Viator is the leading marketplace for tours and activities and was recently acquired by Tripadvisor. For many years Rezgo has had a strong relationship with Viator. We have been working on finding ways to improve the way that Viator bookings are managed in Rezgo. About two years ago I wrote an article for Tnooz that described an API structure that would allow an OTA like Viator to support live availability connectivity with multiple provider systems without having to create custom connections for each one. Shortly after that article came out we talked to Viator about the viability of creating such an API. It turned out that the team at Viator was already researching their provider API for the purposes of supporting live availability checking and direct booking.
After many months of integration work we are happy to announce that, if you resell your tours through Viator, you can import Viator bookings directly into Rezgo. In addition, Viator will check your availability in Rezgo before pushing bookings through to your account, preventing the need for time consuming requests and overbooking headaches.
Getting Set-up
In order to use the Viator direct connect you need to:
- Have an active Rezgo account
- Have tours or activities in Rezgo that are also available for sale through Viator
- Be set-up as a provider with Viator
Assuming that all of the prerequisites are met you are pretty much ready to make the connection.
Making the Connection
Once you are ready for the direct connection, you will need to contact your Viator provider manager in order to start the connection process. Your supplier manager will request a tour list from Rezgo in order to start the mapping process. During the mapping process, Viator will attempt to match your Rezgo products to their Viator equivalents. Once the products have been mapped, Viator will let us know and your connection will be completed.
How it Works
When a customer visits the Viator website and decides to book one of your tours, Viator sends an availability request through the direct connection to your account. Rezgo responds back with your current availability. If there is enough room on your tour or activity, then Viator will proceed with the booking. Viator completes the booking, takes payment from the customer, and sends a completed booking request via the direct connect into your Rezgo account.
Reporting
One of the big advantages of having your Viator bookings imported directly into your Rezgo account is that you get all of your bookings in one place. This means you can keep an accurate accounting of all the bookings generated through Viator. You can create a booking report that specific to Viator and save it for regular use.