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Overview
There are two screens that users will access to report and confirm services: Operations Messages and Operations Confirm Reservations. The Operations messaging screen is designed to allow users to report manifests to their suppliers. Reporting to suppliers is a manual process and should be handled on a daily basis to ensure all suppliers have the appropriate passenger manifest. It is also a vital process to ensure the space on all components, such as tours, transfers and rooms are confirmed. Softrip Operations system plays a pivotal role in managing seamless communication between your organization and the vendors you work with through our messaging system.
Once you communicate your services, Softrip will also help your users keep track of services that have been reported to vendors. This comprehensive tracking mechanism ensures that every service request is accurately recorded, preventing any oversights and ensuring that you do not lose sight of the services that needs to be confirmed.
Below is a high-level workflow between the messages and confirm reservations screen.
Messaging Communication Timing Overview
There are two three ways in which messages are triggered to be reported to the vendors suppliers:
FIT Messages
Tours Messages
Process Single Reservation Messages
Each Communication type has a unique way of setting up to communicate with your Vendors.
FIT Messages
For FIT bookings, the communication timing is set under the supplier service in Product. In supplier services, the "comm timing" or communication timing can be set to either report passenger names, travel dates and room types under the following parameters:
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For more information on the communication timing, review the services article. |
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Note: These are Products without any Tour ID affiliation. This communication is for FIT Packages, and FIT List Products. |
Tour Messages
For Tour Products (set departures) and groupsCustom Groups, the communication timing is added under a "product eventProduct Events." Product events are designed to Events are designed to provide users with the ability to set the communication timing based on the contract for that particular product or group. Multiple product Multiple product events can be created for different service types. Similar to the communication timing available in the supplier services, users can select from the following options to set the communication timing:
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Scenario There is a wedding group that is traveling to Hotel X in 15 months. The tour operator and the hotel draft a contract. In that contract, the hotel advises that all rooms need to be reported within 60 days prior to the departure date. Users can set-up two product events to send a preliminary manifest the hotel 75 days prior to the departure date and then a final rooming list 60 days prior to the departure date. |
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Note: Allocating the communication timing to either services, products or groups is a necessary step in order to run messages (communication to your vendors) under the Operation Messages screen. |
Message types
There are five different message types users can choose. To ensure the correct manifests are being reported to the hotel, users must select the appropriate message type before proceeding:
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FIT Messages
Process FIT messages for any FIT bookings. These bookings are created from the "vacation builder" option in reservations.
The communication on FIT bookings is set under the supplier's service.
Tour Messages
Process Tour messages are used to process messages for custom groups or for products
The communication timing for these messages are set under the product events.
Single Res Messages
Users can process a message for an individual booking.
Processing a message under the "single res message" option will ignore the communication timing and/or product event rules set and will process a message for all supplier services that exist on the booking.
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Note: The contact information is pulled directly from the Supplier information in Product. View the suppliers manual for more details. |
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Rooming list/Manifest Information:
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Service description
Passenger names
Arrival and departure dates
Number of nights
Promotions (if applicable)
Special requests (if applicable)
Reservation number
Allotment status
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Supplier Contact Information
Users can review the supplier contact information by expanding the header at the top of the screen. This information is pulled directly from the contact information that is added to the supplier under Product Suppliers.
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Users can also take advantage of jumping to either the booking, the inventory or the supplier information by selecting the blue hyperlinks on the reservations view.
Processing Messages
When users are ready to send the manifest to the supplier, select "send email" at the bottom of the screen. This will send the manifest directly to the email that is associated to the point of contact of the supplier.
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Note: To verify the contact information, expand the arrow at the top of the screen. For more information, review the supplier contact information above. |
After selecting send email, users will immediately be prompted with the option to "post the message." Posting a message will mark the message as "reported" to the supplier. In most cases, an Operator should select “Post Now” to ensure that each service messaged to the supplier is marked as "reported" in the Softrip application system.
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Note: Once a service is marked as "reported" users will be able to verify this in reservations. This can be verified either in the cart or under the "edit item" option. If users see "M1" either in the cart or under the edit item option, the service has been reported once. If users see "M2," etc, then the service has been reported twice. The second value will increase with the number of times that the service has been reported. |
Supplier Message Defaults
Within the Security → System Settings → Operation Settings → Supplier Messages menu users will have the ability to set Header and Footer presets that will automatically appear within their Supplier Messages to their vendors.
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There are Header and Footer options for
General Supplier Messages (FIT, Single Res):
Supplier Messages that are built from Product Events (Group Messages)
Tour Request Messages
When a user enters in the Header and Footer message from these menus the system will pull that information into the Header and Footer within the Supplier Message
Users have the ability to overwrite those default messages if they choose by manually clicking into those Header and Footer windows within the Message itself and changing the text.
Users will also have the ability to overwrite those default messages if they are using Product Events for a Tour or Group.
Within Product Events users have the ability to create a Custom Header and Footer for that Supplier Message. Any Header or Footer that is entered here will overwrite the existing Default message.
The Supplier Message for this Tour will now show the custom Product Event Header and Footer messages
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