April 2023 - Release Notes

Here are the most recent enhancements to Spotnana’s Travel-as-a-Service Platform. The features are grouped by functional category (Content, Self-service, etc.).

Search and Trips

Enhanced self-service cancellation for refundable flights

Previously, when travelers wanted to cancel a refundable flight or make changes to a partially completed trip, they would often have to contact an agent for assistance. Now, travelers are able to cancel refundable flights in the Spotnana Online Booking tool and mobile app completely on their own. Travelers can also review the amount to be refunded before completing the cancellation.

This cancellation option is available for all refundable flights, including the unflown segments of a partially completed trip and trips that are booked as separate tickets. In any cases where the cancellation can’t be completed by the traveler themselves, the traveler can still view the amount to be refunded and submit a cancellation request to a Spotnana agent.

Self-service flight exchanges for partially completed trips

Previously, when a traveler needed to change a return flight on a trip that had already been partially completed (e.g., extending or shortening a business trip once already on-site), the traveler would have to contact an agent to exchange the ticket and rebook.

Now, if the ticket is exchangeable or refundable, users can exchange the booked ticket for another flight or time on their own without the need to contact an agent. In cases where the traveler is unable to complete the exchange themselves, they can click Submit cancellation request (accessed via the Change option under the three dots menu) to get assistance from an agent.

Improved status labels for flights and trips

After a booking has been submitted, a user can track the status of their entire trip as well as each segment of their trip from the Trips page. New statuses have been added to keep travelers better informed and indicate when they need to reach out to an agent to address a potential issue. These new statuses include:

• Trip statuses - the status of an entire trip.

  • Upcoming - denotes any trip for which the start date has not yet been reached.
  • Requires attention - denotes any trip that contains bookings which require the traveler to contact an agent. This state can be caused by a failed ticketing process or a schedule change from an airline.
  • In progress - denotes any trip for which the start date has been reached but which has not yet reached its end date.
  • Processing - denotes any trip for which a flight booking has been made but is still waiting for final confirmation of payment processing and the issuance of the e-ticket.

• Booking statuses - the status of each flight segment within a trip.

  • Waiting for Confirmation  - indicates that a flight booking has been made but is still waiting for final confirmation of payment processing and the issuance of the e-ticket.
  • Unconfirmed - indicates that there is an issue with a booking and the traveler needs to contact an agent.
  • Schedule changed - indicates that an airline has made a change to the original schedule.
  • Payment denied - indicates that the selected payment method has failed. This alerts the traveler that they need to contact an agent or provide another payment method to proceed with the booking.
  • Airline control - indicates that a booking has been taken over by the airline issuing the ticket(s). The traveler will need to use the airline’s website for the latest information related to this booking as changes will no longer be reflected in the Spotnana Online Booking tool or mobile app.

• Other status label updates

  • Seat reservations - seat status is now highlighted, prominently displayed, and can be viewed without having to open the flight segment details.
  • Ticketless carriers - certain low cost carriers require payment to be charged as part of the booking 
  • process in order to generate a ticket. Labels now clearly display all statuses for these ticketless carriers.

Simplified hotel search results display

A new algorithm has been introduced to simplify the display and prioritization of hotel search results. The algorithm considers amenities, refundability, rate type, source, payment type, and number of travelers to display the best options from different sources. This provides more concise rate options for easier shopping and comparison, without impacting transparency. Additionally, this enhancement clarifies single versus multiple occupancy options.

U.S. hotel and car results display rates excluding taxes and fees

Previously, the Spotnana Online Booking Tool displayed U.S hotel and car rates that included all taxes and fees. While this provides a truer representation of the actual cost of a potential booking, it can make it difficult to accurately compare results from other sites that do not include taxes and fees in their search results.

Now, for users based in legal entities in the U.S., India, Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, and Canada, daily/nightly rates for hotel and car listings in the U.S. will also be displayed excluding taxes and fees. The grand total for all days/nights, including all taxes and fees, will also be displayed directly below daily/nightly.

In addition, all hotel rates will be shown as per night and car prices as per day to align with policy settings. The price for the total booking of multiple nights and days will also be displayed directly below the per night and per day rates.

Note: For legal entities outside the U.S., India, Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, and Canada, the rates for all hotel and car listings will continue to only be shown including all taxes and fees.

Guest bookings for travelers without profiles by any employee

Previously, a profile always needed to be created to book anything for a guest traveler. Also, the profile itself had to be created by a company administrator or an agent. Lastly, bookings for guests with profiles could only be done by an administrator, arranger, or agent. Now, when enabled by the company administrator, guest bookings can be done by any employee within the company, and bookings can be made without first creating a profile. For more details, see the guest booking User Guide.

Policy and reporting

Policies for rail travel

Company administrators are now able to define travel policies for all rail travel. Rail travel policy can be defined using the following parameters:

• Maximum price - set a maximum price per booking or customize by rail trip duration.
• Highest travel class - set the highest travel class per booking (standard, business, or first) or customize by rail trip duration.
• Booking window - set the number of days in advance of travel that the ticket must be booked.
• Out of policy reason codes - designate whether travelers will be required to provide reason codes if they make out of policy rail bookings and define what the reason codes may be.

To access these settings, select Policy from the Program menu. Then expand the Rail section.