You have contacted the Supplier and verify they are providing the Hotels that you didn’t receive in the response.
Can be the Supplier is not providing his full inventory to HSP. You have contacted the Supplier and verify they are providing the Hotels that you didn’t receive in the response.
Check if you set a Timeout value that most of the Suppliers are not returning results, You can edit the Timeout value and check if you get more Hotels in the response.
For example, in the following image, a customer tried searching for a hotel in a 25Km radius, and couldn't find any results, that is due to the fact that the hotel is in fact over 60Km from the location he searched, make sure you examine the location you search for and the radius range.


Why in some cases, HSP adds a "A"s / Duplicates the last letter to the end of the pax name ?

Answer: It's important to note that in certain situations, appending the suffix "A" is necessary for a successful booking.
This might be required in cases where the passenger name is too short, or when dealing with duplicate names, such as when the same name is given to all allocations.