Notes on Setting up a Hotel
Catalog 
Hotel Catalog
Global reservation systems (GDS) let you use an enterprise hotel catalog.
In the enterprise-specific hotel catalog for SAP Travel Planning you can store data on certain hotels or hotel chains that are to be checked for availability first when a hotel is to be chosen in the Travel Planning dialog. A prerequisite is that these hotels or hotel chains are bookable over a global reservation system. If the hotel catalog is active, a query is executed for the relevant location in the hotel catalog first and then a general query follows in the global reservation system.
Entries in the hotel catalog can be useful, for example, due to rates negotiated between your company and the relevant hotel. Since in a general query in a reservation system the hotels are displayed randomly, the hotel catalog makes it possible to have selected hotels queried first. The system does not use the general query unless the catalog has no availabilities.
Setting Up a Hotel Catalog
To set up a hotel catalog, you have to carry out the following IMG activities in Customizing for Travel Planning:
● Master Data ® Travel Service Provider ® Hotels ® Define Enterprise-Specific Hotel Catalog
Here you define the individual items of the hotel catalog and enter the relevant data to identify the hotel/hotel chain (name, location code, identification code, address).
Activating the Hotel Catalog
To be able to access the hotel catalog in Travel Planning dialog, firstly, you have to activate the hotel catalog and, secondly, the travel profile of the relevant traveler must allow booking of the hotels in the hotel catalog. The necessary settings are done in the following IMG activities:
● Dialog and Planning Control ® Travel Planning Control ® Define Price and Availability Strategies
Activate the hotel catalog via the Hotel catalog active field. As soon as the catalog is active, you can control the functioning of the hotel catalog in more detail here.
● Trip Rules and Profiles ® Travel Profiles ® Define Assignment of Travel Profiles to Hotel Catalog Items
Here you assign defined hotels from the hotel catalog to existing travel profiles. The assignment of travel profiles to travelers gives the travelers the necessary authorizations.
Consideration of Special Rates
● Rates and Discounts ® Define Enterprise-Specific Hotel Rates
If a "company XY rate" is created here for a certain hotel chain, the availability of this rate is also checked in the query via the hotel catalog. If the rate is available, it is displayed in the results list from the hotel catalog in addition to the standard rates and can be selected.
Setting up special enterprise-specific rates for the hotel catalog is not recommended any longer because it can lead to problems booking rooms with these special rates.
The settings that you do in IMG activities Define Display Method for Hotel Rates and Define Maximum Amounts for Hotel Nights also are valid for the hotel catalog.
Effects on the Dialog of Travel Planning
When Using Amadeus
If the hotel catalog is active and Amadeus is used, the query in the hotel catalog is executed without checking availabilities in the reservation system. The system checks which hotels are defined for the relevant location in the hotel catalog (query based only on the SAP back-end system). If the system finds appropriate hotels, the user can choose the relevant hotel. The system then automatically starts the availability query with Amadeus.
If no hotel is defined in the hotel catalog, the standard query is started automatically with Amadeus.
When Using Sabre
If the hotel catalog is active and Sabre is used, a one-step query process takes place. The system checks the hotel catalog and queries the hotels found there directly in the reservation system as well.
If no hotel is defined in the hotel catalog, the standard query is started automatically with Sabre.
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