Tour / Departure - Providers

Once a Departure/Trip/Tour has been created, you can continue populating it with Providers

Providers are any entity which provides a service to your client, whether that is accommodation, transport, meals, or activities, etc.

When the Departure is first created, it will automatically be populated with Providers who were listed on the Master that this Departure is based on.

For more detailed information about providers, please see " Provider Types" and "Provider Facilities" 

When a new tour is created the Providers listed on the Master are added to the Provider list on the new tour, and onto any bookings created.

To add a new Provider to the Tour

• From the Tour | Provider/Supplier | Accommodation tab
• Click the + Accommodation button (in this case we have used an Accommodation tab, but this works the same for all provider types)

• At the next screen, choose whether you want your list filtered alphabetically by Provider Name, or by location
• Then select the provider of your choice

• New functionality for viewing available rooms which have been prebooked with this Provider is currently being developed
• A message will appear confirming which provider you have selected, and asking you to either cancel or say Yes to proceed

Details

• Move to the Provider Details tab , where you are able to manage details of the booking with this Provider

• Odyssey will automatically create a Provider record for the next sequential day in the departure. For example, if you already have an accommodation record for Thurs 23 November, it will automatically create the new accommodation record for Fri 24 November. You can modify this date by using the < > arrows )

• The provider can be changed by clicking on the Change button. You will be asked to clear any existing booking level selections at this provider, and proceed.

• Change the Supplier Status,  Task Status, (e.g. To Do, Confirmed, Self Booked).  Note the colour coding of each of these different status' to alert you to what action needs to be taken, if any.
• Select whether or not Agent commission applies on this calculation
• Check in Time - adjust this provider's check in time for this product, if it varies on this Tour. If a check out time has been selected for this product, it will be shown here.

Bookings

To add Bookings to this Provider record

• Any new booking that gets added to a Tour, has the same provider records as defined in the tour level selections, applied automatically

• Meaning the '+' button does not need to be clicked, nor does it show up

• If a tour has a new Provider record added to it e.g. an accom night for a Pre/Post night, (and the bookings are already present, and assigned to other accom)
• Viewing the Booking tab for this single Pre / Post night which is not automatically added, there are '+' buttons displayed, so that individually the people who need the Pre / Post accom, can very easily get it added.
• And if all bookings on the Tour need it... there's a new 'Add to All button'
  • Go to the Bookings tab, and click the Quick add button to quickly add all of the bookings on this tour to this new provider

Provider/Supplier Info

Provider Info

From an individual provider record, at Trip/Departure level, it is possible store info specific to this Provider

• If the Provider has given you a reference, enter it the in the Provider/Supplier reference field. This field is not reported anywhere, it is purely for your own internal reference.
• a Door Access code (this shows on the Accomodation list output). Note that this is only available at Tour level. If more than one door code is required, then enter "Mary & Jim - 9321354, Jack - 9321845, Sharon xxx" etc.
• Provider Form comments If your business uses the Advanced Online forms module, and have sent a booking email to the provider containing a link for them to complete online, the data they submit in that form will be fed directly back into Odyssey.  One of those fields is the Provider Comments field, where they might like to leave you a note of some kind.  Perhaps it will say; we have confirmed this reservation, but are almost full on this date.  Learn more about online forms Here
• Provider's preferred payment type gets entered at the drop down box (e.g. Prepaid, Cash, Credit Card)
• Alert:  Here you can add an alert about this Departure's reservation with the provider.  Perhaps although the reservation was previously confirmed, the owner is now unwell and there may be a question as to whether they can now accommodate your reservation.  By adding a tick to the Alert, the Departure's accommodation record for this Provider will show you an alert symbol to indicate there is something to be aware of.

Alerts

There are occasionally alerts in red to indicate to the user that something may need their attention. Hovering over those alerts will provide tips as to what the issue is.

To learn how to set up a Provider note, click Here

Online Form Comments

For users of Odyssey's Cognito Forms advanced function, if a Provider adds a comment regarding this booking onto their online form, the comment gets pushed back into this field in Odyssey.

Payments

• Finance Notes An optional space for you to record any Finance Notes relevant to this Accommodation booking for this group
• Total to pay can be calculated from client level bookings, by clicking the circular arrows above that field.
• Amount paid will be entered manually by accounts staff, based on the Pre-Pay 30% figure
• Balance to pay is calculated (Total to Pay - Amount paid = Balance to Pay)
• Pre-Pay amount is calculated by the settings on each Providers own Finance settings page, in the Pre-payment percentage required field
• Date balance due is calculated by the settings on each Providers own Finance settings page, in the Balance due # of days prior field

Notes

Notes to/for Staff - paperwork:  If your business conducts guided tours, here you can leave notes for the guides in relation to this provider.  Perhaps it could say "Please leave luggage in the store room, pin code 7853", or "Timing is flexible, please contact the day before to confirm".

Itinerary & App

The Itinerary App Text tab provides you with

• a non editable field, displaying the Itinerary text for this Provider (for your reference only)
• an editable field, displaying Product text for this Provider/product (the green border around the outside of this field indicates that it is editable). This allows you to add any content which is relevant to everyone in your Departure, such as "The dining room will be closed for a private function this evening, so talk to the host about alternative meal arrangements", or "The host has confirmed a dinner reservation for your group at 7pm" There is a Refresh from Provider button to refresh that Product text from the providers record, if you wish to start over.
• a tickbox to indicate if this text should be displayed in the Itinerary or not. This can still be altered when creating the Itinerary.

• 

  a Client Notes button: This great feature opens up the Client's Itinerary Notes about this Provider, so it's ideal to add something which is unique to each client on this Departure, for example, their room number or booking reference with this provider.

Alerts

1. Bag movements on the Movement tab do not match this day's selected Provider - go to the Movement tab and change the movement if necessary
2. If the Daily Location District for this day, in Daily Locations, differs from the District of this provider, then the Daily Location District will appear in read to draw your attention to this. (Sometimes, this will be correct - e.g. when there are insufficient providers at the daily location district to accommodate your guests, but other times, it could be that you have chosen an incorrect provider )
3. Notes from Providers. If you have a Provider alert recorded for this specific Departure, an alert will show beside the Provider Product field. Learn about that Here

Or, there may be some important information you need to know about a Provider - perhaps they are closed on certain days or dates, or have a waiting list - the sort of thing you might stick on a post-it note.  If you have written such a note on the Provider record, when you select that provider from a drop down list in Tours/Departures, you will get an alert at Tour level on the Provider record.

3. Daily Location. If this Provider's district location does not match the district location defined in the Daily Locations tab, the daily location district will be recorded in red to indicate the variation. Occasionally it is not possible to find accommodation in the daily location district, so this may be correct - it is flagged here to ensure you are comfortable with the variation.

Task status and Fill down 

The task column reflects the status of this Provider task, i.e. if it is confirmed, booked, cancelled etc.

Select the orange triangle button beside a task to change the status

The fill down button above the orange triangles allows you fill down the task status of the first provider record to all the other provider records

The minus sign is a delete button which allows you to delete this Provider record

Provider Details

Hover in the space under the heading P Details (Provider Details) to activate an orange field which will allow you to view edit details about this provider.  Here you can view contact and address details, facilities offered by this provider, the departures booked, products offered, prices, etc.  These fields are not editable in this view.

• In the Provider Notes for Itinerary, when the Admin default settings switch is set to black, the text block will be COPIED into the Departure records at the time they are created. They do not remain live, they will not reflect any changes made here after the Departure record has been made. They can be individually refreshed from each Departure record when that is required.
• There is a two headed arrow which allows you to refresh this content from the Provider record.

If there is an alert on the Departure Level Provider Accommodation record, highlighted below, this is to alert the user there is a difference between the Accommodation location that a PAX is staying at, and the Provider that their bags are being moved to

Note that it's at booking level where the real data needs to be correct, as this is what drives the Manifest and the bag labels!

Activity

An Activity Provider is one who provides fun activities for your clients while they are on their Departure, such as a winery visit, visiting a chocolate factory, or a penguin tour.

Any activities included on the Trip Master will automatically be listed here.

Add another activity by clicking the ' + Activity' button

Viewing Activity Records

Click once on an activity record to view it

As with the Accommodation screen above, populate this screen with the options your client has selected, and press Close.  Remember to set the task status, whether or not confirmation is required, and whether the item is chargeable

Activity Notes/Web

Notes - Office 

An optional space for you to record any Office Notes relevant to this Activity booking for this group

Notes - Itinerary

An optional space for you to record any Itinerary Notes relevant to this Activity booking for this group, other than what is already included on the Itinerary Notes from the Provider's record

Notes - Finance

An optional space for you to record any Finance Notes relevant to this Activity for this group

Transport

Any transport options included on the Trip Master will automatically be listed here.

Add another transport option by clicking the ' + Transport' button

As with the Accommodation screen above, populate this screen with the options your client has selected, and press Close.  Remember to set the task status, whether or not confirmation is required, and whether the item is chargeable

Transport Notes/Web

Notes - Office 

An optional space for you to record any Office Notes relevant to this Transport booking for this group

Notes - Itinerary

An optional space for you to record any Itinerary Notes relevant to this Transport booking for this group, other than what is already included on the Itinerary Notes from the Provider's record

Notes - Finance

An optional space for you to record any Finance Notes relevant to this Transport for this group

Meals

Any meals included on the Trip Master will automatically be listed here.

As with the Accommodation screen above, populate this screen with the options your client has selected, by pressing the ' +Meals' button 

Remember to set the Task Status, whether or not confirmation is required, and whether the item is chargeable, and then press close 

Provider info

Here you can enter a Provider reference, or if the Provider has submitted their confirmation or otherwise via an online form you sent them from Odyssey, then their feedback to you will be in the Provider Form comments.  Notes for staff (i.e. Guides) can be recorded.  

Notes | Itinerary text

IF the Accounting ( Xero API ) Advanced Module has been activated by Creative Technology for your Odyssey set-up, there will also be a General Ledger cost drop down list.

Notes - Office 

An optional space for you to record any Office Notes relevant to this Meal booking for this group

Notes - Itinerary

An optional space for you to record any Itinerary Notes relevant to this Meal booking for this group, other than what is already included on the Itinerary Notes from the Provider's record, e.g. "At this time of year the hosts do amazing roast dinners using locally sourced veg, we highly recommend"

Notes - Finance

An optional space for you to record any Meal Notes relevant to this Meal for this group, e.g. "Our client charged drinks to a tab which we will need to recoup from them."

Other

Any Other providers included on the Trip Master will automatically be listed here.

As with the Accommodation screen above, populate this screen with the options your client has selected, by pressing the '  +Other' button 

Remember to set the task status, whether or not confirmation is required, and whether the item is chargeable

Notes - Office 

An optional space for you to record any Office Notes relevant to this Meal booking for this group

Notes - Itinerary

An optional space for you to record any Itinerary Notes relevant to this Meal booking for this group, other than what is already included on the Itinerary Notes from the Provider's record, e.g. "At this time of year the hosts do amazing roast dinners using locally sourced veg, we highly recommend"

Notes - Finance

An optional space for you to record any Meal Notes relevant to this Meal for this group, e.g. "Our client charged drinks to a tab which we will need to recoup from them."

All

The All button displays a summary of all accomodation, activities, transport and meals planned for this Tour/Departure, listed in Day order. This list provides you with an overview of the booking status with this provider, check in time, whether it is being charged or not, Provider reference, and provider preferred payment type.

• This view is a collection of Tour level "defaults" (Update from Master, and Start over, have since been removed)

To carry on making your Tour/Departure, please follow the 'Related articles' links below to add Resources, Movements, Paperwork and emails.