6.4 Release Notes

Released 15 Oct 2023

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Trips

Manual Create

In this latest release, we are excited to unveil the Manual Trips feature to provide a more adaptable booking experience. While automated systems like Amadeus and Sabre are highly efficient for standard bookings, they are not always suitable for unique scenarios—such as charter flights or non-scheduled services.

The Manual Trips enhancement gives agencies the versatility and control required to manage a broad range of travel needs. Future updates will extend this functionality to include other travel options like rail services.

The following is a complete end-to-end illustration of a Manual Trip, provided for illustration purposes.

Add Flights

Whenever possible, it is recommended to utilise the flight look-up option, as shown in the following example. This is to ensure the accuracy of critical data elements, including, but not limited to, the arrival date and time of a flight, which can be affected by timezone differences.

For instance, consider Qantas QF1, which presents three (3) options as it travels from Sydney (SYD) via Singapore (SIN) to London Heathrow (LHR). Consequently, passengers can opt for SYD-SIN, SIN-LHR, or the entire route from SYD to LHR.

However, in cases where it is not possible to find the desired flight or the information returned by the system is believed to be incorrect, please select the "enter flight manually" option.

Enter Flight Manually Look-Ups

If there is a requirement to manually create a flight segment by inputting details, look-up options, such as those for departure and arrival airports, provide advanced (fuzzy logic) search capabilities, as demonstrated below:

• City Name

• Airport Name

• IATA 3-character Airport Code

Add Hotels

When adding hotel details, it is advisable to search for the hotel property by its name, for instance, "Hilton Los Angeles Airport”.

However, in situations where a search result is not returned or when booking alternative accommodations like Airbnb or a house stay, you may use the physical address for look-up purposes.

Explore further details about Manual Trips in our comprehensive guide, which covers a wide range of topics, including adding 🚗. Access the guide here for more details.

💡 The "Manual Trip" feature needs to be activated, as detailed in the Platform Administration section of these Release Notes. Click here for instructions.

Travel Check

🎉 We are excited to share that Kudos Travel Check has been named a finalist for the Australian Travel Industry Association National Travel Industry Awards this year, specifically in Category 34 - Innovation in Travel Support Services.

Document Type

We are pleased to introduce the latest enhancement to Travel Check: the Document Type selector.
This feature offers the convenience of checking distinct entry requirements based on the document type, catering to travellers with various documents, including United Kingdom passports.

By default, "Passport Normal" will be the preselected option for the majority of nationalities. However, for specific countries, such as the United Kingdom, unique conditions may necessitate a different default selection. Even in these cases, users retain the flexibility to switch to an alternative option, including "Passport Normal”, before finalising and submitting their Travel Check query. This enhancement ensures a tailored and user-friendly experience for all travellers.

Learn more about the Document Type selector offered by Travel Check - here.

💡 In the future, it is anticipated that the "Document Type" will have the capability to automatically default to the corresponding type when selecting a traveller profile, as long as an image of the passport's photo page has been successfully uploaded.

Sustainable Travel - Offset

This enhancement expands Kudos' ability to monitor a company’s carbon footprint by allowing a company to compensate for their travel footprint by purchasing carbon offsets via the Sustainability Widget.

Kudos has partnered with Sustainable Travel International (STI) to provide carbon offsetting. STI invest the Carbon Offset purchases in a diverse portfolio of verified carbon projects.

💡 The Sustainability Widget must be activated for Travel Manager (TM) users to enable them to initiate carbon offset transactions with Sustainable Travel International (STI). Additionally, setups must be completed by the agency in consultation with Kudos Travel Technology, as outlined in the Platform Administration section of these Release Notes. Click here for instructions.

Conversation (Zeus)

Sustainable Travel 🍃

Following extensive data analysis sessions and some “greenifying” conversations with our trusted partners at Thrust Carbon, Zeus has proudly earned a certification in Environmental Data Analytics. Having a companion who can provide insights into Trips CO2e emissions is a significant win for our planet 🌍, especially in this era of travel resurgence, where vigilance over our environmental footprint is essential ✈️.

The following are examples of sustainable travel "CO2 emitted" conversations that a travel platform user, such as a Travel Manager (TM), can engage in with Zeus. Similar conversations are possible for a Traveller (TR), but the information pertains exclusively to their individual Trips.

Who are our top CO2 emitters YTD?	Show me TRAVELLER CO2 emitted YTD.

Credits

Zeus, your trusted travel companion, is here to assist you in planning your journeys and ensuring the optimal utilisation of unused tickets (Credits).

Show me my … AIRLINE unused CREDITS/TICKETS.	Does … TRAVELLER have any … CREDITS/TICKETS expiring ... PERIOD OF TIME?

If only Joyce 😉 had tapped into Zeus' wisdom sooner, those "Qantum" ✈️ challenges might have been more effectively addressed.

🗨️ Discover more including how to access this feature as well as “Conversation Starters” here.

Agencies are recommended to consult the relevant Admin Help article:
_{Admin Help > Platform Administration > Companies > General Details > Product Modules}

System Integrations

Magnatech (Unused Tickets)

The travel platform’s Magnatech integration service has undergone enhancements aimed at refining the management of unused ticket data (Credits) for platforms utilising the Concur Online Booking Tool (OBT) sync. A notable aspect of this update is its recognition of the importance of the "CLIQUSER" traveller identifier used by Concur, especially in situations where the Kudos Traveller Identifier (TID) might be absent.

This data element, represented in the Magnatech API response as passengerLoginID, as exemplified below, plays a key role in facilitating matching between unused tickets and their respective profiles in Kudos.

The following is an example of the Magnatech API Response that includes vendorInterfaces, with "CLIQUSER" identified as the passengerLoginID.

"vendorInterfaces": [
	{
		"ticketId": 1542209,
		"gdsId": 3,
		"ticketNumber": "0819623417346",
		"interfaceId": 1,
		"corporateLoginId": null,
		"passengerLoginId": "USER0001@STARKINDUSTRIES.COM",
		"ruleClass": null,
		"interfaceDetails": {
			"interfaceId": 1,
			"interfaceShortName": "Concur Cliqbook",
			"interfaceDesc": "Concur Cliqbook",
			"label1": "Site ID",
			"label2": "User ID",
			"shortName": "CONCUR"

The passengerLoginID data element serves as a replacement for TID for Concur-enabled platforms, given the absence of it in the PNR. It functions similarly by attempting to match with a profile's "EMS ID", which may sometimes coincide with Kudos' Login Email but not always.

Agencies are recommended to consult the relevant Admin Help article:
_{Admin Help > Platform Administration > System Integrations > Unused Tickets > Magnatech}

Sabre Bookings

The Sabre automated feed within the travel platform has undergone enhancements, enabling it to receive notifications based on queue placement (QP) of bookings (e.g. PNRs) to a dedicated PCC (Pseudo City Code) and queue for the agency.

While "PNR Subscription" continues to be the favoured notification method, this alternative is recommended for agencies that rely on shared PCC(s) for their bookings. This becomes especially pertinent in cases where a single PCC is employed for bookings, and not all clients have been integrated into the travel platform.

Agencies are recommended to consult the relevant Admin Help article:
_{Admin Help > Platform Administration > System Integrations > Trips > Sabre (1S) > Sabre ENS}

Platform Administration

Manual Trips

To provide access to Manual Trips, a travel platform's "Manual Trips" product module (feature) must be activated. Once this is done, the following user roles (access levels) will be eligible to utilise the "Add Manual Trip" option:

Travel Arranger (TA) | Travel Manager (TM) | Travel Account Manager (TAM)

Agencies are recommended to consult the relevant Admin Help article:
_{Admin Help > Platform Administration > Companies > General Details > Product Modules}

Sustainable Travel - Offsets

Once a Travel Agency has been activated for the Carbon Offset functionality, they will be able to activate the Carbon Offset functionality for individual companies by creating a Sustainable Travel International Offset Company Sync.

Prerequisite: To enable this feature, an agency or client must have a commercial arrangement with Sustainable Travel International (STI). For additional information, please get in touch with them directly. Additionally, to enable TM users to initiate carbon offset transactions with the service provider, the Sustainability Widget must be activated for use within the travel platform.

Agencies are recommended to consult the relevant Admin Help article:
_{Admin Help > Platform Administration > System Integrations > Sustainable Travel Offsets > Sustainable Travel International (STI)}

Export - Trips CO2

As part of the ongoing enhancements to our Trips data management system, the total distance (in kilometres) has been incorporated for all flight sectors within each Trip.

This addition will enhance our reporting and analysis capabilities, providing a comprehensive overview of the distances covered during each Trip. This new functionality will help agencies to better track and manage carbon emissions via the Trips CO2 export.

Discontinued

The post-COVID-19 travel landscape has witnessed a decrease in the prevalence of specific travel requirements imposed by countries and airlines, or in the case of airlines, a reduction or complete removal of their “COVID-19 travel policy” provisions.

Consequently, the providers of APIs utilised by our travel platform to facilitate the following functionalities have discontinued their services, resulting in the removal of these platform features:

These particular services have gradually lost relevance as international travel returns to a more "normal" state, resulting in a noticeable decrease in their usage.

Affected Services:

Platform users can continue to retrieve current travel requirements, including COVID-19-related information, via Travel Check, as illustrated in the following examples.

✈️ For specific information regarding an airline's COVID-19 travel policy or any related inquiries, we suggest the following courses of action:

1. Communicate with your company's travel administrator/manager.

2. Get in touch with the travel agency (e.g. TMC) responsible for handling your company's bookings.

3. Directly contact the airline for assistance, and take into consideration reviewing any available policies on their official website.