Tour Request Messaging

Owned by Anthony Pepe
Last updated: Sept 09, 2024
5 min read

Overview

Tour Request Messaging is messaging functionality within the Operations → Messages menu for the purpose of requesting allotment from a Supplier during the initial building of a Tour. Users can create Message Templates that serve as the email body they will be sending to the Supplier.

These Message Templates (or email bodies) can be as specific or as broad as needed using places holders within the messaging to pull in information about the Tour (Supplier/Service/Dates/Allotment).

Depending on the messages that a user will be sending to a Supplier they might have multiple Message Templates such as one for requesting allotment, one for requesting to reduce or increase allotment, or one to request cancellation of allotment.

 

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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:

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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.

 

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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:

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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

 

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

 

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  • 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:

  • 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

 

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

 

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  • This will only happen if you are initially not entering in a Tour Code with a date in the Search parameters:

 

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

 

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Editing the Message

Users can manually edit, add, or delete information from the Message body directly by clicking into the body and editing the message. If they need to reset the message to its original form the user can select “Dump Changes”:

 

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Sending the Email

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

 

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

 

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

Selecting the “Send From Email App” button will launch the mail client on that user’s computer where they can send the email directly to the Supplier and keep a running chain using their own mail client. This method will not automatically save the sending of the request to the Supplier, however users can manually save the correspondence .

 

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

 

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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:

 

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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”

 

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

 

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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

 

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

 

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If users opt to use the “Send Email From App” option they can still save their Supplier correspondence by opening the Operations → Ops Management → History menu, searching for the Tour ID or Supplier, and using the same Save method by changing the white “Email” button from Email to “Receive” to drag and drop the email thread.