Agent Channels Master Agents and Net Rates Agents are added internally by BookingCenter when you sign up and activate GDS or OTA distribution channels. MyPMS Agents appear as you create them in My Agents. MyPMS Agents are typically used to set up promo codes, connect certain travel agencies, direct booking relationships, etc. See Promo Codes and Special Agents. Agent Channels are primarily used to sell and distribute rooms online through your Website, GDS and specific Online Travel Agencies (OTA's). The only exception to this are Master Agents BC and BCM which are internal channels that manage your database (See below for details). Selling rooms online or, Online Distribution is process that first involves setting up your Agents and then allocating the Rooms and Rate plans to those Channels. Each online channel you choose to connect to MyPMS will be listed in Agent Relationships and will grow as you add more channels. For example, you may start with one online channel like your website and then choose to increase your online distribution through GDS and OTA Channels. The number of channels will depend on what you have elected to sign up for or activate. Once the Agent Channels are set up and listed in Agent Relationships, they can then be managed independently in each channel. See Agent Agent Channels for a complete list and details on each channel. Setting up and Managing Room Type and Rate Plan Allocations Allocating a Room Type and Rate Plan to each channel involves the same function in Agent Relationships.To see which Room Types and Rate Plans are allocated to an Agent Channel or to ADD or DELETE a Room Type allocation, click on blue link that displays the number of rooms allocated in the "Rooms Allocated" column for the corresponding Agent. For example, 15 of 17. When you click on this number a new screen will open with a List of the Room Types and corresponding Rate Plans you have allocated to that Agent. At this point you can Add or Delete a Room Type Allocation.See Add or Delete Allocation. Overall, the Room Type Allocation function can be use in the following ways: - Use one Rate Plan for different Room Types in one channel. For example, STANDARD Rate Plan is allocated to Room Type STANDARD and STANDARDVIEW.
- Multiple Rate Plans can be allocated to one Room Type in the same Channel to offer different rates for the same room. For example, a QUEEN Room Type with a Standard Rate, Weekend Special Package and Seasonal Rate all allocated and only accessible if the booking meets rate and availability restrictions. See Rate Restrictions.
- Use Rate Loading to Increase or decrease the Rates of all of the Room Types and Rate Plans allocated in the entire channel.
However, managing Availability and Rates to each channel can further customized by strategically using the Room Type and Rate Plan allocation functions.
Room Type and Rate allocations can be customized to each agent, however there are three Master Agents that MUST have all ROOM TYPES allocated |