04 Aug Version 5.0 Of Sell-It Suite

Version 5.0 Of Sell-It Suite

New customer driven enhancements provide further significant tour operating benefits in the latest version of Sell-It Suite. Commenting on the version, Mark Bradbury, SVP of Global Sales stated, “Version 5 demonstrates RWA’s ongoing commitment to the product family and to providing tour operators, wholesalers and airlines with the capabilities necessary to sell flexibly, service efficiently and manage effectively.”

Version 5 contains the following new features and enhancements to existing functionality:

1. User Group and Product Related Discounts and Vouchers

The discount functionality in Version 4 has been significantly enhanced with new discounts functionality in Version 5. The new version includes the ability to create,

Discount Rules

• A discount amount – % or fixed
• The channels/web site for which the discount is applicable
• The discount period – booking and travel date ranges
• The product types for which the discount applies (and therefore conversely does not apply)
• A specific origin or destination for which the discount is applicable
• A Marketing Type for which the discount is applicable.

Categories of users which define:

• A group of users e.g. “Valued clients”
• One or more discount rules applicable to that category

Voucher codes and the group of users for which the voucher code is applicable

2. Cancellation and Amendement Automation

Sell-It’s Booking Manager now automatically calculates the applicable cancellation or amendment charges due when a booking is changed. The calculation is based on the cancellation and amendment policies defined in the appropriate product contract set up in Inventory Manager. Policy calculations include per person and per night charges based on a percentage of the booking value or a fixed fee and include the ability to vary these based on the number of days after booking or before departure that the change is made.

3. Super White Labels

RWA has taken the concept of “white label” web sites a major step further with the introduction of a “super white label” capability in version 5. This enables travel companies to quickly produce a web site which has its own unique product offers and pricing, all built from within the one common inventory database. The first super white label site to be launched is Kulula Travel’s Sunbreaks Holidays which makes available special offers packaging Kulula flights with Southern Sun properties under a special deal agreement.

4. Multi-Language Support In Sell-It Online

Sell-It Online now fully supports multiple languages and a complete translation into Italian is ready for launch.

5. Balance Payments Online

Sell-It Online has been enhanced as part of RWA’s ongoing customer self service initiative to enable direct customers and travel agents to make an online payment for the balance due (or any other amount) on a holiday. The holiday can either have been booked online or via the travel companies call centre.

6. Child Age Bands and Pricing

Sell-It’s Inventory and Bookings Managers now support contracts which have different prices and occupancy rules for younger and older children e.g. children and teenagers. The child age bands are defined at the contract level (with overrides on a room basis if required). Room occupancy rules can be defined using both child age bands. The Bookings Manager and Sell-It Online have also been enhanced to support the new pricing models.

7. Rate Cutovers

Hotel contracts may specify a different rate for a 3rd adult sharing a room with two other adults. Sell-It’s Inventory Manager has also been enhanced to support the concept of a “rate cutover” as the party make-up changes providing support for these and other pricing models.

8. Additional Forms Of Payment

In addition to supporting all major debit and credit cards, Sell-It now allows agents to report settlement via other payment methods, for example EFT.

9. Automated Cost Adjustment For Supplier Reconciliation

When invoices come in from a supplier and are entered into the system, Sell-It’s Finance Manager will automatically adjust the costs in the supplier purchase ledger and appropriate booking to match the invoice provided the variations are within specified tolerances.

10. Further Marketing and MIS Reports

We continue to add further marketing and management information reports into Sell-It. Examples added into Version 5 include: Top X reports which report on e.g. the top x agents by sales value over a period, top x agents by destination bookings, top x agents by passenger volumes; Accommodation Sales Analysis reports which reports on monthly sales by property; Supplier Sales Analysis which reports on monthly sales by supplier; Low Inventory and Stop Sell reports; Brochure Pricing report giving nightly rates by period for one or more specific properties.

11. Complex Commission Profiles

The agent commission capabilities in Sell-It have been enhanced to support complex commission profiles. These profiles contain information on the commission levels to be paid for defined categories of products. Standard categories e.g. “Transport”, “Accommodation” and “Ground Products” are supplied with the system and can be used as defined or Sell-It users can also define their own additional categories. This enables commission rates to be established for quite specific sets of product inventory if desired. Commission levels for each category can vary by both booking and travel date range.

12. Enhanced Web Services

RWA continues to extend the functionality of our Sell-It XML Gateway which now supports the full amendment or cancellation of a booking using our web services. Amendment and cancellation penalties are automatically applied in accordance with the policies set up in the appropriate product contracts.

13. Additional Supplier Links

Version 5 includes optional connectivity to a number of payment service providers including iVeri and Consorzio. We also have links through to Navitaire, Kulula and 1time flight systems.

14. Context Sensitive Online Help

Version 5 includes context sensitive online help menus with full implementation for our Inventory Manager. Performance Enhancements Version 5 includes further performance enhancements for inventory search and pricing and package building. We have also added performance tuning capabilities in our Sell-It XML Gateway.

15. Performance Enhancements

Version 5 includes context sensitive online help menus with full implementation for our Inventory Manager. Performance Enhancements Version 5 includes further performance enhancements for inventory search and pricing and package building. We have also added performance tuning capabilities in our Sell-It XML Gateway.

16. Pricing For Complex Itineraries

Consumers and agents are, quite rightly, demanding accurate pricing information as early as possible during the searching and booking processes – even for complex itineraries. Version 5 demonstrates RWA’s desire to support travel companies in providing this by offering unique, industry-leading, accurate pricing logic, even for the most complex leisure itineraries.