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Getting Started with Expedia

This article will guide you through the process of getting your ThinkReservations account connected with Expedia.

Step 1: Creating an Expedia Account

If you do not have a relationship with Expedia yet, click here to sign up.

When you're signing up, make sure to indicate that you use a Channel Manager so you can specify ThinkReservations as your provider and select "Occupancy Based Pricing" as the pricing model. Be sure this is not by length of stay.

Click here to view Expedia's Frequently Asked Questions.

Click Here for help setting up a NEW Expedia Account

Early on in the signup process, you will be asked, "Does this property work with a Channel Manager? Make sure to click "Yes."


When you get to Step 7 of Onboarding, Rooms, and Rates, please make sure that you select Occupancy-Based pricing for ThinkReservations to work correctly with Expedia. Once you've clicked Save, this will be the pricing model for your account. You can't change this after the fact. Only Expedia customer service can. Please take a moment before clicking Save to confirm you've selected 'Occupancy-based pricing'.

Once you complete step 9 of onboarding with Expedia, you'll be able to select ThinkReservations as your channel manager.

  1. Click Rooms and Rates on the left. If you don't see "Rooms and Rates," click the three horizontal lines on the upper left to expose the menu.

  2. Click the blue Get started button.

  3. In the Search box under 'Select your provider', type in Think.

    2. Make sure you click on the search result 'ThinkReservations', then click Next.

  4. Click the Connect button for Availability and Rates.

  5. Click the Connect button for Reservations.

    1. Once you've done so, it will look like this:

  6. Click Next.

  7. Click Confirm.

  8. After you've confirmed your connection, you should get a 'Return to onboarding' button. This will take you back to the Expedia Partner Central onboarding process, where you can complete the rest of your setup within their system.

You should receive an email from Expedia within 30 minutes with the subject line "EQC ARBR Enabled for..." Once you receive this email AND you've completed your account creation process within Expedia, you're ready to log into your ThinkReservations account to complete your connection.

Step 2: Prerequisites and Building Your Expedia Account

Before ThinkReservations and Expedia can be connected, your Expedia account needs to be set up a certain way.

The basic prerequisites are laid out below:

  • Room types and rate plans have been set up on Expedia.

  • The Expedia account must be EQC-enabled.

  • Expedia's Pricing model must be OccupancyBased Pricing.

  • Expedia has your settings and property policies set up.

  • Fees for children have been set if your property accepts them.

Click here to learn more about the prerequisites.

  • Before you connect Expedia Partner Central to ThinkReservations, you must have an active Expedia Partner Central account that you can log into.

  • The Expedia account must have an active room type for each room type that exists in ThinkReservations that you want to share with Expedia.

    • ​In Expedia: Expedia Partner Central --> Rooms and Rates --> Room types and rate plans

    • ​In ThinkReservations: ThinkReservations --> Settings --> Rate Types --> Open any rate type --> Your Room Types will be listed in the Room Qualifiers section.

    • Please ask if you aren't sure how your room types are set up in ThinkReservations.

  • Your Expedia account must be EQC-enabled. For new Expedia accounts, you can choose to work with a channel manager when you sign up. Make sure you select ThinkReservations as your channel manager for both Availability & Rates (AR) and Reservations (BR). If you have an existing Expedia account and are unsure if it's EQC-enabled or ARI, please call Expedia's support team to confirm.

  • The pricing model needs to be OccupancyBased Pricing. If not, when you choose ThinkReservations as your channel manager, you'll receive a notification that a case has been created with Expedia support to update your pricing model. You'll be informed when the change has been completed.

  • Although not a requirement, the "room code" for each room should be set up to identify the room or room type it's associated with to assist with mapping.

  • You will not need to enter rates or restrictions directly on Expedia Partner Central. Once connected, rates, restrictions, and availability will come from ThinkReservations, and Expedia will push reservations from their system to ThinkReservations.

ThinkReservations sends the following to Expedia:

  • Rates: Each Room Type that you have enabled within the mapped Rate Type in ThinkReservations will have those rates sent to Expedia Partner Central.

  • Availability: Room type availability (Expedia refers to this as Inventory). This will be a value from zero to the maximum number of units you have within that room type. Zero being unavailable, and anything one or greater indicates the number of available units within that Room Type for that given date.

  • Restrictions: Minimum Stay Throughs, Minimum Arrival Stay, Maximum Stay Through, Maximum Arrival Stay, Closed on Arrival, and Closed on Departure are all sent from the mapped rate type and are recognized by Expedia Partner Central's system.

  • Additional Adult guest fees.

    • Child ages & fees must be set up in the Expedia Partner Central.

IMPORTANT: Please be sure that your information on Expedia is set up correctly, pay special attention to the following, as they are not synced or set by ThinkReservations:

  • Deposit/Prepayment Policy.

  • Cancellation Policy.

  • Maximum occupancy for rooms.

  • Children and adult occupancy settings.

  • Additional guest fees for Children.

  • Minimum notice for online reservations.

  • Items

    • Example: service charges, cleaning fees, breakfast, etc...

  • Any refundable deposits, fees, or taxes below the subtotal line are sent from Expedia.

  • Room type name(s).

  • Room type photos and descriptions.

  • Meal Plans.

  • Smoking Policy, etc.

How to check your room types and rate plans on Expedia

To see your room types and rate plans in Expedia Partner Central, please do the following:

  1. Login to expediapartnercentral.com (EPC)

  2. Click Rooms and rates in the menu to the left.

    1. If you don't see Rooms and rates on the left, you'll need to click the three lines in the upper left-hand corner to expand their navigation menu.

  3. Click Room types and rate plans.

  4. If you don't see all the rooms that you would like to offer to Expedia, please do the following:

    1. Click 'Add a room'

    2. Choose 'Create new' or 'Copy existing'

    3. Follow the rest of the steps to create the new room type within Expedia.

  5. Make sure you have a corresponding room type on Expedia for each room type in ThinkReservations.

You can attempt to create the rooms and rate plans yourself or contact your Expedia market manager or market management team via email at naregional@expediagroup.com.

How to set "Room Codes" to help with room mapping

This is optional but highly recommended to help map your Expedia room types to your ThinkReservations room types. This value comes over from Expedia and can make the mapping process simpler.

  1. Login to expediapartnercental.com (EPC).

  2. Click Rooms and rates in the menu to the left.

    1. If you don't see Rooms and rates on the left, you'll need to click the three lines in the upper left-hand corner to expand their navigation menu.

  3. Click Room types and rate plans.

  4. Click Edit next to the room type photo.

  5. In the Room information section, you'll find 'Room code', choose 'Custom'

  6. In the box that appears, put the room type name you plan to map this room type within ThinkReservations.

  7. Scroll to the bottom of this page and click Submit.

  8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 for each of your room types within Expedia Partner Central.

Step 3: Enable Your Expedia Account for Connectivity

Your account is ready to connect once your Expedia account is set up, you have verified its content and settings are accurate, and your ThinkReservations account is active and bookable on your website (a.k.a. live).

A property owner or admin will need to indicate to Expedia that you wish to use ThinkReservations as your channel manager if this wasn't done so during the initial Expedia Partner Central account setup or if you're connecting an existing Expedia Partner Central account to ThinkReservations. To do so, please follow all the instructions below from your Expedia Partner Central Extranet:

  1. Click Rooms and rates in the menu to the left.

    1. If you don't see Rooms and rates on the left, you'll need to click the three lines in the upper left-hand corner to expand their navigation menu.

  2. Click Connectivity settings.

    1. Don't see the "Connectivity Settings" button? Please do the following:

      1. Call or email your Expedia Market Manager to enable your account EQC. (Your account is likely ARI enabled).

      2. Not sure who your Expedia Market Manager is? See below for alternate contact info.

      3. Expedia Team at 1-888-397-1786 - Option 1 for English, then option 5 for Extranet support or email NARegional@expedia.com.

  3. Verify if ThinkReservations is already set as your provider. Sometimes Expedia will do this step for you. Click the blue Edit connectivity settings button.

  4. Choose ThinkReservations as your Provider for updating rates and availability.

  5. Choose ThinkReservations as your Provider for receiving reservations.

  6. ThinkReservations must be selected for both Availability and Rates (AR) and Booking Retrieval (BR). For the connection to function properly, both must say ThinkReservations.

  7. Click the yellow Save and continue button. You may then be asked to confirm.
    (Continue below...)

Error about your pricing model?

If you receive a message about your selected channel manager not working with PerDayPricing, don't worry, Expedia has already created a case to make this change and as soon as that has been done you will be notified.

This error indicates that your property's current pricing model is incompatible, and you will need to wait until Expedia can update your account.

They will automatically update your account to support the required Occupancy Based Pricing model, usually within 48 hours.

How do you know when Step 3 is done?

If your account meets all the prerequisites, it might take up to 30 minutes. Look for an email with the subject containing:
​"EQC ARBR enabled for [Your property name]" or
"EQC Onboarding Next Steps"
This email indicates that your Expedia account is successfully enabled for connectivity.

Step 4: ThinkReservations Connects to Your Expedia Account

Once your Expedia account has been enabled for connectivity, your rooms are set up, and your ThinkReservations account is live (active and bookable on your website), you are ready to complete the connection process within ThinkReservations.

Please go to ThinkReservations and do the following:

  1. Click our logo in the upper left-hand corner (It looks like a house with two dots).

  2. Click Settings

  3. Scroll to the Channel Management heading, click Expedia.com

  4. Put your Expedia Hotel ID into the box and click Save

    1. If you don't know your ID, it will be on the "EQC enabled for ...." email, or you can find it in your Expedia Partner Central account by clicking on your business name in the upper right-hand corner.

  5. Your Expedia room types and rate plans will be shown in the table below.

  6. The number of rate plans you see below may be more than you see in within Expedia Partner Central for each of your room types. The reason for this is that Expedia has two modes for pricing and then a hybrid option, which allows the guest to choose:

    1. Expedia Collect: This option will be indicated on the rate plan by a numeric-only ID for the Expedia Rate ID. (Ex: Expedia Rate ID: 123456789)

    2. Hotel Collect: This option will be indicated on the rate plan by a series of numbers followed by the letter A. (Ex: Expedia Rate ID: 987654321A)

    3. Expedia Traveller Preference: This hybrid option has the guest decide whether they wish their reservations to be 'Expedia Collect' OR 'Hotel Collect'. These rate plans show up in ThinkReservations as two separate rate plans. However, they will have identical Expedia Rate ID numbers; one will have an A at the end(Hotel Collect), and the other will only be numbers(Expedia Collect). It's advised to map both sides of these rate plans from Expedia to a rate type or rate types within ThinkReservations that have matching availability, rates, and restrictions as it's up to the Expedia customer whether or not you receive their reservation through the Expedia Collect side of this rate plan, or the Hotel Collect side.

      1. NOTE: If Expedia is collecting and remitting taxes on your behalf, you'll need to make sure your Expedia Collect rate plans, and the Expedia Collect side of any Expedia Traveller Preference rate plans, are set up with a rate type that overrides the taxes that Expedia is collecting and remitting.

  7. For each Rate plan shown for each Room type, you'll need to choose the rate type you want to map, and the room type and room(s) within that room type you want to be mapped.

    1. Note that every room within ThinkReservations is associated with a room type. If your business has a one-to-one relationship between room types and rooms, this might be a room type with the exact same name as your room. If your business has a one-to-many relationship between room types and rooms, this might be named something like Queen Rooms, where multiple units with just numbers reside.

      1. Example: A one-to-one example would be a bed and breakfast with four unique units. Each one has its own room type, but those are named the same as the unit they're associated with.

      2. Example: A one-to-many example would be a hotel where you reserve a Queen room and get unit 201 as your 'Queen room' unit for your stay.

  8. Once you've made the Rate type, Room type, and Room selections for each Rate plan, click Save.

You've successfully mapped your ThinkReservations account to your Expedia Partner Central account! Please note that Expedia could take a few minutes to update as they are getting two years' worth of data from our system for all your mapped units.

That said, it's still recommended that you log into expediapartnercentral.com and click on Rooms and rates --> Rates and availability to verify that your rates, restrictions, and availability match those in your ThinkReservations account.

If by some chance they are not, please reach out to our support team for help.

Click here to learn about Expedia Acronyms.

  • EPC = Expedia Partner Central
    This is the site you use to manage your Expedia account.

  • EQC = Expedia Quick Connect
    This is the connectivity type that ThinkReservations uses.

  • AR = Availability and Rates

  • BR = Booking Retrieval (Often seen together as "ARBR")

  • ARI = Availability, Rates, Inventory
    This is the connectivity type used previously by BB.com to connect to Expedia.

  • OBP = Occupancy Based Pricing
    This is the pricing model that Expedia recommends and that ThinkReservations uses. It allows ThinkReservations to handle the additional guest fees automatically.

  • PDP = Per Day Pricing
    An alternative pricing model that ThinkReservations doesn't support.

  • ETP = Expedia Traveler Preference
    This combines Hotel and Expedia Collect, although even Hotel Collect reservations are set at the 18% commission.

  • MOD = Members Only Deal
    Often seen as "Fenced MOD," this promotion is automatically included in many Expedia contracts. Expedia can set blackout dates and even pause these promotions for you.

  • LAR = Lowest Available Rate
    This is typically seen when Expedia tells you the "Acquisition Type" on your account for Expedia Collect-only properties.

Note:

If you decide to establish a direct connection, ThinkReservations charges an additional 3% commission for room rates and additional guest fees for reservations that come from Expedia.

Trivago:

Trivago is an Expedia partner; however, their arrangement with Expedia differs from that of their other partner sites. If you'd like to connect with Trivago, please call Trivago's Hotel Support line at 646.663.6068 and let them know you want Trivago to pull your rates from Expedia.
​
Trivago does not partner with Expedia to feed the images, content, and information—it only shows prices for your property.
​
Trivago says you should assign the property under a Hotel Manager account. You can create your profile by registering for free on Trivago Hotel Manager here: http://www.trivago.com/hotelmanager/register. You can add your property by typing the name. It will take up to 48 hours after system approval for your hotel to be assigned to you on Trivago. You will receive an email confirming the assignment.
​
This way, you can control all the information regarding your property, including changing its name, adding/deleting photos, and changing room amenities and facilities.
​
​ hotelmanager@trivago.com
trivago Hotel Manager: http://www.trivago.com/hotelmanager
​

Tip: You can contact Expedia support by phone at 1-888-EXP-1STOP or by email at hotelhelp@expedia.com

Disclaimer: This article provides help or instructions on third-party systems, which are provided in our effort to assist you.

Please note that ThinkReservations does not own or maintain these third-party systems. Changes made by third-party providers may render the instructions inaccurate.

We recommend cross-referencing with official third-party documentation to ensure up-to-date guidance. Thank you for understanding.


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