Overview

The 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 services that need to be confirmed.

Below is a high-level workflow between the Messages and Confirm Reservations screen.

Messages - Communicating Guest names to Suppliers

There are three ways in which messages are triggered to be reported to the Suppliers: 

• FIT Messages

• Tours Messages

• Process Single Reservation Messages

Each Communication type has a unique way of setting up to communicate with your Vendors.

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FIT Messages

For FIT bookings, the communication timing is set under the Supplier Service set up within the Product system.  In Supplier Services, the "Comm Timing" or communication timing can be set to either report passenger names, travel dates, or room types under the following parameters:

1. Deposit Received: Once a deposit is made on a reservation the service will be queued to be reported in Operations.

2. Payment in Full: Once there is no money due on a reservation the service will be queued to be reported in Operations.

3. Report Immediately: As soon as a reservation is made with the particular service the service will be queued to be reported in Operations.

4. Other: Either no communication is required, the service will be reported manually by pulling reports, or the service will be reported by using product events.

5. Release Date: The service is queued to be reported via the release date that is set in the inventory in Operations. 

Upon setting the preferred communication timing for FIT messages is what would drive the system to report those services.

How to Process FIT Messages Video

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Tour Messages

For Tour Products (set departures) and Custom Groups, the communication timing is added under "Product Events."  Product 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 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:

• Days prior to departure

  • The number of days prior to the departure dates.

• Days prior to the service

  • The number of days prior to the start of the service.

  • Because product events drive the reporting to suppliers on products/custom products which may have multiple components with varying start dates, users can choose to report to the supplier within a certain number of days to the start date of that particular service.  

• Deposit received.

• Payment in full

• Report immediately

How to Process Tour Messages

Process Single Reservation Messages

Process Single Res Message is specific to a reservation. The process will pull communications for all the services that are in the reservation. You can utilize this process when you wish to send email communication per reservation.

How to Process Single Reservation Message

How do I edit the message from Softrip?

Editing the body of the email within Softrip is limited as the content of the communication comes from the Reservations itself. However, there are functions built into the messaging system that would allow you to take a set of specific actions.

How can I add Passenger Info into the Communication?

Passenger information, such as Passport Number, Birthdate, Gender, etc, can be added into the Supplier Message Email Body to the using a Booking Rule.

• Rule Area: PAXMSGDISPLAY

  • Rule Type: Display

  • Rule Text: A comma separated list of the Pax Placeholders

    • LastName,FirstName should be added to this entry as they will not appear if not included.

The Passenger Information Placeholders can be found below

• Address1

• Address2

• Age

• Birthdate

• BirthPlace

• CareOf

• City

• Comment

• ContactPrefValue

• Country

• Email

• EmergencyContact

• EmergencyPhone

• Fax

• FFNumber

• FirstName

• FullEmergencyContactInfo

• Gender

• GenReq

• GetFullAddress

• HotelReq

• HouseHoldName

• LastName

• MobilePhone

• Nationality

• NationalityDesc

• PassportAuthority

• PassportExpiration

• PassportIssueDate

• PassportNumber

• Phone

• State

• Status

• Title

• Zip

Once added to the PAXMSGDISPLAY Booking Rule the Passenger Information will appear within the message. Information will only appear for the Passenger if that information has been first added to their Contact record.

How can I add a comment on the Communication for a specific Reservation?

How can I remove a reservation from my communication?

How can I update the Subject Line of the Communication and see where the information is going to?

How can I view Memos for Reservations while in Ops Messaging?

The Service I reported to Vendor, was changed or cancelled? How can I report the changes to the Supplier?

Softrip has a way to keep track of the services that are reported. For example: If the service was reported as a Twin Room and was later change to a Triple Room, Softrip messaging will capture this change to be reported to the Supplier as a change.

Softrip messaging will be able to report changes such as accommodation changes, date changes, and cancellations.

Confirmation Process

The Confirmation Process is used to confirm the services that have been reported to the Supplier from Softrip. When the confirmation email is received from the Supplier the user would need to go to Operations → Communications → Confirm Reservations. This process allows the users to confirm the services and also save the confirmation email into the system. The Confirmations will be saved under the Supplier ID, Reservations, Tour Code (if it is a Tour Product).

Once you arrive to the screen, you will be greeted with search filters on the left side of the screen and results grid on the right of the screen.

Steps:

• Apply the filters you desire to narrow down your results.

• Select the services you wish to confirm.

• Click on Confirm Button which will open a Drag and Drop modal for the user to save their emails into.

Can I enter in a confirmation number received from the Supplier?

Yes, the user can double click on the cell to enter the confirmation number or select multiple row to apply the confirmation number of multiple Services.

Once the values are entered in the user can proceed with the confirmation process.

Where can I see the email communication that was sent and the confirmation message we saved?

The communication and confirmations can be viewed in two locations:

Reservations History

While in the reservations system there are two options: History and Supplier Reports. This section of the reservation system gives access to Internal staff to review the message that was sent out to the Suppliers and the Confirmation that was received.

Operations History

Operations → Ops Management → History screen enables the users to retrieve communications that were sent through Softrip.

Search based on Supplier ID, Res Number, TourCode

Select from the tree view to see the messages in or out of the system.

I sent my rooming list, but I have not received a response from Vendor. How do I track and follow up on services that are reported?

When on the Confirm Reservations screen, searching the “Reported” option under Supplier Reported will return all the services that were communicated out of Softrip Messages.

You can prioritize on what needs to be followed up on based on Service Date and Supplier Reported date.

Select the Services you wish to Follow up with, go to Mark As → Follow Up.

Once the process is complete go to Operations Messaging to process your messages again. Part of the messaging will display Follow Up sending. This indicates to the recipient that this is a follow up and not to double book by accident.

Sending the message will update the Supplier reported value and mark the service as message #2(M2) has been sent.

Supplier Reported Date is updated.

What if the Supplier declines the service to be confirmed?

In case the Supplier declines a service to be confirmed, Softrip has a process where you can mark the service as declined.

Select the service(s) that are declined.

Drag and Drop the Decline email into the Modal just like the confirmation process.

When the Process is complete, the Service will be marked as Declined (DC). Once the service is removed from the reservation, the system will not report this as a cancellation as the service was already Declined by the supplier.