TripConnect

Tripconnect

This page is about the menu  (SETTINGS) CHANNEL MANAGER > TRIPCONNECT and explains how enable ans connect TripConnect Instant Booking, TripConnect Pay per Click, and/or TripAdvisor Review Express. 

TripAdvisor Holiday Rentals
TripAdvisor is in the process of integrating their rental sites. At the moment the are still running on separate technological platforms which are all branded as TripAdvisor. 
*If you have the option to syncronise iCal in your Tripadvisor extranet go to SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER->TRIPADVISOR RENTALS ICAL
*If you can use the TripadvisorRentals Content API go to SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER->TRIPADVISOR RENTALS XML

1 General

• Click here for general information on how the channel manager works.
• This tutorial explains how to set prices for channels.

2 Mapping

To use these services your property must be successfully mapped to TripAdvisor.

• Make sure the "Synchronise" setting is set to "Notify" or to one of the Booking options
• View the data we are sending to TripAdvisor and your mapping status clicking on the "View Mapping Status" button.

If this information does not match the information you have entered in the TripAdvisor extranet click on the "Edit Mapping Data" link and correct your data.

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It can take Tripadvisor up to 48 hours to read the data we send. If you have just entered your information in Beds24 you might need to wait. If you are still not mapped after 48 hours and click on 'View Mapping Status'. Copy the information you see there and send this to Tripadvisor and ask them to fix the problem.

3 Use TripConnect Instant Booking

Tripadvisor displays rates and availability. Guest can then complete the booking directly on the TripAdvisor web site.

TripConnect Instant Booking works on a pay-per-booking commission model. Full details of the charges will be available from TripAdvisor.

3.1 Capabilities

• Beds24.com can send price and availability to TripAdvisor
• Beds24.com can send descriptive information about your property
• Beds24.com can import bookings
• Beds24.com can import booking cancellations

For details please click here

The data communication is initiated by TripAdvisor by pulling data from Beds24. That means that Tripadvisor sends us a request for prices and availability and we then send your data for the requested section. We can not push data without a request from TripAdvisor.

3.2 Limitations

• If multiple rooms with different occupancies are booked TripAdvisor will apply the highest occupancy price for both rooms
• If your booking type is set to collect a deposit TripAdvisor will collect the credit card details from the guest. You can then manually charge the deposit account to the card.

Tripadvisor requires us to send a confirmation to the guest. The system uses your normal booking confirmation.

Instant Booking program is currently only available to people booking from US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Other European countries are planned to roll out shortly.

3.3 Set up

3.3.1 TripAdvisor

• Join the program via your TripAdvisor account. Check if you are eligible

3.3.2 Beds24.com

• Enter your TripAdvisor ID into the Property Code field, this is normally the number after the d in the URL of your TripAdvisor page. Without the correct ID TripAdvisor may not be able to identify your property.
• If you have more than one property in the same Beds24 account, all you need to do is enter the same TripAdvisor property code for all of them When TripAdvisor request a price for that code, we will send prices for all the properties that have the same code. They will appear on TripAdvisor as different room options in your TripAdvisor property.
• Make sure your property is mapped (see above).

By default the booking page is opened, when a guest click to book on Tripadvisor. If you are using a different booking engine than Beds24 on your web site you can set a "Booking Redirect" to this page in SETTINGS->BOOKING ENGINE->BOOKING PAGE->BEHAVIOUR.

3.3.2.1 Requirements from TripAdvisor

Go to SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER->TRIPCONNECT ->CONTENT DATA for a collection of information about your property required to use TripConnect™ Instant Booking. In particular check the following are all filled in and correct:

a. Your cancellation policy text

Cancellation policy has to be specific to the offer being sent to TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor will not accept ambiguous policies.

b. Your general policy (check-in check-out policy) text

c. Your room descriptions

d. At least one property picture and one picture per room. Double check you have at least these activated in SETTINGS->BOOKING ENGINE->PICTURES

Tripadvisor will not accept data if you do not have room descriptions, general policy and/or cancellation policy text.

3.3.2.2 What we are sending

Prices:

The booking page prices are sent to Tripadvisor. Rates and daily prices activated for Beds24 offer 1 and offer 2 are considered. If you have both prices for offer 1 and 2 the lowest of these are sent.

The price of a rate sent is composed from the Single, Double, Room and extra person prices.

If you select Bookings all compulsory percentage upsell items except for the ones set to "refundable" defined for the property will be included as tax values and added to the final price sent to TripAdvisor.

The currency code sent to TripAdvisor is defined in SETTINGS -> PROPERTIES -> DESCRIPTION "Currency Code" and must be set to match your prices entered in Beds24.

Policies:

TripAdvisor uses the cancellation rules set in the Beds24 system. The default is to never allow cancellations.

• To allow cancellations go to SETTINGS->PROPERTIES->BOOKING RULES and change the setting for "Booking Cancellations by Guest"
• To allow cancellations for offer 1 go to SETTINGS->PROPERTIES->ROOMS->OFFERS and change the setting for "Booking Cancellations by Guest"

Pictures:

• As property picture we will send picture number 1 from SETTINGS->BOOKING PAGE->PICTURES. The room pictures is the ones selected in SETTINGS->BOOKING PAGE->PICTURES as "room pictures".

Cancellation rules

Tripadvisor uses the cancellation rules set in the Beds24 system. The default is to never allow cancellations.

• To allow cancellations go to SETTINGS->PROPERTIES->BOOKING RULES and change the setting for "Booking Cancellations by Guest"
• We send offer 1 to Tripadvisor. To allow cancellations for offer 1 go to SETTINGS->PROPERTIES->ROOMS->OFFERS and change the setting for "Booking Cancellations by Guest"

3.4 Activation

To receive bookings activate one of the booking options.

• • Select "Bookings" to show final price including compulsory upsell items.
  • Select "Bookings (no upsell)" compulsory upsell items will be ignored

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Log into your TripAdvisor account and make sure you have activated Instant Booking.

3.5 Potential Issues

If you previously used Instant booking through another provider Tripadvisor might need to delete certain information in your account. Please contact Tripavisor support for assistance.

4 Use TripAdvisor Review Express

4.1 Capabilities

• Beds24 will send details of your bookings one day after check-out to TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor will use this to send an Email directly to the guest to request a review
• You can disable individual bookings from receiving a review request
• You can select specific or all rooms to participate

4.2 Limitations

• TripAdvisor require country of residence of the guest for legal reasons. Beds24 booking page provides a standard question (Country Selector). For bookings from other sources you will need to add this information manually.
• The booking must have a valid Email Address.
• Your property must be successfully mapped.

4.2.2 TripAdvisor

• opt in to the Review Express programme.

4.2.3 Beds24.com

• Select one of the options (either Review Express only or Review Express in combination with Bookings) for the rooms you want to enable.
• Set using the setting "Reviews Express" if reviews are collected for all bookings or if you want to manually activate review collection.
• We recommend adding the "Country (Selector)" as a compulsory question to your booking page (SETTINGS->PROPERTIES->BOOKING QUESTIONS).
• Enter your TripAdvisor ID into the Property Code field, this is normally the number after the d in the URL of your tripadvisor page. Without the correct ID TripAdvisor may not be able to identify your property.
• Make sure your property is mapped (see above).
• You must comply to your local privacy laws. TripAdvisor requires you must ensure that each guest has consented to disclosing their guest data to 3rd parties in order to receive the Review Express emails. In order to ensure Guest consent, a prominent statement should be displayed on the booking page at the time Guest Data is collected.

TripAdvisor’s recommended data statement is as follows and should appear prominently on your booking page: 
"We may use third-party service providers to process your personal information on our behalf for the purposes specified above. For example, we may share some information about you with these third parties so that they can contact you directly by email (for example: to obtain post stay reviews about your travel experience)."

2. Managing Reviews

Invitations will be send the day after check-out and only for rooms which are opted in. They will not send:

• if a booking is cancelled
• if Email address is missing or invalid
• if country of residence is missing
• if "Allow Reviews" in the "Mail" tab of the booking is set to "Disable". If you have set "Review Express" = "Enabled only" you need to manually set "Allow Reviews" = Activate in each booking for which you want to collect a review.

5 Use TripConnect Cost per Click

Your rates and availability will show on TripAdvisor with a link to your own booking page. Guests can then make a booking using your own booking engine.

Tripadvisor charges per click. Full details of the charges will be available from TripAdvisor.

5.1 Capabilities

• Beds24 sends prices and a link to your booking page

For details please click here

6 TripConnect

• Join the program via your TripAdvisor account

6.1 Beds24.com

• Set the synchronise setting to one of the Booking options. The Notify setting will only notify Trip Connect you are capable of joining their program using Beds24, it will not allow prices to be sent.
• Enter your TripAdvisor ID into the Property Code field, this is normally the number after the d in the URL of your TripAdvisor page. Without the correct ID Tripadviser may not be able to identify your property.
• Make sure your property is mapped (see above).
• The currency code sent to TripConnect is defined in SETTINGS -> PROPERTIES -> DESCRIPTION "API currency" and must be set to match your prices entered in Beds24.

6.2 Data protection

Make sure you comply with your local data protection laws when using this service.

6.3 Activation

TripConnect - How to set up a campaign.pdf

7 Disconnect

Change the setting for "Synchronise" to either "Notify" or "Disable".