API Booking Process
- Vincent Josset
FIT/Vacation Builder Booking Process
This process is for FIT vendors that offer a free-form way to book their services. This is in contrast to fixed-duration/escorted packages which are detailed further below.
Get available products to shop
The first step in the Vacation Builder process is to find products to shop. These products will be used to check availability and pricing, and to make a reservation.
For "Build-Your-Own" itineraries, you will start by retrieving the product codes for a given destination by using the JSON API - GETPRODUCTCITIES request. This request will return with the available product codes for your requested destination. Once you have the product codes, you can start shopping for availability and pricing.
Shop for pricing and availability
Using the product codes you retrieved from JSON API - GETPRODUCTCITIES , you can now shop pricing and availability for each product. Shopping is done using the JSON API - SHOP request. The results from this request will include BookCommand objects. You will have to hold on to these BookCommands until you are ready to make the reservation.
Make a reservation with the selected services
Each service returned from JSON API - SHOP has a BookCommand. When you are ready to make a reservation, use the BookCommands to send a request to JSON API - BOOK and create your reservation.
Fixed-Duration/Package Booking Process
Get the product code and available departure dates
The ProductCode is the starting point for the booking process. You will get the product code either from the JSON API - GETPKG or Softrip's API Next depending on availability.
Shop for pricing and availability
Once you have determined the product/package you want to shop and gathered rooming and flight information (if applicable) from the client, you can now shop for true pricing and availability using the JSON API - SHOP request. This request will return a list of services and their respective BookCommands. BookCommands will be used in the following step to create a reservation using the selected services.
Note that you can shop multiple products, and hold on to each shop response's BookCommands to create a single reservation with services sourced from multiple products.
Make a reservation
After your user has made their selections, you are now ready to create a reservation using the JSON API - BOOK request. This request will return a reservation number that you will use in the following steps.
Post-Reservation Operations
Insurance
Insurance can be added to a reservation in two steps:
Shop for available insurance options
Book the selected insurance options
Since available insurance options are dependent on booked services, you must have a reservation number before you can get applicable insurance options.
Get insurance options
Use the JSON API - GETRESINSOPTIONS request to get a list of available insurance options for your reservaton.
Book insurance
Use the JSON API - BOOKINS request to add insurance to your reservation.
Shipping Options
Shipping options (document delivery options) can be added to a reservation in two steps:
Shop for available shipping options
Book the selected shipping options
Since available shipping options are dependent on booked services, you must have a reservation number before you can get applicable shipping options.
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Get shipping options
Use the JSON API - GETRESSHPOPTIONS request to get a list of available shipping options for your reservaton.
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Book shipping
Use the JSON API - BOOKSHP request to add shipping to your reservation.
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Applying a payment on a reservation
To apply a payment on an existing reservation, use the JSON API - POSTRESPAYMENT request.
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Modifying a reservation
You can add or remove services from a reservation by using the JSON API - MODIFYRES request.
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Canceling a Reservation
To cancel a reservation, use the JSON API - CANCELRES request.