Groups in XstreamCRM


Welcome to the Group Dashboard for XstreamCRM. This tab is essentially a marketing hub for groups. It's intended to keep track of your group information and help you sell group space for speculative groups. It is not a booking engine and you will still need to post your booking/s to the CRM with the "Create New Booking," tab to receive commission for your booking/s. For instructions on how to post your bookings to your CRM to receive commission, please see your Vendor List on the Xstream Agent Hub. 

Filling out the information on your Group Dashboard will not create the group with the supplier for you, you are required to contact the supplier directly to actually book a group, hold space and/or make reservations.

The purpose of a CRM is to simplify data collection and organization for agents that interact with current and prospective customers. A CRM system is only as good as the data a travel advisor enters into it.

What you need to post your group to your Groups Dashboard

  1. Itinerary or description of destination, hotel, or ship. This is easily found on the vendor's site and you can just copy and paste.  
  2. Pictures of the destination, hotel, or ship. Most vendors have marketing materials you can use. Be careful of just downloading photos off of a google search. These images might be copyrighted. Images provided by the vendor are free to use. 
  3. Vendor's cancellation policy. Copy this directly from the booking or the vendor's site. 
  4. Payment dates and entry information (will they need a passport or visa, etc). 

How to post a new group to your Group Dashboard


  1. Click on the Groups tab from your side menu and then select "Create a New Group." 
  2. Enter in the company name or group name, the contact information for the group leader, the group type (speculative groups are "Group with Inventory," regular groups are just Group, Company is for business travel), supplier information, etc. Be sure to add your group's cancellation policy. The cancellation policy should come directly from the vendor you booked with. You can copy and paste it directly into the groups form under Cancellation Policy.  
  3. Click Save.
  4. Once the group has been made you can edit and add clients from your Groups Dashboard. 
Be sure to check the Vendor List on the Xstream Agent Hub for how you must post your bookings to your CRM Dashboard under the "Create New Booking," tab to receive commission. Some vendors pay to each individual booking in the group, others to a group number. Your Vendor List on the Xstream Agent Hub will tell how how to post your booking to ensure you receive commission. 

How to delete a group on the Groups Dashboard

  1. Click on the Groups tab from your side menu.
  2. Locate your group and select the red delete button that has a dash on it (-). This will delete your booking.
*Note: you will not be able to delete the group if you have existing clients on it. 


How to edit a group on the Groups Dashboard

Click on the Groups tab from your side menu and then select the blue edit button that looks like an icon with a pen and paper on it. 

*How to assign a client to an existing group:

  1. Log into your Xstream Agent Hub and click on “CRM,” from the Tools tab. You'll be redirected to your XstreamCRM. If you have not already created a group booking in your CRM, please do so now.
  2. From your Groups dashboard under the correct group name select "Add Clients."
  3. Search for your client's name in the search field and click on the correct client. 
  4. Lastly, click "Save."
*Note: This will not add them to the group roster. You need to add their booking with their individual booking number to your CRM, and then associate the booking to the group. 

How to add an individual reservation to a group

Many vendors assign individual reservation numbers along with a group confirmation number.

  1. Log into your Xstream Agent Hub and click on “CRM,” from the Tools tab. You'll be redirected to your XstreamCRM. If you have not already created a group booking in your CRM from the Group Dashboard on the left-hand menu, please do so now.
  2. Select a current client under your Client Listing -or- create a new client profile by clicking the blue "Create New Client," tab at the top of your screen.
  3. From the client profile click on "Start a New Booking." Enter in your trip details like travel dates, destination, supplier, travel type, confirmation number, total reservation amount*, expected commission amount*, and deposit dates.
  4. Near the bottom of the page assign the reservation to our group booking under the "Company/Group Association," drop down. Click Save. 
Tip: After you've created your first individual reservation in a group, you can easily create more for each passenger (if they're already in your client list) by clicking "Duplicate Booking." They system will duplicate what you've created for the first client (including confirmation number) and allow you to assign it to a second. Everything will be cloned except for any payments made or reservation number. This means you can send payment links to this individual traveler. If this new passenger has their own confirmation number, make sure to edit it in the new booking. 

Example: You booked an RCCL group with 10 travelers in 5 separate rooms that were each assigned their own confirmation number. First you will post the group booking 123456 as it's own booking to your CRM and then create the group on your Group dashboard. Next you will assign a booking to each passenger and assigning their individual number 789123. This way you will be paid when the commission comes into the group but you can also keep record of every passenger and their individual reservation in your XstreamCRM. 

How to assign an existing reservation already posted to your CRM to a group:

  1. Log into your Xstream Agent Hub and click on “CRM,” from the Tools tab. You'll be redirected to your XstreamCRM. If you have not already created a group booking in your CRM, please do so now.
  2. Locate the existing reservation on your Active Reservation List on your Dashboard, or locate the booking under the client profile. 
  3. Click the blue edit tab next to the reservation 
  4. Under "Company/Group Association" select the proper group name.
  5. Click Save

Speculative Groups

Speculative groups are when agents block group space with a vendor before having a set number of clients. The agent must then market a group cruise to the public or past clients in order to fill that group space. These are sometimes called promotional groups.

How to add a speculative group:
  1. Click on Groups from your side menu and then select "Create a New Group." 
  2. First, select "GROUP w/ INVENTORY" from the "Type," dropdown. 
  3. Next input all of the group information and be sure to input the number of rooms you've reserved. You can also input a promo code for marketing purposes to keep track of where your bookings are coming from, mark if any travel documents are required, and you have the ability to take sizes for teeshirts if that's something you're going to offer (you can make and order them through your favorite online teeshirt creation company like Canva, Adobe, Printful, Zazzle, etc.). 
  4. Once you are done, click Save. You will then be able to retrieve your "Book Now," link. You will also be able to edit the inventory. So for example, edit the number of balcony rooms or suites. 
  5. “Book Now” Button – Once you Save your group profile, the system will create a “Book Now” link  and assign the URL/website address. You will find this URL by clicking the Group Links tab and then select "Client Book Now Link." You can use this URL/website address and add it to any website you would like or send it out to your clients for the group details which includes the “Book Now” button. 
Once the Book Now form is completed, you will receive an email with the information. Youcan then build the booking within your CRM, add the Payment information into the CLIENT PAYMENTS area on your Dashboard so you can process the Payment with the Supplier, and add the Payment to the clients booking and Pull from the Group Inventory.

How to add group inventory to your Speculative Group

Group inventory refers to upgrades, room categories, insurance, excursions, etc that are additional or optional add-ons for the trip.

  1. After you've added your Speculative Group to you Group Dashboard (if you have not, see above under How to add a Speculative Group), click on Group w/Inventory Setup next to the booking, and then click Inventory. 
  2. Next click on the blue "+Group Inventory," button on the top left of the screen. 
  3. Input all the information about this add-on, and click Save. If an add-on/feature is optional, be sure to click on the “Is this an Optional (Add-On) Reservation” box, so the client can then click on the options they want to add to their trip. 

    Hot tip: Copy and paste the vendor's description on their website about this add-on directly into the "Itinerary Comments," section. Let the vendor do the work for you!

Notes: 

* You will need to put Each Category as an Individual Inventory Option

* If the Insurance is included with the Inventory Option, then you can add that rate into the Amount for that booking.  But if it is an Optional Add On (with an outside Insurance supplier) you will want to add that in a Separate Inventory Option for them to choose from (Each Optional Add-On will be setup as an Individual Optional Add On).

* You can put in an approximate commission amount per booking (this is for back-end accounting/commissions and doesn’t have to be the exact amount)


Book Now Form


Setting up your landing page

When your client clicks the "Book Now," button, they will be redirected to the Book Now Form. This form is a customizable site that allows your client to view information about the reservation and show their interest by booking and making a payment.

First, view the provided sample of what a landing page looks like by navigating to the Groups Dashboard and clicking the "Group w/Inventory Setup," tab and then selecting "Landing Page Template." This is not a sample of your booking, just a booking in general so you can see what your landing page can look like. When you're ready to make your landing page, click the "Group w/Inventory Setup," tab and then select "Landing Page Setup." 

Next, give an introduction to the vacation experience! This should be a quick introduction of what this trip is about and why this client should book it. Next, upload a picture. Remember, almost every vendor has marketing materials and images you can use. Be sure to use an image that is free to use and do not use something off of Google images. You want to make sure you don't use something that's copyrighted.

The next few sections are going to be about the itinerary and finer details of the booking. If you don't like the sample itinerary that's auto populated, delete it and put your own. To make this easier on yourself, copy and paste it from the vendor's site. 

The last bit of information you will add is pricing, insurance options or information, and any additional information you want to add about this vacation. You can even add more photos if you like. 

Click Save And that's it!


Book Now Form

The client can check the “Are you Existing Client” box if they are already a client and complete the form with their legal name as it is on their passport or government ID and it will create a profile for them in your CRM. 

There is a note in red at the top that informs them how they fill out the form based on who they are rooming with and paying for. "(NOTE: This is a SINGLE Cabin/Room entry form no matter the Occupancy Rate. You will enter the information for YOURSELF here, PLUS the passengers that you are also paying for WITHIN the same cabin/room. If your passenger is paying separately (their own CC), then have your roommate create their OWN form to enter their information. Each one of you will add your roommate's name in the "Traveling/Rooming With" field after you choose a rate category. This ties you to the same cabin/room)."*

Once the Booking Form is saved it will build the profile/booking, send you an email, and add their payment into the payment report for you to process with the supplier. You can also go into the booking and update any information that you need to. 

* If the roommates are paying separately, the first client that fills their form out will choose “No Roommate Found” in the “Traveling With” box and Add their Roommates name in the passenger box.  The second client that fills their form out will see the first client’s name in the “Traveling With” box and click on their name.  This will build One Booking within your CRM under the First Clients name.  If you try to pull the booking up by the passenger’s name and don’t see the booking just click on the “View Booking as Passenger” button and click on the booking (this will take you into the booking for both clients).


Payment Plans

You can setup a payment for your group (Deposit Date, payments and final due dates, etc). This information will show in the client's booking, onto their itinerary, added to the calendar and send an auto-reminder if you participate in the Payment Auto-Reminders.

How to add a payment plan

  1. Click on Groups from your side menu and then select "Group w/Inventory Setup," and then click "Payment Plan."
  2. Click "+Payment Schedule," and enter in the payment type (deposit, regular, final payment, etc.), the payment date due by and then payment amount, and then click Save. 

Pending Payments

Once the clients complete their Book Now form, it will add their payment approval into the Client Payment area on the Dashboard for you to complete the payment process with the supplier/s. Once completed it will add the payment into their booking, itinerary, and add the payment into the Group Reports.

Commission 

If you have a group with Carnival, RCCL, Celebrity, or Tours for the World, you will need to post the group as it's own separate booking to your CRM to be paid. This is in addition to the group on your groups dashboard. You need to post the group as if it were it's own booking for our invoicing system to locate the booking to pay you. This is because the 4 vendors above send commission to the group number only. This means to be paid for a Carnival, RCCL, Celebrity, or Tours for the World group you need to post the group reservation as it's own booking.

Just go to your Dashboard and click "Create New Booking." You can then use the lead client name -or- the group name under the client info sections. Enter your Group reservation number into the "Confirmation Number," field. 

Additional instructions on how to post your bookings to your CRM are located on your Xstream Agent Hub under the Vendor List. Just click the vendor's logo to learn more. 

Support

Additional training is located on your XstreamCRM under the Training Menu. You'll find step-by-step tutorials on how to record your bookings and manage your clients. 

If you need technical support, please submit a support ticket directly from your XstreamCRM under the "CRM Support Tickets," tab.