Overview

The billing section keeps track of the itinerary's overall payment status as well as any transactions (payments and refunds) that were received or issued (in the past) or currently planned (in the future).

Once a booking results from the checkout process, all payment-relevant information will be shown here. References to future payments (and refunds) can be automatically created, aligned with post-booking operations over the itinerary components or alternatively manually initiated by the Customer Care user.

 

Know more: Please check the article Itinerary Details in Customer Care for additional information on other itinerary areas besides Billing.

 

Payments and Refunds

Two transaction types are recorded in the Billing section: payments and refunds.

Payment refers to a transaction where funds are transferred from a buying entity to a seller entity (e.g., a traveller performs a 30% down payment at itinerary checkout).

Refund refers to a transaction where funds are transferred from a seller entity to a buying entity (e.g. a Travel Agency refunds 120 EUR to the traveller due to a cancelled activity).

While TripBuilder does not perform any money transfer (either as a payment or refund), and this operation needs to be executed in an external flow, the record of such procedures is registered in TripBuilder and associated with the itinerary. Records can be created automatically based on the user's post-booking actions over the itinerary/component or manually.

 

Automated payment/refund

Important: This feature needs to be enabled by Nezasa. Please contact our support team or your customer success manager to enable the feature flag available at the Distribution Channel > Checkout tab > Rest Payment - Setup at booking time under the Payment section

 

The automated creation of payment/refund records constitutes an operational accelerator for the Customer Care user, avoiding the manual creation of transaction records required to settle the itinerary cost.

Three common use cases are presented next, showing how TripBuilder automatically generates payment and refund records as a fully paid itinerary is changed:

• Sales price increase
• Sales price decrease
• Itinerary cancellation

 

Use case: sales pricing increase

Scenario description: A booked itinerary for which all payments have been settled requires an additional payment adjustment, impacting the sales price. This adjustment may result from (i) an error from the Tour Operator or Travel Agency where some cost was not adequately considered or (ii) a new component or service is added to the itinerary as a post-booking action (via booking change).

 

1. Identify the intended itinerary and click on the Billing option under Itinerary on the left side of the screen.

 

2. Initiate Booking Change by clicking on the Actions button at the right side of the screen

 

3. For this example, we will click the Complete the Booking Change option and add a negative discount. Alternatively, the Customer Care user could go to Planner, add a new component and then return to Cockpit to Complete Booking Change.

 

4. In Total Discount, add a negative discount, representing an increase in the itinerary sales pricing, and click OK.

 

5. A Payment type record is automatically created with the positive value entered in the previous step.

 

6. At this stage, the user has two options: delete the newly created payment or confirm its fulfilment (possibly later) when the transaction is executed.

 

Use case: sales price decrease

Scenario description: A booked itinerary for which all payments have been settled requires a refund adjustment, impacting the sales price. This adjustment may result from (i) an error from the Tour Operator or Travel Agency where some cost was wrongly considered and paid, (ii) a component or service was removed from the itinerary as a post-booking action (via booking change), or (iii) a discount/credit was issued to the buyer.

 

1. Identify the intended itinerary and click on the Billing option under Itinerary on the left side of the screen. For this example, we use the same itinerary as the previous use case, validating the payment fulfilment of 50 EUR left with the Open status.

 

2. Initiate Booking Change by clicking on the Actions button at the right side of the screen

 

3. For this example, we will follow up by clicking the Complete the Booking Change option and adding a discount. Instead, the Customer Care user could go to Planner, remove/cancel one or more components and then return to Cockpit to Complete Booking Change.

 

4. In Total Discount, add a positive value, representing a decrease in the itinerary sales pricing and then click OK.

 

5. A Refund type record is automatically created with the negative value entered in the previous step.

 

6. At this stage, the user has two options: delete the newly created refund or confirm its fulfilment (possibly later) when the transaction is executed.

 

Important: An itinerary can only have a single discount value associated. As this use case is based on the first (i.e., sales pricing increase for a fully paid itinerary), when in step 4, the Complete Booking Changes popup opens, the value of -50 EUR is already filled in (defined in the first use case). Thus, replacing the value with 30 EUR will reduce the itinerary sales pricing by 80 EUR (50 EUR from the first use case and 30 EUR from the second).

 

Use case: itinerary cancellation

Scenario description: A booked itinerary for which all payments have been settled is cancelled. Cancelling costs exist but do not fully match the entire itinerary cost (i.e. all itinerary components are non-refundable). A refund adjustment results from the difference between the paid value and the total non-refundable costs for all components and services in the itinerary (and sometimes also including a handling fee).

 

1. When choosing a rental car, one offer with cancellation costs is selected.

 

2. In Customer Care and having the itinerary previously selected, click on the Billing option under Itinerary on the left side of the screen. In this example, the itinerary is fully paid.

 

3. Select Cancel Booking by clicking on the Actions button at the right side of the screen

 

4. In the Cancel Booking popup, a value of 25 EUR is indicated as cancellation cost. Click on the OK button.

 

5. A Refund type record of 68 EUR is automatically created resulting from the difference between the paid value (92 EUR) and the cancellation cost (25 EUR).

 

6. At this stage, the user has two options: delete the newly created refund or confirm its fulfilment (possibly later) when the transaction is executed.

 

Manual payment/refund

Alternatively, to automatically create payment/refund records, TripBuilder also enables the creation of manual and offline payments/refunds.

 

Know more: Please check the article Offline Payment and Refund Transactions for the feature explanation.

 

Important: This feature is in the Beta version and needs to be enabled by Nezasa. Please contact our support team to enable the required feature flag.

 

Payments Supported by REST Links

TripBuilder seamlessly integrates with external payment providers, allowing for a streamlined payment process directly with the end consumer or traveller via credit card.

In cases where the full itinerary cost remains unpaid, Customer Care users have the option to utilise the REST payment feature. This feature generates a payment URL, which, when accessed by the end consumer or traveller, redirects them to the payment step during checkout. Here, they can easily complete the payment using their credit card to settle any outstanding balances.

 

Please note: As best practice, it is recommended to delete existing open (i.e. unsettled) REST payments scheduled in the future before carrying out any post-booking operation (e.g. cancellation, booking change) that impacts the sales price. Following this practice facilitates the automatic creation of future REST payments, taking into account the revised sales price.

 

Know more: Please check the article Rest Payment Support for the feature explanation.