Objective

The objective of this Best Practice Guide is to define the functionality which should be used or should be available on Corporate Booking Tools, to ensure that travel agents and/or end consumer can make online reservations for all rental needs.

Company / Traveler Profile

The Company Profile page should hold the following information:

  • Preferred Vendors
  • Authorized vehicle categories
  • CD numbers for each car suppliers
  • Central Billing / Billing reference numbers

The Traveler Profile page should hold the following information:

  • Traveler ID numbers for multiple vendors
  • Multiple Frequent Traveler / Flyer numbers
  • Authorized vehicle categories
  • Car type preference e.g. automatic or manual
  • Special Requests e.g. non-smoking car

Availability Request

  • The availability requests should be “seamless” for car suppliers supporting this connectivity level.
  • /RC-BEST should not be the default value; /RC-BEST should be variable by vendor.
  • User should be able to request
    • Availability for airport and non-airport locations.
    • Availability for one-way rentals; one-way rentals between airport locations, between airport and non-airport locations and between non-airport locations;

If the renter is eligible for a contracted or discounted rate, the applicable CD number(s) of the car supplier(s) should be sent in the rate availability request message if recorded in the company or customer profile.

Travel policies such as vehicle categories authorized should be reflected in the availability request, rather than used as a filter prior to displaying the availability (e.g. if traveler is authorized to drive up to Compact only, the availability request should be for Economy and Compact).

Availability Display

  • Tool should provide the functionality to display car suppliers in order according to supplier status.
  • The total rental charges should be the secondary order criteria (low to high).
  • Any preferred supplier status and / or non-compliance with travel policies should be clearly indicated.  
  • The availability display should show
    • 'free sell' and “on request” cars and indicate the status.
    • all cars with a valid SIPP/ACRISS code within the travel policy (e.g. not be restricted to codes with the second letter “C”).
  • The rate section should indicate whether it is a contracted rate or that a corporate discount has been applied.

Sell Request

  • The sell should be done from an availability display and should support both, sell of free sell and on request cars.
  • If the renter is a frequent traveler, the appropriate details should be picked-up from the customer profile and be included in the sell message (Renter ID, FT Number, Credit Card Number), or the user should be able to add this information.
  • If the car sell is done in association with a flight segment, the sell message should include the arrival flight number. If the car sell is not done in association with a flight segment, the user should be able to add arrival flight details (flight number and/or arrival on private flight)
  • User should be able to add a request for special equipment, delivery and/or collection.
  • Additional billing information which may be required by the renters company should be picked-up from the company profile or the user should be able to add this information. 
  • Advisory, Information, Warning and Error messages returned by the car supplier in the sell response should be displayed.