Enhancements
Groups
Group Summary Total Due
The Group Summary header will now have the ability to show Total Gross Due and Total Net Due, making it more consistent with the display of regular reservations with commission. The Total Net Due will only display if there is a Customer on the group and the commission of the group is not 0. The Total Gross Due will display always
Why it’s important:
This is important for groups where a travel agent is in charge of the group and is getting commission for their sales. This allows them to see how much is due less commission on an overall level rather than having to dig in to each individual reservation to see this information.
Who it affects:
Groups Next operators
Marketing
Multiple Customers using one IATA (Host Agencies)
We have introduced the concept of Host Agencies with this release. These are agencies that have multiple sub-agencies working under the same IATA but as different entities/agency names. There are multiple changes to the travel agent registration process as well as the internal CRM processes. The idea is that now, when a new Customer is created in either process, if the IATA number exists that was entered the system will add a counter to the end of the Customer ID (12345678-01, 12345678-02, etc.). The Host Agency will have the actual IATA number of 12345678. This will allow for reporting, searching, etc. to be done as a wildcard and be able to see all information for that given IATA.
In the travel agent registration process, if the entered IATA has multiple records the system will now give the choice to the agent of which agency they are registering under. If their agency does not exist yet, it will give them the ability to create a new agency with the same IATA and the system will automatically add the counter to the end based on the number of sub-agencies already registered.
In the CRM search for internal users, the Customer ID search field will now automatically do a wildcard search so that the user can pull up all customer’s starting with that IATA. The same process for adding the counter automatically will happen in the Create New Customer process. The internal user will only need to enter the IATA number and the system will calculate how many sub-agencies are registered to add the counter to the end.
NOTE: No changes to accounting or commission processes have changed. All commission will be sent to the sub-agency based on the address entered on their record.
Why it’s important:
More and more sub-agencies/host agencies are starting to come around where larger agencies are acquiring smaller agencies but the smaller ones need to operate under the same IATA number. This change allows for the system to handle these types of agencies easier without the tour operator needing to manually check this and create the Customer ID’s accordingly.
Who it affects:
Marketing / CRM Next operators
Reservations Next operators using the Travel Agent Registration process
Reservations
Insurance Per Booking
There is now the ability to choose whether you want insurance options to be selected on a per booking basis or a per passenger basis. This allows for flexibility of the operator to let each passenger select a different type of insurance (or decline), or to restrict it to say all passengers must take the same insurance option (whether accepting or declining). This is done by a new DefaultID in the Defaults area of the system called INSURANCEPERRES. By setting this to “Y”, all passengers must take the same insurance options. This can also be done on a per brand basis if each brand would like a different way of handling this (value similar to BRAND1=Y;BRAND2=N
This setting is turned OFF by default, meaning insurance will be per passenger unless specifically turned on
Why it’s important:
Depending on the tour operator’s business rules or the insurance provider’s rules, this is important to allow for the system to book insurance differently. This also allows for making the whole process of selecting insurance simpler from the passenger’s perspective.
Who it affects:
Res Next operators during the booking flow
White-labeling
Softrip has added support for a white-label within the Reservations Next system. This allows for showing a different logo on the header of the website as well as a different phone number in the Contact Us popup. This applies specifically for Travel Agencies and the ability for the agency to pass their customers through your website but still brand it with the agency logo. By building a new INV-LOGO booking rule with the CustomerID filter, this logo can then replace your operator’s logo.
To have the system use this new logo and the phone number, a parameter must be passed in the URL of the site. If this is not provided, the site will work as normal. You (or the agency linking to you) will need to add custom=AFF&customCode=[CustomerID] for the system to read this.
Example URL: https://www.mysite.com/product/PROD1?custom=AFF&customCode=12345678
Landing Page Accommodations Updates
Softrip has updated the product landing page when there are no Hotel or Cruise items on the product. The Featured Accommodations section will now not display at all and will only display the dates & pricing section.
Why it’s important:
This was done mostly for the use case where only a Foreign Operator (FOR service type) is loaded in to the Product. Tour Operators do not want their customers knowing the name of this Foreign Operator/DMC and so it made sense to hide this
Who it affects:
Res Next operators on the Softrip default landing page
Mandatory Supplements in Dynamic Packaging
The dynamic packaging module has been updated to allow for mandatory supplements to be loaded for certain hotels. This could be used for items like a dinner that is required if you stay at the hotel, or a welcome breakfast, etc. In order to load this, the service must be loaded in the Product List as a service within the same plan as the hotel (not a global service) and marked as Item Role = “S” (Supplement). When the system sees this, it will add this service to the “Additional Services” section when the user selects the hotel, automatically select it (and not allow for opt-out) and inform the user of the extra service being added.
Why it’s important:
This allows for any additional services or costs that are not associated with the hotel room to be loaded and required to be taken by the user. It helps streamline the process of booking a hotel.
Who it affects:
Res Next operators using the Dynamic Packaging process
Resolved
Accounting
Resolved issue with Other Payables screen not using correct exchange rates based on the Journal setup
Updated Other Payables screen to not allow for posting to an inactive account
Fixed issue in Receipts Entry that allows for the Received From dropdown to stay enabled when entering multiple receipts at one time
Fixed issue with Credit Card Processing screen not updating the Processed Status field when a failed payment attempt was made
Updated Credit Card Processing screen to select the checkboxes when using multi-select on the grid, keeping it consistent with other screens in the system
Updated menus on the Checks Register screen to line up better, making it easier to select the sub-menu items
Disabled sorting in the Pay Suppliers screen as it was causing issues with the To Pay amounts being recorded incorrectly
Updated Pay Suppliers to not change the Due Date when entering multiple invoices in a row
Calendar
Resolved issue of Product Event reminders not showing for custom products
Groups
Fixed issue with pre and post products not returning all Product Codes as expected to select from
Resolved issue of a 500 error displaying if duration was set to 0 on a new group
Operations
Updated history screen when searching by tour code to be more efficient to avoid timeout errors
Product
Resolved issue with mass update of Product Detail information only updating the 1st selected record. This will now correctly update all selected records
Fixed issue with saving of the air contract screen causing a duplicate key error
Updated menu options for a Group with multiple TourID’s to be the normal Group Management menu options
Fixed supplier promotions screen to save and update the Blackout Date conditions correctly
Updated supplier promotions screen to validate the required fields to reduce the number of bad records in the system. Required fields are Supplier ID, Service ID, Promo ID, Cost Code, Promo Type
Fixed mass update in the Project Inventory screen to save all of the entered data correctly
Updated Product Upgrades screen to use the correct security checkpoints
Fixed Supplier Rates screen to display Desigs of the service when creating a new rate period
Reporting
Updated Next version of Invoice to correctly show taxes in the Reservation Breakdown
Next version of the Group Quote Letter will now use default rules rather than forcing the user to create a custom rule for every group
Updated Next version of travel documents to format voucher notes based on line breaks OR HTML formatted text
Reservations Next
Fixed issue with phone field displaying multiple times on the passenger page in certain cases
Fixed product landing page to not display a Hotel multiple times in the Featured Accommodations section
Updated cancellation fee when cancelling a reservation to calculate correctly
Resolved issue with rebooking of an FIT reservation to a new departure date to correctly move all services to the new date
Updated the re-shop process when a triple is not available to correctly re-shop the room as a double and single
Fixed marketing promotion travel credits to not double book when being selected during the booking process
Updated dynamic package to filter supplier promotions on the Customer Affiliation tag
Updated package shop results to not show the POPUP amenity information by default allowing for the screen to be shorter
Security
Disabled the ability to edit a User ID within the Users screen. This is not allowed as it will cause many reporting and other issues in the system