IBIS can provide you with a standalone web portal that enables your agents to book products online in real-time for their customers via an Agent Logon button on your IBIS website. Any bookings made online will appear in your system under the Agent account. This facility is available for any of your booking agents that do not use the IBIS ticketing system. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Set up user name and password (for a new account)

Agents will require login and password details to be able to make bookings online through your website.

  1. Ensure an agent has a contact and account set up in your system.
  2. In the Accounts screen, select the account and then open the Online properties on the detail panel.
  3. Set the online policy for the agent, then create an online password. 


    You can force the agent to enter credit card details online by ensuring their password begins with the letters FIT at the beginning.

  4. Click Save when finished.
  5. The agent's login name is the Account Code and their password is the Online password - provide these to the agent so they can log in to your website.


Agent specific pricing for online sales

If you have set up agent-specific pricing in your IBIS system, and those agents also use the agent login function to book your products online via your FIT Website, IBIS will support wholesale rates to the agent after they have logged in to the IBIS FIT website. This is particularly useful if you have some agents who pay for bookings upfront as the correct amount is charged to their credit card when the booking is made.


It is important to note that any agent-specific rates would appear on the FIT online confirmation so if the agent does not want the customer to see these rates, they must issue their own separate confirmation to the customer.

Set up an agent login book now URL

If you are using custom URLs on your website to apply various promotion codes, it may be best to direct agents to your online booking website via a different URL so that no online promotions are applied on top of any net rates. This can be achieved with a dedicated agent login button on your website or a page listing your various products with specific book now URLs configured. If desired, IBIS can display an "Agent login" button on your E-Commerce website underneath your reservation product departure list. We only recommend enabling this if you are using a standalone E-Commerce website, as it may be more difficult for your agents to find the button if you are using an i-Frame.


IBIS can also trigger the Agent login website to automatically prompt for the login popup with some additional configuration and using the following URL: https://demoops.ibisnz.com/reservation/availability?agentlogon=true

How to make a booking via agent login

  1. Agents will browse your website and click the Agent Logon button at the bottom of the screen.
    Ensure you are logged on prior to adding any products to the shopping basket. Logging in after adding items to the shopping basket will remove your booking from the cart and you will need to re-add your bookings). 

    Agent Logon
  2. Agents must enter their user name and password which you have supplied them.

    Agent logon

  3. If the agent's credentials are correct, they will see a green bar showing their account name:

    Account login

  4. Agents will select their preferred departure date, and then choose the departure time from the list.
  5. Agents should enter the customer details in the fields (with the exception of the email field where they should enter their own email address) and select the appropriate price options. They will be prompted to agree to your standard online booking terms and conditions, before clicking Add to basket. 

    Customer details

  6. When the agent arrives at the Shopping basket page, they can either Add More Activities and repeat the above steps or click Process as agent to confirm the booking.
  7. When they process as agent, they will be prompted to enter their agent details as follows:
    • Voucher ref: This is the reference number from the agent's own ticketing system (for your reference)
    • User name*: The user initials for agents making the booking - so operators know who to talk to if they have any questions or incentives

      Agent details

  8. When the booking is completed, you will be returned to the Shopping Basket displaying your confirmed reservation. Click the Confirmation button to print a copy of the voucher for your customer, or to keep it for your records and reconciliation.
  9. A confirmation email is sent to both the operator and the agent logged in to Agent Online. If an agent is not receiving an email, please check with the email address set up in the Contacts screen is correct. 
  10. To make a new booking, click Continue Shopping. To cancel or amend a booking made online, please contact the operator.

    Note the IBIS FIT Website stores all reservations in the Shopping basket for your current browser session. 

    Confirmation


How do agent online bookings show in my system?

This feature is designed to optimise your sales with no impact on operations at all, so bookings appear the same as if the agent booked online via IBIS Ticketing.

  • The booking will display in your search screen as red as the attention required flag is set (standard across all online reservations).
  • In the Booking screen, the agent shows as the agent in the booking, with the sale type set to the agent's default.
  • The voucher id will display with Agent_V followed by their user initials and password. This means 'agent verified'. If the agent has started making an online booking but has not completed their voucher details, it will auto cancel the booking.
  • Your staff will treat the reservation the same as you would treat any direct agent booking.
  • If desired, IBIS can enable a BCC copy of the confirmation email to be sent directly to the operator as well as the agent when an agent online booking is made.


Promotions for agent login

You only need to follow these instructions if you wish to configure promotions for agents who are using Agent Login. This is because our standard Promotions solution is not supported by the Agent login website.


In order to use online promotions, please contact IBIS Support who will provide you with your login details to access your Administration panel. 

  1. Set up a price option named Web Discount with the option code WEBPROMO in the Price Options screen as shown below. The online security for the price option should be set to Agent Trusted.
     

    Tip: set the order to 1000 (or higher) to hide the option under a 'More' link on the Booking screen so it's not visible to staff by default. 


  2. In the Seasonal Pricing screen, set the web promo price option to $0.00 for all price codes eligible to receive an online discount (ensure that this is set in the correct season). If using multi-component products, only apply the discount to the price code which has the overall product pricing attached to it.

    You will know you have the set up correct when you check the product in the agent login website and see the promo code field appear on the option selection page.

  3. Log in to the administration panel of your agent login site by appending /admin to the end of the URL.
  4. In your Administration panel, click Marketing, then choose Promotions.
  5. Click the Add New button to begin setting up a new promotion.

    Promotion List
  6. Fill out the details of the promotion such as a name, unique code (no spaces) which your customers will enter online, promotion type and any other conditions. You should also enter a description as this will display to the customer when the discount has been applied successfully. Promotions for agent login do not support all the features of IBIS promotions for E-Commerce. 
  7. Unless you have specific validity periods or travel periods, do not enter any dates if this promotion is going to be ongoing. Once you have completed entering your promotion details, ensure the new code is set to Active and click Save when complete.

    Edit Promotion details

  8. Once your promotion is set up, your agents can enter the promo code to discount the booking.

    Promo Discounts

  9. Once a promotion code is entered online, the reservation will display on your Booking screen under the price option called Web Discount. The discount code will appear in the Private Note field at the bottom of the screen. At this time, promotions for agent login are not included in the Promotions for reservations report.

Web Promos in Booking Screen



Marketing agent login promotions

Each promo has a unique code associated with it. You will need to let your agents know what this code is so they can enter it into the website when they make an online reservation. 


If you want to be a bit more clever when advertising a promotion online, you can customise a specific promotion URL that your customers can click on to open your online booking website. Once they select the appropriate departure, the promotion code is already included in their booking. Here is an example of how to configure a specific promotion URL:

demo.ibisnz.com/reservation/?promotion=group5  This example will add the promotion code for the customer. 

demo.ibisnz.com/reservation/?adult=5&promotion=group5   This example also sets the minimum number of adults required (using the pricing option code as set up in your IBIS system) to make this promotion valid.


Reporting on promotions made in agent login

You can report on the general discount price option called “web promo” using the Reservation option analysis report found under the Reservation tab within your IBIS system. In order to report on the specific use of online promo codes, you will need to login to the Admin panel on your website and access it as follows:

  1. Click on the Reporting tab, then click Promotions.
  2. Enter the date range required you would like to report on and click Refresh to generate the report.
  3. The results will display all the reservations made for that discount.


Tips for using the Report tools

You can use the reporting tools to filter and sort information as required - choose between the Grid view (default), or Pivot table (shown below). Some tips for getting the most out of these reporting tools: 

  • Drag and drop column headers into the shaded blue area as required to customise your preferred layout.
  • To filter data, click the ∨ icon on the column header and untick or tick options as required (e.g. if you are running a report on promotions, remove bookings auto-cancelled by the website by filtering out booking number 0, or blank entries).

    Web Promo Reporting