The configuration of a channel is the last and most delicate step that leads to the activation of the connection. Each configuration of WooDoo can be done by users independently but if, even following the instructions on this page, you do not feel confident to proceed, ask for assistance to the WuBook staff that will be happy to help you during the process.
Before you reach this step, the channel must have been acquired in WooDoo and initialized: the connection initialization is the connection authorization that the portal must issue to WuBook.
In the articles below you will find all the instructions to acquire and initialize a channel.
☞ Docs: Acquiring a Channel
Once the channel has been acquired and initialized, the CONFIGURE button will appear in the user interface. By clicking on it you can automatically download from the portal the map of rooms and rates to be managed via XML with your Channel manager.
NB: If the portal's assistance has provided you with a file with the map of your rooms and rates, WooDoo does not need it (so you do not need to send it to us) because our system downloads this map automatically.
Rooms Association
By clicking on the Configure button, WooDoo will automatically download the list of rooms you have created on the portal and you can associate to each OTA room the corresponding WooDoo room type.
! WARNING !
- ALL the OTA rooms must be associated to a WooDoo room!
- You can NOT associate twice the same WooDoo room (but you can use a virtual one of the same type).
- You can associate one or more WooDoo virtual rooms, but WARNING: if you associate in the same channel both the main room and one of its virtual rooms, or two virtual rooms that depend on the same main room, you run the risk that IN THE SAME BOOKING the same customer books more rooms than you have, creating an overbooking.
If, for example, you associate in the same channel both the Double and the Single Use, that on WuBook you created as virtual of the Double,
you put on sale two different availabilities at the same time on the
same channel. When you have only one Double room left, this one will
appear on the portal at the same time both as Double and as Single Use,
and a group of three people could book them both on the same
reservation!
This is not a limitation or malfunction of the system, but its normal functioning. If you do not want to take this risk, simply avoid this type of configuration. However, many of our customers consciously decide to run it to increase the sales offer.
To warn you of this risk, the associated virtual rooms will be marked in red: this does not mean that this is an error, but is just a warning.
☞ Docs: Virtual Rooms - WooDoo
TIP. You can decide not to put on sale on the portals all the types of rooms you have created on WooDoo. You can put on sale some rooms only on your site by creating in WooDoo room types that are not connected to any room in the channels. Or you can send to a channel a lower availability than the real one by decreasing the virtual room's availability. You can associate a dedicated virtual room in which you set an availability decrease.
Rates Association
Once the room association has been configured, a list of the portal rates is displayed. A "rate" is a price list at which OTA sells your rooms.
It is possible to associate with an OTA rate any rate plan and restriction plan you have created on WooDoo.
To send to the OTA the same prices and restrictions that you use for direct sales on your site you have to map the WuBook Parity rate plan and the Standard Restrictions plan.
! WARNING !
- Unlike rooms, the same rate plan and the same restrictions plan can be used several times.
- To start the connection it is necessary to connect at least one rate: the rates do not have to be all connected, although we recommend to associate them all.
NB: Not associating a rate means that it will not be managed via XML by the Channel manager, i.e., it will not be updated.
If
the OTA portal's rate is open and has incorrect prices when connecting
the channel, the unassociated rate will remain open with the wrong
prices!
Also, if the portal is one of those (like Booking.com or Airbnb) that does not allow you to operate on the Extranet when a Channel manager is connected, leaving an unassociated rate means that you will not be able to manage it in any way!
☞ Docs: Rate Plans
☞ Docs: Restrictions Plans
Preferences
All channels have preferences that can be set. In the settings you will be asked whether or not to honor the Wubook Restrictions closures. What does this mean?
The Wubook Restrictions are the ones that regulate
the direct sale on your site. When you close a day/room on Wubook
Restrictions, the day/room is no longer for sale on the Online
Reception, even if you still have all the rooms available. However, on
channels, the date would remain open on Portal Rates which are not
associated with Wubook Restrictions.
If you want that, when you close
a room on your site, it will be closed on all OTAs connected via
channel manager, then you have to tick this preference.
Each channel then has specific preferences that are shown directly in the user interface.
When you click on SAVE, an update will start automatically.
Some
OTAs (for example, Booking.com) require further confirmation on their
extranet: in this case, updates do NOT start until this last step on the
OTA side has been completed!
Final checks
The channel is active only when the green gear symbol appears in the Channel Manager > Channels section of your account.
You will be able to check the updates from the Channel Manager > Updates section. The first update, covering a very long period, will take longer than the daily updates: it may take a few more minutes.
↳ Link: Auth factory > WooDoo > Channel Manager > Updates
☞ Docs: Check updates - WooDoo
After checking in the > Updates section that the first update has been performed, it is always good to check directly in the portal's extranet if the values of availability, prices, and restrictions correspond to those expected and set on WooDoo. If this is not the case, tell our support a specific day/room on which you have detected a misalignment to make a verification.
NB: the control must be done directly on the
extranet, not on the public booking portal, on which the updating of
data does not depend on the channel manager.