Release Note 15.4

Management of cancellation policies
by exception on internal hotels

Why ?  In order to help you manage your internal hotels’ cancellation policies more easily in the Orchestra administration tool.

Where ? In the Orchestra administration tool, “Hotels” tab, Action “Rates management”, type of conditions “Flexible”.

How ? The “Cancellation policies” section allows a list of exceptions to be entered in addition to the main list. Each specific period will overwrite the main period. These periods are defined by :

  • A name,
  • A date of validity period,
  • Days Of validity,
  • The list of cancellation conditions according to the day of cancellation.

If the booking is made during the periods defined, the corresponding cancellation policies will be displayed in the booking process as well as in the confirmation email.

In the Back-Office, the calculation of the cancellation fees will also take account of these specific periods.

New provider : Circuits du monde

Circuits du monde is a B2B brand devoted to tourism professionals comprising a team of travel professionals with more than 30 years of experience and specific expertise in the field of guided circuits over the past 20 years.

The provider was validated in 15.4 and is now available in all versions.

Automatic file synchronisation mechanism

Why ? So that the distributors are able to group together the files booked on all their sales channels in their Orchestra Back-Office. This is of great interest for distributors that are also providers. This helps to simplify file management and, therefore, agents’ productivity.

Where ? The files from the different distribution channels are centralised in the distributor/provider’s Back-Office.

How ? An automatic file synchronisation mechanism has been created. This allows the files from other channels to be retrieved so that they can be viewed in the Orchestra Back-Office.

This synchronisation works for :

  • Creations,
  • Modifications,
  • Cancellations,
  • Placing of options,
  • Travel documents.

In partnership with Gestour, this synchronisation mechanism has been implemented between the Gestour Back-Office and the Orchestra Back-Office. It can also be adapted for other Back-Office systems.

Cross-cutting content for hotels

In the same way as for packages, it is possible to link cross-functional content (Editorial tab) with hotels (Hotels tab).

Availability recovery

New services option allowing availability to be recovered in a more compact JSON format.

Suppliers & Manual Records

Taking into account of activity suppliers and transfers when entering manual files, especially in the “Quotation” section.

Pictogram integration – flight fares

In the booking process, pictogram format display of the type of flight prices (public, negotiated, corporate).

Technical redesign of software components

The technical bricks that allow apps to dialogue with the database have been completely reviewed, restructured and the associated technology has been updated.

New display of the editorials tree

Why ? In order to improve a tool used daily by the site administrators and, consequently, improve their productivity.

Where ? In the Orchestra administration tool, “Editorials” tab, “Content tree” sub-tab.

How ? Thanks to a more legible design that helps to highlight important information. Thanks also to ergonomics that have been reworked and to a more fluid data refresh for the user during modification actions.

Improvements in package services

  • At the level of the REST/JSON catalogue services, removal of certain redundant data to reduce the size of responses.
  • Homogenisation of “getPublishedProduct” and “searchProduct” services.
  • Addition of extra masks that help to improve the performance of search services.

Several improvements in internal production

  • Improvement of the management of activity suppliers and transfers which can now be administered in the “Partners” module in a similar way as hotel suppliers.
  • For treatment type services, those classified as “mandatory” now appear at the top of the selectbox and are sorted from the least expensive to the most expensive.
  • For internal services loaded via an Excel table, display of associated age ranges in the service’s technical file.
  • Improvement of the entry of internal hotel room names in order to improve the management of multilingual entries.

Improvement of the reservation process

Possibility of configuring default credentials when entering the booking process with an agency code that does not have specific credentials.

Two improvements in payment

  • Improvement of connectivity with the Limonetik payment system in order to differentiate between package supplier payments and insurance supplier payments but still maintaining one sole payment for the customer.
  • Improvement of connectivity with the Payline payment system in order to improve the management of cancellation transactions. Cancellations will no longer be seen as refunds by the customer.

Improvement in the back office

Possibility of retrieving travel documents in the Back-Office with authentication.

Several improvements in hotel connectivity

  • The display and selection of rooms for GTA and Travelcube hotel sources have been improved. They are now completed in the hotel’s file and are presented in a more legible manner.
  • For the H-Résa and Koedia hotel sources, improvement of the “workflow” used when booking in order to ensure real availability of the rates proposed.
  • Technical improvement of web services for managing “autocomplete” of hotel sources’ codification.

Three improvements in package connectivity

  • Display of the number of stars in the names of packages for the provider Campings.com.
  • Possibility of choosing alternative flights for the provider Megavacances.
  • Possibility of adding luggage for the providers Megavacances and Promovacances.