Messages
Overview
The Softrip Operations system plays a pivotal role in facilitating seamless communication between your organization and the vendors you work with, using an integrated messaging system.
Once services have been communicated to vendors, Softrip enables your team to track all reported services through a comprehensive monitoring system. This ensures:
Every service request is accurately recorded
No service is overlooked or lost in follow-up
Confirmation needs are clearly identified and prioritized
This functionality helps maintain operational efficiency and vendor accountability throughout the booking lifecycle.
Below is a high-level overview of how the Messaging and Confirm Reservations screens work together to support communication and service confirmation within Softrip.
Messaging Communication Timing Overview
There are three ways in which messages are triggered to be reported to the vendors suppliers:
FIT Messages
Tours Messages
Process Single Reservation Messages
Each Communication type has a unique way of setting up to communicate with your Vendors.
FIT Messages
For FIT bookings, the communication timing is set under the Supplier Service in the Product menu. In supplier services, the "Comm Timing" or communication timing can be set to either report passenger names, travel dates and room types under the following parameters:
Deposit Received
Payment in Full
Report Immediately
Other
Release Date
For more information on the communication timing, review the services article.
Note: These are Products without any Tour ID affiliation. This communication is for FIT Packages, and FIT List Products.
Tour Messages
For Tour Products (set departures) and Custom Groups, the communication timing is added under a "Product Events."
Product Events allow users to define communication timing based on the contract terms for a specific product or group. This feature provides flexibility in controlling how and when service information is reported to suppliers—especially for complex or custom products with multiple components.
Multiple Product Events can be configured for different service types, ensuring each component is reported appropriately. Much like the communication timing options available in Supplier Services, users can choose from the following settings:
Communication Timing Options
Days Prior to Departure
Set the number of days before the overall departure date to trigger communication.Days Prior to Service
Set the number of days before the individual service start date.This is especially useful when different components within a product have varying start dates.
Deposit Received
Triggers communication once a deposit has been received on the reservation.Payment in Full
Triggers communication when the reservation balance has been fully paid.Report Immediately
Sends communication to the supplier as soon as the service is added to the reservation.
Example
There is a wedding group that is traveling to Hotel X in 15 months. The tour operator and the hotel draft a contract. In that contract, the hotel advises that all rooms need to be reported within 60 days prior to the departure date.
Users can set-up two product events to send a preliminary manifest the hotel 75 days prior to the departure date and then a final rooming list 60 days prior to the departure date.
Note: Allocating the communication timing to either services, products or groups is a necessary step in order to run messages (communication to your vendors) under the Operation Messages screen.
Message types
There are five different message types users can choose. To ensure the correct manifests are being reported to the hotel, users must select the appropriate message type before proceeding:
FIT Messages
Process FIT messages for any FIT bookings. These bookings are created from the "vacation builder" option in reservations.
The communication on FIT bookings is set under the supplier's service.
Tour Messages
Process Tour messages are used to process messages for custom groups or for products
The communication timing for these messages are set under the product events.
Single Res Messages
Users can process a message for an individual booking.
Processing a message under the "single res message" option will ignore the communication timing and/or product event rules set and will process a message for all supplier services that exist on the booking.
Note: Bookings under an "option" status will not be reported.
Air Messages
Tour Request Messages
Tour requests provide users with more filtering options.
Under tour request messages, users have the opportunity to report services to suppliers without reporting passenger names.
An example of this would be reporting the total number of passengers to a restaurant that is included in a tour.
Using the tour request message option will allow users to report the number without reporting the names.
Additional template setup is required. Please contact Softrip for more information.
Search Options:
When searching for services that are due to be reported, each message comes with different values that can be used to narrow the results. The search options will change based on type of message that is selected from the drop-down.
Each short video below displays the options that are available to users.
FIT Messages:
Tour Messages:
Single Res Message:
Once a message is run, users will have the opportunity to select the relevant suppliers that have services that are due to be reported.
Results
Once the supplier is selected, the rooming list/passenger manifest will appear in the middle of the screen. There are two different tab views available to users: Message and Reservations.
Message View:
The Message View allows users to manage all communication related to services on bookings that are due to be reported to the supplier. This view provides a comprehensive interface for both reviewing and sending service-related messages.
Key capabilities include:
Viewing all services associated with bookings that require reporting
Customizing the header and footer of the message before it is sent to the supplier
Sending the manifest directly to the supplier
Marking services within each reservation as reported
Viewing any memos that have been created for reservations included in the manifest
Dynamically pulling and displaying supplier contact information based on the services being reported
Note: The contact information is pulled directly from the Supplier information in Product. View the suppliers manual for more details.
Rooming list/Manifest Information:
The Rooming List, also referred to as the Manifest, displays a list of bookings that have been created under a specific supplier. When users send an email from the Messages screen, all relevant booking and supplier service details included in the manifest will be shared with the supplier.
Below is a summary of the information displayed on the rooming list/manifest:
Service Description
Passenger Names
Arrival and Departure Dates
Number of Nights
Promotions (if applicable)
Special Requests (if applicable)
Reservation Number
Allotment Status
Supplier Contact Information
Users can review the supplier contact information by expanding the header at the top of the screen. This information is pulled directly from the contact information that is added to the supplier under Product Suppliers.
The information displayed includes the following:
ID
Name
Email
Phone
Fax
Contact Type
The contact type is a drop-down.
Users will have an opportunity to change the contact information that the rooming list/manifest will be delivered to by updating the contact type.
Subject
CC
Communication method (Comm method)
Additional attachments
Reservations View:
While the Messages View does not allow users to modify the message body directly, a few key fields can be updated under the “Reservations” tab. Editable columns include:
Follow-Up
Comments
Confirmation Info
Cost Code
Pickup
Dropoff
Any changes made to these columns will appear in red until they are saved. Once saved, the updated information will also be reflected on the Manifest when users return to the Messages tab.
Additionally, users can quickly navigate to related records by clicking the blue hyperlinks in the Reservations view. These links allow users to jump directly to:
The Booking
The associated Inventory
The Supplier Information
Processing Messages
When users are ready to send the manifest to the supplier, select "Send Email" at the bottom of the screen. This will send the manifest directly to the email that is associated to the point of contact of the supplier.
Note: To verify the contact information, expand the arrow at the top of the screen. For more information, review the supplier contact information above.
After selecting “Send Email,” users are immediately prompted with the option to “Post the Message.”
Posting the message marks the associated services as “Reported” to the supplier within the Softrip system.
In most cases, the operator should select “Post Now” to ensure that each service included in the message is properly tracked and marked as reported in the Softrip application.
This step is essential for maintaining accurate reporting records and ensuring downstream processes—such as confirmations and history tracking—function as expected.
Once a service is marked as reported within the reservation, the reservation will not display in the messages screen once messages are run again.
Note: Users do have the opportunity to control/update this using the confirm reservations screen.
In some cases, a user may choose to send a message to the supplier without posting it. This is appropriate when the communication is informational—such as sending a general note or update—and does not require confirmation from the supplier.
By sending the message without posting, the associated service will not be marked as “Reported” in the Softrip system.
This approach helps maintain accurate reporting records while still allowing for flexible vendor communication.
Example
A service may have already been confirmed, but the user wants to remind the Supplier that a passenger is Vegetarian. This request is noted on the manifest, so by using the messages screen, users can send the manifest to the hotel again without marking it as reported for a second time.
Users also have the option to mark services as reported by selecting “Post Message” without sending an actual message to the supplier. This function allows the services to be tracked as reported within the system, even if the communication occurs outside of Softrip.
This option is typically used when services are reported to the supplier manually, such as via phone, fax, or a third-party interface.
It ensures that internal tracking remains accurate, even when external communication methods are used.
Note: Once a service is marked as "reported" users will be able to verify this in reservations.
This can be verified either in the cart or under the "edit item" option.
If users see "M1" either in the cart or under the edit item option, the service has been reported once.
If users see "M2," etc, then the service has been reported twice. The second value will increase with the number of times that the service has been reported.
Supplier Message Defaults
Within the Security → System Settings → Operation Settings → Supplier Messages menu users will have the ability to set Header and Footer presets that will automatically appear within their Supplier Messages to their vendors.
There are Header and Footer options for
General Supplier Messages (FIT, Single Res):
Supplier Messages that are built from Product Events (Group Messages)
Tour Request Messages
When a user enters in the Header and Footer message from these menus the system will pull that information into the Header and Footer within the Supplier Message
Users have the ability to overwrite those default messages if they choose by manually clicking into those Header and Footer windows within the Message itself and changing the text.
Users will also have the ability to overwrite those default messages if they are using Product Events for a Tour or Group.
Within Product Events users have the ability to create a Custom Header and Footer for that Supplier Message. Any Header or Footer that is entered here will overwrite the existing Default message.
The Supplier Message for this Tour will now show the custom Product Event Header and Footer messages
