Before starting, you must have the travel agency or travel manager's direct bill number for the car rental agency. You must also determine whether the car rental vendor requires a unique identifier, or if the traveler’s loyalty number will be passed through the global distribution system (GDS) to the car rental agency. With some car rental agencies, the traveler’s loyalty number is not passed through the GDS if the reservation is a direct bill.
If you have the direct bill number and you know whether or not you need a unique identifier for direct-bill reservations, you are ready to proceed.
To set up the discount codes for the car rental agency, follow these steps:
Configure the travel services as described in Configuring Travel Services: Click the Services tab to show the Services | Overview page, and click the Travel link in the Travel section. The Services | Travel page appears.
Click the Private Rates link, and follow the instructions in Configuring Private Rates.
Click the Rental Car Discount Codes link, and follow the instructions in Rental Car Discount Codes. Keep in mind that some agencies require the direct billing number to replace the customer's loyalty number. Choose one of the following for the "Override user’s id with direct bill number" option:
For agencies that require the direct billing number to replace the customer's loyalty number, choose Yes. The traveler’s loyalty number will not be sent to the car rental agency in the passenger name record (PNR).
The "Enter unique GDS format required for direct bill" option is replaced by "Enter a direct bill number".
Enter the customer’s direct bill number provided by the rental car agency.
For agencies that don't require the direct billing number to replace the customer's loyalty number, choose No for the "Override user’s id with direct bill number" option. The traveler’s loyalty number will be sent to the car rental agency in the passenger name record (PNR).
Enter unique GDS format required for direct bill (optional): Enter the information as it is provided by the car rental agency.
Enter a direct bill number: Enter the customer’s direct bill number provided by the rental car agency.
Note: If the direct bill number Is rejected, the following will happen:
If the "Override user’s id with direct bill number" option is Yes, the system will retry without the number. The car rental will be booked without the direct bill number, and the user will see a message on the Trip Confirmation page that the reservation is not set up for direct billing.
If the "Override user’s id with direct bill number" option is No, a retry page appears. The user can retry the booking, select a new car rental agency, or continue without the car rental.
The following table shows sample values by rental car agency and global distribution system (GDS):
Car Rental Agency | Apollo GDS | Sabre GDS | Worldspan GDS | Amadeus GDS |
National | G-ZL<Direct Bill #> | GCAR<Direct Bill #> | G-CCZL<Direct Bill #>EXPMM-YY | not currently available |
Enterprise | G-ET <Direct Bill #> | GCAR<Direct Bill #> | G-CCET<Direct Bill #>EXPMM-YY | not currently available |
The following are sample strings for each GDS. In the sample strings, the following numbers are used to represent ID and bill numbers:
111111 = Corporate contract ID number (discount code or CD)
222222 = Loyalty ID number
333333 = Customer’s direct bill number
Apollo GDS:
CARZLSAN01MAR-04MARICAR/ARR-9A/RET-9A/CD-111111/ID-222222/G-ZL333333
Galileo GDS:
CARZLSAN01MAR-04MARICAR/ARR-9A/RET-9A/CD-111111/ID-222222/G-ZL333333
Sabre GDS:
CARZLSAN01MAR-04MARSCAR/ARR-9A/RET-9A/CD-111111/ID-222222/GCAR333333
Worldspan GDS:
CRN01MAR-04MARSAN/CZL/VSCAR/ARR-9A/DT-9A/CD-111111/ID-222222/G-CCZL333333EXPMM-YY