Overview

TripBuilder enables Tour Operators to add surcharges at the itinerary level. This is useful for reflecting service and booking fees or any applicable taxes in the price, making the pricing structure easier to manage.

Surcharges can be set as a percentage or an absolute value on top of the calculated costs. Besides a default surcharge value, you can also have destination-specific surcharges per country and/or area.

00:00: This guide will walk you through the steps to create Tour Operator Surcharges in TripBuilder. 00:06: From your main Dashboard, access the Settings. 00:10: Under "Pricing" on the General Settings, access the Tour Operator Surcharges option. 00:16: A new window will open, showing all the Surcharges created. If none have been created, the list will be empty. 00:24: Tour operators can use the Tour Operator Surcharges to add a general surcharge on the itinerary level. The surcharge can be defined as a percentage or absolute value on top of the itinerary price after calculating the costs of all components contained in the itinerary. 00:40: To create a new one, click on "create Tour Operator Surcharge". 00:45: Give an identifiable name to the surcharge. 00:48: On Distribution channels, select if this is applied to all DCs, by leaving it empty, or select on of your DCs from the list. 00:57: On calculation strategy, define if the surcharge should be calculated and applied to the sales price before or after adding the relevant taxes. 01:06: The surcharge value is defined on the Default field. 01:10: Besides a default surcharge value, it is possible to have destination-specific surcharge values (per country and area), that will override the default value. 01:20: Surcharges can be of a relative value, therefor a percentage of the total price of the itinerary, including or excluding taxes, depending on the calculation strategy you defined above. 01:32: Or you can define an Absolute value for this surcharge, that is applied to the itinerary, independent of it's value. 01:39: Then, define the start date from which this surcharge should start to be applied. 01:44: As said before, you can override the created default surcharge on some countries if it fits your use case. 01:51: Add the country in which you want the default surcharge not be applied. 01:55: And then define the surcharge that should be applied to this country, that can be Relative or Absolute. 02:01: If you need a more fine-grained selection, instead of countries, you can add Areas. Click on "Add Area" to do so. 02:09: Define the Area in which the default value should be overridden. The information of areas is fetched from the available areas on TripBuilder. 02:18: Define the surcharge, relative or absolute, to be applied to this area, instead of the default one. 02:25: When you're done setting up your Surcharge, don't forget to Save. 02:29: Let's see an example of a surcharge, with default and country/areas override. 02:35: This configuration adds a 10% surcharge to any itinerary in general. 02:40: If the itinerary goes to Portugal or Spain, a surcharge of 15% is applied, instead of 10%. 02:47: Except if the itinerary goes to the islands of these countries. Then the configuration defined for the areas Madeira and Tenerife of 5% is used. 02:57: For these destination-specific configurations, the start of the ground program of the itinerary is relevant. 03:04: If an itinerary departs in Frankfurt by plane and the ground program starts in Madrid, then the Spain surcharge of 15% is applied. 03:13: For itineraries going through multiple countries also, the first start of the ground is used as decision criteria. 03:20: This guide covered the process of creating Tour Operator Surcharges in the TripBuilder application. Don't forget to read our Knowledge base article about this topic.

How to Set a Tour Operator Surcharge

1. Go to Settings

2. Click on Tour Operator Surcharges, listed under Pricing on the left menu

3. Click on the Create Tour Operator Surcharges button  at the top-right corner of the screen

4. A new page, New Tour Operator Surcharges, appears:

5. The details required can be categorised into three areas:

• General definition
• Default surcharge
• Geographical surcharge override

We explain each of these below.

6. After defining a surcharge, click on the Save button

General definition

The area comprises three fields:

• Name: a name to help you identify the surcharge
• Distribution Channel: Choose the relevant distribution channel for which the surcharge applies. If no channel is selected, the surcharge applies to all itineraries. If multiple surcharges are defined, the system prioritises and applies the more specific rule.

• Calculation Strategy: Defines the way the surcharge is calculated, either:
  • Sales Price including taxes: The basis for the surcharge calculation uses the total sales price. It also takes taxes already calculated into the sales price (e.g., airfare or airport tax).
  • Sales Price excluding taxes: The basis for the surcharge calculation uses the sales price excluding any taxes. 

Default surcharge

The area comprises four fields:

• Relative: Set a surcharge percentage added to the total price
• Absolute Currency and Absolute Value: Use these fields to set a fixed amount surcharge

• Valid from: Set the date from when you want the surcharge to apply. When creating a new surcharge, the date must be in the future.

Geographical surcharge override

The area comprises two fields:

• Countries: Set specific surcharge values for the destination country
• Areas: Set specific surcharge values for destination areas

While a default surcharge is defined and applied to every itinerary in general, it is possible to have a specific surcharge per destination to configure overrides for particular countries and areas.

In the screenshot, a surcharge configuration of 10% applies to itineraries in general. However, if the itinerary goes to Portugal, a surcharge of 23% is used and in the case of Spain, a surcharge of 21%. A new layer of overrides is defined if the itinerary goes to the islands of these countries (Madeira or Canary Islands). Then, 22% and 7% configurations are applied, respectively.

Tour Operator Surcharge Visibility

Surcharges are part of the customer sales price (externally visible) and sales price (internally visible),  independently from the calculation strategy selected and having a relative or absolute definition. Its breakdown is only visible to Tour Operators in Customer Care (Services & Price List page).

Surcharges are never displayed to the traveller, not even when a price breakdown is available, as is the case of:

• Travel proposal document
• Checkout
• Travel documentation