Travel Agent Profiles
Travel agents, such as OTAs
Online Travel Alliance: A travel agency or group of agencies that facillitate online booking, such as Expedia or Priceline. or the GDS Global Distribution System: An online network infrastructure spanning the globe, allowing travel agencies to search for inventory listings and book rooms on behalf of a guest., are a common resource for new bookings. Travel agents work with potential guests on behalf of hotels to increase bookings, usually doing so in exchange for a small portion of the guest's stay as a commission rate. They may even work with your hotel to coordinate special packages with other local services, brokering better deals for the guest than if the guest had contacted your hotel directly. Subsequently, keeping track of which agencies are booking your hotel is a key factor, especially if they require a commission as you must know how much you owe them. This is achieved through the travel agent profile.
Begin by accessing the Profiles module. If creating a new profile, click the Travel Agent option beneath the Add folder. Otherwise, click the same option beneath the Find folder to locate an existing profile.
If adding a profile, you will be redirected to a blank profile for updating. If searching for an existing profile, you will be brought to a search menu where you can use the provided search filters to locate the desired profile and, when found, click on their profile to begin editing.
A completed profile will generally look like the above figure. Note that only the agency's name, commission, and IATA number are required to save the profile, though we recommend filling out the remaining contact fields to the best of your ability where applicable. See the below table for a description of each field.
|
Field |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Agency Name |
The full name of the travel agency. |
|
Commission |
This accounts for the % (percentage), $ (flat dollar), and Non-Commissionable Travel Agent fields. If the travel agency does not collect commission for booking your hotel, checkmark the Non-Commissionable Travel Agent field to indicate as much. Otherwise, if the travel agent should be collecting a commission, type in the value of the agency’s commission using the % or $ options (make sure the correct option is selected using the bullet point as well). For example, in the previous figure, "Mr Looker’s Bookers" collects a 5% commission on every reservation they book with the hotel. If they instead collected a $5.00 commission, we would enter this amount in the $ area and select the bullet point next to it for use. |
|
Local |
If the travel agency is local to your hotel’s area, feel free to indicate this here. The checkbox is informational only and does not have any impact elsewhere in Chorum. |
|
IATA |
Input the travel agency's IATA You may also hear this value referred to as the agency's TIDS number. The value is slightly different from an IATA number, but generally one or the other will be used to identify the agency with related industry suppliers, like you property. |
|
Contact Information |
This accounts for the Last Name, First Name, Address, City, State/Prov, Postal Code, Country, Email, Main Phone, and Business Phone fields. Provide all information related to the primary contact here where applicable. |
|
Comments |
Any special notes you have about the agency (like approved bookers, VIP notes, etc) can be entered here. These will not transfer to associated reservations. |
As with other profiles, the profile will track PTD Period To Date: In reporting terms, a PTD value is a sum of all related activity from the first of the month to the reported date. For example, a report printed on January 11th will display the total values for January 1st - 11th. and YTD Year To Date: In reporting terms, a YTD value is a sum of all related activity from the first of the year to the reported date. For example, a report printed on July 15th, 2019, will display the total values for January 1st, 2019 thru July 15th, 2019.revenue from bookings linked to this profile. "Other" revenue is any non-room revenue accrued by the linked guest bookings. You may also review linked stays using the Guest Stays button, or book new stays under this profile using the Add Stay button.
