Tour Request Messaging

Overview

Tour Request Messaging Overview

Tour Request Messaging is a feature within the Operations → Messages menu, designed to facilitate communication with suppliers during the initial setup of a Tour. It allows users to request allotments directly from suppliers as part of the early planning and contracting process.

Message Templates

Users can create Message Templates, which serve as the email body sent to the supplier. These templates can be as broad or specific as needed and may include dynamic placeholders to automatically populate key tour-related information such as:

Supplier
Service
Dates
Allotment details

This enables consistent, efficient, and personalized communication without manual data entry.

Use Cases for Multiple Templates

Depending on the communication needs, users may set up multiple templates for different types of supplier requests, including:

Initial allotment requests
Requests to increase or decrease existing allotments
Allotment cancellation requests

This flexible system ensures clear and trackable supplier communication throughout the tour setup process.

Users will use the “Template” drop down to select a specific template and then use any of the below search parameters to review which Suppliers within a Tour need to be contacted:

In the results the system will return a list of Suppliers based on the search criteria provided. Selecting a Supplier will then show the Message Template (email body) that is now filled in using place holders.

Building Message Templates

The Message Templates for these Tour Request Messages will be built within the Product → Booking Rules menu using the “TOURREQMSG” Rule Area.

An example of a Message Template will look like the below:

Rule Area: TOURREQMSG
Rule Type: Display
Description: The name of the Message Template

The Rule Text field is where the user will build the Message Template.

Below is a sample Message Template:

Place Holders/Bracketing

All text that is bracketed with [ ] brackets are place holders that will fill in with data when the user pulls up the Message Template in the Process Tour Request Message menu.

Common Place Holders

TourCode
TourName
SupplierName
ServiceDate
ServiceDuration
Description
- This is the Service Description

The text with the { } brackets tell the template where to place certain data.

The Subject tag {Subject} {/Subject} should be placed between the [Date] place holder and the greeting to the Supplier

This will place the email Subject into the Email Subject field within the Tour Request Messaging menu:

The Row tag {Row} {/Row} tells the system to create a new row for this information. This is typically where your allotment request would be placed with the Tour Code, Service Date, Service Duration:

Note: Users will need to either enter the allotment number within the Message Template or leave it blank in the template and manually adjust the number directly on the message itself

If a user is requesting allotment for a Supplier that appears on more than 1 Tour the Message will display each date as its own row:

This will only happen if a user is initially not entering in a Tour Code with a date in the Search parameters:

Searching for a specific Tour with a date will only use that Date in the Message for the Supplier allotment request:

Editing the Message

Users can manually edit, add, or delete content within the message body by simply clicking into the text area and making the necessary changes.

If users need to reset the message to its original template, they can select the “Dump Changes” option. This will discard all manual edits and restore the message to its default format based on the selected template.

Sending the Email

Once a user has reviewed the message and is ready to send the email they can select “Send Email” at the bottom of the menu:

The system will ask if the user wants to continue with a pop up:

Once “Send Message?” is selected the system will email the Supplier the request.

Selecting the “Send From Email App” button will launch the default email client on the user’s computer, allowing them to send the message directly to the supplier and maintain a running email chain using their own mail system.

Note: This method does not automatically save the sending of the request in the Softrip system. However, users can manually save the correspondence if they wish to retain a record within the platform.

Selecting “Mark Urgent” will add the word “URGENT” at the front of the Subject line:

Saving Supplier Correspondence

When selecting “Send Email” the system will save a record of this request that users can review within the Operations → Ops Management → History menu by searching for that Tour Code or Supplier ID:

If a user would like to save the response from the Supplier they can select the white “Email” button and change the option to “Receive”

The system will display a pop up that the user can then drag and drop their Supplier response email

They’ll need to manually enter in the Supplier ID and Tour Code after they have dropped the email into pop up window. They can also attach any relevant files using the “Add Files” button

Once they select “Save” it will create a record they can review for future use under the “Supplier Message - Received” section:

If users choose to send messages via the “Send Email From App” option, they can still save their correspondence with the supplier by following these steps:

Navigate to Operations → Ops Management → History
Search using the relevant Tour ID or Supplier
In the email section, change the white “Email” button to “Receive”
Drag and drop the email thread into the interface to save the communication

This ensures the supplier correspondence is documented in the system, even when sent through an external email client.