Register Agent / Sales Channel

To register an agent or sales channel in your account just select the Add a sales channel option (in the Sales Channel section in your menu) or the New Sales Channel button on your sales channel list screen and a pop up will appear:

Any sales channels that have a connection with the Channel Manager can be found in the Register Available Sales Channel option.

If you're unsure if the agent or sales channel has a connection, click the Register Available Sales Channel option as you will be able to search for the agent you're wanting to register and if they are not there, then you will need to Create a Custom Sales Channel.

If they are listed as one of the Available Sales Channels please see the iBex Channel Manager section for more information about how the connection works as well as how to get them connected.

The below instructions are for any agent or sales channel that do not have an interface/connection with the iBex Channel Manager (ie. the Create Custom Sales Channel option).

Instructions

• Select Add a sales channel (in the Sales Channels section in the menu)

• Select Create Custom Sales Channel

The screen will refresh so that you can register the agent or sales channel in your account. Below are some helpful tips on how to add or amend an agent or sales channel.

TIP - Only the ID and the Name are mandatory fields

• ID: Enter a short code (between 4 - 8 characters) for you to identify this agent/sales channel in your iBex system.
  
  

This will also be used by them if you want them to be able to have their own access to your booking screen.

• Name: Enter the name of the agent/sales channel here.

• User Code: If you have your own reference or code system, you can enter this in this field. If not, ignore.

• Type: Select what type of agent/sales channel they are

• Notes: Add any notes about the company here.

• Reporting Group: If you have created any Reporting Groups, you can assign the company to a certain group.

To add new Reporting Groups, please add them in the Manage Company report groups screen (also in the Users & Clients section in the menu).

TIP

You can press the little plus sign next to the bold headings to expand or collapse any of the remaining sections.

Address: Enter the address for the agent.

Rules: Please see below for explanations of each field.

• Selling Group: If you have a group set up under which this agent/sales channel would fall, you can set it here, for example, Agents.

You can add new Selling Groups in the ‘Add a selling group‘  screen (in the Sales Channel section in the menu).

Only the rooms and rates that this selling group has been set to use will be bookable by this agent/sales channel. You can view this by checking the selling groups settings in the Search selling groups option in the menu and clicking on their ID.

• Rate Modifier and Extras Modifier: This refers to the rate percentages that are set up for the selling group that you have added this agent/sales channel to. You may wish to have this agent/sales channel’s rates the same or at a percentage higher or lower than you sell on your own website. You set the Rate Modifier at the appropriate value (ie Rate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6) according to the percentages set up in the selling group’s settings. If the percentage is not one of the options available, save it at a different Rate Modifier which you can change after saving the agent/sales channel to your database.

TIP

To change the rate modifier’s value after saving the agent, click on the link to the selling group you’ve registered it to (on the right hand side in the Actions box) and amend the values in the Details tab. Once you’ve changed the values, you can easily go back to the company’s details by clicking on their name at the bottom of the Details tab for that selling group.

Whenever you set a company or agent a Rate Value, the rate modifier is always applied to allrates that the company or agent uses/books.

• Allow P/Order (Purchase Order): If the agent/sales channel has their own system of reference numbers they would like you to quote when you invoice them, you can enable this functionality by clicking Yes. If selected, any time they make a booking through their own booking screen, they can enter their reference number rather than a credit card number to confirm the booking as the payment screen will be omitted from their booking process.
  
  

• Multi-booking Invoice: If you want to be able to invoice the agent/sales channel for more than one booking on the same invoice, select Yes here.
  For example, if you want to send them an invoice once a month with all the bookings for that month on.

• Sell Extras: If you want to the agent/sales channel to be able to sell your extras (which are registered in your account), select Yes here.
  
  

•  Commission and Commission Extras Code: Most agents/sales channels will charge you commission for selling your property. iBex can automatically calculate what that commission is allowing you to report on the commissioned amount as well as invoice the agent/sales channel with that commission taken from the total (with it broken down and displayed on the invoice).

In order for iBex to do this, the commission will be added to any booking as an extra (as a negative amount), so you first need to have the extra registered in your account.

Once the extra is registered in your account, enter the percentage that they charge for their commission and the Extras code that you want the commission to be assigned to.

Policies: If you want the agent/sales channel to have different Payment and/or Cancellation conditions to your standard conditions you can add them here and these conditions will be shown on any bookings for this agent.

TIP - You can hover over ‘property policy’ to see what your standard payment policy and cancellation policy’s are.

Be sure to click the Save Sales Channel button down at the bottom before you leave this page so any changes are saved.

After saving the new agent/sales channel, 3 more tabs will appear allowing you to view any payments, invoices and bookings made by them.