Overview 

Activities can be a fixed or exchangeable component of a tour. Each activity is loaded as a single product and has a specific pricing per season and location. In order to add inventory activities to modules or templates, they have to be created previously in the inventory.

Within the inventory, we differentiate between two types of activities: Stop and Transit activities. Stop and Transit Activities are built up the same way, the only differences are the following:

Understanding the differences between Stop and Transit Activities

00:00: In this first guide about Transit and Stop Activities, we will talk about the main differences between them, and also the similarities. Let's start. 00:10: In Inventory Products, you can create Transit and Stop Activities. The creation process is similar between them, but they present some differences. 00:20: This is the Description tab of a Stop Activity 00:23: And this, the description tab of a Transit Activity. 00:27: A Transit Activity is displayed in the Planner as this, with stops identified, and multiple places in the map. 00:34: Transit Activities are used for multi-day activities. Think of the transit word as an Activity that transits between days, and not an activity that only happens in one day. 00:45: On the other hand, Stop Activities are presented as Activities that can be added to a day in the Planner. 00:51: However, Transit Activities can also have more than one day, but they should Start and End on the same location, as the map indicates. 01:00: So, let's see why you should create a Transit or Stop Activity. Use Transit Activities for Group-Tours, Cruises, and Fixed Multi-Day Tours that bring the customer from the start location to the end location, that can be different. 01:15: They are connections between two stops (start and end), that have non exchangeable components between those start and end. 01:23: Examples of Transit Activities, could be a 5-day cruise around the Mediterranean, starting and ending in Lisbon, or a 10-day rental car trip around Spain, starting in Madrid and ending in Vigo. 01:36: Now, let's see how you can, and should use Stop Activities. Stop Activities have the same Start and End Location. 01:44: They are exchangeable components within a stop, that you remove or change accordingly. 01:50: Thinking about examples of Stop Activities you have a city tour by tuk-tuk, a walking tour, a full day at the lake, a sightseeing tour, or admission tickets for an attraction, like Disneyland. 02:02: There is yet another difference when you're creating a Stop or Transit Activity. Both Stop and Transit Activities can be off two types: Standard activity, or occupation-based activity. 02:13: If you select the type as Occupancy-Based, you will have to define Room Categories for your Transit or Stop Activity. 02:20: With Room Categories, you can define a price per PAX from the preexisting categories, similar to what is done when creating an Accommodation. 02:29: If you select the type as Standard Activity, instead of Room categories, 02:34: You will have to define service categories. 02:37: Service Categories are defined like in other Inventory Products, where you a pricing per PAX, group or Included. 02:44: So, besides the differences between Transit and Stop Activities that we already saw, when creating this Products, you also have another difference. 02:53: Both this Inventory products can be one of 2 types of activity 02:57: Occupancy based, or Standard Activities. 03:00: On Occupancy based, you can define Room Categories, per PAX. The user then needs to choose one of the Rooms from this activity, similar to Accommodations in Inventory. 03:11: On standard type, you can define Service Categories, per PAX, per Group or Included. The user then needs to choose one of the Services from this activity, like in Rental Cars for example. 03:23: This guide covered the differences between Transit and Stop Activities, and also what types this two Products can be. Make sure that you watch our video on creating your Transit or Stop Activities to get a full knowledge about this topic.

Creating an Occupancy based Transit/Stop Activity

00:00: In this video, we will guide you on how to create an occupancy based type transit or stop activity. 00:06: Remember that Transit and Stop Activities, are different products, but they are similar in creation. If you haven't yet, check our video explaining the differences between them. 00:17: Click on one of them. 00:19: In this page, you will see a list of all the Activities created so far. If you haven't created one yet, the list will be empty. 00:28: To create a new one, Click on "Create Activity". See on the screen what you need beforehand to create an activity: - A comprehensive description; - A few representative high-quality pictures; - The net-sales prices; - and Locations, Duration, start and end times. 00:45: Select the type as Occupancy-Based Activity. We cover the standard type activity creation in other video. This type cannot be changed afterwards. 00:55: Give a name to your activity. For this example, we are going to create a 3 nights cruise in the mediterranean. 01:02: Select the currency of your contracted arrangements. This field cannot be changed afterwards as well. 01:09: Fill the start location of your activity. 01:12: Now, define the end location. Results for locations are provided by the Areas database of TripBuilder. Keep in mind that, if you're creating this activity for modules, the start and end locations should match the ones in the module and vice-versa. 01:27: Remember that Transit Activities can have different Start and End locations, but Stop Activities should have the same start and end locations. 01:35: The start time is required to correctly match all the components included before and after the activity. If your TripBuilder has Buffer Times configured in the settings, keep that in mind as well. 01:47: You can also hide this times for Travellers in the frontend, if you desire to. 01:52: Fill the duration for days, hours and minutes, if applicable. For our case, that we are creating a Transit Activity for 3 nights, we need to fill the duration in Days, and maybe hours. But if for example you're creating a Stop Activity for maybe a boat ride, you could only fill the hours. 02:11: If necessary, add the number of Overnights. 02:14: Click "Save", and your product will be saved. A new window will open where you can edit the remaining details of your activity. 02:22: Display settings allows you to choose how to display the Activity Segments that you will create, or not display them at all. 02:29: On Tour information, you can: Define a Minimum age to be a part of this activity; Define if this activity is Private or in Group; Define a difficulty of access, or the tour it self, from Relaxed, Easy, Moderate, Challenging or Extreme; And on guide Information you can select the spoken languages. 02:49: On Tour Categories, you can select from defined tags according to the trip type, target group and theme of the activity. 02:57: This Tour Attributes will show in the Planner, inside the Transit Activity. 03:02: Besides the already included Start and End locations, you can add additional areas to your Activity Locations. 03:09: All areas can be edited at any time. 03:12: If suitable to your use case, You can add hours flexibility, regarding your start hour. 03:18: Finally, on the description tab, you can select if this activity needs a Rental Car 03:24: Or enable a Cruise description, where UI terms like rooms are replaced with cabin, for example. 03:30: Since this is a Occupancy based Activity, we need to define Room Categories. Click on the "Room Categories" tab. 03:38: Start by adding your first Room Category. 03:41: Give your Room Category a name. For our example, let's create a room with Ocean View. 03:47: Select one, or multiple, of the available room types presented. 03:52: When done, Click on "Add". 03:55: If you want, add a mini description of your Room category. 03:59: Select a managed Product Category, from Standard, Premium or Deluxe. 04:05: Additionally, you can define the Commission Categories from the ones created in your TripBuilder Settings. This define the commission an Agency gets when this product is booked. 04:16: Let's add the pricings. Click on "Add pricing season". 04:20: Like in all products, start by defining Season dates to the price. 04:25: Give your Season an identifiable name, and select the dates. You can use a calendar, or list view to select the dates. When using the calendar view, use a drag motion with your hover to select multiple dates. To deselect them, simply click on the highlighted date. 04:42: When done, click on Ok. 04:45: Define your price for the selected Room type, or room types if you selected more than one, when creating your room category. 04:53: For extra personalization and different use cases, you can edit the Pax Range. 04:58: Click on "Add PAX range". 05:00: When defined, Click "Ok". 05:03: You can also edit the Room types that you have selected. Keep in mind that this prices should be per PAX since you have to define the rooms upfront. 05:12: You can add Special Offers to this Room categories. Check our Special Offers video to learn more about this. 05:19: You can add as many room categories as you need. 05:22: Let's move forward. Click on "Info Sections" 05:26: On transit and Stop Activities you can create info sections, that can be displayed in the frontend. You can add as many Info Sections as you need. 05:35: Click on "Additional Information". 05:37: For each information you have the attributes 05:40: and the content. 05:42: Select the type. A Info section can be related to the ones you see on the screen. 05:48: Select the position. This will determine the position of this information in the frontend. 05:54: On Exposure, you can select if this information will be displayed in Discovery, Planner or Travel Summary. 06:01: Moving to content, define the title of your Information, and the actual information you want to display. 06:08: This is the Transit Activity we are creating, as it will show in the Planner, when you add it to a module and template. 06:15: This is an additional information with the location defined as "Before the Activity Segments" 06:21: And this is another additional information with the location defined as "After the Activity Segments". 06:27: Back to the Inventory Product page, let's add some pictures to this transit activity. Click on Pictures. 06:34: Remember that pictures need to be added beforehand on your Picture Library to be uploaded to you product. Click on the plus icon to add your pictures. 06:43: Navigate your folders, or search for a specific picture. When done, click on "Assign". 06:49: For transit activities, you can also add a Map Picture, in addition to your normal product pictures. 06:55: Now, let's create the Segments of our Occupancy-based Activity. Open the Segments tab. 07:01: The description of the activity is added on the Segments tab. An activity can consist of one or various segments, depending on how detailed the tour should be displayed on the Frontend map. Click on "Add Segment" to add your first segment. 07:16: Segments can be of three types - Transfers - Activities or Highlights - Or an overnight stay. Depending on what type you choose, the information that you will need to fill can vary. 07:27: For Transfers, Activities or Highlights, you will need to fill the location - within the activity locations - . How the user is getting to that location. The duration as a start and end based on the number of days of your activity, and the title and description. 07:42: For accommodations, you can also add the hotel's name, and website for the different service Categories you defined in the Room Categories. 07:50: Start by selecting a Location, based on the ones provided by Google Autocomplete. 07:56: If this is the last segment of your Activity, you can select this to add that location to this segment. 08:02: Define how the user is getting from the previous segment, to this one. This will generate an icon linking segments in the map. 08:10: Use this option to define if this segment should be displayed on the map, and included in the route. 08:16: Set how long this segment will last. In our case, It's the departure of the cruise, so let's say it starts and end on day 1. 08:25: Fill in the Title of the Segment. 08:28: Add a comprehensive and good description to your segment. 08:32: When done, click on Ok. 08:35: Your segment is now created. 08:38: To add pictures to an individual segment, Click on "Show Pictures" 08:43: Click on the plus icon, and navigate your picture library to find your correct picture. 08:48: Now, it's time to continue your work of adding more segments to your Activity, showcasing what it has to offer. 08:55: If you click in Preview, you can see how your Activity will show it's segments. You do need to Save first, in order to see it. 09:04: As you add more segments, you have the possibility to move the segments up and down using the arrows. 09:10: And on the map, you can see the reflected changes you make to segments. When you select the "Getting there by" type, it reflects on the icon between the segments. 09:20: The Amenities and Cancellation Policies tabs have their own videos explaining how you can use them. 09:26: The remaining tabs also have a video explaining what you can do in them. 09:30: Don't forget to Save and Publish your Transit or Stop Activity with Occupancy-based type. 09:36: Thank you for watching, and we hope this has been helpful. Don't forget to check our Knowledge base articles about creating stop and transit activities, and also to learn more about Occupancy based type activities.

How to create inventory transit activities?

In order to load activities, please make sure you have the following information available:

• A comprehensive description
• A few representative high-quality pictures
• The net-sales prices
• Duration, start and end times

Steps to create activities

• Go to Cockpit
• Click on Inventory
• Click on Products
• Click on Stop or Transit Activity depending on which kind of activity you want to create

• Click on the Create Activity button to open the following screen and enter the required information. 

• Choose an Activity Type  
  
  • Standard Activity or 
  • Occupancy-Based Activity 

• Add the Title of the Activity 
• Choose the contracted Currency 
  • Note: This is only possible while creating the accommodation. Once you click Save, the currency cannot be changed for this accommodation anymore.

• Add the Start and End Location
  • The start and end locations have to be chosen from the drop-down menu in order to be added properly. The search is pulled via Google. 
  • The pre-requisite is that the start and end location of a transfer should match the start and end location of the subsequent module and vice versa.
• Add Start Times for the activity 
  • The start time is required to correctly match all the components included before and after the activity. If the set start times should not be displayed to the user in Planner, tick the box Hide Times for Travelers 
  • Please also consider the Buffer Times.
• Add the Scheduling & Duration of the activity
  
  • Duration/day is calculated in 24 hours. (Activities starting at 8 am and ending at 10 am of the following day have to be added as 1 Day / 1 Overnight / 2 hrs.)
• Decide if this should be a multi-day tour with own rental car or not 
  • Tick the box: Requires Rental Car in the planner if the rental car should be calculated for the whole trip including the multi-day activity. 
• Click Save
  • After clicking Save, the draft of the activity will be created and you will be redirected to a new page. 

Description Tab

After the activity has been created you will be directed to the description tab. The basic information that you have added previously is now displayed here. The following additional settings can be applied: 

• Start Flexibility
  • Activities have a starting time and a duration that can be adjusted according to the flight information of the end customer.
  • However, certain days do not offer as many flights as others therefore the "Start Flexibility" will allow the system to find more flights whilst adding a certain amount of hours before and after the default time.

  • E.g. your Activity starts and ends at 11am

    • Adding 4 hrs to the "Start Flexibility" will allow the system to search for additionally fitting flights between 7am and 3pm
    • Adding 2 hrs to the "Start Flexibility" will allow the system to search for additionally fitting flights between 9am and 1pm
    • Not adding any hours to the "Start Flexibility" will only search for flights fitting to 11am

• Adding additional areas

  • If there are further areas of the activity which are relevant to be displayed they can be added on the "Description" tab.
    
    

• Display Settings
  • The "Show in Overview" option defines how your activity will be displayed. However, this option will be offered a 2nd time on the Module-Level.
  • In order to offer various possibilities on different Modules, the option chosen on the Module will overwrite the default on the product.

Add Segments

The description of the activity is added on the Segments tab. An activity can consist of one or various segments, depending on how detailed the tour should be displayed on the map.

• Click on Add Segment to add and edit a segment and enter the required information 
  • Be aware that depending on the selected segment type the information to be entered may differ from transfer, activities and overnight (accommodation). 
  • If you add an overnight segment the accommodation information can be added and made visual for the user in the Planner. 

• Each segment can have its individual locations and transfer types selected.
  • The activity type defines the type of pin that will be displayed (e.g. transfer, activity, overnight).

• Segments can have individual pictures assigned which will be displayed in the Planner
  • Pictures have to be added to the Picture Library beforehand.

• The info sections allow you to add important and/or additional information to your tour and can either be displayed before or after the segments on Discovery. 

Display in Cockpit

Display in Planner