Expedia

If you have an account set up with Expedia, you can connect it to your iBex Channel Manager so that any rates and room availability are automatically updated by your iBex system. In return, any bookings made at Expedia will also be automatically updated in your iBex system.
  

PMS users - All Bookings will automatically be allocated a unit in accordance with what order you have set your units to be allocated to and will show on your Bookings Calendar. 

Click here for more information on listing with Expedia 
 

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).

Important Information about Expedia and the interface between the 2 systems

Expedia offer different contracts and different functionality with each contract so please discuss this with your Expedia account manager before making your connection.
Expedia offer multiple websites for their customers to book on. Please consult with your Expedia account manager in regards to which sites you wish to be listed.





Bookings

Expedia sends confirmed bookings to your iBex account.
If a customer amends their booking through Expedia, the original booking will be cancelled and a new booking (with the new booking details)will be created in your iBex account but with the same iBex reference number. You will notice that the new booking will advise you that it is a rebook and the original booking number.
Any cancellations made to Expedia bookings at Expedia will be sent to iBex. If the booking was originally sent to iBex then it will be updated in the system and you will receive an email notification (if set to do so in your settings).
Bookings that have been made through an online sales channel that is connected to your Channel Manager (such as Expedia, Booking.com, etc) must be cancelled at the booking source. If it is amended within iBex directly, you will still be charged commission by the sales channel and the cancellation it will be overridden by any update that the sales channel sends to your iBex account (so revert back to the original booking status).
Expedia offers their customers 2 payment options for the booking on their site - Pay now or on arrival.

• When they opt to Pay now, Expedia call it a 'Expedia Collect' booking (and it will say 'Bill only nghts bkd by Expedia to cc# ...' on the booking notification from Expedia).
  Expedia will provide you with the nett booking rate and a unique Expedia MasterCard credit card number which you would charge the nett rate to.
• When they opt to pay on arrival, Expedia call it a 'Hotel Collect' booking (and it will say 'Hotel Collect' on the booking notification from Expedia).
  Expedia will then provide you with the full booking rate that was booked and the guest's credit card details for security. The guest will then pay you in full when they arrive (cash or credit card).
  Once a month, Expedia will invoice you for their commission amount on all these bookings within that month.

Whichever payment option is selected by the customer will also be registered and saved in the Booking Notes (Private) field in the booking in iBex.


Rates

Expedia.com receives the base room rate only from iBex if you are using the Per Day Pricing (PDP) model in your Expedia account – you will need to maintain any changes to extra adult/child prices directly in your Expedia account.
We would recommend that you use the Occupancy Based Pricing (OBP) model to avoid this - please contact your Expedia account manager to change this for you and update the Rates Basis accordingly in the iBex Channel Mapping settings once done.

You can send Expedia different prices for differing minimum stay requirements by setting the minimum stay handling option to Specific Minstays in the Channel Mapping tab.
If selecting this option you will need to duplicate rate plans at Expedia for each differing minimum stay.



Additional Information

After any extensive modification of your rates/prices within iBex it is recommended you perform a full re-synch to Expedia. Click here for instructions.
iBex supports up to 10 connections to Expedia from a single property.

Please use the following connection instructions to connect Expedia to your iBex Channel Manager:

Step	Instructions
1	Please contact your Expedia account manager directly as they will help you with enabling Expedia QuickConnect (EQC) which is Expedia’s name for the connection. Once it has been completed their end, they will send you 2 emails (see below) confirming that EQC has been activated and the codes that are required to make the connection. Only once you have received these emails can you make the connection. The first email will be titled “EQC Login Property Name (xxxxxxx)” The number in brackets in the email subject line is your Expedia Property ID which will be needed for step 12 below. It will also provide you with your connection username and password, required for steps 13 and 14 respectively.   The second email will be titled “EQC Connected Property Name (xxxxxxx)” This email will include your Rate Type and Pricing Model, required for steps 18 and 19 respectively. Only on receipt of these emails from Expedia confirming activation of EQC and providing EQC username and password proceed to step 2.
2	Log into your iBex account.
3	From left menu select Sales Channels Add a sales Channel
4	At the pop up window titled ‘New Sales Channel’ click the button Register Available Sales Channel
5	Enter ‘expedia’ into the search field at top right of window and press enter on your keyboard. Matching results will be displayed – see example screen image below.
6	If this the first and only connection to Expedia click the green plus icon adjacent to Expedia (see above example). If this is an additional connection select Expedia (Connection 2 or 3) as appropriate.
7	Optionally update General section fields as required. Notes are private. Refer sample example screen image below.
8	At Rules section: select what Selling Group you want Expedia to be registered to (click here for more information about selling groups) select the Rate Modifier that you want Expedia to use – Rate 1 will typically be same as you sell at, other options will be a % increase or discount (click here for more information about Rate Modifiers). PMS accounts only – set Multi-booking Invoice as required. ‘ No’ means you will send an invoice for each booking, ‘Yes’ means you can send multiple bookings on one invoice. PMS accounts only – If you want to remove the amount charged by Expedia for any bookings received, set the Commission charged by Expedia. PMS accounts only – In order for the commission amount be removed from the booking, it needs to be registered to the booking as an extra. Set the extra that the amount is logged to in the Commission Extras Code field. If you have not an extra registered to your account, save the details and register the extra once you have set it up. Refer example below:
9	Click Register Sales Channel button. You will progress to the Channel Mapping tab.
10	Enter your email address at iBex Notification Emails To field.
11	It is recommended that iBex Email on New Booking are set as follows: Block Operator – not checked Block Property – checked Block Customer – checked
12	At Channel Property ID enter your Expedia Property ID (as obtained in step 1).
13	At Channel Operator ID enter your Expedia EQC Username (as obtained in step 1).
14	At Channel Password enter your Expedia EQC password (as obtained in step 1).
15	It is recommended that Send Rates is set as ticked.
16	Set Min Stay Handling field as required (we recommend First Available). This is really only relevant if you will be mapping a single room type from iBex to multiple room types at Expedia (eg. for length of stay price variations, etc).
17	Set Allocation Handling field as required (we recommend Total per Room). This is really only relevant if you will be mapping a single room type from iBex to multiple room types at Expedia (eg. for length of stay price variations, etc).
18	At Contract Type select your your contract type. Usually ETP -Net Rates or ETP -Sell Rates – refer to the email from Expedia as obtained in step 1.
19	At Rates Basis select as you have contracted with Expedia. Usually Per Day Pricing – however contact your Expedia Account Manager if you are unsure.
20	At Contract End Date leave blank as this is optional. If you set a Contract End Date, iBex will only send rates and availability up until this date.
21	Click Save button.
22	You can now set the Room and rate mapping.
23	Complete each room mapping row as follows: Channel Room Name – select the Room name from your Expedia account that you want to receive the availability of the iBex Room name in that row.  iBex Rate Name – select the rate that you want to send Expedia for that room.. Channel Rate ID – select the Rate name from your Expedia account that you want to be updated with the prices of the iBex Rate selected. If you want to update several rooms in your Expedia account from the same iBex room, just click the ‘+’ before the Channel Room Name to provide you with another line. If you want to send several rates to Expedia for the same room type, just click the ‘+’ before the iBex Rate Name option to provide you with another option to select the iBex Rate Name that you want to send and the Channel Rate Name in which to send it to.
24	Click Save button.
25	Click Save & Update Channel button.
26	Wait a few minutes and click View Log button. If the Remote Service Log Viewer indicates queued updates are pending, wait a further few minutes and click the ‘Refresh’ button.
27	Once the information has been sent through to Expedia, the iBex channel manager log will confirm with an OK status. You can then log into your Expedia account and check that your Expedia account has been updated as expected. Please note that the information in your Expedia account will be updated almost instantly by iBex but it will not be updated on the Expedia website for maybe 30 minutes to an hour. This is not controlled by iBex so please contact your Expedia account manager if you have any questions about this.