Channel management

The channel manager is a tool to help your property design its online booking offerings. The information on this page can guide you through the setup process. After you have added all the components, click Activate at the bottom of the page. You are then ready to start selling online.

Property Details

This section displays details including the property name, address, and contact information. These details can be used by an online booking channel to give your customers information about your property. This information comes from the Property Details page, so any changes made to this area also update the Property Details page.

The following two fields impact how online bookings appear in Delphi:

• Default Account - All online bookings are created under this account. An account needs to be entered in this field.

  Amadeus recommends using a generic account created for bookings made through an online channel.

• Default Lead Coordinator (DLC) - All online bookings are assigned to this user. The DLC is notified and assigned as the booking owner for all online business. The DLC is responsible to review and reassign the booking to a new owner based on your property's business practices. If your property uses MeetingBroker, the name of your current Default Lead Coordinator displays in this field.

If your online booking channel allows your property to manage different function room rental rates for special dates, the Allow Daily Rental checkbox displays. Selecting this checkbox activates the Daily Rental tab, where property administrators can enter and manage rental rates for different dates.

Packages

This section displays all the packages available for online bookings. You can offer a combination of different packages including Build Your Own Packages. When a package is added, it displays with its event classifications and one of the following statuses:

• Draft - This status means that the package is a recent addition and is not yet saved.

• Saved - This status means the package is ready to be exposed online.

If you need to remove a package for this online channel, click Delete.

Function Rooms

The function rooms available to be booked online display in this section. You can control when a function room is available, and the packages it applies to. After the function room is added to this section, use the following fields to impact what your clients see online:

• Package – This field displays the name of the package that the following settings apply to.

• Applies To – This field displays the event classification the function room applies to. If this field is left empty, the function room applies to all event classifications in the package.

• Rental – This field can be used to add a rental charge in addition to the package price or to create a dynamic pricing option. Here are some scenarios where you might want to use this:

  • You want to charge a supplemental flat rental fee for online booking for premium spaces.
  • You want to charge a higher per person amount on high demand days.

  • You offer a Build Your Own meeting package option. A daily flat rental amount can be entered.

  The channel manager can use inclusive pricing on function room rental. However, some third-party channels are not able to support this yet. Verify the capability of your third-party channel before marking any function room rental amounts as inclusive.

• Min Attendees and Max Attendees – Use these fields to set a minimum and maximum number of attendees for selling this package and function room online. Here are some important points to keep in mind:

  • These fields are optional.

  • The minimum number of attendees must be less than the maximum number.

  • The maximum number of attendees must be greater than or equal to the minimum number.

  • You can choose to set neither, one, or both of these attendance fields.

• Min Start Days and Max End Days – These fields control how far in advance the function room can be booked online. You can override the default values to match your organization's policies.

• Availability – This field displays which days of the week this function room is available.

To sell a function room for multiple packages, or charge a different rental per day of the week, a separate line needs to be created. You can click Clone to copy existing data.

If you need to remove a package from a function room, click Delete ().

If you need to remove the function room from online booking channels, click Delete ().

Daily Rental

This tab only displays when the Allow Daily Rental checkbox is selected in the Property Details. You need to use a third-party channel that allows your property to manage different function room rental rates for special dates.

The Function Rooms tab can be used to define rates based on the days of the week. The Daily Rental tab can be used to define rates for specific calendar dates.

After you choose a package, you can use the calendar to select the date where the rental rate is different than the default. Colors and arrows indicate whether the adjusted rate is higher or lower than the original amount. Click Bulk Update to enter daily rates for up to one calendar year. Click Reset Rental to reset your changes.

Add On Items

You can use add-on items to offer extra items not included in the package price. After the item is added to this section, use the following fields to impact what your clients see online:

• Event Classification – This field displays the event classification the item is available for. If this field is left empty, event planners can add the item to any event classification in the package.

• Prevent Qty Adjustment – Select this checkbox to prevent event planners from adjusting the quantity of this item.

• Package – This field displays the package the item is available for. If All Packages is selected, the item is available on all packages exposed on this online channel.

To sell an add-on item for multiple event classifications, a separate line needs to be created. You can click Clone to copy existing data.

If you need to stop offering an add-on item online, click Delete.

Blackout Dates

You can use blackout dates to close online availability for certain dates during the year. You can restrict a certain package, function room, or both.

For more information on how to set up an online channel, see the Amadeus Learning Universe.