Tour-Operator Reservation System for Tailor-made Holidays
Contact

Documentation: Holidays - Bookings

Once you change a quote into an accepted holiday (i.e. set its status to Requesting or Confirmed), some features relevant to the current holiday status are enabled. This page describes the features that are enabled.

To Accept a quote (convert it to a booking)

  1. Open the quote as described in the main holiday documentation
  2. Ensure that you have selected the revision that the client wishes to book - the quote sent to the client will have a revision number next to the quote number; but you may want to read the itinerary back to them just to confirm.
  3. Change the Holiday Status to Requesting. You may also change it directly to Confirmed if you know there are no servcies that need to be requested.
  4. Continue as needed, for instance changing the status of each service to mark it as Requesting or Confirmed - see the Holiday Requesting work flow
When you changed the holiday status in Step 3, the system automatically created a new revision  based on the revision you chose to accept. The number of the revision you accepted is displayed in the "Rev accepted" box in the status Group on the holiday detail tab. You could use that revision at a later stage to determine if the itinerary has been altered from the accepted quote (you can also use the audit log). 
When you open the holiday in future, the accepted revision will be displayed automatically. You will not be allowed to make changes to any of the existing revisions, and you are no longer allowed to add new revisions. You may, if required, alter the itinerary on the accepted revision - see "Changes to the Holiday Services Tab" below.

Modifications to a requested/booked itinerary

Modification can be made directly to the accepted revision of a booking if it is Unlocked first in order to allow the price to alter. It is also possible to add new revisions and amend them as if they were quotes. Once a revision is suitable to replace the current booking it can be marked as the Accepted Revision, and all pricing will be updated to match.

To modify a booking in place
  1. On the Services tab, click the Unlock button
  2. Make the desired change
  3. The itinerary will be locked again automatically
  4. Repeat steps 1-3 for each change needed
  5. Note that any automatically added auto adjusters are not updated to match any alterations to the source adjuster in the Admin area; this includes not creating any auto adjusters that might apply to any newly added service. If auto-adjusters should be updated or created, use a new revision as described below. 
To modify a booking by creating a new revision and replacing the current booking with it
  1. Select the revision to duplicate - Normally this will the the current Accepted Revision
  2. Click the 'New revision' button in the holiday toolbar
  3. Modify the revision as needed to create the updated itinerary
  4. The financials shown on the screen will be the values that will apply should this revision become the booking
  5. In the tools menu on the holiday Toolbar select "Set accepted revision"
  6. Note that you cannot alter or Accept revisions that are older than the currently Accepted Revision

To Cancel a booking

See the Holiday cancellation documentation . Note that like accepting a revision, cancelling a holiday also creates a new revision, which then becomes the only revision that may be altered. This means that all values prior to the cancellation can be seen by looking at the accepted reivison (or by using the audit log). 

Holiday Actions

Each client can configure their own set of Actions which need to be completed as part of the accepted holiday workflow .
Typical examples include "sending documents" or "Wish Happy holiday".
Once the holiday is accepted, all the actions are listed in a column on the right hand side of the page. Once an action has been completed, press the "Mark Done" button; the button is then replaced by the date the action was completed. 
It is possible to run a report indicating which actions are due across a range of holidays.

[It is not currently possible to set a due date for an action or pro-actively indicate that an action is due - if you require this feature. submit a feature request].

Changes to the Holiday Services Tab

The Unlock/Lock Button
The first thing you may notice after accepting a quote is that the Service Creators group is disabled, and an "Unlock" button is displayed along side. When a holiday is Locked and change that alters the Sell price of the Holiday is rejected .e.g hotel duration, room type, etc.  Clicking the Unlock button to enable the price change acknowledges to the system and reminder the staff member that the pricing is allowed to change and that the customer should be notified of the resulting change. 
After making a change the itinerary is automatically Locked again - you must unlock for each change required.

Tip : Only the accepted revision is locked, and in general it is preferable to create a new revision in which to make changes, rather than Unlocking and altering that revision. This makes it easy to make the changes without affecting the current booking, and then set the updated revision as Accepted Revision once all desired changes has been made and checked. It also allows quoting for various variations, for instance a variety of hotels that might replace one that has become unavailable.

The Service item controls
The "Del" option available during quoting, used to delete services, is not available for accepted holidays, and is replaced by a Service status indicator and "Status" link. The Service status can be set to a value that indicates it is no longer part of the holiday such as Rejected/Cancelled/No available. The service will then be moved to the bottom of the services list so that the actual itinerary is clear.

To change a service status:-
  1. Click Status on the appropriate service line
  2. A history of previous status changes to this service are displayed at the top of the status window
  3. Select the new service status
  4. Select the method by which the supplier was notified / you received the reply.
  5. Indicate who initiated the status change request
  6. Put in a reference if the supplier provided one. The reference for the latest Confirmed status may be displayed on the clients vouchers (depending on your document designs).
  7. The note is optional - it might indicate the exact email, or time of a phone call, etc.
  8. By default the change will be timestamped with the date/time the status is changed. If there is a delay of a day or more between the actual change and updating the system, the date/time can be set using the On selector in order to keep an accurate record; otherwise leave it blank. If set, the selected date/time must be within 7 days prior to the current time.
  9. If the status will remove the hotel from the itinerary, a replacement hotel can optionally be specified. This replacement will be given the same start date, duration and pax groups as the hotel it is replacing avoiding the need to then apply this manually to a newly added hotel and reducing the chances that an Automatic transfer may be required that doesn't exist.
  10. If necessary the Holiday can be Unlocked to make the Status Change; this should not be required when requesting or confirming a service; but when a service is unavailable or rejected the Holiday sell price will inevitably change so that if the status change is applied to the Accepted Revision, Unlocking accepts this price change. However, if the status change will be followed by making other modifications to the revision it is normally preferable to create a new revision first and then change the service status folowed by the other modifications and finally set that revision as Accepted.
  11. Click "Change Status"
Tip: Hold  your mouse over the status text (e.g. Requesting) in the service line to see a quick history of status changes.

Note that the reporting facilities allow checking the individual service statuses against the main holiday status. For instance, if the holiday is cancelled, the report will indicate any services that themselves are not marked as cancelled - to indicate that the supplier may not have been informed. Thus it is normal to change an item status even if the supplier does not need to be informed.

Holiday Payment Method Tab

Payment methods can in fact be created/edited at quote stage, although they are not normally useful at that time. [The ability to add payment methods to a Quote/Snippet may be removed at any time].

A payment method is created for each distinct way in which a client makes a payment. Examples include each cheque sent, or each credit card used.

Credit card number storage
The system must not be used to store credit cards numbers, and provides not default place to do so. You should not abuse the memo fields or public notes to include card numbers. Each time you need to take a card based payment from a client you must contact the client for their card details and their confirmation that you may take the payment.

Pre Auth payments 
By using a "Pre Auth" facility provided by your payment system (it may give it another name), you can take card details from the client when they accept a quote, and the clients bank will hold the funds required to cover a holiday deposit/balance while you are booking flights and confirming services. You can then "bank" the payment once everything is confirmed, without needing to  contact the client.
Note that it can be impossible to cancel a pre-auth, so that the clients cash if held for upto 30 days if you cannot confirm the holiday - this can be annoying to the client. 
Pre-auths have a limited life (the same 30 days that it auto-cancels in, but may be less), this means that you cannot use it to hold the clients full payment when they are only due to pay the deposit. the deposit amount taken should cover any costs you may incur in the event you cannot obtain further payment from the client. This includes covering non-refundables such as flights with low cost carriers.

Transaction Fees
Depending on your tour operator preferences you may require a transaction fee to be applied to payments made in creatin ways (typically credit cars). Your administrators define the available payment methods (that your tour operator accepts) and the associated  transaction fee. When you make a ledger entry and indicate that it has been paid using a method that incurs a transaction fee, you
are required to confirm the fee amount, and it should match the percentage set here. It is possible to override the default transaction fee after the default value is set. Note that if you make a mistake when taking payment and e.g. forget the fee, you can either create a new payment method with a fee% matching the one you actually used, or use the force option in the ledger (See Ledger tab details below).

Third party integration
If the ledger has been integrated with a payments system, then a Payment Method will automatically be created for each payment; the ref number will be set to the transaction id.

To add a new Payment Method click the "Add Row" button. In the new row complete the required fields:  Type , Issuer and Reference . The combination of Type and Issuer must be one that has been created by your administrators. Press Save in the Holiday Toolbar to commit the new Payment Method. 

To alter an existing Payment Method, change the values in the row, and press Save in the Holiday Toolbar. Note that changing the fee% will affect all ledger entries using the method, consider creating a new method with the altered fee% instead. Removing Payment Methods is not possible.

Type / Issuer : These pre-defined options are defined by your tour-operator requirements - pick the one that reflects the way in which the customer is paying (e.g. Credit Card / Visa). Other Holiday is useful if a balance is been transferred from another holiday.
Reference : Enter a code that identifies the payment device. For a card this is the last 4 digits; for a cheque it is the cheque number; for Other Holiday it is the holiday ID;  for a bank transfer it is the account number (or last digits of). 
Fee % : This will be set automatically, based on the selected Type/Issuer. If needed a different fee can be given, for instance if a fee was incorrectly not applied to a credit card transaction. The Ledger will ensure that entered payments correspond to the fee set here.
Owner Name and Address: these are optional, for your reference. If integrated with a payment system, they may be passed to it.
Note : An optional private note for your reference

Holiday Ledger Tab
The ledger is enabled when the holiday is confirmed (ie not available when requesting as no payment should be taken at that stage).
There is one ledger entry for each individual payment made to or from your client (or individual passengers) and for each individual payment to or from the suppliers of the services in the holiday.

The " Open Supplier Payments Report " button below the supplier ledger, runs the Supplier Payment report  for the booking in a new tab; where Supplier Payment Rules are defined the report will indicate when payments to suppliers need to be made in order to ensure the service provision.

Validity Checks
By default, when you add a ledger entry, the system will perform a set of checks to confirm that the payment amount in within the ranges indicated by other price information within the holiday.
  • A client payment may not be more than the outstanding balance
  • The transaction fee taken must match the fee% in the payment method it is assigned to
  • A refund to the client may not be more than the current receipts from the client
  • A supplier payment must be similar to the amount due to the selected supplier. The degree of similarity is defined by the sup_buy_valid preference . For instance if that preference is "10,5" then a payment to a supplier with total services Buy value of 100 is expected to be between 90 and 105 inclusive.
  • A supplier refund may not exceed income from the supplier
  • A payment for agent commission should equal the agent commission amount plus the VAT on that amount; and may not be added to non-agent bookings
  • An INS payment may not exceed the value of the INS services it is assigned to, and may not be assigned to non-INS services.
  • Adjusters assigned to the supplier will be taken into account when validating; an adjuster is assigned to the supplier of the service it is applied to if its fee type is "Supplier Offer" (SOF) or "Supplier Charge" (SCH), otherwise the adjuster is assigned to the tour operator.
There are circumstances in which you may need to disable these checks - for instance if a mistake was made in calculating the transaction fee, or when taking payment. To disable the checks, tick the Force  option when adding or editing the ledger entry which would otherwise not be accepted.
It is strongly recommended that rather than enabling the Force option every time an error is given, you take the time to determine the cause, and to put processes in place to avoid it happening in the future. If you have to force a supplier payment, it is indicative that the quoted value does not match the supplier invoice, and therefore the contract loading may be incorrect, or sales staff misunderstood the service options created by the contract loaders.

The " Mark as Fully Paid " tick box will make all reports consider that this supplier has received the total amount due, even when the total amount actually paid to the supplier does not match the amount quoted for the service. This is useful when the quoted amount does not accurately match the amount invoiced by the supplier. Like the Force option, large discrepancies should be investigated.

Note that the buy/sell (or supplier rack/net) rates in the individual supplier entries (in the services tab ) should not be updated to match the supplier payment (or to avoid using the Force option when they differ significantly from the supplier invoice).
This allows the values within the services to be considered as the quoted values, while the ledger payments show the true values. This enables reports to show variation between margin calculated at quote time, and the margin actually achieved once all income/outgoings are complete (as the estimated margin at points in between). 

Using the ledger
The Ledger tab displays all payments so far, click on one to view or edit it.
To add a new ledger entry click the "Add a new ledger entry" link

Receipt date : Date payment was received or made by you. If left blank it defaults to today.
Type : Indicate the type of payment - supplier or client related, incoming or outgoing
  • INS - Insurance: Incoming payment from client to cover insurance
  • AGT - Agent commission: Outgoing payment to agent - see Agent Payments below
  • DEP - Deposit: Incoming payment from client to cover the deposit due
  • FLT - Deposit+flights: Incoming payment from client to cover the deposit due plus flights (typically low-cost airline)
  • REC - partial payment or final balance: Incoming payment from client, not the deposit
  • CAN - cancellation: Incoming from client - the cancellation charge levied
  • REF - refund: outgoing payment to client
  • WOB - write off: discard any outstanding balance (except transaction fee)
  • WOT - write off: discard any outstanding transaction fee
  • SVC - supplier: outgoing payment to a supplier
  • RCT - reciept: incoming payment from a supplier
Paid by : When adding a ledger entry for a client payment, select the payment method used. The method must already have been created as described in the Holiday Payment Method Tab detail above.
Value : The amount that is been taken, including the transaction fee given in Fee Part. The currency is your tour-operator sales currency this is never negative - use the correct Type to indicate direction of payment
Fee Part : The amount taken as transaction fee.
Force : Tell the system not to apply validity checks. See the "validity checks" detail above.
Mark as Fully Paid: Tells the system that the quoted amount is incorrect and the ledger value for the supplier is the correct total, and no further payment is due - see the detail above.
Supplier : For a supplier payment, indicates the supplier been paid, and is compulsory. For a client payment it is optional (depending on your tour-operator preferences), but can be used to indicate that pre-paid services by the selected supplier are covered. 
Note : This is a private note for your reference
Ref currency and value : For your reference you can record the currency used to make payment and the value of the payment in that currency. No validation is made on this value.
Acct : Used to select the bank account from/to which the payment will be made/received

Agent Payments

When a holiday includes commission for an agent, the amount due to the agent is calculated as the chosen percentage of the total holiday value (ignoring transaction fees) or the manually set fixed commission, plus the VAT on the commission amount. It is assumed that the tour operator will retrieve the VAT using normal VAT procedures.

Agents can receive their commission in one of two ways 
  1. Their customer pays the total amount to the agent and the agent passes on the amount due to the tour operator - i.e. holiday value less the agent commission and VAT. Expected ledger entries are:-
    •  Deposit/Balance items totalling to the value of the holiday less the agents commission and VAT. 
  2. Their customer pays the total amount to the tour operator and the operator pays the commission and VAT to the agent. Expected ledger entries are listed below. Note that between the total payment been received and the Agent commission been paid, the Holiday Payment status will be "Refund Due", with the balance been the amount due to be paid to the agent.
    • Deposit/Balance items from client totalling to the value of the holiday
    • An Agent commission (AGT) entry to the value of the agents commission plus VAT on the commission

Holiday Audit Tab

Once a holiday is moved beyond the quote stage, the system keeps a log of changes made to the accepted revision, as well as other actions such as exporting an invoice.
The log displays the date and time of the change, the member of staff who applied the change, and the revision the chnage was applied to (normally the accepted revision or cancelled revision; but you can still to back to other revisions and export those if required, so you may see other values).
The Change column indicates the action carried out, and any new values that were applied. 
If you need any help understanding the audit log, or solving the issue for which you are trying to use the audit log, contact the help desk.

Holiday Tools

The Holiday Tools are available as a menu on the Holiday Toolbar. Click on the Tools button and select a tool from the menu.
The tools specific to Bookings are Requesting Voucher , Duplicate , Set Accepted Revision  - follow those links for the documentation. The other tools are described in the main holiday documentation .