Product System Overview

Overview

The Product system is the foundation of building the product line that will be sold to the public.  Within Softrip,  users have the ability to enter supplier (vendor) information, add services associated to a supplier and enter costs.  The Product system also provides users with the ability to control mark-up values, set-up market codes, enter supplier promotions to apply discounted rates and free nights, and more. 

Product Types

Softrip supports three different types of Products: Package, Custom and List.  Below is an explanation on these three product types:

• Package 

  • Packages are designed to support multi-stop, multi-duration trips.  Typically, these include hotel stays, sightseeing tours and guides throughout the trip. An example of a package would be a 7 Day Philadelphia and the surrounding areas tour.

• Custom  

  • A Softrip Custom trip supports a group of individuals who are traveling together to the same location.  They can be similar to a “package” in that they can be a multi-destination, multi-service type trip; however, a custom trip may also be a group of individuals traveling to a single destination for a wedding.

• List  

  • Lists support Softrip’s “Vacation Builder” in  Reservations. 

  • The Vacation Builder option is primarily used for a la carte trips. 

  • These a la carte trips give users the freedom to add components to their reservations with little to no restrictions regarding the length of travel, the destination, and what is included in the reservation. 

Data Setup

The set-up of a particular package follows a general rhythm or workflow.  Outlined below is a high-level overview of some important processes and definitions that will help during the building process. 

Key Set-Up Before Building:

Before building any vendor information, there are a few different screens that require certain data to be entered to ensure the correct and complete set-up of the products being sold.

Open

Under Security → System Settings, select the Product Settings option:

Open

The following screens should have data entered prior to building any type of vendor information:

• Markets

• Brands (optional, requires additional setup by Softrip)

Defining Setup Options:

• Market Codes 

  • Market Codes are designed to segment a company's travel business into either different types of travel, such as bachelor parties and wedding groups, by different travel locations, such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, or by trip type, such as FIT or GRP (groups). 

  • Reports are available in Softrip as reservations are made to give users the ability to view the performances of these markets.

• Brands (when relevant) 

  • Multiple brands can be supported under one instance.  Companies may support multiple brands to control pricing points or update the overall look and feel of the product line being offered. 

• Booking Rules 

  • Booking rules drive information and functionality throughout the entire system.   This can range anywhere from the information displayed on invoices and documents, to controlling insurance, to controlling deposit due dates on customer bookings.  Although users do not need to set-up booking rules prior to building supplier information, it is an important screen for users to be aware of when understanding how to control certain functions and outputs throughout the application. 

Product Setup

Building Suppliers (Your Vendors):

When accessing the supplier screen in product, there are three screens that are required when building

vendor information.  These screens and an overall definition of these screens are provided below.

• Suppliers

  • Suppliers are defined as anything or anyone that will provide a service to passengers on a reservation. 

  • An example of this would be hotels. 

• Services

  • Services are defined as the list of services that will be offered under a particular supplier.  

  • Example: standard rooms, junior suite and suites are all services under a supplier (hotel). 

• Rates

  • Rates are ultimately the overall selling price of the services within a reservation.  Users can control items such as the nightly cost of a hotel room based on a contracted rate in the rates screen.

Suppliers Overview:

The supplier screen provides users with the opportunity to enter any relevant vendor information.  The type of information entered on this screen includes the supplier name, address, supplier ID and contact information. 

Entering information under the Supplier Screen also allows users to set-up automation within other subsystems.  For example, the Comm. Method (communication method) and contact details supports how messages are sent to the point of contact and who those messages are sent to when reporting reservation information to the vendors.  

Services Overview:

The services screen allows users to set-up the different options that will be offered under the supplier.  Multiple services can be tied to one     supplier.  Under the service type, users have a list of service options to choose from ranging from hotel, transfer, sight seeing, insurance, fees and more. 

Rates Overview:

The rates screen allows users to enter in either costs (with mark-up), prices (without mark-up), child and adult rates, taxes, nightly fees and more.

Because the rates of services change and fluctuate based on the time of travel, the rates screen allows users to enter in multiple rate periods per service type.  This gives users the opportunity to increase the nightly rates during holiday periods, only allowing certain rates to be available during the weekend, or control the minimum night stay requirements. 

Product Management:

Once the Supplier information is built into the system, users will need to take all of those components and tie them to an overall product.

The type of product these different components are tied to (example list, package or custom) are entirely reliant on the type of product being sold to the public. 

A La Carte Product:

In order to support a la carte products, users will build “list products."  These lists should be built per destination and per service type. 

The three main types of lists created by users are for the following service types:

• Hotels

• Transfers

• Optional Tours

When building the list product, the order of the format should be Country Code-Destination Code-Service Type–LIST. 

The system will only allow users to enter information that is relevant to the selected product type, graying out any boxes that do not apply to the product types.  For example, selecting “list” under the product type will gray out any information that is only required under the package or custom product types. 

When entering information on the product header, users can set rules to the overall product being sold, control the deposit and final due dates (either via Market Code rules or the rules entered onto the product header), control whether or not the product is ready to sell to the public via status and more. 

Packages/Tours:

Packages/Tours are products that are composed of a variety of different services, such as hotels, transfers, and tours, with multiple set departures and a base set itinerary.

Softrip applies two different definitions to tours: FIT and Escorted.

• FIT Packages

  • Tours that do not have guides but still offer multiple components such as multiple destination stops, hotels, tours, transfers, etc.

• Escorted Packages

  • Tours that are typically conducted by a tour manager throughout the duration of the tour.

When entering information under the product header, users will need to key in a Product Code.  Product Codes should be formatted in a way that is easily understood by all users within the company. 

Some suggested formatting is to include the country code, the length of time the tour takes place, the tour destination city code(s), and, if airfare is included, the gateway. 

Adding Services to Products:

Once the information is added to the Product Header, services will need to be added in order to sell the product.  When accessing a product, the ability to add services to a product is available under the “Manage Product” option.

After selecting the “Add item” icon on the navigation bar, users can search for suppliers and services via the sidebar on the left, add them to the existing product and confirm the changes. 

Pricing Profile:

A pricing profile is required for all products before it can be sold.  The pricing profile screen can be accessed

only when users have accessed and are managing a product.

The pricing profile screen allows users to enter mark-up values that will effect the overall selling cost of the services within the product.  Users can control not only the mark-up value but can also identify the services that the mark-up value would be applied to.  The ability to control the mark-up value per service type is helpful when creating products that have multiple services types within the product.  An example would be a tour that includes hotel (HTL), transfer (TRF), and optional tours (SST) service types.  In this type of scenario, users can enter a mark-up value for the HTL of 25% whereas there may be no mark-up value at all for the TRF services. 

A mark-up is only applied if users are entering a “cost” value under the supplier rates.  If users create a

“price” value under the supplier rates, the mark-up value is not taken into consideration; however, a pricing profile is still required.  Even in instances where a mark-up may not be applied, users would still need to create a pricing profile with a value of 1.0 in order to ensure the product is available to sell.

Other filters can be added to pricing profile such as brand ID, book and departure dates, sell methods, and service ID’s.

Departure Dates & Prices:

The Departure Dates & Prices screen allow users to create, manage and delete departure dates for the Product created and is vital to any tour or custom package.  Supplier, services, rates and a pricing profile should be created prior to building the departure dates and prices. 

For tour packages, the information entered on this screen drives the price per departure date on a tour.  For example, Tour ABC departs every Tuesday and Thursday in July and August.  On Tuesdays, the price for the tour is $1,800; however, the price for the tour on Thursdays is $2,100.  Users will set-up the different dates and prices when managing the product on this screen. 

Users have the option to add date ranges, single, or daily departure dates. 

Once the departure dates are set, users will be prompted with an option to calculate the land prices.  The Calculate Land Prices is a process where the system gathers all the costs of the services in the product, multiplies the cost by the markup values in the pricing profile and returns results based on total Cost and Price per departure.

When setting up the land prices, users can enter valid “pax ranges” and the price ranges.  Adding upper and lower price ranges give users the opportunity to control the pricing of the tour.  For example: Tour A is priced at $1,799.00.  The lower price range and upper price range is set to 50% lower and 10% higher.   If a user prices the tour and it is $1,900.00, the price of the tour will still display as $1,799.00

FIT Cities:

In order for your product to become available through the “Vacation Builder” option, users must access “FIT Cities” and associate the relevant Product Lists.

Once a product list is set-up, users can assign the appropriate city code.  Once these are assigned, users will be able to select services from this list during the vacation builder process. 

Additional Product Screens

When viewing Suppliers, Services and Rates, users have the option to select the navigation button to view

different Product Screens.  Some of these screens are not available under the Product Main Menu and can only be accessed if users are first under Suppliers.

• Suppliers 

  • Same Supplier Screen, different access point.

• Services  

  • Same Services Screen, different access point.

• Rates 

  • Same Rates Screen, different access point. 

• Dates Request 

  • Affiliated with the *Project Tool available in Softrip.  The Project Tool allows users to manage their future tasks required to set up a product to sell (for example: setting due dates for users to load contracts into the system for a specific supplier). 

  • *Not an out of the box feature– please contact Softrip for more information. 

• Promotions 

  • Enter Supplier Promotion information.  An example would be entering a promotion for a fifth night free or early booking bonus. 

• Rules/Terms 

  • Same as the Booking Rules screen. 

• Products 

  • Same product screen, different access point. 

• Amenities 

  • Allows users to personalize information regarding the suppliers throughout the reservation system, such as adding images of a particular hotel. 

• View Inventory 

  • Takes users to the Operations system to control the inventory for the supplier or marketing promotions.  See the Inventory article for more information.  

• Docs and Correspondence 

  • Associated to the *Project Tool available in Softrip.  Allows users to set-up contract letters between the company and the supplier and control the status of the contract.  

  • *Not an out of the box feature– please contact Softrip for more information. 

Promotions:

The supplier promotion screen allows users to enter specific promotions that should be applied dynamically when the hotel is being shopped through reservations.

Listed below are the different types of supplier promotions and their descriptions.

• POFF 

  • Applies a percentage off of the cost of the service per night.  Entering 10 will take 10% off.  

• $OFF 

  • Applies a dollar amount off of the cost of the service per night.  Entering 10 will take $10 off per night.  

• RATES 

  • Based on the room types and masks entered under supplier services, the system will adjust the nightly cost to the amount entered under the "rates" under the supplier promotions.

• FLAT 

  • The FLAT promotion will adjust the total amount of the final price after markup off of the booking.  Entering 100 will take $100 off the total of the booking.  

• VADD 

  • The VADD or Value Added promotion does not change the cost or price of the services.  These are typically used for free honeymoon, anniversary or birthday packages. 

• FREEBIE 

  • The FREEBIE promotion does not change the cost or price of the services.  These types of promotions are typically used for resort credits. 

Once the promotion type is selected, users can add additional filters (such as the room types, the book dates and travel dates, applicable masks), mark the promotion as combinable with other promotions and more. 

Booking Rules:

The Booking Rules screen allows users to select specific “rule areas” which will then control different functionality throughout the system.  This includes but is not limited to controlling the type of information that appears on documents and invoices, updating logos on documents and invoices, setting up deposit rules for specific groups and controlling how insurance is sold on the reservations.

Different filters can be applied when creating different rules.  Having the ability to add filters onto the booking rules gives users the opportunity to create content that is specific to certain suppliers, services, or even specific customers. 

Amenities:

Supplier amenities drive results throughout the booking platform and are typically used to enhance the product that is being sold.  This is done by either associating images throughout the reservation platform of the hotel and room categories or adding additional information about the suppliers such as cabin layouts and additional tour guide information. 

Inventory:

Although users are directed to the operations screen when accessing “inventory” from product, users should still be aware of how inventory ties into product building.

Prior to setting up inventory for services, users will need to set up a block code under the supplier services.  There are four types of block types available: 

• Block 

  • Once the inventory is depleted, users cannot request additional space through the reservation site. 

• Freesale 

  • No cap on the amount sold on the service. 

• Partial Block 

  • Once the inventory is depleted, users can request additional space through the reservation site.  Additional space will be on request only. 

• On Request 

  • Services will be on request at all times. 

Users can set-up the number of rooms that are available to be sold, the availability status of the services and apply date ranges to the inventory being built per service. 

Supplier Locations:

If offering car rentals, the Supplier Locations screen provides users with the ability to enter the details regarding the car rental locations. 

The location ID can then be associated to the Supplier under supplier services.  When customers shop in reservations, the appropriate services will be offered based on the city selected. 

Product Air:

The Product Air screen supports selling airfare.  When accessing the Product Air screen, users have the opportunity to enter contract information such as the fare costs, class of service, carrier details, ticketing deadlines and more.