Global distribution 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 in the global distribution 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 distribution 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.
To set up a hotel catalog, you have to carry out the following IMG activities in Customizing for Travel Planning:
Here you define the individual items of the hotel catalog and enter the relevant data to identify a hotel/hotel chain (name, location code, identification code, and address).
To be able to access the hotel catalog in the 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. You make the necessary settings in the following IMG activities:
You activate the hotel catalog here using the “Hotel catalog active” field. As soon as the catalog is active, you can control how the hotel catalog functions in more detail here.
Here you assign previously defined hotels from the hotel catalog to existing travel profiles. The assignment of travel profiles to travelers gives the travelers the necessary authorization.
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.
Note
Setting up special enterprise-specific rates for the hotel catalog is not recommended any more because it can lead to problems when rooms are booked with these special rates.
The settings that you make in the
Define Display Method for Hotel Rates
and
Define Maximum Amounts for Hotel Nights
IMG activities are also valid for the hotel catalog.
If the hotel catalog is active and Amadeus is used, the query in the hotel catalog is executed first without the availability being checked 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.