Integrations
Expedia
How your agents answer guests who booked through Expedia, using the reservation data that reaches your own systems, and make changes within your rate rules.
Guests who book through Expedia often contact your property directly before and during their stay. Your agents answer them from the reservation itself: the dates, the room type, the rate and what the rate allows. Where your rate rules permit a change, the agent can make it, and anything else goes to your reservations team with a brief. The connection is configured during implementation for the systems your reservations run through.
What the connection lets the agent do
| Action | What it means for you | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Find the guest's reservation | The agent recognises an Expedia reservation from the reference, name or phone number, after the identity check you set | "I can see your booking for two nights from Friday, a twin room with sea view" |
| Answer questions about the stay | Guests hear the facts of their own reservation, not a general policy | Whether the rate the guest booked can be cancelled, and until when |
| Change the reservation within the rate rules | Changes the rate permits are made in the conversation, where your systems allow the change from your side | Moving a stay back by one day on a refundable rate |
| Cancel within the rate rules | A cancellation the rate allows is completed and confirmed, if you grant it | A cancellation made before the rate's deadline |
| Hand over anything else | Requests outside the rate rules, or that must go through Expedia, reach your team with a brief | A guest asking for compensation after a noisy night |
Booking changes and cancellations are configured during implementation, for the rates and reservation types you choose.
How it connects
The agent connects to reservation data from Expedia through your property management system (the system your property uses to run reservations, rooms and billing) or your channel manager (the software that sends your rates and availability to booking sites and brings their reservations back into your systems), or directly where your Expedia account allows it. The route is agreed with your team during implementation, using a dedicated integration account your administrators create and control.
Credentials are stored encrypted in your deployment, and every call travels over TLS (Transport Layer Security, the standard encryption for data in transit) version 1.2 or higher. The connection runs from your deployment in your chosen region. Where a change can only be made on Expedia's side, the agent explains the next step to the guest, or passes the request to your team.
Permissions
| Permission | Needed for | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Read reservations and rate rules | Answering guests about their own stay | Only for guests who pass the identity check you set |
| Change reservations | Date and room changes the rate permits | Only if you grant it, within the rate rules |
| Cancel reservations | Cancellations the rate permits | Only if you grant it, within the rate rules |
| Change rates or availability | Not needed | Not requested |
| Payment card details | Not needed | Not available. The agent never sees or handles card details |
The agent can only take actions your team has granted. Anything not granted cannot be invoked. Every lookup and change is logged in the audit trail. See Permissions.
In practice
Qamar Stays runs a resort in Jeddah and receives Expedia reservations into its property management system.
- Majid, who booked on Expedia, calls to say his flight has moved and asks to arrive a day later.
- The agent finds his reservation and reads the rate rules: his refundable rate allows a date change, and a room is available for the new dates.
- The hotel has granted date changes on refundable rates, so the agent moves the stay and confirms the new dates by WhatsApp.
- The change, the reason and a summary of the call are recorded against Majid's reservation and his customer record.
Related
- Travel and hospitality integrationsIntegrations
- Travel and hospitalityIndustry guides
- PermissionsIntegrations
- Policies as limitsAgents
- Handover to your teamAgents
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