Overview
A rental car template is a stop-to-stop Standard (Pre/Main/Post) template option without a Module. Stops and products are directly added to the template and can be moved, deleted, and exchanged on the Planner.
Learn more about itinerary template options here.
How templates appear to customers
Published templates are displayed in Discovery as trip cards. A user can open a template, select a travel date, start planning, and continue into the Planner. In the Planner, the itinerary shows the route timeline, map, accommodations, rental-car routing, and options such as adding activities.
Steps to Create a Rental Car Template
Go to Cockpit
Click on Inventory
Click on Package Builder and Itinerary Template
Click on Create Template
A new screen opens to create the template. Complete the following fields and options:
Title of the template.
Starts at location, using the location autocomplete.
Ends at location, using the location autocomplete.
Custom, if the template should not be publicly displayed after publishing.
Enable Rental Car Feature to create rental-car connections for the template.
Itinerary Trip Type, usually Standard (Pre/Main/Post Program).
Tour Type, for example Individual Tour.
Click Create.
Please Note:
A template can be marked as Custom at any time, in which case it will not be displayed in the Discovery Overview after publishing. This is a good option if you want to create and test something new.
The template is created in draft mode. After selecting Create, the draft editor opens on the Stops tab. Use this tab to add the itinerary stops, define the number of overnights, and review the route structure. Rental-car connections are created for the template when the rental-car feature is enabled and can be adjusted or disabled on the Base Services & Rental Car tab.
Stops Tab
Click on Add New Stop
Search for the stop location, select it, enter the number of overnights, and save the stop.
Click Add
The stop is displayed in the route between the start and end locations. If the rental-car feature is enabled, rental-car connections are created between the template stops and can be reviewed on the Base Services & Rental Car tab.
On the added stop, you are able to adjust the number of nights.
Add all the stops of your route, as described above, via the add stop button.
Continue adding all the stops which you wish to have in your itinerary in that way.
Please Note:
You are able to add a stop with 0-Nights into the route for a suggested stop, sightseeing spot, or similar.
Add Accommodation & Activities
On the added stops of your route, you are able to define default and recommended accommodation, default and recommended activities, stop-specific stories, and stop settings. These options are managed in the stop editor tabs such as Hotels, Activities, Stories, and Miscellaneous. This is not mandatory; templates can also be created without adding default or recommended accommodations or activities.
Click on the edit pen on the right side of the stop to be directed to the stop screen.
Click on add new default accommodation
Search for the accommodation which should be added as the default for the stop and click on select and done. (The accommodation on the list is retrieved from the Nezasa database and your created inventory accommodation.)
The selected hotel is now displayed as the default hotel. Follow the same procedure to add possible recommended hotels to the list below. You can add as many recommended accommodations as you like.
Additionally, you have the possibility to enable the tick box "Only show default and recommended accommodation in planner" for this stop at the bottom of the page. This means that no other accommodation than the one you have selected will be shown to the user in the planner for that specific stop. This both works for inventory and 3rd party accommodation supply.
Click Save
Know more:
Article Accommodation Selection Algorithm on Template Instantiation specifies the selection algorithm applied to template instantiation and particularly how default and recommended accommodations are considered in the process.
Activity Tab on Stop
Go to the Activities tab to define the default and recommended activities for the stop.
Click on the edit pen of the desired day on the stop to add the default activity.
Enable the box of the connected activity supplier located below the search field to allow searching for not only inventory activities.
Search for the activity which should be added as the default of the stop and click on select and done. (The activity on the list is retrieved from the connected supplier and your created inventory activity.)
Supplier specific functionalities for activity display and configuration: Hotelbeds
Musement
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The selected activity is now displayed on the selected day. Follow the same procedure to add possible recommended activities to the list below. You can add as many recommended activities as you like.
Additionally, you have the possibility to enable the tick box "Only show default and recommended activities in planner" for this stop at the bottom of the page. This means that no other activities than the one you have selected will be shown to the user in the planner for that specific stop.
Stories Tab on Stop
The Stories tab will allow you to add your own description for the stop. This description will be displayed on the stop in the planner instead of the area description for the stop.
Please Note:
Stories are enabled to make an itinerary more personalised. This is additional functionality and is not mandatory to use it.
Click on Add new story to be able to enter a story (description) and picture if desired.
If you have entered a story and a picture, click Save
Miscellaneous Tab on Stop
On the Miscellaneous tab, you will find the information on how many nights a user is able to add/remove to a stop in the planner. Per default, this is set to a min. Nights 0 and max. 29. This setting can be adjusted on each stop to your liking.
Click on the + and - icons to adjust the number of nights
Click Save
Note:
Any adjustments you make on the night settings will only be applied to this stop in the template you are working on. Other templates with the same stop will not be affected. (Template-based setting).
Description Tab
On the Description tab, you can add all the template's descriptive elements.
Title of the template (The Trip) that you entered while you started to create the template.
Key Sentence of the template can be added and will be displayed in the template card in Discovery.
Key Highlights of the template can be added and will be displayed on the template card in Discovery. (If enabled)
Interest Categories can be ticked if desired. They will not be displayed on Discovery, however, they can be used via the Discovery API.
Descriptive Duration allows you to add the duration of the template either as a fixed display, i.e., 10 days, or as a date range of 8-10 days.
Short Description of the template will be displayed on the detail page of the template.
Tour Attributes: Since multi-day tours and activities can be categorized in different ways, this feature should bring more information about the trip characteristics to the customer.
Display: Template Card on Discovery
Display: Detail Page of the Template
Note: Always Save your changes.
Info Section Tab
Find more details about Info Sections in the following article.
Base Service & Rental Car Tab
On the Base Service & Rental Car tab, you are able to review and adjust the rental-car setup. If you have already selected the Enable Rental Car Feature option while creating the template, the rental-car connections for the template are already set.
Unticking the Enable Rental Car Feature option removes the rental-car connections between the stops of the template.
Clicking Edit default rental car allows you to define the:
Start Location & Day
Return Location & Day
Supply Source
Rental car Selection Method (not mandatory)
Default Rental Car
On the Base Service & Rental Car tab, you will find an additional option to enable an Up-sell Product and/or Base Service to the template.
Find out more about these options in the Product section of the Support Hub.
Picture Tab
Move to the Pictures tab to be able to add pictures to your template. The tab is directly linked with the picture library.
Note: Pictures need to be uploaded to the Picture Library before they can be assigned to a template.
Be aware that you need to add at least 1 picture to be able to publish the template.
Click on the Picture Tab
Click on the + to access the Picture Library
Select the pictures that you want to add to the template and click on assign.
Click Save
On the picture tab, you will find additional functionality to add a Map picture.
If you assign a picture from the picture library, it will override the map displayed on the details page of the template in Discovery.
Other Tabs
Learn more about the use of the additional tabs in the following overview.
Topic | Description |
Tags | Tags can be used to order templates or assign them to a new filter on Discovery. Additionally, they are there to pull the information from the template via our APIs. |
Translate | If the content is offered in various languages, this tab can be used to add the translation from your created content of the template. The language options displayed there are based on the setup of your application. |
Cancellation Policies | Cancellation policies define the cancellation information associated with the template where applicable. |
Miscellaneous | This tab is for internal use only. Here you are able to:
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Integration | The integration is used to add the CRS Service Code. |
Validate & Publish
After you have added all relevant information, save the template and use the action menu to validate and publish it.
Open the action menu and click Validate to check whether the template has been created correctly. Review the validation results and resolve any blocking issues before publishing.
Only templates without blocking validation issues can be published.
After validation, open the action menu and click Publish to set the draft version of the template to a published version.
An additional pop-up will open to confirm if the template should be published. Click on Confirm to do so. The template will be validated again and published if everything is correct.
The draft label next to the title will change to published.
Find out more about other template actions here.