Before mapping to Expedia
Before you start mapping to Expedia, ensure you:
Connect the channel Expedia in your Channel Manager.
Connect “Siteminder RDX” in Expedia’s extranet.
Create your room types and rate plans in Expedia’s extranet. Set up settings such as room type details, occupancy settings, and extra person charges. Wait for at least 60 minutes for your Channel Manager to retrieve the rates from Expedia, before you start mapping your rates.
Map to Expedia
To map your room rates to Expedia:
Go to Channels > find Expedia.
In the Rooms & Rates tab, click on Map to Expedia on the channel manager room rate you want to map to.
Select the channel room rate to map from the Map to drop-down list.
To start inventory updates to Expedia, click “Yes” to Start updating channel.
Select the corresponding channel rate from the Mapped to drop-down menu.
Update any additional settings for the channel rate. Some settings such as extra adult rate will need to be updated via Expedia’s extranet directly.
Click Save.
Make sure you map the one room rate in SiteMinder to all available Expedia rate types, not just the “sell rates”, (such as sell rates for Expedia Collect and Hotel Collect, Package, Derived, and Linked rates) to ensure reservation delivery.
Note:
If you apply a stop sell via Expedia’s extranet, you will have to manually remove it from Expedia’s extranet, as SiteMinder will not be able to override/remove it when mapping.
Expedia Rates supports two rate acquisitions plans, "Sell" and "Net". If you are seeing incorrect prices on Expedia when mapped, check and confirm that the rate type (net or sell) is correct on Expedia.
When will you need to update mapping?
If a rate setup is changed on Expedia’s side — for example, if the business model is changed on Expedia from Expedia Traveller Preference (ETP) to Expedia Collect (EC) — then the mapping sync will be disabled and you will need to re-save all room rate mapping in your Channel Manager.
About mapping to Expedia with the ETP business model
Note:
Map all of your Expedia rates, not just the “Sell rates”.
Expedia may not support inventory updates for some rate types, such as packages and linked and derived rates. This is because packages and linked/derived rate plans are derived from the main rate, and can only be managed directly via Expedia.
With the Expedia Traveller Preference (ETP) and Expedia Collect business models, there are various rate types for one room rate. As one room rate may be sold in different ways (Sell rates for Expedia Collect and Hotel Collect, packages, derived rates, and linked rates), you will need to map one room rate in your Channel Manager to all of your Expedia rates. This includes mapping the package and derived rates, not just the standalone main rates or “Sell rates”.
This is essential to ensure reservations and availability are delivered correctly. Unmapped rates can lead to overbookings and missed reservations.
An example of the different rate types you could have with Expedia:
Sell rates (Expedia Collect or Hotel Collect) — the sell rate is the main rate where pricing is managed. Inventory from your Channel Manager (rates, availability, stop sell, CTA, CTD, minimum stay, and maximum stay) will be sent to the sell rate on Expedia. Note: you may see “Net rate” instead of “Sell rate” if you are set up with this rate type on Expedia.
Package rates (Expedia Collect) — packages on Expedia are a price-bundle deal consisting of products, services, and extras — from flights, car rentals, and insurance, to tours and other activities. Pricing and restrictions are derived from the main rate and are managed by Expedia directly.
Derived and linked rates (Expedia Collect) — derived and linked rates inherit their pricing and restrictions from the main sell rate on Expedia. Pricing and restrictions are derived from the main rate and are managed by Expedia directly.
For example:
On Expedia, you have a standard double room rate sold in the following ways:
Standard double room - SellRate - Hotel Collect
Standard double room - Package - Expedia Collect
Standard double room - Linked - Expedia Collect
Standard double room - Derived - Expedia Collect
And in your Channel Manager, you have only one room rate:
You do not need to create a new room rate for the four Expedia rate types listed above; instead, you just map them to the single “Standard double room” rate.
Per-day or occupancy-based pricing
Your pricing model set in Expedia must match your setting in your Channel Manager. If you need to change the pricing model on Expedia, please contact your Market Manager.
Expedia supports two pricing models:
Per-day pricing (PDP) — the room is priced per day based on a set number of guests included in the base rate. The number of persons included in the base rate must be set directly via Expedia. To add extra person charges on top of the base rate, you will also need to do so directly via Expedia (via their extranet or contact their support team for assistance).
Occupancy-based pricing (OBP) — With the OBP model, the price will be set per occupant. The base rate will be set for 1 occupant, and prices will need to be applied for each additional occupant.
If using the OBP model on Expedia, you must include additional settings when mapping:
Single rate only — select Yes if the mapped rate is always just for a single guest.
Included occupancy — the number of guests included in the rate set on your inventory (this should be one occupant).
Max occupancy — the maximum number of guests that can be booked for the room rate.
Extra guest rate — the amount to charge the additional guest(s) not included in the Included occupancy field.
Single guest discount — the amount to deduct from the room rate’s Inventory price when there is a single-guest booking.
Extra guest percentage — the percentage to charge the additional guest(s) not included in the Included occupancy field. (This field will only be visible when the Single rate only field is set to ‘No’ .)
Rate multiplier for Expedia
For Expedia, a rate multiplier can be set either at channel level for all channel rates, or at channel level for specific channel rates. When a rate multiplier is set, all of your associated rates in your Channel Manager will be multiplied by a specified value before they are sent to Expedia.
For example, you can enter 0.8 to send 80% of the rate, or 1.2 to send 120% of it.
The amount displayed on the Inventory grid will not include the rate multiplier.