What is a discrepancy?
It is a lack of compatibility or similarity between a PMS and channel manager or/and Channel Manager and a Channel. Availabilities, rates or restrictions can be affected by discrepancies.
Why can a discrepancy occur?
Mapping issues (Mapping PMS and Channel Manager or Channel manager and Channel)
Sync problems with a channel (performance issue)
What can I do if I have a discrepancy?
You can attempt to check where the discrepancy is.
Before reporting discrepancies to the Channel Manager support, you could attempt to identify in which system the discrepancy resides:
Between your Property Management System (PMS) and the channel manager. Please check
Between your channel manager and one or more of your channels.
Check the mapping (PMS and Channels)
Check that all of the rates of the channel manager are mapped correctly to your channels or PMS. The mapping of the PMS is managed from the tab named after the PMS connected to your channel manager.
Codes are necessary to configure the mapping between Channel Manager and the PMS. The Codes have to match precisely on both the PMS and Channel Manager end in order for the synchronisation to work.
Ticking the box “Show rooms/rates not mapped to Orchestra Hotel” will display the room rates from the channel manager not connected to the PMS.
When you notice discrepancies between the PMS and the channel manager, you might need to confirm the mapping configuration (mapping codes) with your PMS’s support. In order to do that you can download the configuration from Channel Manager if you click “Download Rooms & Rate Configuration”. It will generate a file that you can provide to your PMS support for the investigation.
When you notice a rate, availability or restriction discrepancy between the PMS. It could be because an update is stuck somewhere between the PMS and Channel Manager because a configuration has been changed for example. You can attempt to refresh and send a fresh update by changing the value affected in the PMS twice (Change to a random value and Save, changed back to the correct value and save again). This manipulation could unlock the update.
A minimum rate can be configured in Channel Manager >>> Hotel Settings, located under the property name on the right-hand corner of the screen.
It may sometimes occur where the PMS sends prices which fall under that minimum rate. The channel manager will display the minimum rate set, in the inventory for any of the days the PMS sends prices under that minimum.
The mapping with the Channel is managed from the tab CHANNELS of your channel manager.
Please note: When you report discrepancies between Channel Manager and a booking channel to Channel Manager Support team, please make sure you are checking the extranet of the booking channel, not the Channel’s interface (Guest’s interface).
It will be considered that the channel manager has updated the channel if the extranet of the channel matches with the content of the inventory in the channel manager. Discrepancies can occur between the extranet of a channel and the guest’s interface. In this scenario, the channel must be contacted.
Check if there is connection with the Channel
You can see when the connection with a Channel is functional.
To view this, in Channel Manager, go to the Channels tab, click on the channel you want to check and in the right-hand corner of the page, you should see "Rates mapped: x/y" beside the Refresh button. Instead of X or Y, you should see the number of connected rates followed by the number of rates in the channel extranet that can be mapped.
If the connection is not currently functional, it will instead show the message "Channel information retrieval failed for (channel name)".
Two main reasons for the connection not being functional:
Incorrect configuration details applied in Channel Settings (Hotel code, Username, Password, etc). Please contact the channel directly to make ensure the correct information has been provided.
WebService has not been activated on the Channel end of the Channel is not connected to Channel Manager as a provider. Please contact the channel directly to make sure these conditions are fulfilled.
Is the Channel Enabled in the channel manager?
A channel can be enabled or disabled in the tab “Channel Settings.” A Channel must be enabled to receive updates from the Channel Manager.
Check that there is no channel rate unmapped or disabled
In order to send updates to a booking channel, the room rates need to be enabled in the channel manager - the status shows Updates Enabled.
A disabled room rate will show a status Updates Disabled.
Clicking on will usually display the reason for the deactivation and some explanations to resolve the problem. Once resolved you can re-activate the room rate selecting YES to the option “Continue updating Channel” and Save.
Ensure there is no cross-mapping in place
What is cross-mapping?
“Cross mapping” happens when the configuration on the channel manager and the one on the channel don’t match; all the rates of the same room in the channel manager should be configured in the exact same way in the channel.
Now, if rates that belong to the same room in the channel manager are in different rooms in the channel please be aware that this configuration can cause over bookings, since availability is handled at the room level and if the rates of the same room in the channel manager are mapped to different rooms in the channel the availability can be doubled.
This can happen when a room is booked on a channel when there is not enough availability on the channel manager.
Example of correct mapping in the channel manager:
Double Room Availability 2
BAR rate
DUI rate
Total availability in the Double Room on the channel manager: 2
Example of cross-mapping in the channel:
Double Room Availability 2
BAR rate
Double Single Use Room Availability 2
Double Single Use rate
Total availability for both Double Rooms 4
Please note: The rates shouldn’t be created as rooms unless you split your availability in 2. If not your inventory can get duplicated. If this is your case, you would need to fix your channel’s configuration to reflect the same organisation we have on the channel manager. Both configurations have to be identical.
Check Channel Update Period
Each Channel has its Max update period that you can consult in the Tab “CHANNELS” of the channel manager. The channel manager does not send information to a channel beyond that limit. An update period can also be configured in Hotel Settings of the channel manager.
Check the Dashboard
Your channel manager’s Dashboard provides an overview of the state of your channel manager and the connection status of your Booking Channels. The Dashboard has the following sections:
Hotel Status (The Hotel Status Dashboard view gives you a summary of any problems related to your channel manager system and your Booking Channels)
Channel Status (The Channel Status Dashboard view provides you with real-time monitoring of all your connected booking channels)
System Alerts (informs of any performance issue occurring with a channel)
Announcements
Reservations Received
Top Channels, Last 30 Days
Check your notifications
When a room rate gets disabled in your channel manager, Customer receives notification by email. When they receive these notifications, they would need to log in to your Channel manager and check the room rate affected.