Venuedirectory.com APIs & GRATIS
This document provides an overview of the various features and functionality offered by Venuedirectory.com, including the Instant Book feature, which allows users to book meetings and make payments online, and the GRATIS system, which is used to manage bookings and enquiries. The document also describes the different types of users who can use the platform, such as Convention Bureaus, Booking Agents, and Central Reservations Teams, and the specific features and functionality that are available to each of these user groups.
Venuedirectory.com (TVD)
Bookings made on www.venuedirectory.com Instant Book functionality
Users can book meetings online and confirm and pay for the meeting online
Once the meeting is booked both the client (user) and the venue will receive a confirmation booking straight to their inbox
Payment for Instant Book bookings are processed by Stripe and our accounts team will then send the money to the venue after the event
Instant Book bookings go into TVD GRATIS and generate a TVD reference number
All bookings in GRATIS will show all booking details including confirmation emails and payment details
Venuedirectory.com (VDC)
Users (Event Bookers) can go to www.venuedirectory.com and place an enquiry for their meetings
Users create an account or sign in using their existing account and create a shortlist of venues and send an enquiry which then goes via Fiona to the venue
Fiona will then send the enquiry out to the venue(s)
If the enquiry is a simple enquiry, this enquiry will get sent to the venue which leaves Fiona to work on more complex enquiries
All of these bookings will go into VDC GRATIS which Fiona uses to manage the bookings and send out the enquiries to the venues
We receive commission from VDC bookings
VDC go into GRATIS and will then show up on a venues stats and can be pulled up in their reports
Booking agents are able to use venuedirectory.com to send enquiries and then these agents can be used by Heather as sales leads for new potential GRATIS users
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) work is being done on the website so that out website will appear at the top of search engine results
GRATIS Users
Users that use GRATIS should be referred to as GRATIS users
GRATIS users can be Convention Bureaus, Booking Agents or Central Reservations Teams
GRATIS users can have private venues that will be made private to their GRATIS and will only be accessible and bookable by that agent however if another GRATIS user requests for that venue we would then need to make that venue listing public again.
GRATIS users can use the instant book widget on their own website
All GRATIS users get their own My Events Portal (MEP) for their clients to use to send enquiries and book their events
All of the venue information on a GRATIS User’s MEP is pulled from MEC however agents can amend the information that is shown here
Users can search for and select venues and send an enquiry which will then go into that GRATIS user’s GRATIS
This automates the process for the customer and the GRATIS user
Clients are able to log into MEP and view their past bookings and enquiries
Convention Bureaus (CVB)
A Convention Bureau is a destination's marketing body, and its main focus or purpose is to increase the number of events, conferences and meetings held in the destination – whether a city, a region or a country. (ICCA, 2019)
CVBs will use GRATIS and have specific collections for their CVB which will power their GRATIS. Their collections will have venues in from their local area.
Venues will need to be added/removed from these collections as instructed by the CVB
The CVBs will have their own A & B listings
Any venues added to CVB collection that aren’t already enhanced listings will need to built up to a Skinny Full listing which means that the listing will have 6 images loaded.
CVBs are then charged £50 for any skinny full listings that we create for them which Heather bills them for annually
Any venue information on MEC will power the CVB website so any changes to the venue’s listing on MEC will update onto the CVB website
CVBS can use our Instant Book widget on their website
Users of their website can search and book venues using this functionality
This venue data is powered by MEC and sent to the venue website using our API (Application Programming Interface)
CVB are then able to design their own website to show all of our venue information
Central Reservations Office (CRO)
Central Reservations Offices deal with enquiries on behalf of the hotels within their brand e.g. Best Western, IHG, Lime Venue Portfolio, Classic British
Venuedirectory.com API
All of our venue data is powered by MEC and then sent through to different users/websites via our API (Application Programming Interface) e.g. MIA, Agiito, CVBs
We charge an annual fee of £1850 for the use of our API
API users will then need to add the venue data onto their own website in their own format
We have the power to turn off an API feed for users
We have three different APIs;
Venue Data API - Used by TVD Website, CVBs & MIA etc for the use of our venue data
Enquiries API - Used by agents to drop bookings into their own back office system
Connects with the agents own back office and sends all information of enquiries to their back office system
Instant Book API
Shows all Instant Book venues
Feeds into MEP
Agents customer can book using Instant Book
Instant Book can make bookings automated for GRATIS Users
GRATIS users can still get commission when using Instant Book
Also feeds into Small Meetings sites such as Best Western Small Meetings
Can be added as a widget to any website
Agents can use their own booking system but can use our API for our venue data to get up to date venue information.
We would then map the venues for these users
All updates are then sent to the user of that API
Can use Venue Data and Instant Book API
Venue information will then display on that users website in the format that they have chosen
Our of our APIs update overnight
Travel Management Companies
Travel Management Companies such as Agiito & Intel choose to use our APIs but not our GRATIS system
Travel Management Companies are responsible for booking all parts of a meeting such as accommodation, travel, meeting rooms etc
Can choose to use selected parts of GRATIS alongside their own booking systems
Any bookings that are made using our API have to be reported back to us with all booking information which will then show on our venue’s stats and our TVD stats