Planning the Tour Package
Index
Overview
A tour package is a tour that books several tours at a time through one code for a packaged price. In this sense, setting up a tour package in ResPax requires structure planning, creating underlying components, day tours, bus routes and connecting all the codes to the top level package.
This tutorial will plan out a tour package and show the different steps that will be required to create a working top level package.
What is the Tour?
The tour package that needs to be created in ResPax is an Open Water 4 Day 1 Night Learn to Dive course. The first two days are spent with passengers doing theory and learning to dive in the diving pool with instructors. The third day, passengers travel out to the reef and go diving on the vessel, Tutorial Vessel. Passengers spend the night on the reef on the vessel. The fourth day, passengers are out on the reef all day and return to shore in the afternoon. Pickups are offered throughout the days but must make their own ways back. Prices are $250 per Adult.
The vessel, Tutorial Vessel, can only hold 40 passengers and has 20 rooms and these are all one type, Standard Twin, with two beds. Tutorial Vessel has enough diving racks to accommodate 40 divers if needed and there are enough instructors to guide the passengers also.
What are Components?
Components are the different resources an operator uses. For example, Tutorial Vessel is considered a component as it used to transport passengers to the reef to snorkel and dive and transport the passengers back. The Pool and Theory class is, also, considered a component as it is used to teach passengers for two days how to dive.
Components are used to assist ResPax in booking tour packages accurately, avoid issues such as availability and allows bookings to be adjusted and customised.
Identifying the Components
When looking at the tour that needs to be created, a user needs to identify the different components that will be created to make a package. The best way to do this is to break the tour into sections or bullet point form. An example of this is below...
Day 1
- Pickups Included
- Pool and Theory Class
Day 2
- Pickups Included
- Pool and Theory Class
Day 3
- Pickups Included
- Travel to Reef
- Diving
- 1 Night's Accommodation on the Reef
Day 4
- Diving
- Travel to Shore
Using this basic structure, users can identify which are components and bus routes...
Day 1
Pickups Included - Bus Route
Pool and Theory Class - Component
Day 2
Pickups Included - Bus Route
Pool and Theory Class - Component
Day 3
Pickups Included - Bus Route
Travel to Reef - Component
- Diving
1 Night's Accommodation on the Reef - Component
Day 4
- Diving
Travel to Shore - Component
Now that the components have been identified, structuring of the tour can start.
Structuring the Package
The general structure of a package is...
Top Level Package
- Underlying Components (Connected to Top Level Package)
- Bus Routes (Connected to Components)
The top level of the tour package connects and customises all the components in a way to suit the different package variations in the tour.
Please Note: Availability can be attached in a way that two different outcomes can be received. For more information, please refer Availability of Components and Packages
The structure of this tour package is as follows:
OW4D1N - Top Level Package
Pool & Theory Class (Day 1) - Component
TUTBUS (09:00) - Bus Route
Pool & Theory Class (Day 2) - Component
TUTBUS (09:00) - Bus Route
Tutorial Vessel (Travel to Reef) - Component
TUTBUS (09:00) - Bus Route
Accommodation (Standard Twin) - Component
Tutorial Vessel (Travel to Shore) - Component
Availability of Components and Packages
Availability, if set correctly, can be configured in a number of different ways. The two major configurations that are widely used are...
Availability set on the Top Level Package - When availability is set on the top level package, ResPax limits the amount of passengers that can be booked with this tour. This means that though the tour code is limited to a certain number, the underlying components can be booked freely with no availability set to it. If these components are only used by this tour code, that will cause no problems. If these components are used by multiple tour codes, then issues with over booking will occur.
Availability set on the Components and Bus Routes - When availability is on a component or bus route, ResPax limits the amount of passengers that can be booked on the resource. This means that though the tour code has no limit to how many passengers can be booked, the underlying components have limits to how many passengers that are able to fit in one day. If these components are only used by one tour code, this causes no problems and would be exactly the same as setting availability on the top level package. If these components are used by multiple tour codes, then this allows more fluidity through bookings as tours will only be limited by how much room there is on a boat, bus, transport, etc.
This package will have availability set to the components and bus routes rather than the top level package.