Frequently Asked Questions

These are organised by the section the question most relates to in the documentation. There is also a 'Miscellaneous' section for questions which don't relate to any one particular area in this list.

1. Prerequisistes / Set up

• Do you have a guide to load a contract and live property in iVector?

Yes we do for contracts.
Please see Adding a new contract in our separate iVector Documentation.
For properties, this is coming soon to our iVector Documentation.

• Can geography data (i.e. the country, region and resort names we need) be imported directly, without conifguring it via the iVector UI?

This is something that needs to either be done through the UI in iVector. For a small additional effort, we can do this for you via the database. Please contact intuitive if you would like this option.

• Is an XSD or WSDL available?

Not at present, but a schema for each iVectorConnect call is included in this guide.

2. Getting Started

Making calls

• How do I find out what my login details are for making requests?

To do this, you can go to the iVector software and go to the page XML Booking Logins. See Default System Setup > Logins for more details.

Structure of calls

• Do I need to include an XML declaration in requests?

No. The XML declaration, which you will often see at the beginning of an XML document, for example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

 is not necessary in the requests sent to iVectorConnect and will not be included in the responses.

• Can I include an XML declaration in the requests if I want? What encoding should I use?

Whilst not necessary for iVectorConnect, if you would like to include an XML declaration in your requests to the API this should not cause any problems. If you would like to specify the character encoding in the declaration then this should be UTF-8.

• Can I confirm that the XML property search request / transfer prebook request / other call I am using is in the correct format?

Yes. You can test your requests through the iVectorConnect Demo API. This allows you to send your request online and receive an immediate response. The response should always include a return status, which will tell you if your request was successful and if there are any problems with your request, will include details of any problems.

Please see the section Demo API for details.

3. Static Data

Property File

• Why is there no PropertyReferenceID column in my property download file?

This means you have not yet deduped your properties. Deduping must be done through our iVector software - please see the iVector documentation for more details.

• What is the difference between PropertyID and PropertyReferenceID?

The property ID is different to the PropertyReferenceID.

PropertyID identifies the record of the property that was imported to our system for a third party.

PropertyReference ID refers to the centralised property record for a third party property.

When properties are imported from third parties, they are allocated property IDs. The same property may be imported for two different suppliers and given two separate records and two separate property IDs. A centralised record for this property can be made with a single PropertyReferenceID, and all records from all third parties can be synced to match this record and this PropertyReferenceID. Please see the Glossary entries for Property ID and Property Reference ID for more details.

4. Search and book

• Why am I not getting property results?

There are many things that influence this.

The first things to check are

• That the properties you are searching for exist in iVector AND 

• have the IDs for which you are searching OR 

• are mapped to the regions or resorts for which you are searching.

• Have the properties been deduped?

Properties must be deduped to work with iVectorConnect.

Check that

• Contracts have been set up for the property/properties you are searching for

• The contract has been set to live

• The dates the contract is valid for match your search and

• Rooms have been made available for those dates.

For more information on how to set up contracts, please see our iVector guide to adding new contracts.

• Is it possible to have the Property name coming back on the XML search results?

No, this is to increase the performance and speed of communication.

The PropertyReferenceID is returned which is linked to a property name and all the other information that's needed for a property results page. If you want to find the name form the ID, use lookups.

• Can we enforce specific currency in the XML?

The problem is this is in GBP not USD and hence reliant on the FX rate in your system. Is it possible to have this is local currency as per the Gross cost field which we use as our base price? Or alternatively return the FX rate so we can calculate it back?

<Adjustments>
<Adjustment>
<AdjustmentType>Offer</AdjustmentType>
<AdjustmentID>7</AdjustmentID>
<AdjustmentName>Early Booking Bonus</AdjustmentName>
<Total>849.38</Total>
<PayLocal>false</PayLocal>
</Adjustment>
</Adjustments>

Same issue as below when the discount <Discount>607.29</Discount> is used, also in GBP.

There is a setting called AllowSellingCurrencyOverride that governs whether the selling currency option shows on that page. The default currency would always be chosen. Then you have two options:

Option 1. In the XML Booking Logins option, set the Selling Currency to USA Dollars.

or, Option 2. You can enter the currency in the Login Details in each request:

<PropertySearchRequest>
<LoginDetails>
<Login>TestUserName<Login>
<Password>TestPassword<Password>
<SellingCurrencyID>2</SellingCurrencyID>
</LoginDetails>
...
</PropertySearchRequest>

Where 2 is the currency ID for US Dollars.

• Why am I getting results in iVector but not iVectorConnect for my property / flight / transfer / extra search?

This can be due to a number of factors and also depends on the set up of your system and which component you are searching.

For property searches, a common issue that causes this is that it may be because properties have not been deduped in your setup. To do this, see our iVector documentation.

• Is the payment in the BasketBook optional? How do we configure this?

Yes. For set up details see our iVector documentation.

• Can you explain what the adjustments are in the XML responses?

The booking adjustments are any adjustments that change the price of the booking, for example a promotional code. If a promotional code has been applied to a booking, the details and amount of the discount of the promotional code will be given as a booking adjustment.

• Will the net rate be returned in the total / subtotal?

to do

• I am getting results back from my test system but not live, what is the problem?

The set ups on test and live are done separately, so something that is set up on your test system may not yet be set up on your live system. Please check that the set up that has been done on test has also been done on live.

For example, you will not receive any property results from a property search request if your properties have not yet been deduped. This process may have been done in your test system and you get results when using your test system but don't get any results in your live environment. In this case the process may not have been done on the live system and needs to be completed before you get results in live as well.

5. Supporting Calls

CRM

Customer Login

• What if I login by EmailAndPassword? How does the system know which booking to retrieve, if I have multiple bookings?

If you login using the EmailAndPassword method, iVectorConnect will return the booking ID of the first booking in the system for that customer.

6. Booking Management

Miscellaneous

• Can each supplier use its own geography representation so that we do not have to map anything? (i.e different suppliers can have different levels of granularity for locations such as New York City).

No, your system has to use the same locations, i.e. countries, regions and resorts, for all suppliers. It is necessary to map supplier data to your system data, such as mapping properties to resorts.

To make this easier for you we have tools such as lookups that allow you quick access to the data in your system. Please see the section Static Data for more information.

• How do we find PostcodeAnywhere?

If you set up a PostcodeAnywhere account, there is a "PostcodeLookup" iVectorConnect call to do this. See this section for details.

• What is the time for session validity?

Since all iVectorConnect calls are stateless, there are no sessions. The login details need to be sent in each call and the API will validate the login details with each request before processing the main request.

• Do you have a handbook for iVectorConnect?

Yes, you're reading it!

This is the documentation for the iVectorConnect platform, which replaces the PDF document we used to provide. We are always striving to offer the best service, so if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch.

• Should I be using the PDF or this wiki? Why are transfers in a separate PDF document?

This wiki should be your complete iVectorConnect guide. This replaces the PDF that we used to use. There was a separate transfers document, which this wiki also replaces.

• How do I get in contact with intuitive if there is a problem?

The first port of call is this wiki, to see if your question has already been answered.

If that doesn't help, please contact Intuitive support for issues, or if it is not a bug or issue, please contact your intuitive Project Manager.