Find, propose, and book hotels with TravelJoy

You can now offer hotels to your clients directly from Smart Proposals and Itineraries! With this feature, you can search for and add hotels straight from your Smart Proposal or Itinerary, so you don’t have to leave TravelJoy. From there, you or your clients can make a direct booking. You'll earn 12% commission, plus any markup you add, on all booked hotels!

In this guide, we will go over how to use this feature as well as frequently asked questions.

How it works 

When creating a Smart Proposal or Itinerary, you’ll have the option to add hotels for your clients to book—this all happens right from the proposal itself! We’ll walk you through the steps of getting this added to your Smart Proposal as well as how this will appear for your clients.

Adding Hotels to a Smart Proposal

 When you create a Smart Proposal or Itinerary, click the “Explore bookable items” button:

Next, you automatically start on the Hotels search page, so you can use the filters to search a destination, specific hotel, or any other keywords:

Then, you can click the filter button to expand your search with date selection and the number of travelers in your booking:

You can also sort these activities by clicking the additional filter menu in the right-hand corner of the screen to filter by nightly cost and hotel ratings:

Finally, add the chosen hotel to the proposal by clicking the “+”:

Alternatively, you can click on the hotel for more information and click the “Add to proposal” button: 

Once the hotel has been added, your proposal will be be pre-filled with all relevant details, no copying and pasting needed!

Editing Hotel Details

Since the details are already pre-filled, making edits to the hotel details isn’t required. You can simply add the hotel with the preset date you used to search for availability. If you’d like to edit hotel details, you can click on the item from the Smart Proposal builder once added:

Then you can begin making the appropriate changes:

Adjustable markup

You can also offer pricing flexibility on your hotel bookings offered through TravelJoy! When editing the hotel details, you can adjust the base price higher or lower based on your markup. This can be a useful tool if you need to increase your markup, or offer a discount for competitive pricing. Use the slider to adjust this price and see the results of your expected commission payout! 

Booking

Bookings can be made via your browser!

When booking via your browser, the hotel will appear as such on your Smart Proposal/Itinerary and your client will be able to book and pay for hotels at any time, all the way up to in-trip:

You can also book the hotel yourself by clicking on the “Book now” link in the Edit activity panel:

To begin booking, pick your preferred date range and number of travelers, then click “Check availability”:

You’ll then be shown the available hotel room options and the rates these rooms will be bookable for:

Once the dates and room type are selected, you’ll be brought to the booking page to enter the primary contact’s payment details to reserve this booking.

Start by entering the client details:

Then, enter the payment information to pay and book:

Once the booking has been made, the primary contact, with you cc’d, will receive an email with details about the booking to reference! These details will also be viewable within the trip’s message feed.

An invoice will be generated and added to the “Files” tab of the trip. This will automatically be marked as paid and can always be revisited in this tab! 

Hotel bookings can also be conveniently made by using TravelJoy's Itineraries app! The booking will appear in the app once added to the Smart Proposal/itinerary, and simply click "Book now" within the app to get started! 

How will the booked activity look?

Once a client has made their booking, it will be accessible to them directly any time on their Smart Proposal/Itinerary, including from the Itineraries App.

For an example of how this will appear via the web and what information can be reviewed see below:

Once a booking has been successfully made, the booking will appear on the Itinerary/Smart Proposal with some helpful information as seen in the example:

1. The status of the booking—this will display as “Booked” 
2. The confirmation number for the booking

Payout/Commission

When using this feature, you’ll be eligible to receive 12% commission on these bookings, plus any markup you add! This will be paid directly to your linked bank account within a week of travel completion!

You can keep track of this by visiting Reports -> Commissions & Sales and clicking on the trip details.

Cancellations

Cancellations can be made only by you and not your client, so you can stay in control of your bookings. 

To cancel a booked hotel, you can navigate to the hotel while in edit mode on the Smart Proposal or Itinerary, then select “Cancel Booking” under Hotel Info:

Review the warning and refund details and select “Cancel booking”.

The hotel will then show as “Canceled” but the option to rebook will still show on the hotel.

Refunds

When a hotel booking is eligible for a refund, the amount and percentage of the refund will be shown. Once you cancel this hotel booking, the funds will be refunded to the card used to make the original booking. The refund will also be represented on the invoice created for the booking and your accounts reporting.

FAQs

When can I expect to receive my commission?

Commission is typically paid out within a week of travel completion.

How will this show up on my client's credit card statement?

This will show as "TJ* [YOUR AGENCY NAME]" (with the name of your agency in the brackets).

Will I be charged payment processing fees?

No, since TravelJoy is processing the transaction, neither you nor your client will be charged any payment processing fees on the hotel transaction.

What if I don't want to let my client book?

There is a toggle at the bottom of the item on the Smart Proposal builder that will let you turn off the "Book now" button.

Why did I not receive my full markup amount?

Hotels booked through TravelJoy payout 12% commission; however, any markup you add is subject to a 10% administrative fee. You'll always see your total profit in our markup tool before and after your clients book.

What IATA are these hotels booked under?

These bookings are facilitated through a special partnership that TravelJoy has developed with HBX Group, the parent company of Hotelbeds and Bedsonline. The hotel contracts are managed by HBX, so they will be the fulfillment partner on file with the hotel that you book.

Can I use this with my host agency?

We believe that travel entrepreneurs should have the choice to leverage the best partnerships and tools for their businesses. That said, please check your host agency contract first. If your host agency doesn’t support booking on TravelJoy, they can fill out this interest form to join our partnership network.

Who do I go to when I need help with bookings?

As with all travel, we've seen that strange things can happen (but we don't have to tell you that). Like any booking you might make on other platforms, it’s recommended to reconfirm with the hotel in advance of the trip.

For most common needs in advance of travel, the TravelJoy Joymaker team can assist.

For in-destination emergencies, the Hotelbeds team is available 24/7:

• 1-844-812-4459 (US)
• 1-416-840-4407 (CAN), Prompt 2