Understanding Inventory discrepancies between Visual Matrix and Member Web
The first step to understand is that Visual Matrix does not communicate with any OTA's... Best Western Member Web does. So, if you find a discrepancy from Expedia or Booking.com, then the first thing is to look at Member Web and see if the discrepancy is there or not. If not, then the issue is between Member Web and Expedia and you can contact Member Web support directly. If the discrepancy is also in Member Web, then you might want to contact VM Client Experience who will look into it.
In the meantime... read below, this will give you some insight on what the Client Experience team will look into.
If there is a difference between the inventory available in Visual Matrix and Member Web, it will be due to a drop in communication between the two servers. It could have been a past drop in communication, an update, or a sync issue that should have been happening that did not occur. There could also be a disconnection from the 2Way. Discrepancies will also happen after a BW 2way outage.
To resolve this type of issue, the whole strategy is always to eliminate probable causes and find what is causing the issue. The total of Arrivals in Member Web for a day should match the total of Pending and In-House on the same day in Visual Matrix.
Outside of an outage with the BW 2Way, this type of situation is more likely to happen on VM Desktop than on VM Cloud. Regardless of your network situation Member Web and Visual Matrix communicate within the Cloud 24/7 without interruption.
The questions to answer
The following questions may not only answer the discrepancy but will also be precious information that the Client Experience Team will use to resolve the discrepancy faster.
- What dates are off?
- How many rooms are affected? Inventory 5+ Rooms are generally due to a group discrepancy
- Which room types are out of sync?
- When is the discrepancy?
- How long has it been out of balance?
- Who has more reservations or less? VM or MW?
If the discrepancy is less than 5 rooms
Less than 5 rooms discrepancies are likely to come from an individual reservation.
Cancellations
A reservation got canceled in Visual Matrix but the cancellation did not reach Member Web. Make sure that every canceled reservation has a cancellation number from Member Web.
If some cancellation are missing Member Web cancellation number, you can try to reactivate the booking and cancel it again.
If the arrival is not for the current day, you might be able to cancel the reservation directly from Member Web.
Early check-outs
Check any reservation that has a departure change matching the discrepancy. Every departure date change can be found in the Res Mod Log Report in Front Office > Supervisor > Reports > Res Mod Log or in Front Office > Supervisor > Reports > Room History/Early Check-Outs.
If any discrepancies are found, check with Member Web if those reservations are matching in terms of dates (and number of nights in MW).
Extended stays
The departure date was extended but did not make it to MW. Then the Reservation has been checked out in MW.
Unfortunately, there is no way to reinstate a booking in Member Web. Only a new reservation will address the situation.
Reservation in MW but not in VM
You will need to get the CRS confirmation number and pull down the reservation within Supervisor > System Maint > BW2Way
Reservation in VM but not in MW
In this case, the reservation would not show a CRS number in the Comments section. Open the reservation and add a dot in the comment box. It will trigger a sync with MW and will send down a CRS number.
If the discrepancy is more than 5 rooms
More than 5 rooms discrepancies are likely to come from a group reservation. Some information can be checked at the hotel level, although the resolution will generally have to involve Visual Matrix Client Experience Team.
Check every group in-house on VM and in Member Web
Compare the groups to see if both VM and MW have the same number of groups.
Check the number of allocated rooms for each group
In Visual Matrix, you will find this number in the group reservation, in the Show Pickups tool. This will give the count of rooms allocated and picked up and if the remaining allocation is still available or was dropped.
If the number of rooms on both sides does not match, contact our Client Experience Team.
If a group has had a date change
If the change was not done without using the Move button or the stay was shortened without releasing the allocations first, allocations dropped in VM but not in MW.
In this case, contact our Client Experience Team with the group ID and that will get Member Web involved.
If you know the group ID, Member Web will also be able to drop the extra allocations directly on their side without involving Visual Matrix.
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