Options apply to include additional items into a booking. They appears as a second step in the booking process. These items have a daily (or nightly) rate and apply for the duration of the tour they are being booked on.
Please note: Tour Options are not yet supported in the API, however they are supported in the TourCMS Hosted Booking Engine.
Example travel products:
- Example 1: Hire out optional equipment such as a snorkle or a sleeping bag if the customer does not have their own
- Example 2: Large group discounts
- Example 3: Tour extensions, additional hotel nights
- Example 4: Travel insurance
- Example 5: Meal (dinner)
Example 1
The example below walks through creating a "Sleeping bag hire" option however the same settings can be used to create a variety of options in this style.
1: Creating the option
Head into Products > Options section of TourCMS, key in the name of your option and choose a "Type" - this "Type" allows you to group related options together for reporting and display on the booking engine but otherwise has no effect.
2: Dates & Prices
In "Dates & Prices" for our new we need to create a season for the date band we want "Sleeping bag hire" to be available for (or multiple seasons if our prices/costs vary throughout the year). Here we are loading an extortionate 50 € per night throughout 2022 (these are REALLY nice sleeping bags).
If we wanted to offer discounts if a group hired a large amount of sleeping bags we could do so once our season was created by clicking on the "Pricing Table", but this will do for now.
3: Setup & Descriptions
In "Setup" for this Option, under the "Money" tab we configure the "Duration rule" to be "Nights", this way however long our Tours are the price we have entered will be multiplied by the number of nights on the Tour. If we instead wanted the price to be £50GBP one off fee regardless of tour duration we could set the "Duration rule" to "Quantity". Then under the "Booking engine" tab we could use the "Included with the booking by default" to either default include this item (meaning they would need to un-select it if they did not want it) or even force the user to take this item.
Under the "General" tab change Status to Fully public to allow this option to be booked online then save your changes and then head into "Descriptions" for this Option and set the "per" field to "Bag Per Night".
Finally it's just a case of going into the "Tours" section of TourCMS and associating the option to any of the tours it's vallid for before trying to make a booking.
4: Try making a booking
Once complete the new option should look like this when making a booking via the public facing booking engine:
And then on the next page, once we've added it to our itinerary (note the price has been multiplied by the number of people who have selected sleeping bags and the number of nights of the tour):
Example 2 - Large group discounts
Offer an incentive for larger group bookings by showing a line item discount for them, this can be a per person or per booking amount.
In this example
This example walks through creating a per person discount for groups larger than 10 people.
1: Creating the option
Head into the "Options" section of TourCMS, key in the name of your option and choose a "Type" - this "Type" allows you to group related options together for reporting and display on the booking engine but otherwise has no effect.
2: Dates & Prices
In "Dates & Prices" for our new option we need to create a season for the date band we want "Large group discount" to be available for (or multiple seasons if our prices/costs vary throughout the year). Here we are loading a rate of minus 50 € throughout 2022. (We define whether this is a 50 € per person or per tour discount in "3: Setup & Content" below).
We only want this item to apply to bookings where there's 10 people or more so once your new season is created click on "Price table", set the "Can book?" to "No" for 1 to 10 and the rest to "Restricted".
Save your changes and then go back into "Pricing table" and it should look like this:
3: Setup & Descriptions
In "Setup" for this Option, under the "Money" tab set the "Duration rule" to be "Quantity" (the default), this way the discount will be multipled by the number selected (and not the duration of the tour). If we instead wanted the price to be 50 € off the booking total we would tick the "Price x1" box.
Under the "Booking engine" tab set "Included with the booking by default" to "Included (no removal)", this will cause the item to be added automatically (to bookings with 10 people or more, as per our Price table).
Still in "Setup", under the "General" tab set Status to Fully public to allow this option to be booked online then save your changes.
Finally head into the "Tours" section of TourCMS and associating the option to any of the tours it's valid for before trying to make a booking.
4: Try making a booking
Here we see a booking with 10 people on showing the 500 € discount:
Go back and try making a booking with less than 10 people on and check the discount does not appear
Example 3 - Tour extensions, additional hotel nights
These style of additional items will extend the booking dates either at the start or end of the main tour by a number of days.
Example travel products:
- Give customers the option of arriving a day early (or leaving a day late)
- Set up an extra event which can be attended following the main tour
- Offer hotel nights before or after a strenuous activity
In this example
The example below walks through creating an option to allow customers to choose how many members of their group would like to stay in a hotel for an extra night prior to the main tour, if selected the start date for the customers booking will be a day earlier. Other possible variations are explained at each stage.
1: Creating the option
Head into the Options section of TourCMS, key in the name of your option and choose a Type - this allows you to group related options together for reporting and display on the booking engine but otherwise has no effect.
2: Dates & Prices
In Dates & Prices for our new we need to create a season for the date band we want this option to be available for (or multiple seasons if our prices/costs vary throughout the year). Here we are loading a flat rate of 50 € for all of 2022.
If we wanted to offer this on a per room basis rather than a per person basis we'd just load the room rate here, then head into Descriptions for the Option and change the value of Per to "Room" so that when the customer booked it would be clear they were choosing how many rooms to book.
If we wanted to offer discounts on this item to larger groups we could do so once our season was created by clicking on the Pricing Table, but this will do for now.
3: Setup
In Setup for this Option, under the Extensions / Questions tab setting Extension to - 1 day at start is the trigger that makes this option start a day before the main tour on the customers booking and extends their booking to begin a day earlier.
While in Setup, under the General tab set the Status to Fully public to allow this option to be booked online.
Finally it's just a case of going into the Tours section of TourCMS and associating the option to any of the tours it's vallid for.
4: Try making a booking
Once complete the new option should look like this when making a booking via the public facing booking engine:
And then on the next page, once we've added it to our itinerary (note the dates):
Example 4 - Travel Insurance
These style of additional items just have a regular per person price
1: Creating the option
Head into the "Options" section of TourCMS, key in the name of your option and choose a "Type" - this "Type" allows you to group related options together for reporting and display on the booking engine but otherwise has no effect.
2: Dates & Prices
In "Dates & Prices" for our new we need to create a season for the date band we want "Travel Insurance" to be available for. Here we are loading a flat price 50 € for our Annual Travel Insurance Policy if purchased during 2022.
If we wanted to offer discounts if a group hired a large amount of sleeping bags we could do so once our season was created by clicking on the "Pricing Table", but this will do for now.
3: Setup & Content
In "Setup" for this Option, under the "Money" tab we configure the "Duration rule" to be "Quantity" (should be by default), this way price we have entered will be multiplied by the number of insurance policies the customer buys.
While in "Setup", this time under the "General" tab set Status to Fully public to allow this option to be booked online
Finally, it's just a case of going into the "Tours" section of TourCMS and associating the option to any of the tours it's valid for before trying to make a booking.
4: Try making a booking
Once complete the new option should look like this when making a booking via the public facing booking engine:
And then on the next age, once we've added it to our itinerary:
1: Creating the option
Head into Products > Options section of TourCMS, key in the name of your option and choose a "Type" - this "Type" allows you to group related options together for reporting and display on the booking engine but otherwise has no effect.
2: Dates & Prices
In "Dates & Prices" for our new we need to create a season for the date band we want "Dinner" to be available for. Here we are loading a flat price of 20 € for our Dinner if purchased for 2022.
3: Setup & Content
In "Setup" for this Option, under the "Money" tab we configure the "Duration rule" to be "Quantity" (should be by default), this way price we have entered will be multiplied by the number of dinners the customer buys.
While in "Setup", this time under the "General" tab set Status toFully public to allow this option to be booked online
Finally, it's just a case of going into the "Tours" section of TourCMS and associating the option to any of the tours it's valid for before trying to make a booking.
4: Try making a booking
Once complete, the new option should look like this in step 2 when making a booking via the public facing booking engine:
And then on the next page, once we've added it to our itinerary: