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Expedia Direct Connection

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Follow the steps below to assure your successful connection between Expedia and BookingCenter.  We are here to assist, but please note that the initial steps are between your property and Expedia. 

STEP 1: Create a support ticket with the Subject "Interested in Expedia Direct Connection". 

Go to support.bookingcenter.com and create a ticket. We will communicate any neccessary clarifications, questions or issues to you on this ticket. Please do the same and we will have all correspondence in one place.

STEP 2: Enroll with Expedia Partner Central. If you already enrolled with Expedia Partner Central, continue to Step 3.

  • Enroll directly with Expedia Partner Central at: joinexpediapartnercentral.com 
  • Work with your Expedia Market Manager to complete required set-up information. BookingCenter cannot assist with this process. Expedia will only work with the property directly until you have been accepted in their Direct Connect program
  • Go to Step 3 for steps to be completed with the Market Manager.

 STEP 3: Please complete these steps with the Expedia Market Manager

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Activation Steps

If you already have enrolled with Expedia and set up  youraccount setup, you are ready to start the connection process to your BookingCenter software. 

If you need to enroll with Expedia Partner Central, go to  Expedia | New Account Setup

Find answers to questions on managing rates, availability and more on your BookingCenter PMS at Expedia Direct Connection FAQ | Bookings, Availability, Rates

For help with Expedia Partner Central, go to Expedia Partner Central Help

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STEP 1: Please complete these items with your Expedia Market Manager (to be completed by property)

  • Be sure that all rates on all your rooms should be set to "Occupancy Based", NOT "Pricing per day".
  • Review the Room Type descriptions set up the in the Expedia Extranet. The descriptions can be different in the  Expedia Extranet than they are in BookingCenter since we will map by Room Type ID. We will just need to know which matches to the MyPMS Room Type ID if the descriptions are different.
  • There are several Expedia Programs to participate in and that BookingCenter supports.

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  • What you select will be communicated to BookingCenter directly by Expedia.
  • Expedia Collect - Expedia will collect the monies from the guest and provides the hotel with a one-time use credit card.  The commissions owed to Expedia are collected on the front-end of the reservation by Expedia.  Property must participate in EQR. 
  • Hotel Collect - Expedia gives a guest guarantee, but the hotel will collect the monies from the guest and then paying Expedia their commission after the reservation has been fulfilled.  Property must participate in ETR.
  • There are two options for price structure:

    • Sell Rate-  You will sell your rooms to Expedia at your Standard Rate.  There is no negative Net Loading on your rate.  Instead, you will enter a contract with Expedia that will define the percentage of commission you will pay Expedia after the reservation has been checked-out.

    • Net Rate-  This is also referred to as Expedia’s Merchant Model.  (If you want to sell on Travelocity, you have to participate on this program.)  You will sell your rooms “wholesale” to Expedia by negatively net loading your Standard Rate.  This is done in your MyPMS Agent Relationships.  You will need to discount your room approximately 20-25% (-20 or -25 in the Net Loading column).  Expedia will not charge you a commission in the rear of the reservation.  Instead they will sell your room for what they can get and keep the difference.

  • Promotional Programs:  We recommend that you begin first with the standard programs with Expedia: ‘Expedia QuickConnect Room

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  • ’ or ‘Expedia Hotel Collect Room

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  • ’ until you have experience managing the Expedia agent, and then add additional programs when/if needed

NOTE: If you are already 'live' in Expedia, it is VERY important that you continue to manage the Expedia

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Partner Central manually until you hear that the BookingCenter interface has been 'certified' by Expedia.  A closing message will be updated to your Support Ticket to denote the time when the interface is completed.  At that time, the rate and availability will come from BookingCenter.  However, until you hear from us, Expedia will be pulling rates and availability from the Expedia Partner Central.  These reservations will not automatically download into your BookingCenter software.

STEP

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2: Establish an Expedia Quick Connection (EQC) Connection

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 Login to www.expediapartnercentral.com, should you need help with this please reach out to hothelp@expedia.com

Once logged into EPC, select your hotel.

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(to be completed by property)

Once you have finished setup steps, you need to establish BookingCenter as your system provider.  

  • Go to Expedia | EQC Connection forstep-by step instructions on how to choose BookingCenter as your Expedia Quick Connect System Provider.
  • After this is submitted

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  • BookingCenter will receive notification and complete the mapping

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  • in

 STEP

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3: Complete Mapping and

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Activation (to be completed by BookingCenter)

  1. BookingCenter will create a new Agent Channel according to the Expedia program in which you are enrolled

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  1. : Agent EXPDIRHC=Expedia Hotel Connect and EXPDIRHC= Expedia Collect. These agents and the Room Type/Rate

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  1. allocated will appear in Agent Relationships.See MyPMS Agent Allocations 
  2. We will complete mapping

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  1. to the Expedia

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  1. Agent in MyPMS based on the Room Types and Rates mapped in your Expedia

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  1. Partner Central. Please be sure that these are correct in your Expedia

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  1. Partner Central. 
  2. Once mapping is complete, BookingCenter will

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  1. update your rates and availability and your connection will be active.  
  2. You will receive email notification that the connection has been

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  1. activated

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  1. . Please check your Extranet for any discrepancies with room types, rates or availability. 
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 When all six steps have been completed, your connection will be LIVE.

Remember, that you need to confirm to activate the connection in Step 6.

Tips as you sign up with Expedia:

  • Depending on your location, Expedia will offer you a commission rate for these Online Travel Agent (OTA) bookings.  Please know there is negotiating room with your Market Manager.  This setting is not a BookingCenter commission, but a commission owed directly to Expedia.    
  • We push Room Types to these agents, not specific rooms.  Whatever Room Type you push to this agent, you will automatically be pushing 100% of that Room Type to this agent.  In your BookingCenter software, the "Percentage Allocated" feature does not work with any OTA because the OTAs have no place for this feature to communicate to in their system.  
  • With this in mind, we would suggest, especially if you are a small property, for you to NOT distribute 100% of your Room Types to this agent.  There is also a chance of an overbooking, or walk-ins, etc.  It is up to you how you want to choose the Room Types to push.  Some properties choose to distribute their most popular room types so that they fill them constantly.  Other properties choose to distribute the Room Types that are difficult to fill in-house or by their own website.  It really is up to you.  Keep in mind, that you can change the room types that you offer at any time with the OTA.  However, choose those that you want to start with.  
  • Start simple.  No promotions.  No variations.  It will take about 3 weeks to get the interface completely set-up when you begin with Expedia as a new property.  There will be a lot of learning that will accompany this process.  Do not bite off more than you can chew.  
  •  The connection we use is called an ARI connection.  This means we will be automatically pushing information related to Availability (A), Rates (R), and Inventory (I).  In addition, we manually push room occupancy settings, Min/Max Lead Time, cancellation policies, and LOS.  Any other setting will be set by you in the Expedia Partner Central and can be changed at any time by you.  If we manually push the settings, you will need to communicate with BookingCenter any changes you desire.  And for automatic updates, it will automatically match whatever is in your BookingCenter software.  

Learn more about Expedia QuickConnect

Expedia Programs

The following is simply for your information.  The Expedia promotional programs that BookingCenter supports are described below.  Expedia may alter them at any time.  Expedia will not refer to these plans by the codes (those are for BookingCenter software only), so please use the descriptions next to each when speaking with Expedia.

Expedia QuickConnect. There are several promotional programs denoted by EQ_.  

  • EQR – Expedia QuickConnect Room
  • EQI – Expedia QuickConnect Room Parking Included
  • EQC – Expedia QuickConnect Corporate
  • EQP – Expedia QuickConnect Package
  • EQNP – Expedia QuickConnect Non Refundable Package
  • EQM – Expedia QuickConnect Mobile
  • EQN – Expedia QuickConnect Non Refundable
  • EQA – Expedia QuickConnect Advanced Purchase
  • EQAP – Expedia QuickConnect Advanced Purchase Package
  • EQAN – Expedia QuickConnect Advanced Purchase Non Refundable

Expedia Hotel Collect.  There are several promotional programs denoted by ET_.  

  • ETR  – Expedia Hotel Collect Room
  • ETP-  Expedia Hotel Collect Package 
  • ETI – Expedia Hotel Collect Room Parking Included
  • ETC – Expedia Hotel Collect Corporate
  • ETM – Expedia Hotel Collect Mobile 

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