Real World ResRules with Jim Ehinger & Mark Maxwell
Agenda What ResRules can do Case Studies Discussions and Sharing Questions and Answers
What ResRules Can Do
Autom ate Manua l Tasks Calculate Transaction Fees
Add retention segments Validate savings codes
Cost Avoida nce
File Finishi ng
Debit memo prevention
Add Visa remarks
Misapplied service fees
Validate UDID and SORT’s
Queue Distribut ion Distribute schedule changes Ticketing workflow
What ResRules Can Do
Messagin g Risk management Destination information Surveys
Brand Awaren ess Newsletters Custom itineraries
Busine ss Proces Track unused ses e-tickets Group bookings Policy compliance Travel authorization
Karen Charlton •
Director of Automation at Altour
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Manages a team of four programmers
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Agency works with Apollo, Sabre and Worldspan
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Been in the travel industry for 19 years
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Writing ResRules for the past 9 years
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Writes GDS scripts and sets up online booking sites
Karen Charlton CC decline notification We were faced with so many credit cards declining with our online bookings. Agents spent too much time tracking down alternate payment. Unused Ticket reporting We needed to provide reporting to customers on canceled unused tickets on file. The report needed to include E-tickets, MCO’s, Paper and non-ARC tickets (Southwest). We were capturing this data manually by looking through a queue and updating a spreadsheet. Out of Policy notifications: Our accounts wanted email notifications sent out to their traveler’s manager when their travelers were breaking a travel policy. They wanted the email to look consistent whether booking through our online tool or directly with an agent. Examples of these travel policies include – Air, car or hotel booked over a certain $ amount, advance purchase less than 7 days, preferred car vendor not booked, etc…
Denise Gregg • Has Been in the travel industry for over 30 years. • Automation Coordinator in the travel department at ConocoPhillips. • Handles ResRule writing in Cornerstone IQCX, Sabre script writing • Administers the company’s GetThere site. • Has been writing rules for almost 8 years, scripts for almost 25 and managed the online booking tool for 15 years.
Denise Gregg Air Canada Passes We use Air Canada Passes for frequent Canadian travelers. We have looked into letting them book itineraries instead in GetThere, our online booking tool. If we permitted them to do that, then we would need to make sure that the bookings satisfied certain criteria that are common to Air Canada Passes. Enterprise Car Rental We use Enterprise car in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. They have set up an off-airport location for us at our Transportation Center. It is set up in Sabre so that cars can be booked there 24/7 (in order to handle drop-offs at any hour), but the reality is that people can only pick up cars during certain hours, and those hours are different if they are picking up a car timed to meet an arrival on our corporate shuttle from Houston, vs. just picking up a car in general.
Other Example Issue: Commissioned Agents were being paid hotel/car commission on segments when Airline Tickets were issued. That resulted in them being paid commission before the commission was received from the Hotel or Car Company. Frequently the Car or Hotel were changed or cancelled- which resulted in the agency having to take commissions back from the agents.
Solution: To avoid this when an Ticket is issued for a PNR that contains a car or hotel- the car and hotel segments are omitted from the invoice, a Future action is set up to pull the PNR up on the 1st date of check in add the Accounting lines for Car and Hotels and process invoice. Some of the challenges were working through the future actions , and PNR’s that were cancelled or changed prior to the future action fired.
Other Examples Issue: Booking WN flights (which for most agencies is a manual process of waiting for a FAX confirmation) was a challenge as it had to be figured out how to drive the service fee. Solution: The PNR was sent to iQCX Ticketing and a Future Action was applied once the ticket is which then adds the applicable service fee as well as the MIS data and accounting lines, and then runs an invoice.
Other Examples Issue: An agency was getting a lot of debit memos from Air Canada for not cancelling space that they would hold on behalf of a sub agency.
Solution: We set a Future Action to display the PNR prior to departure. Another ResRule then checked to see if a ticket for the PNR had been issued‌if not, then we sent an email to the sub agency advising them the PNR had not been ticketed, and that they need to ticket or cancel. If they do not they will be billed for any Debit Memo’s.
Other Examples Issue: Clients needing customized ResRules when iQCX Ticketing failed due to a Credit Card declined, and it was outside business hours.
Solution: In addition to the PNR getting sent to the reject queue, an Email notification was sent to the Traveler (just an email message that there was a problem with their card, that the ticket was not issued and to contact the after hours service). This prevented the problem with some travelers ‘assuming’ their ticket was issued and provided a safety net to ensure the ticket gets issued by the after hours team or service.
Discussion / Sharing What are your ideas?