TripConnect provides you with the option to appear in TripAdvisor's hotel pricing and availability search which provides their customers with the option of going straight to your own booking screen to make a booking.
We provide an interface to TripConnect (Cost-Per-Click) - Currently we do not support TripConnect (Instant Booking).
TripConnect (CPC) works differently to other sales channels as they work more like a 'launch pad' to your own booking screen instead of making bookings on your behalf. They will provide you with a TripConnect booking button on Tripadvisor which will take their customers to your own booking screen enabling the customer to make a booking directly on your website booking screen.
Instead of charging you commission for bookings, they charge you whenever the TripConnect booking button is clicked by a customer (regardless if a booking is made). The price that you will be charged (known as a bid) is determined by you but is in competition with other TripConnect booking buttons (which are used by other sales channels such as Booking.com, Expedia, etc).
Click here for more information about TripConnect
TripConnect is available to any accommodation provider using a certified, integrated booking engine (which is your iBex Channel Manager). Business Listings will no longer be a requirement for eligibility or participation. If you wish to use TripConnect you must first send them your property details through iBex and then open an account with them.
| Please read the important notes (bottom of page) about interface limitations. |
Set up the connection yourself FREE OF CHARGE using our self help instructions below.
| Note: If you would like Seekom support to make the connection for you, a charge of $110 per hour (+tax) will apply with a minimum charge of $50 (+tax). |
Instructions
There are 2 steps to set up the connection to TripConnect:
- Complete the registration in your iBex Channel Manager
- Sign up to TripConnect
The instructions below will advise you how to register TripConnect in your iBex Channel Manager. Only after completion, TripAdvisor will contact you directly to complete Step 2, the TripConnect sign up (usually by email within 24 hours after completion).
Registration
Register TripConnect in the Channel Manager
| Please note that if you were already an iBex customer on or before 11th January, 2014, we have done most of the registration for you so please go to the 'Search Sales Channels' option in your iBex menu, click on the ID 'tripconn' and go into the 'Channel Mapping' tab to follow instructions from Step 9. |
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Login to your iBex account – click here |
| 2 | From left menu select the Add a sales Channel option (in the Sales Channel section in your menu) |
| 3 | At the pop up window titled ‘New Sales Channel’ click the button Register Available Sales Channel |
| 4 | Enter ‘trip’ into the search field (at top right of the window) and press enter on your keyboard. |
| 5 | TripConnect will be offered so click the plus icon to add them to your Channel Manager. You will then be taken to the TripConnect registration screen where you can add details and set any rules necessary |
| 6 | Optionally update General section fields as required. |
| 7 | Since TripConnect will send the customer to your booking screen it is recommended that you leave the default settings so that the customer can book the same rates and room types that are displayed on your own booking screen. The default settings are as shown below. TripConnect do not get invoiced for bookings or get paid any commission, so you can ignore the Multi-booking Invoice, Commission, and Commission Extras Code fields. |
| 8 | Click Register Sales Channel button. |
| 9 | You will now be taken to the Channel Mapping tab where you can set where the customer is sent to once they click your TripConnect button and what price is displayed on the TripConnect booking button. |
| 10 | In the iBex Rules section you can enter your email address in the iBex Notification Emails To field as this will ensure that you are notified if there are any issues with the connection between the 2 systems. As mentioned before, all bookings will actually be made on your own booking screen so the email settings will follow your normal auto email settings when a customer makes a booking on your booking screen so no other email settings are required. |
| 11 | In the Channel Mapping Information section, you will need to add information about your property, the URL address that the TripConnect button will take them to and set the mapping. Please note that the Channel Property ID will be automatically populated for you after you have saved the information required. Enter your Street Address(eg 267 Wakefield Street), your City / Post Code(eg Wellington 6142), and, if you wish to, your Property Latitude / Longitude (click here to obtain). These details are used for property matching on the Trip Advisor website. The Booking Screen URL (iBex booking engine) is the web address that customers will be taken to when they click on your ‘Official Site’ TripConnect booking button on the TripAdvisor site. You can either use the standard stand alone iBex booking engine page URL/web address (which has been pre-populated for you) or your own website booking page address that contains our booking engine by going to the booking screen on your website and copy & paste the URL into this field. Please read the important notes section below about using your own website address. Please note that if you have multiple properties, each property will require it’s own TripConnect account and individual URL’s. |
| 12 | You can now set what rooms should be presented for each room type that TripAdvisor offers to their customers. Please note that TripAdvisor will display the iBex room type’s name on their website but will offer generic room type names when there may be translation issues for certain languages so you will need to map your room types as close as possible for this purpose. The options are King, Queen, Single, Suite, 2 Queen, Shared or Dorm, or Other. You can map multiple iBex room types to any one TripAdvisor room type if necessary. Complete each row in the Mapping Table as follows: iBex Room Name – Each row is a different room type Channel Room Name – select the TripAdvisor room type that best matches the iBex Room Name Stop Sell – only select if you do not want this room type to be presented on your TripConnect button (or alternatively do not map it) iBex Rate Name – select the iBex rate that you want Tripadvisor to display for you when their customer is looking at the room details on their website. Please read the important notes section below about what rates to use. If you stop sell a room, it will not appear on TripAdvisor but will still be shown on the booking screen that the customer can make a booking on. |
| 13 | Click the Save button. |
| 14 |
Click the Save & Update Channel button. Your property, room and rate information will now be sent to TripAdvisor so that your TripConnect account can be established. If you have registered TripConnect as a new sales channel (so started at Step 1 of the instructions), then you must wait until TripAdvisor notify you when you can continue with setting up your TripConnect account (which is usually by email within 24 hours after completing the above). If you are an existing user (before 11th January, 2014) who started at Step 9 of the instructions above, you can setup your TripConnect account straight away. |
| Important Notes TripConnect is only available to Version 4+ PMS and Version 4+ Online Plus accounts. Bookings are not sent from TripConnect to your iBex system as TripConnect is only a ‘launch pad’ which sends the customer to your iBex booking screen or booking page on your website. Any booking made will be registered as from TripConnect but actually made on your own booking screens. This means that all room types and rates on your booking screen (and any extras) can be booked by the customer and all contact should be directly made with the customer. After any extensive modification of your rates/prices within iBex it is recommended you perform a full re-synch to TripConnect. Click here for instructions. Rooms and Rates Currently, TripAdvisor only displays prices for an occupancy of 2 guests and will not display any single room types or single rates. When a TripAdvisor customer is looking at your property on their website, the price displayed on your TripConnect booking button is the lowest rate that is mapped to them in the Channel Manager. This means that you do not need to map all room types in the Channel Manager although it is worth noting that if any room type that is mapped does not have a valid price or is not available, the next lowest price of another room type will be used. If none of the rates mapped do not have a valid price, your TripConnect booking button will not be displayed as an option to their customers. It is also worth noting that the customer will see the price and the room type that the price is for when they opt to look at all prices on TripAdvisor’s website. Please note that only one rate can be mapped to any one room type so it is important that the rate used has a valid price. iBex will send TripConnect prices excluding tax as well as the taxable amount to give them a total price. If a rate does not have a tax code set in iBex then only the total price will be sent. If you no longer want a price to be shown on TripAdvisor you can either use the Stop Sell option in the mapping screen or remove the mapping and send them an update. The room types available on the booking screen is dependant on the selling group that you register TripConnect to. If they are registered to the Main selling group (which is recommended), then the customer will be able to book all your rooms and extras regardless of the rooms that you have mapped or put on stop sell. |
Sign Up
Sign up for TripConnect with TripAdvisor
| Step | Action | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Click here to be taken to the TripConnect sign up page Please note that after you have entered your property name on the TripAdvisor website and click the 'Select Property' button it may take you to the top of the screen again. If so, you will need to scroll down and sign in to your TripAdvisor account before you can proceed.
If you have any questions about TripConnect or need assistance setting up your account, please contact them directly. Click here for TripAdvisor's webinar. |
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| 2 | Booking Engine
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| 3 | Language/booking screen address Verify the language and a pop up will appear to display the booking screen that the TripAdvisor customer will be sent to whenever your TripConnect button is clicked. If this is not working it will have something to do with the link that you entered in step 11 above. It is recommended that you use the standard iBex booking screen for your property so please enter in the format https://ibexres.com/accommodation/Property.php?... or get your web developer to amend the booking screen URL/web address as advised in the important notes section below. |
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| 4 | Bid setup
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| 4 | Verify the credit card and agree to their Terms and Conditions. |
| You must complete the registration and set up in your iBex account before signing up at TripConnect otherwise you will not find a connection to the iBex Channel Manager during your TripConnect set up. Please note that Seekom cannot sign up for TripConnect on your behalf as credit card details, terms and conditions, and the amount that TripConnect will charge you, must be agreed to and set by the TripAdvisor account holder. If you require assistance with setting up your TripConnect account please contact them directly once they have advised you that your account has been activated. If you have signed up for TripAdvisor's Review Express function, TripAdvisor will be sent the email address of any TripConnect customers that have booked with you so that they automatically receive an email from TripAdvisor requesting a review. Please click here for more information about Review Express. Please note that the customer must agree to this at booking stage to allow their details to be sent to TripAdvisor. We do not recommend that you activate any mobile bids as the iBex booking screen does not currently identify what type of device a customer is using. This will be enhanced and released at a later stage. If you do activate mobile bids, it is strongly recommended that you make a test from TripAdvisor's mobile website once it is activated so that you can check that it works as expected. If it does not, please de-activate the mobile bids option in your TripAdvisor account. iBex sends TripAdvisor the Booking Screen URL/web address that their customers will be sent to when your TripConnect booking button is clicked. Once clicked, the customer will be taken to your booking screen with the room type that the price was for and the dates the customer was looking at, pre-selected in the booking screen for them (see the Rooms and Rates section below for more information). iBex automatically sets the standard iBex booking screen for your property (https://ibexres.com/accommodation/Property.php?...) - if you want to use your own website's booking screen web address, your website must be able to receive this information otherwise the customer will most likely receive an error and may not be directed to your booking screen with incorrect parameters. This should only occur if our booking screen was embedded into your own website but you will see if there is an issue during the sign up to TripConnect as they provide you with an option to view your 'landing page' which is the URL/web address that you have entered in the Booking Screen URL field. If it does not work you will need your web developer to contact us to reconfigure your booking screen accordingly by updating the embedded instructions. Please note that if you use your own website's booking page web address and the customer looks at other pages on your website before making their booking, any rules set for TripConnect (such as the selling group or rate value) will not apply as the customer would have left the booking screen that TripConnect sent them to. This also applies if you have activated mobile bids and the customer is redirected to a mobile dedicated URL. The booking would also not be registered as being from TripConnect so you may want to add TripAdvisor as a 'How Found' option on your booking screen. |
Disable/Delete Connection
If you disable the connection with TripConnect, iBex will stop sending them any information which will remove your TripConnect booking button from TripAdvisor's website. If you have not completed any mapping or sent them any update then the connection is already disabled.
If you have but decided to disable the connection you can do it either in your iBex Channel Manager or in your TripAdvisor account. If you wish to use them at a later stage it is advised that you disable them in your TripAdvisor account as it'll then just be a case or enabling them again their end.
If you delete TripConnect from your Channel Manager, they will be totally removed from your account.
Instructions:
You must first disable the connection (if applicable) before you can delete it from your channel manager.
- Select Search Sales Channels in the Sales Channels section in the menu
- Go to TripConnect's settings by clicking on their ID in your sales channel list (ie tripcon)
- In the Details tab, select the Disable button.
- iBex will then ask you to confirm that you want it disabled - select Confirm & Continue.
Once disabled, iBex will stop sending TripConnect any information. You can then delete them from your account by selecting the Delete button.
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