Best Western 2Way Interface Detailed (BW) (Desktop)
Access to certain sections is restricted for hotel staff, as some areas are exclusively available to Visual Matrix technicians.
Path: Management > Setup > Interfaces > Central Res BW2/Best Western 2 Way.
The interface is composed of 6 sections:
- Best Western 2 Way.
- Communication Settings.
- Seasons and Setup Tools.
- Room type.
- Room Allocations per Level and Gtd/Cxl Policy per Rate Plan.
- Other Setup Tools.
Best Western 2 Way Settings
Dropdowns fields:
- Property ID: Is the BW property ID of the hotel, which is also the property ID for Visual Matrix.
- City Ledger: This function specifies what CL account will automatically be selected for central billed reservations. These are typically reservations that were paid for with BW Rewards points.
- Market Segment/Referral Method and Reason for Stay: Any reservation than comes down with a Rate Plan that is not mapped in Visual Matrix will be attached to this segment. The same policy applies to Rack Reservations.
- Room Type: Is the room type VM will select if it is unable to match up the room type sent with the reservation.
- Hold Policy: Is the default hold time policy for any non-guaranteed reservation that would come in through the 2way.
- Max Stay Days: It should always be set to "0". The maximum stay days are determined by Best Western and hardcoded in the 2-way interface.
The Surestay box must remain unchecked at all times, even for Surestay properties. Enabling it can interfere with the 2-way communication and disrupt other critical configurations.
Communication Settings
URL and Ports
The IP Address (ETW URL), WS URL and JSON Services URL (Property Services URL), Ports, and Client ID fields cannot be modified. Any information modified here will cause the 2way to drop. Each URL is compsed of the property ID, a BW Property code, and:
- IP Address: [...].crs.ghs.bwhhotelgroup.com
- WS URL: [...].bwr.ghs.bwhhotelgroup.com
- JSON Services URL: [...].crs.ghs.bwhhotelgroup.com
The SSL box should always be checked. Instances where it should not be checked are extremely rare. If you find it unchecked, please contact the Client Experience team for assistance.
For STR and MCI interval, check the following articles:
Checkboxes
- Pay TA Commission: This function tells the system that the hotel will pay TA commissions for reservations booked through CRS. This should be unchecked.
- Email req BWR Enroll: Check the box to require an email every time a new BWR membership is started.
- Enroll Popup: Check the box to pop up a prompt to enroll the guest in BWR if the reservation doesn’t have a BWR profile attached.
- Email Req BWR Check-In: Check the box to require an email if the email is missing upon every BWR client check-in.
- Enforce Local Rate Level: This tells the system to enforce restrictions placed on rate levels locally. For example, if Level B is hard closed in the interface, local reservations can still be made using rate plans assigned to rate Level B. If this is turned on, local reservations cannot be made using rate plans that are assigned to rate level B.
- Convert CRS/Local Currency: Check this box if the reservation is received in a currency that is different than the one applied in Visual Matrix. The conversion rate will be updated from Management > Setup > Forms > Convert Local Currency.
- Enable Plan Code/Package Mapping (restricted): This feature is meant if a Rate Plan sold online needs to be mapped to a package in Visual Matrix. This feature can only be enabled by a Visual Matrix technician.
- NA BWR Update Arrivals: Check the box to do an update of the BWR Status of the client upon check-in.
- In House: This is tied in with the "NA BWR Update Arrivals" function to also check for BWR membership status changes for in-house guests as well as the day's arrivals.
- Resync Groups After Audit: Check the box to enable the sync of every pending group in Visual Matrix. This feature can lengthen the audit if you have a lot of groups.
- Group Overlay: This box should always be checked. If not, a group allocation would be duplicated and creates an availability discrepancy.
- Allow Overbook: This feature needs to be enabled both in Visual Matrix (VM) and in Best Western (BW), with configurations set up on both sides. If interested, contact the Client Experience team for assistance.
- Months to Purge Old CRS Numbers: CRS numbers are recycled after a specific duration. If a reservation from the 2-way interface carries a CRS number already linked to another reservation in Visual Matrix, the new one won't be retrieved. This configuration ensures the clearance of any CRS number in Visual Matrix after a set duration of X months.
Seasons
This section will show the rates seasons created in Management > Rates > Seasons. This is where the Guarantee and Cancellation policies for those periods are set up and sent to Member Web.
This section can be divided into 2 parts: the seasons and some admin and setup tools.
The Seasons
- Start Date/End Date: Those dates are the season's start and end set up in Management.
- Tier Type/Tier Level: Tiered or Fixed.
- Choosing Tiered will send whatever the going rate is for a particular date, whether it's Base or Tier 1 - 9. The Tier Level column does nothing when Tiered is selected.
- Choosing Fixed will always send whatever Tier is selected in the Tier Level column. If 1 is selected, the interface will always send Tier 1 rates regardless of whatever the current rate may be in VM.
- WD Confirm/WE Confirm: This is the general Guarantee Policy that will be synced online.
- WD Cxl/WE Cxl: This is the general Cancellation Policy that will be synced online.
- Reopen: This will reopen the inventory online if rooms become available again. Choosing No will leave an inventory close once it has been sold out, even if rooms become available after.
Admin & Setup Tools
- Group Alloc: This tool is reserved for BW Revenue Managers and Visual Matrix. The tool is to re-sync groups.
- Send Reservations: This tool is reserved for BW Revenue Managers and Visual Matrix. The tool will re-sync already synced reservations for any update.
- Room Type setup: This tool is reserved for BW Revenue Managers and Visual Matrix. The tool is to map Room Types between VM and MW.
- Rate Plan Setup: This tool is reserved for BW Revenue Managers and Visual Matrix. The tool is to map Rate Plans between VM and MW.
- Rate Plan Allocation: This tool is open. The hotel can allocate a specific number of rooms per day per room type, by Level. The Apply Range feature gives more allocation options.
- Availability: This tool is open. It is the same screen that is found in Front Office > Supervisor > System Maint > BW 2Way > Availability.
- Rate Levels: This will be coordinated with the "Room Allocation" section that we will discuss below.
Room Types
This section has 2 pieces of information:
- # Rooms: this column shows the number of rooms, overall, and per room type. If a modification on a room number is made in VM that changes this total, it will automatically update.
- # Close: the number here is the number of rooms left at which the interface will close online inventory.
Modifying the #Close value does not trigger any immediate changes to reported inventory numbers or automatically send closes.
This function is a reference point for the system, and actions are taken when inventory numbers change. In other words, inventory has to increase or decrease in order for the system to determine what inventory to report and whether to close or open.
Room Allocations
This section has two objectives:
- Enable Levels communication between VM and MW and allocate rooms.
- Clicking the "Rate Levels" button provides access to the second purpose: enabling Rate Plan communication and configuring online Guaranteed (Gtd) and Cancellation (Cxl) policies.
Levels
The box should be checked for every level, every room type, and overall included. If not, Levels will not update in MW. If MW Levels shows 999 for the availability, this is the reason.
The "# Alloc" let the hotel allocate a certain number of rooms per Level. By default, the total number of rooms is allocated.
Rate Plans
When the user clicks on the Rate Levels button, the section will change from a Levels details to a Rate Plan details.
All Rate Plans will show. If a specific Gtd and Cxl policy has to be set up for an online Rate Plan, it will be set up here.
The # Alloc let the hotel allocate a certain number of rooms per Rate Plan. By default, the total number of rooms is allocated.
All Rate Plans cannot be updated from Visual Matrix. Most of them are managed directly from MW. Contact EDS or your Revenue Manager for more information.
Other Tools
- BWR Tiers Setup: This tool is open. When checking in a BWR member, a specific message can pop up based on the BWR level (Blue, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Diamond Select).
- Print: This will print Room Types and Rate Plans that are mapped in the Interface.
- Error Logs: This will print a report of Plan Code by Season Setups.
The "Router IP Address" and "Router MAC Address" are no longer in use and should always remain empty. If they are not, please contact Client Experience for assistance.
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