In this article, we would like to address Frequently Asked Questions and provide you with background knowledge on recurring topics so that you can also find the right solution approach right away and thus save valuable time. Today’s topic is: What are UNKNOWN bookings and how can I avoid them?
Background The term “mapping” is certainly familiar to many of you, basically it is about the links of rates and rooms between Seekda and the respective channels. When mapping, it is important to know that it is always based on a 1:1 relationship.
Best Practice As an example, let’s take a mapping to Booking.com with the following initial situation: I have 10 room categories, each with 3 rates that are to be displayed on Booking.com. These rooms or rates already exist in Seekda and in the Booking.com extranet the customer also creates the desired 10 rooms and 3 rates each. Using clearly identifiable codes, each pair is then linked (mapped) in the background and the data exchange can take place.
Mentioned here again is the importance of the 1:1 relationship – meaning 1 room at Seekda can only be linked to 1 room at Booking.com.
When the mapping is correctly created and the first guest books, the correct rate and room code will be captured in the reservation confirmation and your PMS will then pick up the booking from us and can immediately feed this correctly into the room plan.
UNKNOWN bookings If the 1:1 rule is not followed and for example another room or rate is created at Booking.com without having the mapping adjusted, this room or rate is not directly recorded by Seekda and also the allocation is subsequently unknown. The guest books this room with this rate on Booking.com and the reservation arrives via Seekda in the PMS, but with the room and rate code UNKNOWN. This leads to the following problems, among others:
- Prices and availabilities do not come from Seekda
- Risk of overbooking
- Danger of wrong prices
- Lack of allocation options in the room plan due to missing codes.
Therefore please make sure that all rooms and rates that are (newly) created are mapped. If you are unsure, please contact the HTS team, we are happy to help!
