Creating a New Departure or Tour

A Departure or Tour is a date specific instance of trip, and is the third tier in the data structure of Odyssey. 

When creating a new Departure or Tour, it is based on a 'Trip Master' which is a template of the package that you offer.. 

The 'Trip Master' contains all of the default settings/selections that can be re-used on Departures, and the details can be edited here at Departure level.

To create a new Departure/Trip

• From the Main Menu, Go to the Tours/Departures Menu and click the New button from the Options Panel

Alternatively, Click the  + Departure/Tour button from the Main Menu | Departure | List

From the pop up window which appears, choose the required Trail from the dropdown list, and then choose the Master  you wish to use

The start date fields will then appear  

• Enter the start date from the drop down list

• enter the number of clients, if you want to add them now (the clients which are created will have system generated names, you can change those later, click Here to learn more)
• Enter the departure description. Most clients use a format of the organiser's SURNAME in capitals first, followed by the organiser's first name in lower case. This distinguishes it from the client's own booking record. e.g. BARKER, Mandy
• a unique Departure or Trip code will be automatically created for you, based on the selections you have made.  You can learn more about trip code Here, or about changing trip codes Here
• click the Create button

Details

Details

The Details Tab has been pre-populated for you, based on the Master trail you selected. 

• The name of the Tour/Departure is listed, this field is editable if you wish to change it.
• The Trip Code is listed; it is also editable.  To learn more about editing the trip code, click Here
• Note that under the start date, an end date has been calculated.  This is calculated based on the number of days added to DAY 1 of the trip (not -1 etc, a feature often used to provide guides or
• Tour/Departure type - this field is for reporting purposes only, select package or custom, cycling or hiking, etc, from the drop down list (defined in your system settings). It has no bearing on pricing or other features.
• Select or change the Min and Max numbers of PAX required on this departure/trip, if that is your business model
• Choose the  Group Type (family, couple, single person, etc), this is just for reporting purposes
• Status settings
  • Released: learn more about released here
  • The New Flag is designed to highlight to the Depot staff that a new Departure has come in from the Reservations team.   (This could be a released, or unreleased Departure).  Once the Depot staff have reviewed the booking, and taken it into account in their Depot planning, they can turn the "New" switch off on the Details view of the Departure.  The purpose of the flag is so the Depot can identify any last minute bookings slipping in...  And it's up to the Depot to turn the flag off, indicating they KNOW about it. 
  • Fully Paid: When all guests have fully paid this trip, they will get a Star here as an indicator
  • Status: Learn more about Tour status here

• At the top left of the screen is a count of the number of Days, the number of Guides (if applicable) (in grey) and the PAX count. A * beside the PAX count indicates that this trip has met it's Minimum PAX levels and is now "guaranteed". (emails going to client's can have different message text depending if the trip is "guaranteed' or not)

Notes

• The Tour | Details | Notes | Office tab provides you with a space to record Office Notes - something about this Departure that could be of interest;  For example, you may be explaining why a discount has been applied, or perhaps a group of them are arriving on a flight which has had its arrival time rescheduled, to explain the price brackets for this trip, what age or fitness level it is best suited to, or even to record all of your email conversations with the group. or anything you want to record for internal purposes only. 

• The Tour | Details | Notes | Staff tab provides you with a space to record any Staff Notes.  The staff field may not be visible to you, as it is primarily used by businesses who use guidesThis information will print on any paperwork which has a Staff Notes field on it.  Perhaps you could use it to let the guide know that it is a client's birthday when they are on the trip, or a client has a health condition they should be aware of, etc.

• TIP:  A tick √ will display on this tab if notes have been entered, as a visual indication that there is a note there to check

Inclusions

This area has been populated by text in the Master, detailing what is included in this Departure. 

Text entered in the Inclusions space can be edited or amended to suit your tour/departure, and will show in the client's Quote / Booking Form under the heading "Trip Inclusions".  Optionally, it can also be printed on the Itinerary. To learn more about these items of paperwork, click here

We provide two optional views of this data, as the text fits differently on each of the two documents it flows into, the Quote / Booking Form and the Itinerary.

The first view is the "Viewed in Itinerary" and we show this one first as the scale of this field allows you to read the text in a larger font than in the next view, the "View in Booking Form". There is a vertical line on the Itinerary view which provides a visual clue as to where the text will fit on the Booking Form.

Over on the View in Booking form tab, when bookings/passengers have been added to your departure, the  View button will become visible.  This will allow you to have a preview of the Booking form, to ensure the text you have entered will fit in the designated space.

Depot

The Depot tab provides you with the opportunity to record notes which could be of interest to the Depot staff, pre or post departure. 

• TIP:  A tick √ will display on this tab if notes have been entered, as a visual indication that there is a note there to check

Pre Departure: This area allows you to enter free form text, for text you wish to be noted for pre-departure.  For example, to leave flowers in a guest room, a client's last minute change of plans, or to add a buffet cost

Post Departure: This area allows you to enter free form text, for text you wish to be noted post-departure.  e.g: Mike phoned and requires a replacement battery and charger, Barry the driver will drop to Otematata Bar and eatery.

Bike Briefings:  

On the Tour/Departure | Details | Depot tab 

• Select a briefing date using the calendar tool, and a briefing time using the hour and min drop down lists.  Set am or pm.  In order to ensure you don't have any scheduling conflicts for the briefing time, you can access the briefing calendar from here also.  Learn more about the simple calendars, including the briefing calendar, Here
• Change the briefing duration if required
• Select a briefing location using the drop down list. Briefing locations are shown in Itinerary and other communications with the client, and are managed from the Trails settings.  Learn more about trails and depot locations Here
• Depot staff can use a set of To Do tasks, which they can tick off as required. Learn more about "To Do" tasks here

General

• The general tab records when this Tour was created, and who the creator was
• it also records who the Tour is currently assigned to, and the assigned person can be changed by selecting a new team member from the drop down list

Financial Details:

The Financial details field defines financial settings, such as

• currency
• deposit amount
• GST
• pricing model (e.g. how the Tour value is determined, Quoted or Costed)
  • Learn more about the pricing modes of costed vs quoted Here.  Use the drop down menus to change these if required.
• There is also a field for you to enter the number of Carbon kgs / Booking.

Provider Rooming Details:

Our clients have different business models.  Some of our clients have Providers who will take bulk room reservation bookings ahead of time in order to secure a good rate.  

For example, our Odyssey client may be an organised tour business who books an accommodation provider each month for a tour, and requests that the Provider hold ten rooms to accommodate the tour.  Closer to the tour date, If the number of rooms required for the tour changes, Odyssey can automate the email process to the provider, requesting a revised number of rooms, up or down.

In the Tour | Detail | General tab you may have the following view:

Enter the number of Initial Rooms requested from the Provider (It may have already been populated from the "Room change message" field on the Master record. Find it on Master | General tab.)

When the room number requirements change, enter the new number in the Number of Rooms field.  (Note, this room count is a manual process for your reservations team, Odyssey does not calculate it).  This number is then applied to every Provider on this Departure.  These fields are then used on email communications with Providers. Learn more about email Providers in bulk, here

Bookings

Bookings are the records which hold the Client records for this departure

Booking (Client) records can be clicked at any time, to review and update them as required

Learn more about Booking records here