Software Release 27/04/2021

Bookeasy deployed the below changes into the live production system overnight.  Should you require further information in regards to any of the below features, please reach out to our friendly Bookeasy Support team who will be more than happy to help.

Improvements & Bug Fixes:


Accommodation Search Improvements

Improvements have been made to the Bookeasy Staff Console and gadgets when searching for available dates for accommodation products.


For all products and destination partners that have implemented the beGadgets, the Search, Region and Item Details gadget’s calendar pickers will now block out and disable dates that are unavailable.



This dramatically enhances accommodation product discovery for booking centre staff and visitors, as the calendar pickers will now display what dates are available or not for accommodation offerings.


Bookeasy Staff Console

The Accommodation Search calendar picker will now disable specific dates if ALL of the accommodation products for each accommodation operator displayed in the search results are unavailable.


When viewing an accommodation operator’s profile page, the date picker will also disable a specific date if ALL of the products displayed are unavailable for that date.


Search and Region Gadget

The Search and Region gadget calendar pickers will now disable specific dates if ALL of the accommodation products for each accommodation operator are unavailable.


Item Details Gadget

The item Details gadget calendar picker will only disable a specific date if ALL of the products displayed are unavailable for that date.


Change Dates Button
In addition to the above, the “Change Dates” button that displays for each unique accommodation product item when a selected date is unavailable, will now display its very own calendar picker when clicked.


This calendar picker will display the dates that are available or unavailable for that specifically selected product, allowing the visitor to select an available date.


When an available date is selected using this method, the Item Details gadget switches to that date for all products displayed.


We’ve also introduced the “Change Dates” button to the Item Details gadget when showAllAccom is set to false, whereby the “Sorry, no results match your search criteria. Please change your dates and options and try searching again” message displays. When the button is clicked, it will trigger the calendar picker displaying the dates that are available and unavailable for that operator.



Item Calendar Button

The Item Details Gadget now also provides an optional calendar button for each displayed accommodation product item.


Much like the improved “Change Dates” button functionality outlined above, its purpose is to display a calendar picker for the product item selected, so that the visitor can view the dates that are both available and unavailable for that specific accommodation product item.


The difference, however, between this calendar button and the Change Dates button functionality, is that when enabled, this calendar button will always display and provide the visitor the ability to preview available/unavailable dates for a specific accommodation product item. The “Change Dates” button only ever displays if the date being reviewed is unavailable, whereby it then reverts to a “Book or Reserve Now” button, thereby disabling the calendar picker for that accommodation product item.


This functionality is managed via a new showItemCalendar Item Details gadget parameter, the details of which is outlined here.


This calendar button is also disabled by default, for reasons outlined here.


New Gadget Parameters

With the introduction of this new functionality, the following new gadget parameters have been introduced:

useCalendarAvailability

  • This parameter defines whether the gadget will display what’s available and what’s not available via the calendar pickers.
  • The parameter can be used independently on the Search gadget, Region gadget or Item Details gadget.
  • The default gadget functionality has this parameter set to “true” for all gadget types
    i.e. useCalendarAvailability: true
  • Should any destination partner wish to disable this function, they can implement the parameter on the appropriate gadget/s and set its value to “false” i.e. useCalendarAvailability: false


showItemCalendar

  • This parameter defines whether the Item Details gadget will display the new calendar button for each itemised accommodation product, explained here.
  • The Item Details gadget functionality has this parameter set to “false” as a default
    i.e. showItemCalendar: false
  • Should any destination partner wish to enable this function, they can implement the parameter on their Item Details gadget and set its value to “true”. Note that it is critical they test and style this button in a development environment before enabling, per the below FAQ.
    i.e. showItemCalendar: true


New Accommodation Availability WebAPI Method

A new accommodation availability WebAPI method has been introduced called getAccomFastAvailability.


This method can be used to return true (1) or false (0) for a date range supplied, if there is a room available for each date.


The method also allows for a number of parameters, providing the ability to return results for all or specific operators, campaigns, state/region/locations, etc.


The getAccomFastAvailability WebAPI method is the method that these new accommodation search improvements are leveraging, in order to display whether a date is available or not for each gadget’s calendar picker.


An updated version of our Swagger API Specification can be viewed at https://webapi.bookeasy.com.au/swagger/index.html.


FAQ’s

Why is the showItemCalendar gadget parameter off by default?

Enabling this parameter introduces a new physical element to the Item Details gadget that will require your developer to style the button. Due to the various styling techniques used by many developers who have integrated the gadgets, simply switching this on to display the button may cause critical display issues unless properly integrated for style and positioning.


Can the styling of disabled dates displayed on the gadgets calendar picker be changed?

Short answer = yes. The gadgets already contained a styling for disabled dates, which up to this point in time only ever applied to past dates displayed on the calendar. Unavailable future dates will use the same styling, and can be styled further by developers who implement the gadgets.


What about the Bookeasy Staff Console Gadgets Menu, the OBE, ABE and Affiliate Console?

Because the Bookeasy Staff Console Gadgets Menu, the OBE, ABE and Affiliate Consoles use our gadgets, they will also receive the new default gadget functionality being released.

What about tours and activities?


We will continue to explore our options for introducing similar functionality for tours and activities.

Package Bookings [#16048]

Tourism operators who receive Booking Centre bookings that have been made as part of a package, will now be able to see the package name when viewing the reservation in their operator console.

ABE Cart Styling [#16028]

Styling corrections have been made to the Affiliate Booking Engine (ABE) in order for the cart to display correctly on the final booking gadget.

"Per Pax" booking questions [#15997]

"Per Pax" booking questions setup by an operator will now correctly display on Bookeasy Staff Console's shopping cart page.

Online Gateway Payments [#16243]

Resolved an issue where at times, online gateway payments could fail to be recorded in Bookeasy due to an API/database retry and fallback loop fault.

Affiliate Reservations [#16215]

The Affiliate console will now correctly display their earned commission on their reservation search screen.

2023 Bookings [#16061]

Corrected an issue that prevented the Bookeasy Staff Console's accommodation search from returning results for the year 2023.

Sending Guest Phone Number Data to Rezdy [#16068]

Phone numbers entered into the Phone Number field for online bookings made for Rezdy suppliers, will now be sent to Rezdy's customer data phone and mobile endpoints.

Exception Report Upgrade [#16142]

You can now sort columns and export the data displayed on the Bookeasy Staff Console's Exception Report. We also resolved a bug that could display duplicate rows, and the itinerary exception report now sets the "include closed itineraries where the total paid does not qual the total cost" option as enabled by default.

Reporting No. Nights for "Add Other Booking" [#15759]

Report builder reports will now display the number of nights data saved against bookings made via the "Add Other Booking" method.