The Hotel Search engine integrates the AAA Tourbook® database with Apollo Hotel Vendor connectivity. Since there are so many hotels to choose from in any given city, this portion of the search engine gives the user many more options to select during the search process.
Even though Apollo has non-AAA hotel properties in its database, only AAA-approved hotel properties appear to the user.
Non-members can book hotels through the system, but will not have access to any of the AAA Tourbook® data.
AAA Members, Non-Members, and travel professionals (using Travel Connect) will have access to Apollo published and AAA rates, ATI and Travelweb merchant model (pre-paid) rates. Once a consumer selects to check availability, the ATI and/or Travelweb pre-paid hotel rates will be integrated into the rate display with the current Apollo rates in lowest to highest order. The ATI and Travelweb pre-paid rate will be booked directly through their respective inventory and reservation systems. A passive PNR will be built in Apollo, providing documentation of the ATI and/or Travelweb booking to clubs. The ability to activate the ATI and Travelweb rates are controlled within Support Manager, Applications Settings.
Click here for more information on the Integration of Travelweb Pre-Paid Rates.
A study of travel on AAA.com conducted by PhoCusWright in 2005 recommended that AAA simplify its hotel pricing options instead of displaying all available rates and room types (as many as 30 or more rates) from Apollo, TravelWeb and ATI. PhoCusWright suggested that AAA.com may be overwhelming the consumer with too many rates. PhoCusWright recommended offering a small number of choices like other online travel agencies. By reducing or simplifying the hotel rate display, consumers will find shopping for hotels on AAA.com easier, faster and more convenient.
This enhancement reduces the number of room rates that are displayed to the consumer and provides more differentiated room rate descriptions.
To accommodate the Simplify Hotel Pricing functionality, the following modifications were made to AAA.com with the implementation of Release 57:
The "Hotel Rate" page has been modified to display only one room type per rate. Any rate that contains multiple room types will display the new "View More Room Types" link next to the room rate.
When the new "View More Room Types" link is selected, the section will be expanded to display all hotel room types for that price.
Once the section has been expanded, the "View More Room Types" link will be changed to "Hide More Room Types".
When the "Hide More Room Types" is selected, the section will be collapsed.
The new "View All Room Rates" link within the ROOM & RATE DETAILS section will expand all of the individual sections to display all available room types.
The "Hotel Rate Rules" page has been modified to include the "Choose a Different Room" option within the RULES FOR THIS RATE section of the page.
With the implementation of Release 64, AAA.com/CAA.ca now includes ATI as part of the From-Rates functionality. This project improved Hotel From-Rates by comparing hotel rates between ATI and Galileo RoomMaster. AAA.com/CAA.ca now displays the best available rate as the From-Rate on the Hotel Search Results Page.
Even when a property is sold-out in RoomMaster, if an ATI rate is available, the From-Rate populates with the lowest applicable ATI rate on the Hotel Search Results page. This enhancement only affects those Clubs currently using ”r;From Rates” and that have ATI hotel rates display turned ”r;ON” in Support Manager. If both of these options are active, additional Club configuration is not needed.
This enhancement improves AAA’s competitive position in online hotel booking functionality by displaying ”r;From” rates and availability for hotels on the initial Search Results page of aaa.com. By showing actual room prices in the initial search results, shoppers will be able to view AAA competitive rates -- the end result should be increased hotel bookings for clubs.
AAA/CAA Clubs have frequently requested this hotel enhancement. Until recently, the technology was not available to make this feature affordable. However, with new Galileo Web Services functionality and additional programming efforts, it has now been realized.
Because this new technology results in additional hotel transactions, the cost per net hotel booking could increase from the estimated current rate of $0.11 per booking to $0.68 per booking. Additional sales should more than offset any additional transaction fees.
The Hotel Rate functionality will be disabled with the implementation
of Release 48. To enable the Hotel Rate functionality, the new "Include
Hotel From Rates & Availability on the Hotel Select page" setting
within the Application Settings section of Support Manager should be checked
.
When the Hotel Rate functionality is enabled, the following will be modified on the Hotel Select page:
The dollar signs, $$$$, will be replaced with the new From Rate, "From $xxx.xx" in the price column. The From Rate is determined by the minimum rate returned from Apollo.
If the hotel is not available, the "Book Hotel" link will be removed and the wording "Room Not Available" will be displayed in the price column.
Offline hotels will also display a dollar amount. The amount displayed will be based off the existing price range data in the Tourbook:
$ price range will be displayed as "Under $50.00"
$$ price range will be displayed as "From $51.00"
$$$ price range will be displayed as "From $101.00"
$$$$ price range will be displayed as "From $151.00"
The Sort by "price" option will be removed.
Travelweb and ATI properites will display the wording "Check for Rates" in the price column.
The following disclaimer will be displayed at the bottom of the page: "Rates are approximate and are not confirmed until reservation is made."
If a hotel is not available, the Hotel Detail page can still be accessed by clicking the hotel name link. The following will be modified on the Hotel Detail page:
The "Book this Hotel" button at the top of the page will be removed.
The following statement, "Rooms are not available for the requested travel dates" will appear at the top of the page near the "change dates" link and at the bottom of the page near the date fields.
Implemented with Release 54, Hot Deals provide an outlet for AAA/CAA hotel partners to release distressed inventory to AAA/CAA members via aaa.com. This will allow AAA/CAA members easy access to these special rates through standard hotel search channels on aaa.com. The hot deals properties will be displayed on the initial hotel search results page. In addition, a search capability has been added to "only" search for hotel hot deals. AAA/CAA hotel partners can easily submit their offers via a password-protected method on aaa.biz.
The new Hotel Hot Deals will be identified on the Hotel Select page
via the 
image.
The image will be displayed next to the From Rate for the appropriate
hotels. The Hot Deals image will also be displayed on the Hotel Rate and
Hotel Rate Rules pages.
Using the new "
"
option, users can customize their Hotel search to return only Hotel Hot
Deals. This new option can be found on the Hotel Criteria page under the
"OPTIONAL HOTEL PREFERENCES" section. If the "Hot Deals
only" option is selected and there are no Hot Deals available, aaa.com
will return the following message along with the non Hot Deal Hotels.
"No properties were found which met all your search criteria. Hot Deals Only
Please carefully review the alternatives presented below for amenities and features."
The new Hotel Hot Deals functionality has automatically been implemented with Release 54, no action is required to activate. The Hotel Hot Deals are scheduled to be added after the implementation of Release 54. Below is the schedule for adding the Hotel Hot Deals for the individual hotel partners:
12/31/05 Hyatt, LaQuinta and Renaissance hotels
1/31/06 Starwood and Choice hotels
2/28/06 Best Western, Marriott and Hampton hotels
3/31/06 Hilton and Days Inn hotels
If clubs receive questions from hotel partners regarding how to enter Hot Deals, they should be told to contact the National Office at hotdeal@national.aaa.com.
For clubs using the Custom Quick Search functionality, the new "hotDealsOnly" form value has been created. If you wish to add the new "Hot Deals Only" functionality to your Custom Quick Search tool, please see the Custom Club Quick Search document for the new form value.
The Basic Hotel Search page requires the following information.
Destination City - User enters a city name, airport name or airport code. If the system can not determine the airport code from the information the user provides, it opens a list of possible airport codes from which the user can select.
”r;Near The Airport” vs. ”r;In The City”
Surrounding
Area – the system provides a checkbox for large metropolitan areas
Default setting is checked. Example
Diamond rating – radial buttons provides a way for the user to select 1-5 Diamond ratings. The default choice is set to ”r;No Preference”
Dollar value – a dropdown menu provides a per-night dollar range
$ $50 or less
$$ $51 - $100
$$$ $101 - $150
$$$$ $151 or more
Users can further define their search by:
Property Name
Hotel Chain – Dropdown menu provides a list of hotel chains
Property type – Dropdown provides the following selections, the default setting is ALL.
All
Apartment
B & B
Cabin
Complex
Condo
Cottage
Country Inn
Hotel
Large Hotel
Lodge
Motel
Motor Inn
Ranch
Resort
Small Hotel
Vacation Home
At this point, a user has the option of selecting a traveler profile that already exists or just launching the search. The system opens a results page called, Where to Stay.
A list of hotels that match the criteria opens. The list of hotels shows the Diamond rating, as well as the type of property. The system displays 20 hotels at a time. Each hotel has a hyperlink that allows the user to view more detailed information on the property. At this point in the process, you can choose to do a Quick Compare or look at Property Details.
This feature allows the user to select up to four properties and view the hotel information at the same time.
This page focuses on the Individual Hotel details, such as the number and type of rooms, amenities, policies etc. A rate grid shows the range of rates available during the year. From here the user can check availability.
There are two availability links on this page. The top link directs the user to the bottom of the page where the user must enter the Check-in date and Check-out date, as well as, select the number of adults and children that are staying in the room.
From here users can select a room type. All
available room types are listed in descending order by rate. A brief description
is included. The rate is the link which the user selects to continue the
reservation process.
If the Tourbook® hotel property is not listed in Apollo the user is prompted
to continue the reservation offline. The system sends an email to the
club and creates a passive hotel segment in an Apollo PNR.
The system requires the next two pages of information to complete the room reservation. The site turns on encryption for the credit card information. If a user completes a travelers profile, the system populates the majority of the information. If a profile is not selected, users must enter their information.
Guest Name
Special Request – Crib, Child rollaway, Adult rollaway
Frequent Guest Program numbers
Corporate Discount Numbers
Emergency Contact
Credit Card Type – Pull down menu provide
Card Number - Enter credit card number
Expiration Date – Two pull down menus are provided for the month and year
Name – First name, Middle Initial and Last Name as it appears on the credit card
Billing Address – Line 1, an optional Line 2, City, State and Zip/Postal Code
Mailing Address - Line 1, an optional Line 2, City, State and Zip/Postal Code
Contact Information – Home/Work Telephone numbers, Email Address
Trip Name – defaults to ”r;Trip created on <Today’s Date>” but it can be changed
Traveler Information – Can save the information to the profile
After the user enters this information, the system prompts the user to complete the reservation. A confirmation page appears instructing the user to print the page.
The Booking Multiple Hotel Rooms functionality will allow consumers to book up to four (4) rooms at the same property. After a consumer has booked their first room, a link appears on the My Trips page to "Book Another Room". Unique primary guest names must be specified for each additional hotel room booked. Separate email confirmations will be generated for each booked room and will contain the primary guest specified for each room. The My Trips page will list all hotel rooms booked and the primary guest name specified for each room.
When the Multiple Room Booking functionality is activated, the Hotel Confirmation page will display the "Book Another Room" link at the top and bottom of the page. If selected, the Book Another Room link will direct the user to the Hotel Rate page for the same property. From this page the user can select another hotel room and continue with the additional booking.
Below are additional modifications for the Multiple Room Booking functionality:
The Traveler Information contains the new "I'm Traveling with" field. Users are asked to enter the name of the person in their traveling party who is the primary guest.
The payment section of the Payment Information page will automatically be populated with the information from the previous booking.
The "Primary Guest" name has been added to the Confirmation page. For additional bookings, the Primary Guest will display the user's name for whom the booking was made.
The My Trips page will display all bookings under the same "header". When the booking is selected and the user is directed to the Travel Reservations page, each booking will be displayed individually.
All bookings made will receive separate e-mail confirmations from aaa.com.
The new "Allow the Hotel Book Another Room option" setting
is within the Application Settings section of Support Manager. With its
implementation, this new setting will be "unchecked", 
.
To active the Multiple Room Booking functionality, the setting will need
to be "checked", .
The Near Term Hotel enhancement gives Clubs the option to restrict hotel bookings on AAA.com and caa.ca for check-in. The cut-off time is noon. For example, if a user completes a booking before noon on the day prior to the requested check-in date the booking will complete without sending any type of message to the user. If the booking is completed after noon (Eastern Standard Time) the user will receive a message to contact their local AAA office or to contact the hotel directly to reserve a room.
This enhancement assists in preventing possible service issues that may occur if the property has not received the reservation by the time the member checks in.
A new setting entitled "Restrict Near-Term Hotel Bookings" has been added to Support Manager under the General/Application Settings section. This setting gives clubs the ability to either enable or disable the restrict near-term hotel bookings option. When this setting is enabled and the check-in date is considered near-term, the user will be restricted from proceeding with the hotel booking.
If a club has selected this option to restrict hotel reservations for near term arrivals, the consumer will receive an alert advising them of the restriction. The new "Hotel Near Term Arrival Restriction Text" Page Message is configurable by the clubs under Content Manager/Page Messages/Club Miscellaneous Settings. With the implementation of Release 63, the default text for this new page message is:
"Since your arrival is within our advanced booking time limit, we are unable to complete your reservation at this time. Please contact your local AAA office, call 1-866-AAA-SAVE or you may call the hotel directly to reserve a room."
Since this functionality is optional, the new "Restrict
Near-Term Hotel Bookings" setting found within the Application Settings
section of Support Manager will be "unchecked", . To activate this
functionality the setting will need to be "checked", .
Hotel Booking-No Confirmation:
Occasionally, hotel reservations processed on AAA.com do not immediately return a confirmation number from the vendor via Apollo. The message displayed to the consumer when this occurs was improved in Release 63.
With the implementation of Release 64, this message received by the consumer when this occurs was made club configurable. This club customizable setting can be found by going to Content Manager/Page Messages/Confirmation Messages/Hotel No Confirmation - Confirmation Pending. The default text that will appear at the bottom of the confirmation page when a hotel has NOT yet returned a confirmation of the booking is "ATTENTION, THE HOTEL RESERVATION IS NOT CONFIRMED! The hotel requested has not returned a confirmation number. Please call AAA Travel for assistance or call the hotel directly to confirm the reservation. Be sure to reference this transaction to avoid a double booking."
Clubs can configure the email options for the "Travel - Hotel Confirmation Pending" email to be sent by AAA Online by going to Content Manager/Email Content/Travel/Hotel Confirmation Pending. This new "Travel - Hotel Confirmation Pending" email will use the existing settings that have previously been established by the Club in their Travel - Hotel email.
This enhancement also includes the creation of a Special Handling Queue for Hotels. Hotel booking PNRs that have not received a confirmation number are now placed in this Special Handling Queue. Clubs can designate a Queue specifically for hotel transactions by going to Support Manager/Club Support/Travel/Club Booking Information/Hotel Special Handling Queue. If a club fails to designate a hotel queue, the system defaults to the Air Special Handling Queue.
Below are instructions for both Association Enhanced Site and Independent clubs that want to implement links on their web site.
Login to Support Manager and setup the following:
Login into Content Manager and setup the following:
Hotel Rate Disclaimer Message placed under the Rate Detail section on the Hotel Detail Page
Hotel Near-Term Arrival Restriction Text
Hotel Confirmation
Hotel
Hotel Cancel
Hotel cancel Failure
<appref pagename="HotelCriteria">Hotel
Reservations</appref>
Optional Links
If you do not want to create individual links, but you want to link to a page that contains all three; Air, Car, and Hotel, use one of the following links:
<appref pagename="FareFinder">Quick Fare Search</appref>
<appref pagename="travelReservations">Travel Planning</appref>
Also see Quick Finder for additional linking options
<A href="http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=XXX&club=###&page=HotelCriteria&userid=encrypted userid&memid=encrypted memid">Hotel Reservations</A>
To bypass the Enhanced Site login, Independent clubs need to pass the encrypted userid and memid within the URL. This application is designed to use the current "Remote Sign In" functionality established for the Air application in Release 22. Independent clubs that have implemented the Remote SignIn functionality should not have to make any changes to their site.
Optional Links
If you do not want to create individual links, but you want to link to a page that contains all three; Air, Car, and Hotel, use one of the following links:
<A href="http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=XXX&club=###&page=FareFinder&userid=encrypted userid&memid=encrypted memid">Quick Fare Search</A>
<A href="http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=XXX&club=###&page=travelReservations&userid=encrypted userid&memid=encrypted memid">Travel Planning</A>
To bypass the Enhanced Site login, Independent clubs need to pass the encrypted userid and memid within the URL. This application is designed to use the current "Remote Sign In" functionality established for the Air application in Release 22. Independent clubs that have implemented the Remote SignIn functionality should not have to make any changes to their site.
