Overview
Suppliers can be identified as any vendor that has particular services that may be included in reservations.
These suppliers can range anywhere from hotel chains to transfer companies to insurance companies. There are many options that exist on the supplier page that drive different results throughout the Softrip applications. Some of these options help users customize the type of information they want displayed on the reservation system or travel docs, while other options help support automation in other Softrip systems such as Operations. Building suppliers is the first step to ensuring the product line is ready to “sell."
Supplier Details
There are many fields available under the supplier screens. It is important for users to understand the meaning behind each field and how those fields may impact other screens within Softrip.
Defining the fields
Supplier ID
The Supplier ID is the abbreviated format that is generated by the user. The format of the supplier ID should be handled in a way that is easily understood by the end-user. Some suggested values to use would be the country code of the supplier, the three letter city location code and an abbreviation of the supplier name
Supplier Name
The Supplier Name is the full name of the Vendor. This information will display in systems such as reservations and documents; so, it is important to label the supplier appropriately and only use abbreviations when creating the supplier IDs.
Supplier ID: US-LAS-HAR
Supplier Name: Harry's Hotel
Supplier Type: Hotel
Supplier ID: US-SFTYINS
Supplier Name: Safety Insurance
Supplier Type: Insurance
Supplier ID: MX-CUNRIC
Supplier Name: Ricky's Transfer Company
Supplier Type: Transfers
Supplier ID: GR-ATHSFT
Supplier Name: Softrip Greece Cruises
Supplier Type: Cruise
Contract Thru
The contracted thru field signifies whether or not the particular supplier is contracted through another company. An example of this would be if a hotel was contracted through a third party such as Hotel Beds or HBSI.
This is not limited to third party vendors that offer hotel, rate and inventory services. If there is any third party a company reports booking information to or pays for services purchased, users would also use the contracted thru field.
Star Rating
Users can enter a numerical value under the star rating for a particular supplier. The star rating information will appear in Package landing pages, hotel profile pages, when expanding the hotel information.
Communication Method (Comm. Method)
Setting the communication method drives the type of communication to the supplier. The method that is selected under suppliers will then be the default that displays in the operations messaging screen and will pull the appropriate contact information entered under the suppliers contact information.
The options that appear under under the dropdown are pre-populated in the Softrip application.
The following are available as communication methods:
Email: Will send the communication via email to the email address entered on the supplier screen under the contact information.
Fax: Will send the communication via fax to the fax information entered on the supplier screen.
None: Users will be required to manually enter communication information on operations screen if services are marked to be reported.
Vendor Direct: Vendors will have the ability to confirm services on their own via a vendor portal.
Note: Vendor Direct requires additional development. Contact Softrip.
Supplier Type
Setting the supplier type on the supplier screen is for informational purposes only. Companies have the opportunity to pay all of their bills (travel related or not) out of Softrip. For example, users can add their electricity company in as a supplier in Softrip. This supplier would then be internally noted as a non-travel related supplier.
Document Address
Addresses entered in the “document address” on a supplier will appear on the travel documents.
Location Group
The location group is primarily used to group together hotel and transfer services. For example, in some locations transfers may be a different cost depending on where the hotel is located within the destination. By adding the location groups under the hotel and transfer services, users can ensure the correct transfers are being offered when customers are shopping the product
Description
Users can enter free text under the supplier description field. This information will display on the reservations site. The type of information that would be entered under this field would be general information about the supplier such as how many floors the hotel has or the highlights of the specific tour.
Voucher Info
If information is added under the “voucher info” field, it will display on the invoices and travel documents. This information should be a more detailed version of the description of the supplier. The type of information that would be entered here would be the check-in and check-out times of the hotel or the pick-up and drop-off times of the tour. The voucher note section here is specific to the Supplier.
Important: If you wish to add Service specific Voucher notes for your guests to view, please enter the voucher notes in Supplier Services screen. Only enter information here IF the voucher notes are going to be the same for all services provided by the Supplier.
Ex: Transfer voucher from Airport to Hotel would have different instructions vs Hotel to Airport Transfers.
Website
Users can enter the supplier website in this field; however, this is for internal use only. If users would like this information to be displayed on the reservations site or on the documents, contact Softrip.
Contact Information
Entering contact information under Suppliers ensures users are communicating to the correct individuals when reporting reservations and services. The information entered under the contact information directly correlates to the operations messaging screen.
When services are ready to be reported, users will access operation messaging. When pulling the list of reservations to be reported, the contact information will pull directly from the supplier screen.
The contact details will automatically pull in the messaging under operations, allowing the user to quickly report any passenger names, reservation numbers, room and promotion details.
Voucher Contact Information
The contact information entered under “voucher” will appear on the vouchers and the documents.
Operation/Tour/Group Contact Information
The contact information here appears when running messages in operations. The different input fields allow users to enter a different point of contact depending on the type of trip that is booked.
Example
Hotel X has a point of contact that handles groups. They also have a point of contact that handles tours. Users can enter the different contact details to support the different types of reservations that may be booked.
Product Suppliers Screen
Information entered in the Supplier screen for Ops or Tour Contact email and selected communication method will determine the who to send the rooming lists when it comes to Operations Tour and FIT messaging process.
Operation Messaging Screen
