IAN XML Technology. Affiliate Training Series V : Reviewing Your Website Using the Checklist for Approval for Hotel Products Requirements

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IAN XML Technology

Affiliate Training Series V :

Reviewing Your Website

Using the

Checklist for Approval

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2 Understanding the IAN XML Program

For the most

expeditious assistance,

be sure to contact the

appropriate source with

all information

necessary to assist

you, including your

CID.

All IAN Affiliate Program and Account

information is managed by the Account

Management team at

affiliate@ian.com

All IAN XML and Data Interface

Programs, XML technical assistance,

and information is managed by the XML

team at

xml@ian.com

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3 Access the Online Checklist for Approval

XML Documentation Center Main Page http://www.ian.com/xmldocs/main.jsp

To begin reviewing your site for all mandatory requirements, access the

online Checklist for each product you plan to develop.

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4 Review Required Items for Each Product

Best Practices:

Print the checklist before you begin your development so you will be able to refer to the requirements as you work.

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5 Checkpoints for each XML Product Developed

Best Practices:

Compare your site side by side with the same search on Travelnow.com to insure you are

displaying the proper pricing and text, legally required items, and other details from the checklist that will assist you in obtaining satisfied users for all products you are developing.

General Requirements include items that should be included regardless of the XML product

you re using

Merchant Hotels Requirements include the items, content and check points required for Expedia contract hotels or supplierType=H

Agency Hotels Requirements include the items, content and check points required for GDS hotels or supplierType=S or W

Flight Requirements include the items, content and check points required for all Flight

applications

Car Rental Requirements include the items, content and check points required for all Car Rental applications

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General Requirements for All Products

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7 General Requirements All Products Seller of Travel

California Seller of Travel details as seen on the Terms page of

Travelnow.com must be present in your own terms pages if you do

not link to this page.

http://www.travelnow.com/popups/hotels/userAgreement.jsp?cid=xxx

This is legally required text by the State of California

for all affiliates selling Travelnow.com reservation

products in that state or to California residents. It

must be present somewhere in all IAN affiliate sites

including all XML products.

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8 General Requirements Photo Disclaimer

Note: It is the responsibility of the hotel chain and/or the

individual property to ensure the accuracy of the photos

displayed. Yourwebsite.com is not responsible for any

inaccuracies in the photos.

The above disclaimer is required when displaying

property photos. The best place to include this is on the

page that shows all property photos and hotel

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9 General Requirements Validating Check Boxes

Use validating check boxes with the same wording for the user s

agreement all to terms and policies that currently appear on the

booking forms for each product on Travelnow.com.

Your customer must be aware of and intentionally agree to all

cancellation policies, terms and conditions of the sale. This makes the

user responsible for his reservation submission and any charges

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SSL ENCRYPTION of User Sensitive Data

You are REQUIRED to use SSL encryption on all booking forms, booking

confirmation pages, itinerary forms, itinerary response pages, cancel forms and

cancel pages.

If you do not collect and submit data for these pages using https, your requests

will fail.

All booking forms, confirmation pages, itinerary forms and response pages, and

cancellation forms and pages must be on an encrypted URL (HTTPS)

Sent From:

HTTPS

://www.MySite.com/BookingForm.jsp

Each of these requests must be submitted to Travelnow.com with HTTPS in the

request URL.

Sent to:

HTTPS

://axml.travelnow.com/external/xmlinterface.jsp

Note that Web Service Requests take special handling of your source file to

submit a request with a secure protocol. Refer to the Web Services section for

examples.

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ALL XML affiliates must also insure they include

appropriate logic or mechanisms in their applications

that prevent users from submitting duplicate booking

requests when a duplicate booking is NOT DESIRED.

Javascript to disable the submit button once a booking

request has been submitted

Built in logic as suggested in the reservation request outlines

of each product

11 General Requirements Prevent Duplicate Bookings

Best Practices:

Note that users are impatient and may need special handling on your part to insure their credit card is not charged multiple times if they continue to press the submit button more than once. Placing the reservation and interacting with the payment processing systems may take slightly longer than other responses.

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12 Check Your Work

At the end of each list of product checkpoints, you can check your work.

Use this list to insure you have included all general requirements for that product.

Do not request a site review until all checkpoints have been fulfilled properly.

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Requirements for

Merchant

Hotels

{ supplierType = H

}

13 Checkpoints for Expedia Inventory

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14 Merchant Hotels Room Type Descriptions

The roomTypeDescription gives the user information on the selection

they are making for the reservation.

It also describes the bedding type of that room in many cases on

Merchant properties.

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Room Rate Disclaimer

You MUST show the room rate disclaimer with room availabilities.

Here is the example text from Travelnow.com :

"The room rates listed are for double occupancy per room unless

otherwise stated and exclude tax recovery charges and service

fees. See

FAQs

for more details."

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16 Merchant Hotels Tax Recovery Fees

Include the Tax Recovery Charges and Service Fees breakdown and the total price of the net rate reservation in :

booking page confirmation page

Any additional confirmation emails sent to client Use the exact stated text regarding taxes and fees on Merchant inventory :

Tax Recovery Charges and Service Fees

<chargeableRoomRateTaxesAndFees> holds the total of all Tax Recovery Charges and Service Fees in a single value <nativeRoomRate> holds the chargeable total of all rooms, nights, and taxes

You may show the individual nightly

rates or you may show a total of all

nightly rates.

1. Subtotal of all nights or the breakdown of all nights 2. Tax Recovery Charges and

Service Fees 3. Total Charge

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17 Merchant Hotels Total Price

nativeRoomRate and displayRoomRate is the total price of the Merchant reservation for the rooms selected

It includes all Tax Recovery Charges and Service Fees.

<displayRoomRate>214.86</displayRoomRate> (the converted amount in other currencies)

<nativeRoomRate>214.86</nativeRoomRate> (the chargeable amount in the billing currency) The native price is charged in full at the time of booking as a prepaid discounted reservation. You are required to display the total chargeable amount on these pages:

NOTE:

nativeRoomRate is always the amount charged even when a non-supported currency for payment is requested

displayRoomRate is only the converted amount in the currency requested

You are required to display the correct total

chargeable amount on these pages:

room availability list

booking form

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18 Merchant Hotels Cancellation Policies

Cancellation policies are required from the room availability response on the

Include the cancellation policy

for each room on room availability results

since

they may be different on each selection.

This is the cancellation policy which will be applicable to the dates and room

selected

Inaccurate AND inadequate policy information results in customer disputes and

chargebacks to your account

Best Practices:

DO NOT hardcode cancel

policy data as this will be

different for each property

and each supplier

room availability list

booking form

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19 Merchant Hotels Prepaid Charges

MUST display that the credit card WILL BE charged immediately

for the full amount of the reservation on the booking form and the

confirmation page

Only Merchant Hotels (supplierType=H) are charged at the time of

booking.

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20 Merchant Hotels Check In Instructions

Display the

check in instructions

IF they have been returned in the

room availability and/or reservation results.

This is returned on some rare properties where the user needs to know

special information BEFORE THEY ARRIVE regarding how to get checked

into the property if 24 hour check in is not available.

In cases where the user does not receive this info and are unable to

check into the property customer disputes and chargebacks will result

on the affiliate account.

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Follow all mandatory credit card requirements as described in the

policies page:

https://www.ian.com/xmldocs/modules/cc/ccMandates.shtml

There are strict and specific guidelines mandated by the credit card

companies regarding how credit cards are used and payment

selections will be made on the internet.

Follow the outline to insure that no specific preference is given

regarding the choice of credit card or payment method.

Follow all guidelines for how credit card images must be displayed to

prevent showing any preference to payment methods.

Display only the last four digits of the card number or do not show at all

if confirming any payment methods prior to or after booking.

Do not store any CSV values from customer credit cards.

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22 Check Your Work

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Requirements for

Agency

Hotels

{ supplierType = S or W

}

23 Checkpoints for GDS Inventory

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24 Agency Hotels Room Type and Rate Descriptions

On GDS you MUST show the BOTH the room type description along with the rate descriptions (which include AARP, COR, RAC, AAA identifiers) as returned in your xml response

<roomTypeDescription> 1 King/NO SMOKING/REMOTE CONTROL TV - /HBO/TABLE AND CHAIRS</roomTypeDescription> <rateDescription> Corporate/Business RATE</rateDescription>

<roomTypeDescription> 2 DOUBLE BEDS/REMOTE CONTROL TV/HBO - /TABLE AND CHAIRS</roomTypeDescription> <rateDescription> AAA/CAA RATE, MEMBERSHIP REQD</rateDescription>

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25 Agency Hotels Room Rate Disclaimer

Conditions that drive rate on GDS inventory:

ID may be required to qualify for a special rate like AARP, etc.

There may be an extra person charge if the room type they booked does not accommodate the amount of people requested, or they may be required to cancel and rebook to a bigger room upon arrival at a different rate than previously booked.

Provide the actual extra person, children, rollaway bed charges when available. Otherwise, include this information in a standard disclaimer as seen on our terms and faq pages.

You MUST show the room rate disclaimer with room availabilities on Agency listings. Here is the example from Travelnow.com

"You are booking a non-discounted property. All rates displayed are nightly, and based on double occupancy per room unless otherwise specified. Carefully review the room descriptions and rate rules to ensure the room you select can accommodate your entire party. Some rates may require special identification. Our booking fee, taxes, and other surcharges imposed by the hotel are not included. Any extra adults or children above the room's listed occupancy may be subject to additional charges at the property's discretion."

Also include this information on your booking page to remind the user of occupancy charges.

"Requests for more than 2 people, or for more occupants than your selected rate indicates, will be sent to the hotel but are not guaranteed. If accepted, they will be subject to additional charges at the property's discretion."

Rate is per room,

per night, for the

selected room

rates for the

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26 Agency Hotels Rate Per Night ONLY

It is MANDATORY that the rate is understood as a single night rate during the dates selected without taxes or fees

If rateChange is true, then you will want to state that the rate changes since the rate returned is the highest of all nightly rates. If rateChange is true, then the other nightly charges will be LESS than the highest night rate displayed

The only rate information returned on an Agency listing is the single highest night rate without taxes and fees and is populated in the displayRoomRate element for requested currencies and the nativeRoomRate element for the hotel s native chargeable currency.

A total is not known

since the value returned

in the display and

nativeRoomRate is a

single nightly rate NOT

a total rate

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27 Agency Hotels Breakdown of Charges

Must include the rate information on: booking page

confirmation page

additional confirmation emails sent to client

Follow the example booking page breakdown from Travelnow.com.

Do NOT state a total amount

Refer to taxes as simply "taxes and fees"

Your final breakdown should include a clear itemization of charges:

Room Type: 1 Queen Bed

Rate per Room per Night: Seniors Rate * 55yrs Or AARP I Double Occupancy $59.40(USD)

(excludes taxes and other surcharges

Tax Recovery

Charges and Service

Fees

is specific text to

be used with

MERCHANT prepaid

bookings only

.

Do not use this text

on Agency price

breakdowns.

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28 Agency Hotels Guarantee Only

An agency listing will be a guarantee only (unless depositRequired=true) and is paid by the customer at the property at checkin/checkout.

The final price of the reservation is determined at this time.

If depositRequired is true then the property will directly charge the deposit upon processing the reservation. This is usually the first night rate plus taxes and fees.

GDS deposits are not processed by IAN payment or charging systems but directly by the hotel when they receive the reservation.

On the booking page state the example guarantee text above in order for your visitor to

understand when and how he will be charged. This will reduce the volume of customer service issues and questions regarding what has been paid at booking time or at check in with the property.

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29 Agency Hotels Cancellation Policies

Cancellation policies are required to be stated

from the response data on the room

availability

page for EACH ROOM, the booking form and the final confirmation page

This is the cancellation policy which will be applicable to the dates and room

selected

DO NOT hardcode cancel data as this will be different for each property, each

room, and each supplier.

It will also indicate if a deposit is required for that individual room or is

nonrefundable

Inaccurate and inadequate policy information results in customer disputes and

chargebacks to your account

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30 Agency Hotels Supplier Logos

WorldSpan logos are required on GDS room availability

pages

ONLY

if the rates are provided by that supplier.

This logo is not necessary on the hotel availability list

unless ALL properties on the page are returned from

Worldspan.

DO NOT display these logos on hotels.com Merchant

properties or pages that include Merchant

availabilities.

<supplierType> W indicates the Worldspan Logo should be

displayed for that room availability.

Best Practices:

DO NOT

display GDS supplier logos on

expedia/hotels.com Merchant availabilities. You may use or show

powered by text with a hotels.com, travelnow.com, expedia.com, or ian.com logo if desired.

Sabre is the default supplier for all GDS inventory, however, in some rare occasions Worldspan can be returned for certain choice hotels. In some other cases, we may default to Worldspan to receive and continue accessing GDS inventory if the Sabre system experiences and unexpected outage.

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31 Check Your Work

https://www.ian.com/xmldocs/checklist/checkListGDShotels.shtml

Best Practices:

DO NOT

request a site review until you have fulfilled all items on the checklist for each product you are developing.

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Print the checklist for each product you are developing. Use this checklist while you are developing your application.

Use the checkpoints to verify you have completed each required item on the list.

Once your site matches all text as outlined and compared to Travelnow.com, all chargeable rates are correct when comparing to Travelnow.com and all functionality works as expected, then you may request a site review.

https://www.ian.com/xmldocs/requestReview.shtml

We will compare the same search on your site to Travelnow.com for each checkpoint on the list and for each product you specify in your review request.

If any item(s) on the list are unable to be verified, we ll send back your request with the info we are unable to verify. You ll be required to follow through on corrected your site before we can continue with a review or grant approval to go live.

Receiving approval to go live, does not verify that all functionality on your back end or in your code is accurate since we are unable to verify your backend code from the browser. We can however, verify your results compared to Travelnow.com, that all required text, policies, and other items are present on the site. Any errors in your back end code that cause customer service issues are your responsibility.

If you thoroughly follow the documentation, use the checklist, properly display rates, currencies, and

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33. Questions

All information is online in the documentation center allowing you to

fully and independently develop your application

http://www.ian.com/xmldocs/main.jsp

If further questions arise or you have special needs beyond the scope

of the documentation and available resources, you may write to

xml@ian.com

469-335-1106 Affiliate Relations

EAN :: Expedia Affiliate Network 333 108th Ave NE Bellevue, WA :: 98004 ian.com :: hotels.com 10440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 400 Dallas, TX :: 75231

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Here s a summary list of resource links for Managing Your XML :

1. Documentation: http://www.ian.com/xmldocs/main.jsp

2. Apply for Access: http://12.14.173.100/xmldocs/xmlAccessForm.asp

3. Mandatory Requirements Checklist:

http://www.ian.com/xmldocs/checklist/checkListHome.shtml

4. Apply for Approval to Go Live: http://www.ian.com/xmldocs/requestReview.shtml

5. When you need to update your IP address: http://www.ian.com/xmldocs/updateIp.shtml

6. When you need to update your XML distribution email addresses:

http://www.ian.com/xmldocs/updateEmail.shtml

7. Sign up for Trip Advisor guest reviews:

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