Receive reservations using the Expedia direct channel manager integration for Mews Operations

Integrations SetupMews Marketplace

The Expedia direct channel manager integration enables you to distribute your property's rates and availability on a global scale, directly from Mews Operations. This channel is a two-way connection; meaning that Mews manages availability, rates and restrictions. The integration pushes reservations from the Expedia direct integration into Mews.

 

With its bidirectional functionality, this integration ensures that both availability and reservations are managed and updated in real-time between Mews Operations and Expedia direct, offering a cohesive and efficient booking management experience. The integration is free to use, regardless of your subscription tier. 

You can learn more about the Expedia direct integration here. 

 

Expedia has two payment models for reservations:  

  • Expedia Collect: Customers book and pay for the reservation through Expedia. Then Expedia sends the money to the property, either via virtual credit card or a bank transfer. Note: Your tax setup depends on your legal environment. Contact your Expedia account manager to check you have set up your tax correctly. 
  • Hotel Collect: Customers book through Expedia, who then sends the reservation details. The property charges the guest themselves, for example, via credit card. 

 

Note:

  • Expedia does not send modifications or cancellations for Hotel collect reservations that were imported during initial set up. For more information on the difference between Expedia Collect and Hotel Collect bookings, read this article here.
  • This connection does not support Occupancy Based Pricing. Make sure to set your Expedia account to Per day Pricing. 

 

Some things to know before you set up the Expedia direct integration for Mews Operations:  

  • If you are a new Mews user, Mews automatically downloads all future reservations for you. 
  • If you are already live with Mews:
    •  Mews automatically links future reservations to Expedia based on the reservations source. Learn more here.
    • Mews does not configure the entire channel manager integrations for you. If you have any problems fixing the mapping errors within Mews, contact the Mews support team to help you troubleshoot.
  • If you already have a contract with Expedia direct integration, click Connect integration. 

 

You can learn about how to set up age categories for reservation delivery here.

 

Note:  

  • If you switch from the Expedia direct integration to an indirect integration, such as SiteMinder, Mews Operations cannot link reservations to the indirect integration.
  • Consequently, any modifications or cancellations to existing reservations do not come through to Mews Operations. In this case, you receive an e-mail asking you to make these changes manually. 
 

  

 

Step 1: Connect the Expedia direct integration  
  1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  Mews Operations Menu Icon   > Marketplace. 
  2. Under Categories, click  Distribution.  
  3. Locate the Expedia direct integration and click  Explore.  
  4. Click Connect integration.  
  5. Locate the Expedia direct integration and click Edit to go to the settings.  
  6. In the Channel manager code field, enter the code you receive from Expedia, referred to as the "Expedia Hotel ID". 
  7. Click Save.

  

Note: The Expedia direct integration only works with mapping codes that Expedia provides.  

 

    Step 2: Configure channel manager mapping  

    To configure channel manager mapping in the Expedia  direct integration, complete step 3 in the article here.

     
    Note:
    • The Rate code field in Mews corresponds with the Expedia Rate Plan ID from the Expedia CSV file. Both systems must use the same corresponding code for Mews and Expedia to communicate. Do not enter a unique code for this rate.
    • Make sure you only map rates marked as “Active” under Rate plan status in the CSV file from Expedia. You can learn more about this here. 

     

    To receive both Expedia Collect and Hotel Collect bookings, click on the Collect type field and select one of the following from the drop-down menu:

    •  Expedia Collect: 
      • if the code under the column Expedia Rate Plan in the CSV file does not include an "A" and is marked Yes under the column Interface Rates, or  
      • if you only have one Expedia Rate Plan ID for the rate marked Derived. Make sure this stays unsynchronized in Mews Operations.  
    • Hotel Collect: If the Expedia Rate Plan in the CSV file includes an "A" and is marked Yes under the column Interface Rates 

    Expedia uses the same Rate Plan ID for both Collect types but adds “A” at the end for the Hotel Collect code. You can read our FAQs to learn more about Collect types.  

     

    By selecting a Collect type in this field, you only need to map the rate once. You can track the different Collect types using the source and travel agency information in the Reservation sources report.

     


    Note:

    • If you are mapping rate code which is marked Derived in the CSV file, leave it unsynchronized.
    • The Expedia direct integration only allows you to connect one space category to each rate.  

    Step 3: Mapping products  

    To map products in the Expedia direct integration, complete the step 'Add Product Mappings' in the article here. 

     

    Note: Expedia direct integration does not support add-on products. 

    Step 4: Map travel agencies 

    For each travel agency, you need to create a profile/ contract and set up mapping. Then, Mews Operations can automatically detect and handle any new reservations from that agency. You can find a list of Expedia brands at the bottom of this guide. 

     

    Note: There is no automatic commission adjustment or billing automation in place for this. You still need to set this up manually.   

     

    Mews can also create company and travel agencies automatically for you, if you have incoming reservations with the specific company or travel agency attached. To do this: 

    1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  Mews Operations Menu Icon   > Marketplace > My subscriptions.
    2. Locate the Expedia direct integration and click Edit  to go to the settings page. 
    3. Under Options, select Create company and travel agency profiles.
    4. Click Save.

     

    This way the system detects any new travel agencies attached to your reservations and creates it for you.  

    With the Expedia direct integration, Mews recommends that you use the channel drop-down to map your travel agencies. Follow the steps for method 1 in this guide.  

     

    Important: For companies, map the travel agency before you enable the integration. This determines if the booking is via the Expedia Collect model or the Hotel Collect model.  

    • If you are an existing property, ensure that you map all your companies and set up billing automations before you enable the integration so that your billing automations are accurate. If you do not do this, you need to manage your existing reservations manually. 
    • If you are a new property, ensure to set up everything correctly so that your reservations and billing flow works smoothly. 

     

    Step 5: Set up billing automations 

    You need to set up billing automations so that the system posts billing items for Expedia Collect reservations under the travel agency’s bill and not under your guests’ bill. This way the system does not ask your guests to pay twice for the same item. You can read more about routing products to company bills here.

     
    To route products and nights to Expedia Collect companies when a reservation is made: 

    1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  Mews Operations Menu Icon   > Settings > Property.
    2. Under Finance, click Billing automations.
    3. Click Mews Operations Add Icon Create automation at the screens' top right corner.
    4. Under Select service, choose the service you want your rule to apply to.
    5. Under Set up routing for company or OTA, under travel agency contract select the Expedia Collect travel agency contract.
    6. Under What should be routed?, choose to route  
    • All stay items, or 
    • Only selected stay items to the rule.  

    Note: Your choice depends on what Expedia already charged the guest, for example you may charge city tax at the property, in which case you need to choose Only selected stay items.  

     

    1. Under How should we route this?, choose Move items to the company bill.
    2. Under Apply rule to, choose All future reservations with this company attached.
    3. Click Create. 

     

    Repeat these steps for every Expedia Collect company. To learn more about specific use cases with billing automations, please check this FAQ. 

     
    Note: 

    • Once you route the nights to a Company or Travel agency, Mews does not display the rate on the registration card. However, Mews displays the rate names in Guest confirmation emails and the total rate amounts in Booker confirmation emails. 
    • Mews doesn't automatically route items that you add to bills after the reservation is made. You need to move them yourself. 

     

    Step 6: Test the integration  

    Testing the integration allows you to check whether you configured the integration correctly. You can test this with a small set of reservations for the next 7 days.  

     

    To resolve any mapping issues in the Expedia direct integration, reach out via Expedia Partner Central.  

     

    To test the integration, complete step 4 in the article here.

     

    Note: 

    • Mews recommends that you do not enable Granular reporting when you have mapped travel agencies. Enabling Granular reporting can create errors for billing automations, product rules and commission reporting.
    • This test fails: 
      •  If there are any errors with your mapping setup in the Expedia direct integration, or
      •  You have not set Mews as your connectivity provider in Expedia's Partner Central Interface.  You can read about changing connectivity providers here.

    Step 7: Enable the integration 

    You should still map inactive rates as they may link to past reservations. You can learn more about this here. If you want to allocate bookings to specific travel agencies or companies, you need to map these prior to enabling the integration. These mappings determine if the booking is via the Expedia Collect model or the Hotel Collect model and ensure your billing automations are accurate.

     

    During this initial step, the system downloads existing reservations without specific details about the related Expedia brands. The system displays only Expedia or A-Expedia.

    If your property is already live, contact your Mews Customer Success representative.

     

    You do not need to download payment card details separately. During onboarding, Mews automatically delivers payment card details, but this only applies to virtual credit cards due to Expedia's limitations. Note: You need to verify that your virtual credit cards are available in the system during onboarding.

    The system excludes the following reservation types from the automated reservation transfer process:

    • Canceled bookings
    • Failed bookings, which are sent via email only
    • Bookings initially sent via email from Expedia when the property was not connected

    The system includes the following reservations in the download, but without payment card details:

    • Bookings without an available balance, for example, those canceled without a fee or already charged
    • Bookings that require payment via bank transfer instead of an Expedia virtual credit card

     

    Mews displays the error message "Requested operation failed: 3202: Hotel ID not found" when enabling the Expedia integration for the following reasons:

    • The property is not linked to Mews on Expedia's side.
    • The Expedia hotel ID does not match.
    • The price configuration is incorrect. The pricing model must be changed from occupancy-based pricing to daily-based pricing on Expedia's side. After the change, you must re-map the rates and generate a manual update because the codes are different.

    To resolve these issues, contact your Expedia account manager to fix it on their side.

     

      To enable the integration, complete step 5 in the article here.

       

      This connects the Expedia direct integration and you can now receive reservations and manage inventory directly in Mews Operations.

       
       
       
       
       

      You can learn about troubleshooting channel manager errors here.

       

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