Multicurrency - Marketing Standards V2

Multi-Currency Rates – Marketing Standards of Performance

RoomMaster

Multiple Currency Rates

Marketing Standards of Performance

Update: November 1, 2006 – v2

Intentionally Blank

The Globe Device, Apollo, Galileo, Inside Link, Inside Availability, Inside Shopper, and RoomMaster are either registered trademarks and service marks or trademarks and service marks of Galileo International in the United States and/or other countries.

Marketing Overview

Galileo International is proud to announce support of Multiple Currency (Multi-Currency) rates for hotels! Your CRS can now respond to Inside Availability requests (HOC) and specify a different currency for each rate in the response. This means you will no longer be constrained by a single currency and can now return rates in different currencies for the same property. There will be no limit to the number of currencies that can be returned. Each rate returned in the response should be confirmed in the currency in which it was presented at the time of sell.

Due to currency fluctuation issues, hotels in many developing countries tend to present all of their rates in a currency more stable than their own, such as USD or EUR. The marketplace of local travelers is often times booked outside of electronic distribution channels, where local rates are available, because these rates are not subject to currency fluctuations.

Galileo is not requesting “duplicate” rates.
Galileo would like to allow the hotel CRS to return a "local" or alternative currency rate, when applicable.
Galileo does not want to discourage the hotels default rates from being returned along with the "local" rate(s).
If the agent requests a currency, i.e. USD, Galileo will perform a currency conversion for display purposes, just as they do today, and book the rate in the currency provided by the hotel CRS.
Each rate in the display contains a corresponding currency code to support this enhancement.

Possible Applications

With Galileo’s multi-currency project, a hotel in Beijing, China, for instance, can continue to present rates in USD to inbound business travelers from the US while responding to requests from local, China based travel agencies with additional inventory in CNY. Likewise, a hotel in Europe that provides rates in EUR may decide to offer, for instance, a “USD for EUR” rate for US citizens to attract more overseas business.

Respond with rates in alternative currencies, depending on who’s shopping! Each HOC request will contain the agent’s city and country code. By reading the agent’s country code in the HOC request, you can decide, if you so wish, to respond with alternative currency rates based on the location of the agent! This works well for “local” rates that are only available to local residents, for instance. If you are unable to tailor your response based on the requestors country code, please ensure that the requirements, if any, for booking the local rates are clearly outlined in the rate description and rate rules of the rate (e.g. citizenship or residency; passport / ID must be presented at check-in, etc.).

High Level Requirements

You must be an existing Inside Availability or Inside Shopper participant to use this new enhancement and the high-level requirements for participation are included below. This change does not apply to HOA responses. Nightly and Approximate Total rates, if applicable, must be in the same currency. Each currency will be carried forward through the sell, and the rate with the applicable currency must be honored by the hotel. Please find your current level of participation to determine what is required to support Multi-Currency rates.

HOC response requires:

- Version number of '00' must be returned in the new VR field.

- Currency Code field of CC must contain the applicable currency code for each rate returned. Note, this is not a new field; however, we do now allow multiple currencies in one HOC response.

- Decimal Place for this currency to be sent in the DP field for each rate returned. Note: this is not a new field. It is repeated for each rate in support of allowing multiple currencies.

Complete Pricing Phase1 participants (note, the version number is different):

- Version number of '02' must be returned in the new VR field.

- Currency Code field of CC must contain the applicable currency code for each rate returned. Note, this is not a new field; however, we do now allow multiple currencies in one HOC response.

- Decimal Place for this currency to be sent in the DP field for each rate returned. Note: this is not a new field. It is repeated for each rate in support of allowing multiple currencies.

Sample Display

Here’s an example of how our Focalpoint HOC screen has changed to accommodate Multi-Currency rates:

*HOC INSIDE* 10SEP-15SEP/1 ** RATES PERTAIN TO 1 ADULT **
EW *DAILY BEST AVAILABLE RATE*
REF NIGHTLY WW 45387 LOONG PALACE HOTEL
RATE APPROX TTL
1 850.00 CNY 4887.50 CNY
BEST AVAILABLE RATE
SUPERIOR ROOM-KING OR TWIN BED-38SQM-
SEATING AREA-INTERNET ACCESS-AIRCON
2 125.00 USD 690.25 USD
BEST AVAILABLE RATE
STUDIO-KING BED-SEATING AREA-50-66SQM-
DESK-INTERNET ACCESS-AIRCONDITION
>HOC*PD· >01INSIDE·.
>HOV·. >HOA*R·
>

Note: Bolded items in above screen display are new.

If you wish to provide Multi-Currency rates through Galileo, please contact your Account Director to coordinate the implementation.

FAQ’s:

Q: Is Galileo looking for duplication of each of the default rates in an alternative currency?

A: No. Galileo is not looking for duplicate rates. Instead, we are looking for additional rates, in alternative currencies, that are currently not distributed through Galileo due to our previous single-currency limitation.

Q: How is this different from an agent’s ability, in Focalpoint, to convert currencies?

A: Agents have long had the ability to specify a currency in a hotel request; however, the conversion was done for display purposes only. The booking is ultimately guaranteed in the default currency of the hotel. With multi-currency, alternative rates are confirmed in the local currency, eliminating currency fluxuation issues and conversion fees.

Q: How many alternative currencies can be returned per request?

A: There is no limit to the number of currencies that can be returned; however, a beneficial application of multi-currency is to respond with a relevant alternative currency, based on the location of the requesting agent.

Q: We’d like to support multi-currency rates; however, we cannot respond to requests based on the location of agents. Is this a requirement for participation?

A: No. If your CRS cannot read the country code and respond with applicable alternative currencies based on location, you can still participate. You can return alternative currency rates to all subscribers, if you’d like. We would caution you to clearly outline any rules and/or requirements for all alternative currency rates that require credentials and are restricted to a limited audience. If the CNY rates, for instance, are only valid for residents of China, that information must be clearly communicated in the rate description and rate rules (HOV).

Q: What are the hotels expectations in terms of settlement when alternative currency rates are booked? Are they required to charge the guest for the stay in the alternative rate?

A: Our expectation is that all guests will be billed in the currency in which the booking was confirmed, whether the booked currency is the default currency or some alternative currency. A major benefit of multi-currency is the elimination of the foreign currency exchange fees, changes in currency conversion rates, etc., that travelers have been subject to.