Distribution Solution Setup

Distribution roadmap and timings

3. Hotel-X Mapping🏨

Our Distribution solution is multi-layered, with the Hotel-X API being one of its key components. This API consolidates all your products, both direct and third-party, enabling you to distribute them to your Buyers.

To facilitate this, the Hotel-X API needs to know the correlation between your unique codes and those of the Seller.

• FTP access and credentials 

You can access our FTP from any FTP application by configuring the following information:

• • Port: 21
  • Host: ftp.xmltravelgate.com
  • Credentials: Provided to the Organization Owner at TravelgateX.com, along with the Welcome Email (from: jenkins-ci) 

• Hotel-X Mapping files

Hotel-X utilizes six mapping files to enhance the accuracy of your aggregation. We suggest starting with at least the following:

• • Hotel Map
  • Board Map
  • Room Map

How can I upload my mapping files to the FTP?

Our mapping formats share a common structure, so you just need to follow the instructions below:

• • Create the Mapping Directory: Unfold your Organization folder and click in the "F0_" folder. Then, click in the "HotelX_" folder and create the "Maps" folder. The "Maps" folder will be the one where you will have to allocate all the mapping files.

• • Hotel-X Mapping Files format: You should follow the below format when generating the mapping files:

• • • File Name: [Context Source]_[Context Destination]_[entity]_map.csv
      • Context Source: it corresponds to your own codes
      • Context Destination: it corresponds to the supplier code
      • 1 file for each Supplier
    • Header Row: Code Source, Code Destination
      • Code Source: it corresponds to your own codes
      • Code Destination: it corresponds to the supplier codes
    • Delimiter: Comma (“,”)
    • Directory: /F[folder code]_[unique code]/HotelX_[unique code]/Maps/[entity]/

File names:

• • Hotel Map: [Context Source]_[Context Destination]_hotel_map.csv
  • Board Map: [Context Source]_[Context Destination]_board_map.csv
  • Room Map: [Context Source]_[Context Destination]_room_map.csv 

• Master files definition

With the Master files, you can easily customize the Static Content that your Buyers will download when they connect to you. This includes your own codes for hotels, rooms, boards, and more.

There are up to 10 master files, but we suggest starting with at least the following:

• Hotels
• Rooms
• Mealplans

Master files directory

You should upload the Master files into the Distribution folder as per below: 

Master files format

You should follow the format detailed for each of them:

• Master Hotels 
• Master MealPlans
• Master Room List
  
  

4. Distribution Setup🛠️

In order to connect your first Buyer, it is necessary to create the Agency or Agencies that will represent your Buyer's credentials in our Distribution Extranet. Once the agency is created, you will have the ability to configure the Distribution Rules that apply to that specific Agency.

5. Activate your Buyers and sell your product🚀

Now, all that's left is to request the activation of the Buyers you have an agreement with through our Connect Form:

• In order to request the activation you should first retrieve the user and the access token from our Distribution extranet:
• • User: It is the ID of the Agency you created for the Buyer you want to connect:
    
    
    
    

In case of multiple accesses for the same Buyer (e.g. B2B/B2C), you should repeat this process for each of them.

• • Access Token: Automatically generated once you create the Agency, it can be obtained by clicking in the "Token" button:
    
    

• Request the activation through our Auto-Activations form - make sure you add the user and access token to the form

Once you click in New Connection (more information here). Remember to add the User and Accesstoken to the form:

• Create a test hotel and set up your product!

Check out our articles How to connect to a Channel Manager via TravelgateX and How to set up and load product in Inventory for further information.