Shared Inventory Scheduled Tours

Shared inventory scheduled tours in TravelHerd use the parent/child concept for Land-only and Land and Air as well as Complete/Partial Itinerary tours. This is illustrated by the following examples for each of these scheduled tour combinations:

1. Land-only and Land and Air tours with shared inventory.

The Land-only tour is the parent, each Land and Air tour is a child of the Land-only tour with its own air inventory. Both inventories need to be available to confirm the child tour. Land-only and Land and Air tours generally do not start of the same date and make use of the Land-only date off-set. Often the Land and Air tour commences one day prior to the parent Land-only tour so as to allow for travel time to the destination where the Land-only tour begins.

To illustrate this, you have a Land-only tour with 20 rooms starting in Paris; its Land and Air tour child has 10 seats from JFK to Paris and 10 seats from LAX to Paris with passengers commencing the land portion of the tour upon arrival. When booking the Land-only tour, TravelHerd will check the inventory of available rooms for the requested departure date. When booking the Land and Air tour from JFK, TravelHerd will check the inventory of available seats and the inventory of available rooms also.

2. Complete itinerary tour and partial itinerary tour with shared inventory.

The complete itinerary tour is the parent, each partial itinerary tour is a child of the complete tour with it own inventory. Like the first example above, both inventories need to be available to confirm the child tour. The Land-Only date off-set may be used to synch-up the partial tour to the complete tour inventory. The complete itinerary tour and partial itinerary tour with shared inventory very often arise with motor coach itineraries.

TravelHerd can also accommodate scheduled tours with multiple level inventory; for more information on this, please click here.

Book itineraries using database, XML and one-offs

Book itineraries using database, XML and one-offs in TravelHerd. We have combined these various booking methods in one place, per type of service, for ease of booking into your TravelHerd scratchpad for quotes or into your existing TravelHerd proposals and reservations.

Book itineraries using database, XML and one-offsPopular, frequently booked accommodations and services which have been previously stored in your TravelHerd database can be booked into your TravelHerd scratchpad or proposals and reservation from XML interfaces or database items in one single pull down; XML items are flagged. TravelHerd will retrieve current rate information based on the interface mode and supplier. For services which have not been previously-stored in your TravelHerd database, TravelHerd provides links to wider search XML scripts by supplier to find them. When the rates and services are displayed, there is a link to display and store the product details in TravelHerd for current and future use by you and other TravelHerd users at your company.

Accommodations and services booked through an XML interface which have date sensitive information, e.g. seasonal hours of operation, etc., are automatically updated in the TravelHerd database via the XML interface every time an inquiry for these items.

To book non-XML interface or non-database services in TravelHerd, a form screen with fill-in items is provided. TravelHerd can then email the request to the supplier; alternatively, net rates can be entered in the TravelHerd database as well, if booked through suppliers with non-interactive third party systems.

Team TravelHerd put our programming skills to work and utilized valuable client input, based on their experiences constructing custom FITs, into building a robust FIT booking engine which recognizes the various ways components are incorporated into itineraries.  With system flexibility and intuitive, user-friendly design, your reservation agents will be able to book itineraries using database, XML and one-offs in TravelHerd with surety and ease.

TravelHerd WordPress Interface

TravelHerd WordPress interfaceHome of the Herds hosted websites can use the TravelHerd WordPress interface for scheduled tours, specials, hotel descriptions and scheduled activities. The synergy between the two applications saves you from dual information entry and its maintenance. It also precludes the issue of scheduled tours, specials, hotel descriptions and scheduled activities having to be updated in each application when revisions become necessary, thus avoiding out-of-sync data between the two applications. Scheduled activities can generally be described one day or less tours (sightseeing, docent and self-guided) and activities (classes, cultural, sporting, spa and dining, etc.).

Scheduled Tours and Specials

When selling scheduled tours and specials, the information for each specific tour is entered once but the data is utilized in both TravelHerd and your WordPress website using the TravelHerd WordPress interface. The tour selling prices and accruals are entered into your TravelHerd application and dynamically display on the tour’s web pages on your WordPress website. The tour itinerary text, including embedded images, is loaded in your WordPress website and get utilized as the tour’s itinerary in your TravelHerd database. The TravelHerd WordPress interface process saves hours of maintaining dual databases in separate applications with the inherent issue of out of sync data. For companies not selling scheduled tours or specials, the TravelHerd WordPress interface can be used to display sample itineraries with “From” pricing or without any pricing component at all.

Hotel Descriptions and Scheduled Activities

Hotel descriptions and scheduled activities are loaded only once in WordPress posts. The hotel vendor set-up in TravelHerd utilizes the appropriate WordPress post for day to day itineraries created in the TravelHerd booking engine. This functionality includes XML hotel vendors accessed via the TravelHerd XML interface; if using multiple XML vendors for the same hotel, the same description taken from your WordPress post can be used across vendors. The same holds true for scheduled activities, wherein TravelHerd utilizes these WordPress posts, making them ready to book into your TravelHerd itineraries.

Using the TravelHerd WordPress interface also makes it a breeze to set up your scheduled tours and specials for on-line sales using the TravelHerd Book Now (B2C) and TravelHerd Travel Agent Portal (B2B) features. Both TravelHerd Book Now and TravelHerd Travel Agent Portal are excellent avenues to increase your bookings and revenue without the direct interaction with your staff. Contact us today for a TravelHerd demonstration and learn about these exciting features and the TravelHerd application for yourself.

Multiple level inventory for scheduled tours

The TravelHerd tours module offers multiple level inventory for scheduled tours based on one of the following inventory types:

  1. Number of persons
  2. Number of rooms
  3. Number of Singles or Twin/Double

Additionally, a single tour can be provided with multiple pricing levels. The nomenclature for the pricing level is controlled by the client. Pricing levels and inventory type can be revised from season to season or ad hoc as required. The scheduled tour inventory set-up details the inventory usage for previously entered tours. In the event of occupancy based inventory, actual inventory is not required for every occupancy type. TravelHerd will confirm from scheduled tour inventory what is available, i.e. twin confirmed, single on request. Online sales of tours book from the same inventory and follow the same inventory rules; the online buyer of a scheduled tour is advised what can be confirmed at the time the buyer makes booking.

multiple level inventory for scheduled tours

With multiple level inventory for scheduled tours, tour inventory is set to zero as soon as the release date has been reached. The release date is set as a number of days  prior to the tour departure date. A more strict online cut-off number of days prior to departure can be set in the TravelHerd company settings. Availability is calculated by counting actual confirmed persons, rooms or occupancy types including temporarily-held persons, rooms or occupancy types booked or in-process bookings made by the internal sales consultants/reservation agents. This ensures that true availability is shown at all times. A TravelHerd report displays temporarily-held inventory booked or in-process bookings made by the internal sales consultants/reservation agents, confirmed inventory as well as tour inventory on request.

TravelHerd can also accommodate tours with shared inventory. These may be Land-only and Land and Air tours or Complete itinerary/Partial itinerary tours. In these situations, TravelHerd allows for shared inventory for the related tours.

Quick Question?
First name:

Last name:

Email:

Check to join our email list