RESX Technologies Product Update 2008
We at RESX Technologies constantly strive to deliver competitive and user friendly functionality. Our goal is to simplify your online travel reservations experience by delivering functionality that saves you time and effort. Below you will find brief notes on recently added functionality within RESX. This is not a complete list of new functionality and is intended to communicate details regarding “user facing” features. Also, please note that many features are made available at the discretion of your RESX distributor (travel agency or travel management company). Please contact your RESX administrator with any questions regarding product updates. Additional feature information can be found in the Online Help system.
August, 2008
Hotel Shopping Enhancements
We understand that shopping for a hotel is an important part of your travel planning process, whether it's business or leisure. A big part of this process is being provided a list of hotels that meet your personal needs (location, amenities, membership affiliations, room type, etc,) while still meeting the requirements of your corporate policy. This release will now make this process smarter and easier for all your future hotel bookings.
RESX will now return up to 10x more hotel options that match your request city or address (including Reference Point). These options will be filtered through RESX logic to ensure that your defined search parameters (Search Radius, Preferred Hotel Chains, Hotel Name, Minimum Crown Ratings, etc.) are all considered in creating a 'qualified' list with as many possible hotels to choose from.
Because so many MORE HOTELS are being returned, we urge you to utilize the hotel search parameters. This will allow your results to be returned more quickly and save you time from viewing a list of results that are not of interest to you.
Tips for searching for hotels
- Airport Search
When searching by airport, be sure to visit your Search Radius setting. For example - Searching for hotels from LAX with a 20 mile radius may return up to 200 options. If you know you want to stay near the airport, we recommend you reduce this setting to 2-3 miles. - Search by Address or Reference Point
Searching by address or reference point may provide a more defined list of hotel properties that better match your desired location than an Airport search returns. Be sure to set your Search Radius setting to the maximum number of miles you want to be considered. - Search Radius
As the examples above reference, the Search Radius setting is one of the most important determinations for filtering the list of hotel results to ensure the offered hotel properties are within your geographical parameters. RESX uses this value and determines which of the properties found in the hotel database and the GDS are within the defined square miles (or kilometers) of the address or airport of your request. - Preferred Chains
If you know you only want to select from specific hotel chains, you can limit your results by selecting up to three specific chains from the dropdown list (Limit Preferred Chains) in the Hotel Travel Preferences. You may choose up to three. You can either save these to your profile, and they will be automatically considered for all hotel searches, or you may select these chains each time you search for a hotel. Note that this setting will filter out all other hotel chains for your search location except company contract hotels as defined in your corporate travel policy. - Exclude Chains
If you know there are certain hotel chains you do not want to consider, you can remove these from your results by selecting up to three from the dropdown list (Apply Excluded Hotel Chains) in the Hotel Travel Preferences section. You may choose up to three. You can either save these to your profile, and they will be automatically considered for all hotel searches, or you may exclude these chains each time you search for a hotel. - Minimum Crown Ratings
When available, the hotel database associates a Crown Rating to each hotel, which is displayed as "Rating:" and between 1-5 Crown icons (
). This rating is listed on all hotel pages. Based on your preferences and company travel policy, you have the ability to filter out hotel properties that do not meet your minimum rating standard. This setting is listed in your Hotel Travel Preferences as:
"Only display hotels with crown ratings of X and up".
Note: For more information on Crown Ratings click the "Ratings" hyperlink next to each hotel property for a detailed explanation of this grading system. If the hotel database does not contain a rating for a specific property, RESX will display this value as 'Unknown' and will not filter it out as part of this option.
Note: All of the above parameters are controlled by company policy. You may or may not have access to these parameters. For more information, contact your travel administrator.
Trip Authorization - Authorizer Names in Alphabetical Order
With more companies utilizing the Trip Authorization functionality with a greater number of Trip Authorizers, we have updated this list to sort in alphabetical order. To simplify the Authorizer selection process, this list will now display by Last Name, First Name, and Middle Initial.
Trip Research Controlled by Company Policy
In an effort to continually provide a flexible corporate booking engine that meets all of your company's needs, we have added policy control to the existing Trip Research functionality. This control will allow your company to continue your ability to utilize the Trip Research functionality or to restrict it for some or all users. If this functionality is removed from your site, your existing trips in the Trip Research section will no longer be visible. The Save as Trip Research button will also be removed.
Air Option Results with Better Time Matches
When searching for lower fares, enhanced logic has been implemented to return flights that more closely match your originally requested departure or arrival times. This 'time' enhancement may produce alternate results from what you are used to seeing based on market and availability.
** If your travel agency is on the Sabre system, this enhancement is not included for this release.
SWABIZ Integration (Southwest Airlines Corporate Booking Tool)
In the last release RESX announced the integration with Booking Builder, a third party vendor that provides access via a web interface to all Southwest fares. This release provides updates to this functionality.
RESX will now recognize and support requested cities that have alternate airports that are supported by Southwest Airlines. For example, if you request DFW-DCA (Dallas Fort Worth Airport - Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport), which Southwest does not fly, RESX will translate that request to DAL-BWI (Dallas Love Field - Baltimore Washington International Airport) to return the option to view available fares to this market via SWABIZ.
This release also includes the support of One Way and Multiple Cities requests. RESX supports all available routes as supported directly on the SWABIZ site. Note that certain routes are not supported by SWABIZ and therefore not supported by RESX. These include 'Open Jaw' (Dallas-Miami, Orlando-Dallas) and 'Circle Trip' (Dallas-Miami, Miami-Orlando, Orlando-Dallas) type routes.
July, 2008
Airline Confirmation Numbers
With more travelers utilizing airport kiosks and home computers to print online boarding passes, RESX now provides the airline confirmation number on each trip itinerary, in your RESX emails and calendar details, and via RESX | Mobile. This 'airline locator' is located below each air segment and is applicable for the ticketed airline carrier being flown.
Trip Authorization for Web, Instant Purchase and Ticketless Carrier Bookings
We continue to build on the already robust Trip Authorization process by allowing total flexibility and ease of use for your travel administrator, yet still supporting the traveler and ensuring full travel policy compliance. Our newest enhancement will mark Web, Instant Purchase and Ticketless bookings as Approved when a violation is detected, while still communicating any noted violations to the Trip Authorizer and traveler. Because these types of bookings are directly ticketed with the carrier at time of reservation, the ability for the Trip Authorizer to Approve or Deny them is limited. The Trip Authorization email will include the violation notifications allowing for policy compliance and documentation.
SWABIZ Integration (Southwest Airlines Corporate Booking Tool)
RESX has integrated with Booking Builder, a third party vendor that provides access via a web interface to all Southwest fares. This access will ensure that travelers have access to the lowest fares Southwest offers, which are not always available to travelers via the GDS connection. Now, when a Southwest roundtrip city pair is requested in RESX, a link will be available on the air options page to view Southwest fares via SWABIZ in a new browser window. Once the desired fare is selected, RESX will pass the travelers profile and billing information to assist in completing the booking with as few clicks as possible. The traveler can return to RESX for additional travel needs such as car or hotel reservations.
Watch for more SWABIZ integration enhancements in upcoming releases!
Airline Baggage Advisory Information
With all of the changes and fees the airlines have recently imposed for checked baggage, RESX makes it simple! With a single click you can view a high-level summary of each airline's baggage fees. Also provided, is a link that will take you directly to the detailed baggage policy page for each airline. This information is easily accessible in the Cost Summary of your RESX Shopping Cart.
May, 2008
Trip Authorization - Advance Purchase Notification
A NEW conditional approval trigger is now available via the Trip Authorization process. This new condition provides the ability to initiate the Trip Authorization process for trips booked within a policy-defined advance purchase minimum requirement. The number of days is configurable by your RESX Administrator. This enhancement allows your company to better monitor travel policy compliance and ensure that trips are being booked far enough in advance to secure the lowest rates for travelers.
US State Government Fares
US State Government fares are now available to shop and book! Qualified US State employee travelers can request and purchase State Government fares using a Preferred Passenger Type Code, which can be enabled by a RESX Administrator. These fares have special requirements, and travelers must set their air search criteria to return unrestricted fares by ensuring the Accept Penalty Fares is NOT selected (checked).
Contact your Travel Administrator for more information and setup instructions if you qualify for these fares and would like access to them today!. These fares are currently supported for RESX Users on Sabre, Apollo and Galileo only, and functionality for other GDS's will be deployed in a future RESX release.
March, 2008
Trip Authorization
The Trip Authorization policy is more flexible than ever! New conditional approval triggers have been added to accommodate trips with total air cost exceeding a defined fare amount. In addition, RESX now provides similar approval triggers for maximum defined thresholds for Rail, Hotel and Car.
February, 2008
RESX Mobile
RESX Mobile provides real time access to your Trip Lists & Itineraries from a web enabled mobile device with internet capability. Setup is not required, you simply access RESX Mobile by going to http://www.resx.com/mobile and entering your login credentials. Once you have successfully logged in, save this URL as a favorite on your mobile device for simplified usability for future access.
Your trips will appear by date and trip name. Pending Trips will appear in green and Archived Trips in black. The Archived trip list is limited to trips within the past 30 days. Click on the trip name to view your trip. All itinerary data is displayed. To ensure you are viewing the most current version of your trip you may select the Refresh button located at the bottom of the screen. This will check all systems for any updates or noted changes to your reservation. This may take between 30 and 90 seconds. You may return to your trip list by selecting the Back button.
Your RESX Mobile trip displays all vendor information, including confirmation numbers and phone numbers, seat maps, ticketing status, and more. For security purposes we do not all you to modify or cancel your trips within RESX Mobile, this must be done via regular RESX access or via your agency directly. An FAQ & Troubleshooting guide is available from the login page or from the trip list page by selecting the FAQ & Troubleshooting link.
Additional RESX Mobile services available within your trip:Note: All segment types are supported in this release of RESX Mobile with the exception of Rail (Amtrak). Click here to view an instructional video: http://support.resx.com/trx/trainingfiles/resx_mobile.html
Login Identification on Printable Itineraries
When printing your pending and archived trips in RESX, you will now see your Company Name and User Login Name on your itinerary.
Local Event Tickets
In addition to the recently added Driving Directions and Destination Information, we now offer an easy way to view and purchase local sporting, concert, and theatre tickets. An Event Tickets has been added below your booked hotel segments. With one-click you can access an external website, powered by Ticket Network Direct, that will assist you with event tickets for the city in which your hotel is booked.