Tour-Operator Reservation System for Tailor-made Holidays
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Documentation: Admin - Services

Introduction

The services is used for loading supplier/hotel contracts - both the original definitions, and later rate updates/subsequent contracts.
Note that Hotel contact details and descriptions are loaded using the Location Tree .

See the  Holidays documentation for information about the different types of service you can create.

As with all admin screens, you need to be an Administrator and not have "Read only" option set, in order to add new items or update existing items.

[The Service setup does not have a concept of seasons, so the rates for each set of dates within a season are currently added again (See Duplicate below).]  

To add a service

This adds a service option to a supplier or hotel, for instance a new room/excursion/car type/etc.
You should first check the available services (using the "Service / Cost edit" button) to ensure the service has not yet been created (it may have been disabled).
  1. You need to be an Administrator and not have the read-only flag set 
  2. Click on "Admin" in the Application Tab
  3. Click the "New Service" button in the Services box
  4. Complete the "Add/Edit service" dialog according to the instructions below
  5. Press Save

To edit or view services

  1. You need to be an Administrator and not have the read-only flag set 
  2. Click on "Admin" in the Application Tab
  3. Enter the supplier ID into the input in the Services Box
  4. Click the "Service/cost edit" button in the Services box
  5. If no services have yet been created fro this supplier, a NoMatch error will be shown. 
  6. Click the Edit button below the service you wish to edit.
    Note that the screen can be scrolled horizontally to display all services.  
  7. Complete the "Add/Edit service" dialog according to the instructions below
  8. Press Save to keep any changes or use the 'X' on the dialog to discard any changes. 

To add a new rate for a service or view rate details

  1. You need to be an Administrator and not have the read-only flag set 
  2. Click on "Admin" in the Application Tab
  3. Enter the supplier ID into the input in the Services Box
  4. Click the "Service/cost edit" button in the Services box
  5. If no services have yet been created for this supplier, a NoMatch error will be shown. 
  6. Note that you can see a full service description and the service ID by holding you mouse over the service heading
  7. If the appropriate arrival service start date range for which the rate is valid already exist, click the button on that row and in the column for the appropriate service. The button will say "N/A" if no rate has been loaded for that combination for date and service; otherwise it will have a rate (which may be 0). Note that if you hold your mouse over a rate button, more details will be shown in the tooltip.
  8. If the required date range does not exist, click the "Add Date" button at the bottom of the table in the required service column
  9. Complete the "Cost editor" dialog as described below
  10. Press Save to keep any changes or use the 'X' on the dialog title to discard any changes

To duplicate the rates for an entire season

  1. You need to be an Administrator and not have the read-only flag set 
  2. Click on "Admin" in the Application Tab
  3. Enter the supplier ID into the input in the Services Box
  4. Click the "Service/cost edit" button in the Services box
  5. If no services have yet been created for this supplier, a NoMatch error will be shown. 
  6. Find the row containing the seasonal prices that you wish to duplicate - you could also duplicate rows the the "incorrect" prices, but obviously that is more work for you if there is otherwise a row with the prices you need.
  7. Press the '+' button in the Copy column
  8. Put in the Stay dates for the new season - you should ensure that the new dates have not already been setup
  9. Press the "Copy season rates" button
  10. All the rates for the selected dates will be copied and updated with the new stay dates. The Book From dates on the new items will be set to default values.
  11. Go through the added row and alter the new items to match your supplier contract

To duplicate the rates for a service option

  1. You need to be an Administrator and not have the read-only flag set 
  2. You need to have created the service to copy rates to, as detailed in "To add a service" above
  3. Click on "Admin" in the Application Tab
  4. Enter the supplier ID into the input in the Services Box
  5. Click the "Service/cost edit" button in the Services box
  6. If no services have yet been created for this supplier, a NoMatch error will be shown. 
  7. Find the column containing the service option which has the rates you wish to copy
  8. Click the "Copy" button in that column
  9. Select the service option to which the rates should be copied. Normally that service should not already have any rates loaded.
  10. Press the "Copy service option rates" button
  11. All rates whose Stay Till and Book Till dates are after today will be copied over
  12. Go through the newly added rates and update to match your supplier contract 
An audit log of changes to services and associated costs is kept.
[The log only notes which fields have changed, but does not note the new values. If you need this, submit a feature request]
  1. Click on "Admin" in the Application Tab
  2. Enter the supplier ID into the input in the Services Box
  3. Click the "Service/cost edit" button in the Services box
  4. If no services have yet been created for this supplier, a NoMatch error will be shown. 
  5. Click on the "Log" button at the bottom of the service of interest
Service identifier group:-
ID: A  new identifier for this service. It must be unique for the supplier and type, and may not contain a comma or colon (,:)
Type : The type of service this is. The supplier must already be assigned this type (in the Location Tree)
Supplier:  The supplier code; the supplier can be a hotel or ordinary supplier
Name : The default description for this service. Unless edited  by the sales staff when building a holiday itinerary, this will be seen by clients and suppliers. If this service is a supplement or based on a certain number of people (e..g a single room), include that information.

Duration group :-
Select the duration of this service, and indicating if the rates that will be added are per duration or per one unit.
In the following detail "price" refers to any price loaded into/shown in the service for the given service.
  • When this service is used in an itinerary, the duration of the added service will be set to this Duration .
  • Only multiples of this Duration will be allowed
  • If Per Duration is No, the price will be multiplied by the itinerary service duration
  • If Per Duration is Yes and duration is less than 1 night, the price will be used as-is (i.e. not multiplied by the number of nights in the quote).
  • If Per Duration is Yes, and duration is more than 1 night, the price is multiplied by the number of times the Duration occurs 
    within the itinerary service duration e.g. if Duration is 2 and itinerary service duration is 6, the price will be multiplied by 3
  • If Per Duration is Yes and duration is exactly 1 night, an error will be raised indicating that one of the above settings should be used (i.e. either Per Duration should be No, or the selected duration should be less than 1 night).
Options group:-
Obligatory: If this is Yes, this service will automatically be added whenever there is an available price for some or all of the itinerary service stay. Note that this differs from Automatic Price Adjuster ' s in that it does not add an Adjuster item, but simply adds this service option to list of options to be included in the cost of the holiday service. This means that the pricing is stored in the rates table with the other rates (whereas Automatic Adjuster prices are stored within the adjuster setup); and the compulsory item will be included in the main service text, rather than displayed as a separate item. 
Disabled : If Yes, the service can no longer be added to a holiday. This differs from just not adding any more rates, in that it prevents the  service option form been displayed as an option.
Paid By : This value is copied over to the holiday service; which uses it to decide if the service cost should be included in the holiday price - Voucher means include it, Client direct means it will be paid to the supplier by the client.
Meal Basis : This value is copied over to the holiday service. When loading rates for this service be sure to add any supplements required to bring the rate up to the chosen meal level.
Requires : If any of these items are ticked, this service option also needs one (not all) of selected options to be added. The system will automatically add one (which one it picks is not defined), when the user adds this option, if the user did not also pick one of the options that is required.
[ Requires is only supported by CAR service - if you need to use it for another service submit a feature request].

Description Group:-
The notes are visible to the sales staff by clicking the 'Notes' on the service line, after adding the relevant options.
Public note : A public description of this service
Private note : An internal note about this service
Image URL : a comma separated list of image urls, to be used in client documentation etc.

For the Flight Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Flight.
  • It is not necessary to create flight services in each direction - the system will automatically search for a rate in the opposite direction to the one defined in the service setup, if needed.
  • Rates loaded against this service are expected to be the return price - for auto flights, or when using the " Manual flights " button, the system generates a zero cost return flight.  
  • The Per duration flag is ignored, and assumed to the "Yes".
  • The obligatory and required items are ignored
  • When Auto flights are used, the system will look for a flight service matching the most information it has, and for which there is a rate loaded for the relevant dates. As such a flight service needs to be created for each distinct origin / destin / airline (supplier) / class set for which you want automated flights to work, and rates added.
Origin and Destin : Airport codes. These will be copied to the itinerary service.
Flt No .: Copied to the itinerary service. You might use e.g ATxxx if the same pricing applies to several flight codes  
Terminal : Copied to the itinerary service for use in client documentation. Depending on you documentation templates you may not need to include the word "Terminal".

For the Train Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Hotel.
There are currently no Hotel specific options.

For the Ferry Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Ferry.
There are currently no Ferry specific options.

For the Hotel Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Hotel.
There are currently no Hotel specific options.

For Transfer Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Transfer.
  • It is not necessary to create transfer services in each direction - the system will automatically search for a rate in the opposite direction to the one defined in the service setup, if needed.
  • Rates loaded are per direction  
  • The  Per duration  flag is ignored, and assumed to the "Yes".
  • The  obligatory  and  required  items are ignored
  • If a place (e.g. an entire city) is set as an endpoint, the price will be applicable to any hotels or ports within that place; unless there is a more specific service (i.e. that has the exact hotel or port as the endpoint).
Origin , destin and type : Set the end points for this transfer
Free AP : If yes, and the  hotel that is set as the supplier for this service is one of the endpoints when this service is used, then the buy and sell and supplier rates  for the service will be set to zero (ie it is a courtesy transfer provided by the hotel). If Yes, and the hotel is not one of the endpoints, then it will be priced as normal. If you only need to use it as a free transfer it is not necessary to load any rates for this service.
Sgl X2 : If yes, and the total pax in all pax groups sharing the service is 1, the buy, sell and supplier rates for the service will be doubled.

For Tour Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Tour.

Unlike a hotel, which has a fixed location, a tour can end in a different location; for a hotel, its supplier location is used as the hotels location, but a supplier may have many different tours, so the tour start point is also specified separately.

Auto-transfers and auto-flights will use the tour end points where appropriate.

Origin and type:  The location this tour departs from.
Destin and type:  The location where this tour ends.

For the Excursion Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Excursion.
This group should only be used for an Excursion service.
Location and type : The main destination that this excursion will visit. Mainly for use in client documentation and reports.
Sgl X2 : If yes, and the total pax in all pax groups sharing the service is 1, the buy, sell and supplier rates for the service will be doubled.

For the Car Hire Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Car Hire.
  • Car hire has a pick-up and a drop-off point - these may be hotel, resort, or port,
  • The system will search for car hire rates for the given hotel's location or port, otherwise for a countrywide cost.
  • Car hire distinguishes between available service levels (ie car types) by use of a "Group" code
  • Car hire supports min/max days for pricing systems that are not pro-rata, and extra-day for those become so after a certain duration. The extra-day service can "require" that the base-day service have been added.
  • Specific car end-points can have obligatory delivery charges applied
  • Required is not recursive and is only applied to the base types.
For a car hire supplier that has set rates for, say, 2-3 ,4-5 & 5-6 days, and then each extra day (and they are not simple multiples), create an option for each of those days ranges, and the extra day option, repeating for each available car type (group). In addition create an option for each pickup/delivery charge location. 

[It is not possible to have different delivery or pickup charges  depending on the other end point]
 
Pl(ace): A location code (resort, not hotel); If this is a base cost, this option will be used for any hotel or port in this place - the place is assumed to be the location of the car hire depot. If this is a delivery charge option, the place sets the location for which the delivery charge will be applied.
Country : If given, this option will be used if no matching Place option is found. You can set Place and Country for the same option.
Days Min/Max : option will be applied if the requested car hire duration is between these values inclusive; or if the duration is matched by an extra day option that requires this option.
Sup .: Yes: Mark this option as a supplement. Set to "Yes" for delivery charges and any other option that does not itself include the actual car hire.
Extra day : Yes: Mark this option as been an extra day price. It is normally used in conjunction with requires , which will force the inclusion of the option for the days leading up to  the extra days. That option will typically have a fixed price for a given number of days set by Min/Max days ; the rate for this extra day option will then be added for each day needed to make up the requested service duration.
Group : Set the car type to which this the rates for this option will apply.

For the Insurance Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Insurance.

Insurance services are automatically added to a Holiday based on the policies chosen in the Holiday Pax table. Available policies are defined in the  Insurance Policy Identity table . If multiple suppliers are available  for the same policy any one will be picked automatically - if this is not required, use different policy codes across suppliers.

Policy:  Select the policy that this service will define rates for
Age Min : Service will only be used if clients age at departure this age or over
Age Max : Service will only be used if clients age at departure is this age or under
Days Min : Service will only be used if holiday duration (for the Pax group) is at least this number of days
Days Max : Service will only be used if holiday duration (for the Pax group) is at most this number of days

An example insurance setup is to define a Policy for each insurance region (.e.g Europe or World) that is required. For each Policy create a Service for each distinct age and duration range defined by the policy supplier (e.g. one service may be Europe, 1 to 8 days, 10-60 years).   Finally load rates for each of those services, for the given supplier sale dates.

For the Visa Tab:-
This tab is shown when the selected Service Type is Visa.

Visa services are automatically added to a Holiday based on the Visa value selected in the Holiday Pax table. Available Visas are those countries for which a Visa Service is defined. If you have multiple suppliers for a particular countries visa, the system will pick one automatically.

Country : Select the country for which this Visa will apply.

The Service Cost Editor dialog

This dialog is used to enter or edit the price data for a service option over a date range for which the rate remains the same (ie a season) -  see above for instructions to open the dialog.

Service Identity Group:-
This group identifies the service option you are entering a price for. It is read-only.

Dates Group:-
Set the season dates, and the rates validity dates.
Stay from/till : The dates of stay to which this rate will apply. Only the portion of a stay which falls within these dates will be priced at this rate. If the dialog was opened from within an existing dates row, these dates will be pre-filled; if you after them you will affect the dates for this item only - it will not affect other options with rates in this date range.
Book from/till : The validity dates (quote/booking date) to which this rate will apply. May be useful if supplier gives rates that are not immediately allowed; but are not suitable for Automatic adjusters . Otherwise these dates should extend from the loading date until the Stay Till date - and these are the default values .  [The Book dates are in place for a feature which may be removed, and so may themselves be removed - if the feature is of use, submit a feature request].
 
Costs group:-
Sets the rate (buy and sell) to apply for the option during the given dates.
Currency : the supplier contract current
Buy : the contract rack rate (ie before your tour operator commission) if it is given. If you only have private rates, load those and set Comm% to 0. Loading rack rates can be useful in the event that the detail on the supplier invoices are given as rack rates.
Tax : The amount of tax to add onto Buy. The tax is not considered to be commissionable. The tax may be marked-up according to the current Preference . The tax value is used in pricing calculations that are configured to depend on the tax value, such as agent commission, markup, price adjusters (special offers). Note that once a service is costed, the tax is included within that service buy value (as well as listed separately), but at this stage it is an entirely separate amount.
Per pax : If yes, the rate will be multiplied by the total Pax in all the Pax Groups assigned to the service using this option.
Comm% : The percentage amount to decrease the Buy value by to  get the net rate - the amount that will actually be paid to the supplier. If you have loaded net (private) rates, then this is 0.
Mark-up% : The percentage amount to add on to the net rate before selling to the client. Thus the price the client sees is (Buy+Tax)+Comm%+Markup% (and adjusted by per pax as needed).
Note : A private note for reference. If Disabled is Yes, and this rate is about to be included in a holiday, the message will be displayed to a user. Thus, by setting Dates, Disabled to Yes and note to "Hotel closed for annual holiday 1sep-31sep11" you can provide a more informative message to the user than by simply not creating a rate. Note that this rate may be displayed to your customers if you use the Web Pricing API.
Disabled : Prevent this rate been used. See detail for Note .