Book Hotels (via UI)
The Hotels Module offers a comprehensive tool for searching and comparing multiple offers from various suppliers based on specific criteria. It also facilitates the booking of the most suitable option.
Moreover, the module provides advanced features to enhance the agency's capabilities, including the ability to increase revenue using Markup Limits, apply advanced filters to hotel offers, and make use of the Best Available & Biasing features. Customized Hotel Rules can be configured to meet specific requirements.
Input elements in the search box, such as the destination or point of interest (POI), are managed through Personalization screens. While both options are available, we recommend primarily using POI and considering Destination as a secondary choice, as it delivers better results. It's important to note that when conducting a POI search, the radius provided with the POI will impact the search results, and you won't be able to adjust it from the search results screen. For instance, if you set a 2km radius around London Bridge, you won't be able to expand it to encompass all of London; the optimal results are achieved within a 20-25km range. Additionally, you can apply filters to refine your search, such as pre-filtering "on request rooms" and toggling the display of POIs on the map. Star rating ranges can also be specified.
The system allows searching for up to 4 rooms, with a maximum of 4 passengers per room, which includes infants and children as passengers. To ensure a smooth check-in process and to obtain accurate rates and room availability, it's crucial to provide the correct residency information and specify the ages of children, as these parameters significantly influence the results.
Search Screen
Define your preferred Language
Select your preferred language from the 'Locale' dropdown : (Click for list of supported languages)
Search Hotels results - Map View
Search results page will give you a working dashboard, where you can sort, filter, change views, compare, generate proposals, check availability and cancellation policies.
Many of default settings, display preferences and other parameters can be preconfigured in UI Personalization section.
Search results sorting
You can sort results by any of the above parameters .
- Sort by distance - will sort by POI center and hotel’s distances from that point.
- Sort by recommended - will sort by promoted hotels and popular properties.
New Search Hotel
You can make a new search from the same tab by clicking on the Search icon.
This will reset the current search.
Search Hotels - Filters
The filters are available in the Upper section as well as a side bar on the left side. The reason for upper filters being present is the fact that vertical toolbar (filters) can be hidden using personalization settings.
The platform allows you to filter by basically any possible parameters returned from search results:
- Hotel name - Free text input, try to use general and NOT exact names. For example if you input Hilton Doubletree or Doubletree Hilton - you WILL get 2 different results (or no results at all). Filter by typing Hilton OR Doubletree and combine with address filter if needed.
- Hotel address - Free text input, try to use general and NOT exact addresses. For example if you need a hotel on 2457 Ocean dr. Miami Beach - try inputting just 2457
- Point of interest - If you didn’t search from main page using POI you can use this filter to zoom in on specific area within the displayed results:
- Price range, Star rating, TripAdvisor rating (when available to you) - are pretty straightforward fields.
In general section of Room filters you can:- Filter out the On request hotels (if such are allowed to returned to the user by configuring it in User settings)
- Filter to display Refundable rooms only (it will hide all other rooms with Non refundable and Unknown refundability statuses)
Suppliers filter allows to show specific suppliers. This option behaves differently, as not all users have access/rights to view supplier names.
Selected Hotels
By checking the “V” icon you can “select” hotels and easily review them by clicking on V icon in the upper menu, then selecting “Show only selected hotels”. Number next to the Icon shows how many hotels you have selected. To clear the selection use either “Clear filters” button found in the upper section of each filter toolbar or “Clear selected hotels”.
Add offer to Proposals
The system provide you with Quote and proposal capabilities. Simply click on Envelope icons next to rooms you’d like to share. You can combine several hotels and even make additional searches/destination within same tab, to create a multi stop offering. Once you want to send the proposal, click on envelope icon in the upper toolbar. Number next to the icon shows how many rooms you have selected to be send.
Sending Proposal to Guest
From this popup you can input client details, comments, adjust the price if needed (for example if you’re working with NET rates and want to send the client a proposal you need to adjust the pricing!). You can send multiple emails if you need to by separating emails with “;”.
Cancellation Policy
Clicking on Icons found in CXL info column will display the cancellation policy for the selected room, as well as remarks returned by suppliers.
Please note that this will grab the updated CXL policy, by calling the “GetCancelationPolicy” request in the background, this may return a “rate not available anymore” errors, if the package is not available.
Card View
“Card View” is an alternative visual way to display the hotels.
Card View Details
Clicking on the “i” icon will open the following section with Rates (first 5 offers), Hotel description, Hotel pictures and Map with hotel location. To view more rates click on “View more rates” at the bottom of the section, this will lead you to hotel page.
Hotel Page
Hotel page contains basically all information available about the hotel and available rates. If you’re using Table for rate display, you can easily group by any of the columns simply by dragging them into the upper row.
Hotel Details
This section allows you to verify once more the hotel details and selected room, prior to booking.
Checkout Page Overview
Upon selecting the "book" option, you will be navigated to the Booking page, commonly referred to as the checkout. Here are some key elements and functionalities to be aware of:
- Reservation Pricing Summary - Located on the right side of the page, this provides a comprehensive breakdown of the reservation's financial details. It can encompass various components such as Taxes, Commissions, Averages, Refundability, and more. The specifics of this summary dynamically adjust based on user settings, the chosen provider, and inventory type.
- Markup Modification - The system allows flexibility in adjusting the markup either by a specific amount, percentage, or total fields. When changes are implemented in one field, the system smartly recalibrates the remaining fields in real-time.
- Service Fee Field - Occasionally, you might notice a field labeled "Service fee." Contrary to markup, which amalgamates with the room reservation as a single transaction, the service fee represents the agency's profit and undergoes processing as a distinct credit card transaction.
- Internal References: These are bespoke fields typically employed to input details related to billing or accounting.
- Customer Details: While only the first and last names are mandatory fields, populating additional details enhances the precision of reservation management and facilitates comprehensive record-keeping. It's worth noting that without an email address, the consumer will not receive any email notifications or vouchers.
Checkout - Payment
When opening the Payment details tab, based on user settings, either “Cash”, Credit card or both options will be available. In addition, the supported credit cards can change dynamically from hotel room to hotel room. If the credit card will be billed in currency different to Search currency used, appropriate warning is displayed.
After inputting the credit card number, a tool tip can be viewed by hovering over Visa/MC logo - that will show if additional Credit card fees may apply to payment.
All fields in this screen are mandatory .
Updated 6 months ago