Back Office Booking Engine User Manual
Table
of Contents
1.
Accessing the Back Office booking engine
3.
Process for Booking the Room
4.1 Cancel an element / Cancel Booking
4.2 Convert a quote to booking
4.3 Change Status: On Request to
Confirmed
5
Managing Booking Header / Element Status
The booking engine in the Back office application is used by the
company’s reservations teams for making hotel, transfer and tour bookings. A
quote or booking in the Back Office application can contain one or multiple
elements. Quotes and bookings can be made using Accommodation and Service
products stored in the Hotel / Supplier contract wizard or by creating a manual
element (where the cost and sell price are created manually).
Each user is given a Login and Password to access the system to
make booking for Accommodation and Services.
When the user logs in the home page will be displayed as
below. The home page gives the feel of
the entire modules in the system.
1.
Accessing the Back Office booking engine
To access the booking engine click on Bookings and the system will
display the options that are available like in the display below.
2.
Making a booking
From the menu, you have the option to book a specific product by
selecting one of the following links:
- Book Hotels
- Book Transfers
- Book
- Book Other Services and
- Manual Bookings
The process for booking each of theses product types is the same
with the exception of Manual Booking. We will start explaining how to book a
Hotel.
From the menu of the booking engine choose Book Hotels and the
below Hotel Search screen will be displayed.
SPECIFIC CLIENT
n
Client Code à The code of client
which was entered from the client wizard. If you know the client code, you may
enter the code directly into this field, which will automatically populate the
Client Type, Client Name and consultant field. If you do not know the client
code, you can select the client by clicking on the lookup and select the
required client. If you select a client via the lookup, the Client Code field
will automatically be filled in.
n
Client Type à The type of the
client, you can choose from the drop down menu whether the client is an Agent
or Consumer. The client types are hard-coded.
n
Client Name à The client name can only
be chosen from the Lookup.
When you click on Lookup the below window will
pop up.
The lookup will show a list of clients
in alphabetical order. You can type the Client name for a more specific search,
or refine the search by entering a city or country. Click on search to refine
the search results. A list of search results will be displayed based on the
criteria you search for. To select a client, click on the Select link and the window
will automatically close and take you back to the Search Accommodation screen
where you can continue the booking process.
NB: Please note that if you choose the Client Type agent then in the lookup of
the client name only the Clients with the Agent type will be displayed in the
list. If you choose the Client Type consumer
then in the lookup of the client name only clients with the direct client type
will be displayed in the list.
From within the lookup, you can also
click on the details link which will show you the details client name, client
email address, client address, client fax and phone numbers.
n
Consultant à the consultant name of
the agent will be filled in automatically when you choose the client from the
lookup. If the client has many consultants then the system will select the
default consultant (as defined at client contact level in the client wizard).
You can also choose from the drop down menu and select another consultant name.
n
Clear Selection à if you want to clear
the agent you selected and restart the client search
Note: Upon selection of a client, the system will check the credit
limit of the client and display the available credit remaining for the selected
client. This is information only and this credit check will not stop the user
from completing a booking.
n
Code à Enter the 3 letter
code for the location if you know the code. As you enter the alphabets system
will list the cities entered in the Geo-structure in Masters. Once the Code is
selected the City is also updated. In case you do not know the location you can
click on the lookup image which will display the below screen. From here you
can search for the required city.
n
City à The name of the city will be automatically displayed once the user
enters the Code.
n
Zone à Use the drop down and select the city that you are looking for.
Alternatively you can search for a zone using the City Lookup, click on the
city lookup and search for your required city. Within the city lookup, you will
now see a list of zones within that city. If a city does not have any zones
defined, then it will show as a single row in the lookup without any zone
defined. If the city has one or more
zones attached, then you will see one row for the city, and an individual row
for every zone that is attached to the city.
When you select a city or a zone, this will automatically populate
the city and zone fields on the booking search screen
Example: If I search for the city of
Alternatively, if you only want to search for a specific zone
within
Click anywhere with the row for the city or zone required and you
will be returned to the search screen with the city and zone being updated with
your selection.
SPECIFY DATES
n
Check in date à Click on the calendar
to choose the check in date or type the date in the check in date box
n
No of Nights à Enter the number of
nights.
n
Check out date à Click on the calendar
to choose the check out date or type the checkout date in the check out date
box. When you choose the check in date and enter the No. of
nights, the system will automatically calculate the checkout date based on the
check in date and the number of nights entered.
n
No. of Rooms à Select the No. of
rooms from the drop down menu. When you choose 2 rooms and above then another
line will be added for the number of adults and children as shown below. The
number of lines will be added depending on the number of rooms.
n
Adults à Select from the drop
down menu the number of adults.
n
Child à Select from the drop
down menu the number of children. If a child is entered, then another box
(depending on the number of children already chosen) will be displayed where
you can specify the age of the child.
n
Hotel Name à Click on the lookup
image to choose the hotel name.
If there is a particular hotel the user is looking for, then the
system will display the list as the alphabets are being typed. Alternatively
click on the look up and all the hotels at the city selected will be displayed
like below.
n
Property Type à in case you do not
have a specific hotel in mind you can choose hotels based on the property type
for example beach hotels, apartments. The Property Types are defined in the
Property Type in General Masters.
n
Standard à in case you do not
have a specific hotel in mind you can choose hotels based on the standard like
4 stars, 5 stars. The Accommodation standards are defined in the Hotel Category
in the General Masters.
When you have finished entering the search criteria, click on
submit and you will be directed to the below screen which is the booking search
result.
2.1 Booking Search
Result
This search results screen will list hotels (that you already
requested in the search criteria) by the cheapest available.
The Search Again button allows the user to change
the data in terms of Adult and Child and date bands. This allows the user to
perform the search on the fresh criteria inserted by him.
Description of the
Display
The Name of the Hotel is displayed in bold letters.
From this screen the
user can email the details to the Customer / Clients.
n
Select à Tick the Room type that you are looking for and the Total Price
will display the price of the room.
n
Room Type à All the Room types
that were entered will the displayed here.
n
Status à There are 2 types of status for hotels in this search result.
n
Available à means that the room in this hotel is
available from the allocation if any.
n
RQ à means that the room in this hotel is on
request and there is no allocation.
When you place the cursor at “On
Request” system displays the Availability screen showing if the room is
available on any particular day.
Note: Even if the room is on request on
a particular date, the status will show as On Request.
n
Black out à If a blackout date has been defined against the hotel contract, the
words ‘blackout’ will appear under the column for blackout (see example below).
The button to choose this type of room
will be disabled so that the user will not be able to continue booking this
room.
.
n
Restriction à If a restriction has
been applied against the hotel contract, then a message will be displayed in
the Restriction column to indicate whether a minimum stay or maximum stay rule
applies. The radio selection button will
also be disabled and you will not be able to proceed with the booking.
n
Pax à Shows the number of
passengers at the search criteria.
n
Price à The price for the
number of passengers selected will be displayed here.
n
Rooms à The number of rooms
selected at the search criteria.
n
Cancellation Policy à The below screen displays what happens when we click on XX Policy.
The cancellation policy is information only. The system will not restrict a
user from making a booking within cancellation period.
Promotion
à Below is an example of the Promotion
description when you click on view. The Promotion information is created in the
Discount policy in the contract wizard of the Back Office system. Promotions
are a form of discount for a particular hotel or room type. (Example: A
promotion could be an Early Bird Discount or a Stay 7 Pay 5 Deal)
n
Notes à The notes that are
entered under Contract Description in the Contract page will be displayed here
under Note. Click on the link and the user can see the notes.
3. Process for Booking the Room
Once the Room is selected click on Choose & Continue, a page
displaying the Discount and Supplement will be displayed.
After the user click on the Submit, the window to enter the pax
details will be displayed. At the end of the search result there will be a link
where you can add the information for the passengers for the room chosen.
And in case you are searching for 2 rooms then there will be 2
links as per the below:
n Party Name à The Family
name or Surname is to be entered here which automatically updates the last
name.
n Agent Ref no à Alpha, numeric or alpha numeric code can be used to denote an
agent. This is not a mandatory field.
n Passenger à This field will show as New Pax when a new booking is being made.
n Title à Use the drop down to choose the title.
n First name à This is a mandatory field to enter the name of the passenger. It
is enough even if we enter any alphabet.
n Gender à Choose the gender using the drop down.
n Nationality à Choose the nationality using the drop down.
n Passport No. à This is not a mandatory field.
The Passengers details are to be filled
in the above page.
When you fill in the Party Name the Last
Name will be automatically filled in for all passengers on the booking.
After the above fields are filled in
there are 2 options:
n
Save as Quote à This is done if it is a quotation to be sent to the customer.
Allocation will not be reserved. The quote is held only for a specific period
of days set against the expiry days in the booking element header.
n
Save as Booking à This is done
if you wish to hold a booking (either from allocation or on request). At the
time of saving, the system will check for allocation and store against the
element if it is available
On the left panel you have the summary.
The Summary shows the result of the booking you have created so far.
Summary à The Summary on the
left side will show the Destination that the user selected for making the
booking, Check in Check out Dates, The Number of Rooms and the number of Passengers
as Adult and Child.
Display under Summary
The display above will
be helpful in Filter the option available.
n
Total Price à The Range Slider helps
in shopping for the price that the user is looking.
n
Star Rating à This link will display the star rating of this hotel.
n
Zone à This link will display the Zone of the hotel that the user is
looking.
n
Hotel Chain à This link will display the chain if the Hotel is attached to a
chain.
Click on Filter & Continue and the system will display the
price.
When you click on Save as Booking you will
be directed to the below screen which is the Booking Summary:
In this page you will be able to amend the
element or add any new element, check the passengers’ details, check all the
elements of the booking.
n Show All à will show all the elements of the booking including the cancelled and
rejected elements. By default, cancelled and rejected elements will be hidden
from view unless you select the Show All link. Show all will show only the live
elements (i.e. elements with the status of quote, confirmed, requested etc)
n Accom/Service request à for adding a new element hotel or service to the existing booking. Any
additional elements added via this process will create a new sell price for the
booking.
n Amend Accom à
for amending the check in/out date or the number of passengers or the room type
of the existing hotel booked. You cannot change the hotel itself via this link.
If you wish to amend an accommodation element, click on the radio button of the
hotel you wish to amend, then select the ‘Amend Accom link’ you will be
redirected to the search results screen, where you will have the option to
amend the dates, passenger numbers, names, room type and contract.
n Amend Service à for amending the check in/out date or the number of passengers or to
change the service itself. This follows the same process as the Amend Accom
link.
n Manual Booking à
for adding a new element through the manual booking. This area will be covered
later in the manual.
3.4 Element Details
Status à Shows the element
status
n
Confirmed à confirmed from allocation or manually
confirmed via the change status process
n
On Request à
n
Cancelled à The element is no longer active. No allocation
held. Booking charges may apply (cancellation fees)
n
Rejected à An element that was previously a quote
element, and has since been removed from the booking. Rejected status does not
have any booking charges.
n
Amended Request à Booking was on request
and has been amended (and still on request)
n
Quote à No allocation held.
n
Day No. à The day number of the element based on
the sequence of elements in the itinerary.
n
From Date à The start date (check in date) of the
element
n
To Date à The finish date (check out date) of the
element
n
Type à This determines the type of element
booked
n
A = Accommodation
n
S – Service
n
P = Package
n
Days/Nights à Number of nights booked at the hotel
n
City à The city location of the hotel booked
n
Hotel / Service à The name of the Hotel
booked
n
Room Type à The name of the room type booked
n
From Allocation à A flag to indicate
whether the room was originally sold from allocation or whether this was
confirmed over and above allocation. If sold from allocation or partially sold
from allocation the flag will be Y. If not sold from allocation the flag will
be N.
n
Pax à The number of passengers booked on this
element
n
Supplier à The supplier (if applicable) that is to
be paid for this service
n
Cost à The amount to be paid to the hotel /
supplier (in currency loaded against the hotel)
n
Price à The amount to be charged to the client
(in local sell currency)
n
Supplier Reference No. à The confirmation or
cancellation number obtained from the hotel or supplier
3.5 Header Details
n Reservation No à This is the reference number created by Illusions at the time the
booking is saved
n Booking Status à This is the booking header status. See appendix A for details on Header
status
n Booking Date à This is the date the booking or quote was first created
n Client à The name of the client who the booking has been made for
n Agent Ref No. à The client reference number that has been saved against the booking
header. This reference number will be used on the client and supplier
documentation (if it exists). If no client reference number exists then the
Illusions reservation number will be used
n Taken By à The user who created the initial booking. This is determined by the
person who is logged into Illusions at the time the booking is created. If the
booking was made via the web, then this field will show as a Web User.
n Party Name à The group name or main surname for passengers travelling in this
booking
n Client Contact à
The contact name (consultant) of the client who has requested this booking Details of each tabs.
The
Tabs are divided into 4, each have a different function depending on different
level.
All actions with regards to bookings will be done using
this link.
n Maintain Status à This link is used to change the Header status of the booking.
Select the status that the user requires and Click on Submit.
n
Booking Pax à This link will list all the passengers’ names for this booking for all
the elements in general.
n
Documentation à You need to have the radio button for a hotel selected before you can
view any documentation packs. All documentation packs assigned to this product
will be displayed here.
There
are 2 links to open a document. The document title on the left side of the screen links to an editable version of the
document. This means that the document can be edited by the user before sending
to a client or supplier.
The
print link on the right side of the screen is a non-editable link.
Click on the print link for the
confirmation summary and the Client Document will appear.
On the top of the page you will see several
options which allow you to distribute this document via several modes.
n Email à Sends the document to the email address stored in the Client Contact
‘Mail’ field above
n Fax à Sends the document to the fax number stored in the client contact ‘fax’
field above
n Print à Sends the document to your local or network printer for printing
n Store à Saves a copy of the document in the documentation history against the
booking
Note: The Fax option is currently being
connected to this site (Fax’s will be sent using the RelayFax technology)
Once you have selected a mode of
distribution and clicked on the OK button, the document will be sent using that
method. Any documents sent via one of these 4 modes will be stored in the
Document History field for historical purposes.
The passenger names at element level, list all passenger
names booked for the individual element.
n Entire Booking Charges à
This link will display the booking charges
for all elements in the booking. The top portions show the Client Charges and
the bottom portions shows the Supplier Charges.
n Element à All actions with regards to element level will be done from
here.
n
Change Status à The change status link
allows you to change the status of an existing element. The change status
options are controlled in the General Master for Change Status. The status of the
element and booking is very important as several financial controls are set
based on the status and certain documentation packs can only be seen based on
the status of your booking.
4.1 Cancel an element / Cancel Booking
There
is currently no feature that allows a user to cancel an entire booking in one
step. You will need to cancel each element individually, via the change status
feature.
To
change the status of an element, click on the radio button beside the element
that you wish to change and click on Change Status.
The
following screen will be displayed.
To
cancel an element, click on the radio button for ‘cancelled’ and click on
submit. The booking element will now reflect the new status of cancelled. At
the time of cancelling an element, the system will release any allocation held
and will check and apply the applicable cancellation fees.
4.2 Convert a quote to booking
To
convert a quote to a booking, you must change the status for each individual
element. To convert to booking, select the quote element that you wish to
convert to a booking, and select the change status link.
Select
the option for Convert to Booking and click on Submit.
At
the time of convert to booking, the system will check if there is allocation
available and will hold and store the allocation against this booking. If no
allocation is available, the system will store the element as On Request.
4.3 Change Status: On Request to Confirmed
The
same process applies for changing an element from On request to confirmed. The
changing of status from On request to confirm is a manual process and the
system does not perform any checks against allocation.
n Element Pax
This
link will list all the passengers’ names for this booking for all the elements
in general. And if you select each element by the radio button and
click on Element Pax then it will show you the passengers names booked for that
element by showing a tick next to each passenger like the below example:
n
Element Booking Charges à The link for the element booking charges will show only the charges for
the individual element selected
To
select element booking charges, you need to click on the radio button of the
relevant element and select the link for element booking charges
The
following screen will then be displayed
n Flight Details à This field is used for storing the client flight arrival and departure
information. This is useful for arranging the arrival and departure transport
of the client. The Additional
Information can be added against one or multiple elements in the event multiple
transfers are required.
All the fields are
required for this function to be affected.
n
Departure Information à The Airport from where the passenger is departing from
n
Arrival Information à The Airport into which the passenger is arriving into.
n
Other Flight details à Select the airlines using the drop down, data will be drawn from the
Airport in Master. Enter the flight number, Aircraft, Duration and Booking
Class.
n
Dated à Enter the date à enter the date of
arrival
n
Pick up / Drop off Location à Enter the Pick up and drop off location e.g Hotel, airport etc.
n Pick up Time /Drop off
time à Enter the Pickup drop off time.
n
History à The history of the Bookings is maintained in this link.
n
Status History This field will maintain the history of the status as shown
in the display below.
4.4 Booking History
The booking history is generated
automatically by the system and tracks any changes made to the element status
of the quote or the booking. You can click on any row within the history to
display the booking charges based on that date and time in history. You cannot
add or modify any details on a historical booking charges record.
n 
Document History The documentation history link will allow you to see a history of all
documentation sent from within an individual booking.
A document will be stored each time it is
sent by email, fax or is printed or stored.
From within the documentation history
screen, you can click on the document title and the original document will be
displayed. You will not be able to re-send a document from within the document
history. Only current documentation can be re-sent to a client or supplier.
n Notes This link will display notes entered for the
elements in the booking and for the booking header. The Notes are of 3types.
Client, Supplier and Internal.
Also you can add more General Notes from
this page by clicking on the ADD GENERAL NOTES link.
The user can inactivate a note by clicking on Make Inactive .
The Accounts field that are used in the Booking summary are
n
Payment à When a payment is made
by a client this link will show the details on the payment received.
n
Invoice History à Invoice history shows the details history of invoices and credit notes
raised.
n
Raise Invoice à The Raise Invoice
function in Illusions is the trigger which informs the system that the booking
is now a recognized sale. Once an invoice has been raised, the system will post
the sales figures to the profit report, and post the purchase amounts to the
creditors
n
Our Reference No à The Booking number (mandatory field) that you wish to raise the
invoice for
Click on “Raise” button to generate an invoice for the specific
booking.
n
Raise Credit Notes à The Credit Note
facility is used to reverse the Raise Invoice function. A Credit Note can only
be raised if the Raise Invoice function has been performed. The Credit Note
function unlocks the booking so it can be modified.
Enter
the booking reference no for which the credit note has to be raised.
The credit Note is raised for this booking, when the user Clicks on
Submit.
Note: Once
the Credit note is raised for a booking, the booking is again available for
amendment
5 Managing Booking
Header / Element Status
|
Element Status |
Status Description |
|
Quote |
The element has a
stored price. No allocation is held |
|
Confirmed |
Element is confirmed
(either from allocation or by manually updating the element status) |
|
On Request |
The element is not
confirmed. Partial allocation or no allocation may be held (based on
availability at time of booking) |
|
Rejected |
Rejected elements are
removed from the booking summary. Select ‘ShowAll’ to see rejected and
cancelled elements |
|
Cancelled |
Cancelled segments do
not hold allocation. All charges are removed from cancelled segments. (Unless
cancellation charges apply). Click ‘ShowAll’ to see rejected and cancelled
elements. |
|
Header Status |
Status Description |
|
Quote |
All elements within
the file have a quote status. No allocation is held |
|
Option |
All elements within
the file have a confirmed status. An option indicates that we are holding
live elements (either from allocation or confirmed directly with the
supplier). No payment has been receipted against the booking. |
|
Confirmed |
Similar to the Option
status except users must manually update the Header status to show confirmed.
All other Header Status’s are automatically validated and updated by the
system automatically depending on the element status and whether payment has
been receipted. |
|
Partially Paid |
A partial payment has
been made against the booking (where one or more elements are either
confirmed or on request) |
|
Paid in Full |
Full payment has been
made against the booking (where one or more elements are either confirmed or
on request) |
|
Cancelled |
All elements in the
booking have a status of cancelled. No allocation is held. |
|
Rejected |
All elements in the
booking have a status of rejected. No allocation or payment is held |
|
Pending |
If there are multiple
elements within a booking having a mix of confirmed and quoted elements, then
the booking header status will be set as Pending. |
Once a booking has the status of ‘PAID’, the Invoice can be raised.
|
Invoice Status |
Status Description |
|
Invoice Raised |
Indicates that the
function “Raise Invoice” has been processed. Once an invoice has been raised,
the booking is locked and cannot be amended. The user must raise a ‘Credit
Note’ to reverse the Invoice so that changes can be made. The act of ‘raising
an invoice’ recognizes the booking profit and adds all purchase costs into
the Purchase Invoice – ready for payment. |
|
Invoice Not Raised |
The “Raise Invoice”
function has not been performed (or a credit note has been raised) and the
booking is open for amendment. |