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Inventory

Inventory

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    Overview

     

    The Operations Inventory screen enables users to create, manage, and update inventory for various services such as hotels, transfers, sightseeing tours, marketing promotions, and more. While working within this screen, users can:

    • Control space availability, distinguishing between inventory that is contracted with vendors and what is available for public sale.

    • Apply inventory settings to specific dates, date ranges, or particular days of the week.

    • Manage sale status, allowing for the adjustment of availability in real time.

    • Optimize operational efficiency by centralizing inventory configuration across multiple service types.

     

    Creating Block Codes and Inventory

     

    Once the Inventory screen is accessed, users can create new inventory records by selecting the plus (+) icon. Unlike some other screens within Softrip NEXT, selecting the plus (+) will immediately open a new inventory entry screen, allowing users to input all relevant details associated with the block code.

     

     

    There are a variety of fields that display for users to enter the appropriate information.  

     

    Defining the Fields

     

    Block Code 

    • Block Codes are typically the label that users will define on supplier services.  Block codes are the shell in which inventory will be taken from once the booking is confirmed.

    Scenario 1

    Block codes in Supplier Services

    Harry's Hotel in Las Vegas offers three distinct room categories: Standard, Deluxe, and Suites. Each room category has its own dedicated allotment.

    Within the Services section of the Product system, users must build out a separate service type for each room category: one for Standard Rooms, one for Deluxe Rooms, and one for Suite Rooms. Each of these service types will have a unique block code associated with it.

    Once the block codes have been created, users can navigate to the Operations Inventory screen and enter these codes. From there, they can associate a specific number of rooms to be sold within a defined date range, as outlined in the hotel’s contract.

    • Standard room category has block code HARSTD

    • Deluxe room category has block code HARDLX

    • Suite room category has block code HARSUITE. 

    Scenario 2

    Block codes associated to Marketing Promotions 

    Users would like to run a marketing promotion that provides users with a total of $200 off any booking made on Black Friday.  They would like this promotion to only be eligible for 150 bookings.  Users will build the block code under Operations Inventory first, with an IDate of Dec 31, 2050 and the appropriate allotment, and then add the block code to the promotion in Marketing.

    For additional information regarding marketing promotions, review the promotions article.  

    Contracted

    • Enter the number of rooms or the amount of space that is contracted for this block code.

    Scenario 1:

    Softrip's Annual Retreat is a group that is traveling to Mexico for 7 nights.  The group is contracted for 40 total rooms.  Users will enter the number "40" under the contracted field for the dates of travel.

    Scenario 2: 

    Harry's hotel is giving Company Y 50 standard rooms to sell for travel in the months of January, February, and March.  Users will enter the number "50" under the contracted field for the dates of travel.  

     

    Allotted

    • Enter the number of rooms or the amount of space to be sold under this block code. This value typically matches the contracted allotment from the supplier. However, users may choose to allot fewer rooms than the contracted amount in order to reserve some space. This strategy is often used to ensure availability even if the initially allotted rooms sell out.

    Available 

    • The number of rooms available will deplete as the number of rooms are sold.  Once set, the number of rooms available is not an editable field. 

    Scenario:

    In the standard standard room category at Harry's hotel, 50 rooms were available to sell for travel on the dates of January 1st-January 31st.  Users sold 10 rooms for travel on January 20th.  The number of Contracted and Allotted rooms on January 20th will display 50; however, the number of available rooms for travel on January 20th will display 40.

    State

    • The state is the display of availability of the service.  The following values can be entered:

      • A

        • Active.

        • Services are available to sell if inventory is available.

      • R

        • On Request.

        • Services are on request at all times regardless if inventory is available.

      • B

        • Black Out.

        • Services are blacked out and cannot be sold.  

        • This state is mainly used if there are dates that are blacked out during a specific travel time frame.

        • Example: Travel in the suite room category at Harry's Hotel is blacked out for from December 20th-December 27th.  

      • N

        • No Arrivals.

        • Bookings are not permitted during the date period entered.

        • This state can be used if there are no arrivals allowed during a specific time frame due to festivals or holidays.  

      • C

        • Closed Out.

        • Services are closed out and cannot be sold.

        • This state is mainly used if a hotel contacts a business advising that there are specific dates of travel that are closed out due to events such as hotel renovations or festivals.

    Note:  Black out, Closed and No arrival states have similar functionality and are available to the business to use in a way that best fits their business model.  

    Release Days 

    • The release days is the number of days prior to departure that the state of the service should be changed. 

    Release State

    • The release state is the change of the inventory state based on the number of days prior to departure as set by the release days.  

    Scenario

    For the standard room category at Harry's Hotel, a value of 3 is entered under Release Days, and the Release State is set to R.

    This configuration means that 3 days prior to the departure date, the availability status of the standard room will automatically change from A (Available) to R (On Request). As a result, if either an internal or external user attempts to book this room within 3 days of the departure date, the system will display the room as "On Request".

    If the booking date is January 18th and the departure date is January 20th, the standard room at Harry’s Hotel will appear as "On Request". This change is triggered by the release values defined in the associated block code.

    Asset ID

    • This is a pointer to the inventory asset table.

      Shares: Shared inventory to be used for rooms that will be shared among one or more reservations. Uses prefixes M for Male, F for Female

      Ex. M:2/2. This is a system generated value. It is not directly user created.

      This field can be left empty.

    Block Cap

    • This is the maximum number of rooms that can be sold within a block.  Once the inventory reaches this value, the inventory state will be changed to the cap type defined.  This field can be left empty.  

    Cap Type

    • The Cap Type is the inventory state that will only apply to the inventory once the BlockCap is reached.  If the BlockCap field is left blank, the CapType can be left blank as well.  

    • The possible Values are: B (Block), R (On Request), and F (Freesale):

      • B (Block) - Once the BlockCap has been exhausted, all remaining rooms/inventories will be sold as B (Block)

      • R (On Request) - Once the BlockCap has been exhausted, all remaining rooms/inventories will be sold as R (On Request)

      • F (Freesale) - Once the BlockCap has been exhausted, all remaining rooms/inventories will be sold as F (Freesale)

    Date Ranges

    • Single Date

      • Users can create inventory for a single date. 

    • Multiple Days

      • Users can create and allocate inventory to multiple days.  This option gives users the opportunity to select multiple dates during the week, keeping a running list of the dates as they are selected.

    • Date Range 

      • Users can select a date range for the inventory to be created.  This option is mostly used when users are associating inventory based on a contract provided by a vendor (supplier).

     

     

     

    Managing and Updating Existing Inventory

     

    Users can access existing block codes using a variety of filters available and can manage the inventory within the results grid as well.  

     

    In the below example, users are able to search for any inventory that is associated to the Harry's Hotel in Las Vegas.

     

     

     

    Grouping Options

    Because the search filters allow users to perform searches that may return multiple results, users can utilize the grouping options available at the top of the screen to better manage and organize their data. These grouping options make it easier to navigate through results by enabling users to filter, expand, or collapse grouped information as needed.

     

     

     

     

    Updating Inventory

    Users have two different options when editing inventory: directly in the search grid or use the mass change options.  There are two save options: save and save later.  When executing updates to the inventory, all edits will appear in red while editing and/or selecting "save later."  All changes will be saved upon selecting "saved."      

     

     

    Inventory Tasks

    The option to create an inventory task automatically appears whenever a new block is created or an existing block is updated. These tasks are stamped against each block code and include key details such as the block code itself, a description of the action performed, the date of the action, and the user who performed it. This functionality is particularly valuable to the business, as it provides internal staff with full visibility into all inventory updates, ensuring traceability and accountability at all times.

     

    Once the block code row is selected, users can expand the tasks on the right hand side of the screen to view the details.