Hotel Booker can be configured to capture extra data from a booker at the point of booking. This is entered as "Additional Information". Information such as cost centres or project codes can be entered and saved along with the booking. This information can also be configured to be written as comments into the PNR created in the GDS.
No. The additional information can be saved against each user profile. It can then be automatically populated on the Booking Summary page.
Hotel Booker supports a number of payment methods, which are configured by Conferma Pay staff at the request of the agency. If a payment method is not showing, it may not have been switched on for use, or it may have been switched off at the request of the agency. Some payment methods are also tied to the booking contact, or travellers. These payment methods will not display until the traveller or contact has been added to the booking.
Yes. Hotel Booker does allow individual credit cards to be loaded against user profiles, which can then be used to guarantee bookings. However, this feature is optional and must be configured by Conferma Pay staff before it can be used.
Bookings must be amended one room at a time. To amend a room, simply expand the room entry on the Booking Details page, then click the Amend button that appears below the room details. If there is only one room on the booking, the room entry will already be expanded.
Cancellations can be made either one room at a time, or for the entire booking. To cancel all rooms on the booking, click the Cancel button at the bottom of the Booking Details page. This will cancel each room one at a time. To cancel a single room, expand the individual room details and click the Cancel button that appears at the bottom.
Online availability is provided by third parties. When no rates are available through these sources, Hotel Booker will only allow Offline Rates or Guide Rates to be booked. The reservation must then be confirmed directly with the hotel.
Email confirmations are only sent to the booking contact. The email will not be received if the email address has been entered incorrectly. The email address for the booking contact can be seen at the top right of the Booking Details page.
Although Hotel Booker is capable of booking 12 months in advance, the rates provided by third parties will often show as not available. Some of the providers may also show availability for the current year, instead of rates for 12 months later. CSP users may also find it difficult to allocate a card for 12 months into the future. It is always better to take the booking offline in this case.
Hotel Booker can be configured to use GDS Rate Access Codes. Often when rates are not showing through the website but are appearing on the GDS, it is because a Rate Access Code is being used preventing some rates from displaying.
Yes. Hotel Booker has the ability to add a new booking to an existing PNR. However, this Single PNR feature has to be activated by Conferma Pay before it can be used. If the single PNR feature is enabled, simply click the icon found at the bottom of the Booking Details panel on the left hand side of Hotel Booker. This will then allow a PNR to be entered and assigned to the current booking in progress.
Hotel Booker can be configured to write a PNR into the GDS, when booking offline or through a non GDS channel. This functionality must be configured by Conferma Pay staff. When amending a booking, a PNR will only be updated if a rate or date change is being made or if additional information is submitted. Changing Booking Restrictions or Traveller Details alone will not cause the GDS to be updated.
Hotel Booker will only ever send a fax confirmation to a hotel when it is either Offline (not confirmed via GDS or Direct Connect), Agent Billback is used or if CSP is required as a Payment Method. Hotel Booker will never send faxes for online bookings unless it has been specifically configured to do so for your Agency.
To resend a booking confirmation, click the Resend Confirmations button at the bottom of the Booking Details page. This will open up the Admin Tool, where email and fax communications can be resent when required.
When booking a selected rate, Hotel Booker will send a request to the rate provider to place the reservation. Sometimes the third party may fail to confirm the reservation. This may be for a number of reasons such as a lack of availability, an invalid credit card or a failure to connect to the hotel. The specific reason for failure can always be found in the Scratch Pad, which can be accessed from the Booking Details page.
Yes. Hotel Booker will support multiple occupancy bookings. However, before this feature can be used it must be activated by Conferma Pay staff.
Due to the way Hotel Booker interacts with third parties (searching for rate availability); a booking cannot be created in the past. However, it is possible to create a new booking and then amend the date to a past date.
Yes. A booking featuring an arrival date in the past is amendable. However, this amendment will only update in the Conferma Pay system taking it Offline.
When booking over multiple nights, the rate first returned from the GDS is often an average, or just the cost of the first night’s stay. The total is approximated based on this. i.e. the nightly rate is multiplied by the number of nights. Once that rate is actually selected, or full information is retrieved, the actual rate per night then becomes known. The rate that is first displayed at £85.00 may not actually turn out to be £85.00 per night, but £85.00 for the first night, £100.00 for the second and so on.
Therefore when the rate first loads, it may appear to be Within Policy, but once it is selected and we get the actual rate per night (not an approximate one) it may become Out of Policy. Rather than displaying a rate as Within Policy on the rates page and then Out of Policy on the summary page, the rate displays as Unknown.