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GP Travel Enterprise is a state-of-the-art web-based turnkey solution that provides immense opportunities for travel companies to fully automate business processes, including back-office automation and interaction with partners, as well as online sales of travel services. The main purpose of the system is to simplify and accelerate searching and booking of travel services, rendered by various suppliers. Moreover, using configuration and control tools you can create a single working space to cooperate with a vast network of clients (including travel agencies and distributors) granting access to respective information for them.

GP Travel Enterprise features:

• Access to world leading suppliers and GDS’s

• Inventory management with detailed description of tourist products, prices and availability

• B2B and B2C online booking

• Comprehensive reservation and finance management and more

• API for integration with 3rd party applications

Highlights

• Active on software market: since 2008

• Current version: 8.4 (release date: October 2020)

• Data repository: MySQL (with optional porting to Oracle (extra charge))

• Access: multi-user via the Internet

• Architecture: “client-server” (all business logic is managed on centralized server)

• Accessibility: 24/7, upwards of 99,9% (including time for scheduled updates)

• Framework and program languages of the system: Java, XSLT, JS

• External components: Jasper Reporting, AmCharts, Google/Yandex maps

Intended Audience

Various system solutions can be created on the basis of GP Travel Enterprise, specifically:

• Booking and business automation systems for travel industry companies, including:

  • Incoming tour operators

  • Outgoing tour operators

  • Online booking portals and OTAs

  • Airline companies

  • Travel services consolidators

• Flexible pricing and tour management tools.

Advantages

GP Travel Enterprise is the best way to manage your tasks effectively, since it:

• Allows permanent access 365/24/7

• Works online via the Internet

• Provides instant booking of travel services directly from suppliers

• Supports multi-user access for suppliers, agencies, tour operators and their staff and individual tourists with different user permissions and change history logging

• Designed for international markets (with multi language descriptions and multi-currency support)

• Allows manual input of currency rates and integration with various financial information sources (banks)

• May be utilized in various configurations

• Enables complex automation of business processes and flexible adaptation to numerous business models

Business Model

GP Travel Enterprise is a multifunctional modular platform that includes more than 100 modules. The architecture can be easily customized on demand to suit the requirements of various travel businesses and cover such aspects and BUYING travel products from suppliers, SELLING them via B2B/B2C sales channels and MANAGING processes and reservations.

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The modules of the system are combined into six independent components, and each of them is designed to solve the specific range of business tasks.

• GP HUB component provides a unified interface for integration with tourism product suppliers (consolidators, GDSs) to enable search and booking.

• GP INVENTORY component allows creating the company’s own base of tourism products, managing descriptions, availability and pricing.

• GP B2B component allows organizing sales via agencies/other tour operators/ corporate clients.

• GP B2C component allows sales directly to tourists.

• GP ENTERPRISE MANAGER component provides a fully functional back-office solution for configuring markups & commissions & other sales rules, managing reservations, creating invoices, controlling payments and getting analytics on how everything goes.

• GP GATEWAYS component enhances functionality of the Platform, enabling integration with external systems (e.g. CRM, Accounting, online payment gateways etc.).

All components and modules of the platform can be combined in many ways and also include scalability mechanisms for adaptation to business processes and special needs.

Platform Delivery and Administration ?

Installation Options

GP Travel Enterprise is available as ENTERPRISE version with installation on a client’s separate server or on cluster that ideally suits to Large Businesses.

Dedicated Server

Individual software installation on the dedicated server of a client is the most common implementation option. The platform installation is performed by GP team's specialists. The client rents or provides his own server and grants full access to our experts so that they can install and adjust the platform.

For ENTERPRISE installations, for implementation of individual enhancements or new releases, we recommend having an additional test server for internal useю

Cloud/cluster of Services

If the system is supposed to process a huge amount of booking transactions (approximately more than 5 000 bookings per month) or if high search load is expected, it is recommended to use the cloud server installation to assure the appropriate performance level. The following parameters should be considered to make the right decision about the recommended number of servers and their configuration:

• What and how many external suppliers are to be connected

• How many company’s self-operated travel products will be stored in the company's database (e.g. hotels, tours etc.)

• Expected number of B2B users and concurrent sessions

• Expected number of B2C guests and concurrent search queries

• Number of offices (branches) (for the Holding configuration)

• Number of websites (for tour operators and agencies)

• Expected number of search queries per day

• Rates of search queries in peak hours

• Expected number of bookings per month.

System Setting and Adjustment

With system customization features you can easily configure platform functionality in reservation to meet specific requirements of clients:

• Functional modules adjustments (e.g. adjusting rules for payment methods and penalty charges etc.)

• UI adjustments (e.g. company logo, color schemes, utilized images, etc.)

• Documents and reports settings (e.g. the look and the content of the voucher, invoice, product description)

3rd Party Integrations

GP Travel Enterprise implementation flexibility enables integration with third party software, which is used by licensee or its partners and enables the following:

• Get connected to new product suppliers

• Get connected to various online payment systems

• Get integrated with accounting software (e.g. 1C)

• Enable user authorization via external system (e.g. LDAP)

• Get integrated with the company’s and partners’ self-developed or 3rd party software

The existing integrations are described in the document below. Additionally it’s possible to request extra integrations with any other software.

Technical Requirements ?

Operational Requirements ?

GP Travel Enterprise is a state-of-the-art web-based turnkey solution that provides immense opportunities for travel companies to fully automate business processes, including back-office automation and interaction with partners, as well as online sales of travel services. The main purpose of the system is to simplify and accelerate searching and booking of travel services, rendered by various suppliers. Moreover, using configuration and control tools you can create a single working space to cooperate with a vast network of clients (including travel agencies and distributors) granting access to respective information for them.

Business Model

GP Travel Enterprise is a multifunctional modular platform that includes more than 100 modules. The architecture can be easily customized on demand to suit the requirements of various travel businesses and cover such aspects and BUYING travel products from suppliers, SELLING them via B2B/B2C sales channels and MANAGING processes and reservations.

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The modules of the system are combined into six independent components, and each of them is designed to solve the specific range of business tasks. All components and modules of the platform can be combined in many ways and also include scalability mechanisms for adaptation to business processes and special needs.

Platform Delivery and Administration

Installation Options

GP Travel Enterprise is available as ENTERPRISE version with installation on a client’s separate server or on cluster that ideally suits to Large Businesses.

System Setting and Adjustment

With system customization features you can easily configure platform functionality in reservation to meet specific requirements of clients:

• Functional modules adjustments (e.g. adjusting rules for payment methods and penalty charges etc.)

• UI adjustments (e.g. company logo, color schemes, utilized images, etc.)

• Documents and reports settings (e.g. the look and the content of the voucher, invoice, product description)

3rd Party Integrations

GP Travel Enterprise implementation flexibility enables integration with third party software, which is used by licensee or its partners and enables the following:

• Get connected to new product suppliers

• Get connected to various online payment systems

• Get integrated with accounting software (e.g. 1C)

• Enable user authorization via external system (e.g. LDAP)

• Get integrated with the company’s and partners’ self-developed or 3rd party software

Technical Requirements

To provide proper operation of GP Travel Enterprise the server and Internet browsers should meet the further described requirements.

Server Requirements

• CPU: 8 cores, starting from 2.5 GHz

• RAM: 32 gb

• STORAGE: 1 TB SATA in RAID 1; Recommended: 500 GB SAS Drive in RAID 1 (512 Gb SSD for DB max performance) for DB

• OS: Ubuntu Server 16.04 x64 in min setup (only ssh server installed)

• CREDS: root password; IP address of server; domain name for installation

• Ideal Internet connection: 100 Mb/sec at least. 1GB/sec is preferred

These are the minimal requirements. The requirements are applicable in case of the Full Platform installation (all components) on one server. Server requirements may vary in case separate components are installed (e.g. HUB only).

The requirements for partial platform installation (separate components) are to be defined during implementation. Likewise, cluster configuration may lay down different requirements to various types of servers (database server, application server). As a result, the final server configuration is defined individually in every specific case.

Browser and Client PC Requirements

The system is installed centrally on a server and does not require PC installation. Before you start working with the system, make sure that your PC is connected to the Internet and has a browser installed. If you want to use the system in the form of application, you can download Mozilla Prism application. You will be able to launch the system with this application, without using a browser.

Note: To ensure the system work correctly, it is recommended to set the minimal screen resolution to 1366*768.

Operational Requirements ?

Logging in

After you company is registered in the system, you receive log in data. Using it you can log in the system and start your work with GP Travel Enterprise.

Introduction to the Main Window

After logging in the system, you see the Main window. Below you will find the basic elements of the Main window. The layout of the Main window depends on the role of a user and on the platform section currently opened, therefore it may differ from that depicted in the figure below.

The areas marked in the figure imply:

1. Navigation bar - to move across the platform sections.

2. Search form - to search for travel products and services..

3. Workspace - The contents of the workspace depend on the selected system section. The workspace can display dialog boxes, each with a number of tabs that enable a user to browse the subsections.
   - On the Home page, the central part of the workspace displays news, links and tips. The contents of the workspace are generated and regulated by system users.
   - On the right side of the screen, on the home page, there is a list of 10 most popular destinations. The list features the cities/regions that are searched for and booked the most frequently in the system.
   - Below the list of popular destinations, there is a Currency rates form.

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Exporting Data to Excel

By using GP Travel Enterprise you can export the system data to the Microsoft Excel file. In some cases, the browser you use may not allow downloading files from external web-sources. In such cases, configure the file export. The configuration procedure varies depending on the browser you use. Please, refer to the browser web help for detailed information on exporting data

Online Help

The system has reference pages for all the general sections and subsections. The online help is intended to highlight the necessary information and give prompts on the system functionality. To get a reference on a particular section, click the Query icon .

Frequently Asked Questions

To make the process of using GP Travel Enterprise easier for system users, you can create a list of frequently asked questions.

Multilingual Description

In the system, the pages containing text data are localized. It means that you can enter text information in different languages. It may be particularly useful if you offer services on the international level and have a network of clients across the globe. In this case using multilingual description will help you to successfully distribute your products and operate on the markets of different countries.

BASIC FUNCTIONALITY

Before you can start sales via the system first of all you need to configure your company profile, your suppliers & products you want to sell, your clients & sales rules, as well as financial conditions. After you configure these basic options you will be able to accept bookings, manage reservations and payments, as well as receive analytics on the workflow.

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• Accomodation (Hotels, Villas, Apartments, etc.)

• Charters

• Transfers

• Car Hire

• Excursions

• Events

• Tours

• Visas

• Insurance

• Extra services

• Cruises

• Package tours

In general the process of developing self-operated products includes the following steps:

1. General product description. The first step implies entering basic information on the product or service. The information to be specified varies depending on the product. There are however certain common fields:

   1. Adding general information on the product, including name, supplier, transaction currency, and the description of the product itself.

   2. Adding particular categories to a service catalogue (for example, categories for accommodation, service classes for charters, type for excursions and tours, etc.)

   3. Creating tourist categories. The Adult category is created by default. In case you want to provide special rates for children or elderly tourists, you can add corresponding categories and later adjust price calculation.

   4. Scheduling services. Includes setting service schedule (usually service start time.)

   5. For some products configuring additional services is also available.

2. Configuring prices. Configuring prices includes several steps, and generally consists of:

   1. Creating tariffs according to which the prices are calculated and terms of your product marketing are formed

   2. Creating price-lists for a product and all services it includes

   3. Adding a price list for additional services;

   4. Selecting types of discounts and specify terms of their application

   5. Setting penalties

3. Availability. Specifying allotments of seats or rooms available for booking (if you have corresponding agreement with suppliers) or configuring sales “on request”.

As a result, a tour product is created in the system and becomes available for search and booking. If needed, all new products can be modified.

Managing Clients

Using managing and control tools, you can create and manage your own vast network of partners and clients. You can add other tour operators and travel agencies via which you re-sell your travel products, as well as create profiles for corporate and private clients.

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Multi-Level Distribution Chains (Available only for EXTENDED and ENTERPRISE Pricing Plans) - is the ability to re-sell your travel products via some intermediate companies (usually either some wholesalers or agency chains or other Tour Operator), who have their own sub-agencies. The main concept about them is that they can get from you Net rates (that are usually composed as your Net rate from supplier + your Markup) and can configure their own clients and own markups for them. This allows to involve multiple companies into the distribution and automate search&book processes for all of them on the same platform. At the same time, please, note that only Tour Operator Level 1 (licensee owner) will be able to configure travel products and connections to suppliers. While other distributors in chain will be able to sell them, but not create&manage own products.

This is depicted on the following diagram:

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The main capabilities of this module are:

• Register Tour Operator accounts as clients (so called Tour Operators Level 2)

• Ability to log in as Tour Operator Level 2 and configure own Travel Agencies with own sales conditions for them (markups&commissions)

• Search&book travel products both within Tour Operator Level 2 account and their sub-agencies

• Get analytics on turnovers and actual amount due with regards to suppliers and clients on any level of distribution chain.

How it works:

1. Tour Operator Level 1 (supervisor of your company) logs into the system, goes to My company -> Clients legal and creates new company with type “Tour Operator” and configures sales rules for him (e.g. markup +10%).

2. Tour Operator Level 2 logs into the system and goes to My company -> Clients legal and creates his own sub-agencies and configures sales rules for them (e.g. markup + 20% and commission 15%).

3. Travel Agency beneath Tour Operator Level 2 logs into the system and makes a booking. After that every company in the chain sees this booking with corresponding net and gross prices in their accounts.

Corporate Clients – are the organization who require travel services for their own employees or partners.

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• What products should be available

• What markup and commission should be applied

• Whether VAT should be applied or not

• Etc.

System allows to configure different contracts for different sales channels as depicted on the following diagram

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In compliance with the type of client and cooperation, rates and marketing terms can be configured in the following ways:

• Direct sales: these are the sales conditions that are applied if Tour Operator staff sells services directly to the tourists.

• Web sales: these are the sales conditions that are applied for search&book via Tour Operator web site (when travelers make bookings by themselves).

• Groups of contracts: client companies can be arranged into groups with the same contract terms set for all of them. It’s possible to create as many of such groups, as you need.

• Individual contracts: in this case you configure individual terms with a particular client.

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• this case you configure individual terms with a particular client.

Search & book

By using GP Travel Enterprise you can book the number of different travel products offered by suppliers. The booking procedure includes several steps:

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The Finance module helps you track financial operations and acquire complete information about the company’s financial flow. Finance module include the following funcctionality:

Ledgers - Finance information about transactions between your company customers and suppliers is stored in the finance module of the system. By using general ledgers you can view the trade liabilities, the debts of the customers as well as income and expenses and thus keep track of the company financial flow.

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Statement of Account - With GP Travel Enterprise you can track all financial transactions between a tour operator and suppliers as well as all transactions made by any customer.

Payment Settings - In the Payment settings section we will cover the following issues covered here:

• Configuring invoice print-out settings - With GP Travel Enterprise you can customize the parameters that are used to generate invoices. General parameters are set by default in the system; however, you can configure them individually

• Configuring VAT - In order to make correct financial payment between a Tour operator and Travel agencies, you can calculate prices of services, including the value added tax, and view information about VAT in the invoices that are issued to a customer.

• Configuring Payment Plans - Since clients of tour operator that bought your service for further sale (travel agents and tourists that bought services via B2C web-site) don’t have possibilities to manage settlement of accounts of this tour operator with its supplier in the context of payments settled in the contract between tour operators, it’s necessary to specify either one and only method of payment or some mutually exclusive methods of payment (e.g. in the case when your first specified method have effect only till occurrence of penalty period, and the second - after its occurrence).
  It enables to avoid B2B-users of system release from occasion for selections payment method. In case payment plan was built in such a way that two or more payments methods could be used simultaneously, the system will select method in a random way.
  First we will dwell on the configuration of payment plans for customers who buy your services and do not have access to the contract settings between the tour operator and the supplier. These customers usually include travel agencies and end customers who buy your services via B2C web-site.

• Setting payment methods - It is necessary to configure payment plans and methods for customers who buy your services and do not have access to the contract settings between the tour operator and the supplier.

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Extended flights search & book

• Flight search by schedule
  Flights Search by Schedule module allows you to search flights not only by price but by departure date and time as well. This feature can be useful for the cases when clients know the exact dates or time of departure and arrival and the price of a ticket is not considered as the main search criteria. The key features are:

  • Displaying flights search results according to their departure time and dates;

  • Checking availability and prices of the selected options.

• Voiding tickets
  Flights Void allows you to void issued e-tickets directly from the system. Thus you can void a ticket within 24 hours from the booking time.

Packaging

With GP Travel Enterprise you can not only sell separate travel products (e.g. accommodation, flights, transfers, etc.) but combine them and distribute as travel packages. Depending on the peculiarities of the packaged products, in GP Travel Enterprise we single out Dynamic Packages and Complex Tours.

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