Global reservations transaction management system and method

• US 7,328,166 B1
• Filed: 01/19/2000
• Issued: 02/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sabre GLBL Inc. (Sabre Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sabre Incorporated (Sabre Corp.)
• Inventors: Reed, Eric, Gray, Cheryl, Geoghegan, William, Payze, Sally, Hendrickson, Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilligan; C. Luke
• Assistant Examiner(s): Porter; Rachel L.
• Application Number:
  US09/487,361
• Time in Patent Office: 2,939 Days
• Field of Search: 705/5, 705/6
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A reservation system and methodology ensures that all changes to a database in a federation are reliably and immediately communicated to all of the other databases in the federation. The system communicates information concerning hotel reservation transactions. The system comprises multiple applications each associated with one or more databases including hotel reservation data. The databases in the federation reflect transactions that are communicated to other databases and they also employ information received from other databases in determining the transactions that their associated local applications permit and the way in which they are processed. In one embodiment of the invention, communication among databases occurs through the Internet and data storage devices via secure packetized messages addressed to objects that represent the relevant databases. The system of the present invention also preferably includes a central database that functions as the primary source for verifying reservations and hotel data. Additionally, the system of the present invention also includes a yield subsystem that allows hotels to increase revenues. The yield subsystem calculates rates and availability based upon forecasted changes in supply and customer segment demand.

Claims

1. A processor-readable medium comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive guest information from a first guest, said guest information including at least one item selected from the group of a name, a market segment, and a point of origin;

receive a room request from said first guest, said room request from said first guest including at least one item selected from the group of an arrival date, a length of stay, and at least one room attribute;

determine, based at least partially on the received guest information, a predetermined category of guests within which the first guest can be classified, the predetermined category of guests including guests having similar guest profile information;

determine, based at least partially on the received room request, a predetermined category of room from which the room request can be satisfied;

access an inventory of hotel rooms that is organized as a hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes associated with a room;

wherein said hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes comprises;

a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination;

determine whether a room satisfying said at least one room attribute in said room request is available within said inventory of rooms based on said plurality of attributes associated with said room; and

determine a room rate for said first guest based on the predetermined category of guests and further based on a forecast of demand for a room from the predetermined category of room, said forecast of demand being based on historical data.

2. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive guest information from a second guest;

receive a room request from said second guest, said room request from said second guest being similar to said room request from said first guest;

determine, based at least partially on the received guest information from the second guest, a predetermined category of guests within which the second guest can be classified, the predetermined category of guests including guests having similar guest profile information;

determine, based at least partially on the received room request from the second guest, a predetermined category of room from which the room request from the second guest can be satisfied; and

determine a room rate for said second guest based on the predetermined category of guests within which the second guest can be classified and further based on a forecast of demand for a room from the predetermined category of room from which the room request from the second guest can be satisfied, said room rate for said first guest being different from said room rate for said second guest.

3. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive guest information from a second guest, said guest information from said second guest being similar to said guest information from said first guest;

receive a room request from said second guest;

determine, based at least partially on the received guest information from the second guest, a predetermined category of guests within which the second guest can be classified, the predetermined category of guests including guests having similar guest profile information;

determine, based at least partially on the received room request from the second guest, a predetermined category of room from which the room request from the second guest can be satisfied; and

determine a room rate for said second guest based on the predetermined category of guests within which the second guest can be classified and further based on a forecast of demand for a room from the predetermined category of room from which the room request from the second guest can be satisfied, said room rate for said first guest being different from said room rate for said second guest.

4. The processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor, before determining said room rate for said first guest, to:

organize said inventory of hotel rooms as a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination;

determine a number of rooms in said inventory represented by each of said attribute combinations;

identify each attribute combination from said plurality of attribute combinations that corresponds to said at least one room attribute in said room request from said first guest; and

determine whether said room request from said first guest can be met from said inventory based on a number of rooms available for each identified attribute combination.

5. The processor-readable medium of claim 4, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

adjust said number of rooms available for each identified attribute combination if said room request from said first guest can be met from said inventory.

6. The processor-readable medium of claim 4, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

deny said room request from said first guest if said room request from said first guest cannot be met from said inventory.

7. The processor-readable medium of claim 4, wherein said number of rooms available includes an allowed number of overbooked rooms.

8. The processor-readable medium of claim 4, wherein said number of rooms available is based on said forecast of demand.

9. The processor-readable medium of claim 4, wherein said room rate for said first guest is further based on said number of rooms available.

10. The processor-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the third attribute combination comprises more attributes than the second attribute combination, and wherein the second attribute combination comprises more attributes than the first attribute combination.

11. A system, comprising:

an interface configured to receive guest information and a room request from a first guest; and

a processor in communication with the interface, the processor being configured to;

determine, based partially on received guest information, a predetermined category of guests within which the first guest can be classified, the predetermined category of guests including guests having similar guest profile information,

determine, based at least partially on the room request, a predetermined category of room from which the room request can be satisfied,

access an inventory of hotel rooms that is organized as a hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes associated with a room,

wherein said hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes comprises;

a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination;

determine whether a room satisfying at least one room attribute in said room request is available within said inventory of rooms based on said plurality of attributes associated with said room, and

determine a room rate for the first guest based on the predetermined category of guests and further based on a forecast of demand for a room from the predetermined category of room, the forecast of demand being based on historical data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface is configured to receive guest information including at least one item selected from the group of a name, a market segment, and a point of origin.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a centralized database in communication with the interface and the processor, the centralized database being configured to store and communicate to the processor the guest profile information associated with the guests having profile information similar to the first guest, the centralized database being further configured to store and communicate to the processor the historical data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the centralized database is configured to store information associated with a first lodging property and information associated with a second lodging property, the information associated with the first lodging property and the information associated with the second lodging property each including an inventory of rooms.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a first external database associated with the first lodging property, the first external database being configured to store inventory information associated with rooms of the first lodging property including availability information and pricing information of rooms of the first lodging property; and

a second external database associated with the second lodging property, the second external database being configured to store inventory information associated with rooms of the second lodging property including availability information and pricing information regarding each of said inventory of rooms of the second lodging property.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a reservations management system configured to communicate with the interface and the processor, the reservations management system being configured to communicate with a first reservation system and a second reservation system different from the first reservation system, the reservations management system being configured to make a reservation for a room of at least one property selected from the group of the first lodging property and the second lodging property based on the guest information, the reservations management system being further configured to update information in the centralized database associated with the reservation, and the reservations management system being further configured to update inventory information in at least one database selected from the group of the first external database and the second external database based on the reservation.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the reservations management system is configured to query the centralized database for inventory information associated with rooms of the first lodging property and for inventory information associated with rooms of the second lodging property.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein said first external database is configured to store an inventory of hotel rooms as a hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes associated with rooms of the first lodging property, said plurality of attributes comprising a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein said second external database is configured to store an inventory of hotel rooms as a hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes associated with rooms of the second lodging property, said plurality of attributes comprising a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the third attribute combination comprises more attributes than the second attribute combination, and wherein the second attribute combination comprises more attributes than the first attribute combination.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the third attribute combination comprises more attributes than the second attribute combination, and wherein the second attribute combination comprises more attributes than the first attribute combination.

22. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a reservations management system configured to communicate with the interface and the processor, the reservations management system being configured to communicate with a first reservation system and a second reservation system different from the first reservation system, the reservations management system being configured to make a reservation for a room of at least one property selected from the group of a first lodging property and a second lodging property based on the guest information.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the first reservation system includes at least one item selected from the group of a global distribution system and a property management system that controls an inventory of at least one item selected from the group of a hotel and a hotel chain.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the interface includes at least one item selected from the group of a reservation agent terminal, a direct access client, and a web server coupled to a web browser, the interface being in communication with the first reservation system.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the reservations management system is configured to cause the processor to determine the room rate for the first guest.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein said reservations management is configured to managing yield of at least one item selected from the group of the first lodging property and the second lodging property.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the interface is a first interface from a plurality of interfaces, the first interface being configured to communicate with the first reservation system, a second interface from the plurality of interfaces being configured to communicate with the second reservation system.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the first interface is configured to translate information between a format associated with the reservation management system and a format associated with the first reservation system;

and

wherein the second interface is configured to translate information between the format associated with the reservation management system and a format associated with said second reservation system.

29. A system, comprising:

a centralized database configured to store historical data and information associated with an inventory of rooms for a first lodging property and information associated with an inventory of rooms for a second lodging property;

a first external database in communication with the centralized database, the first external database being configured to store inventory information associated with the first lodging property, the inventory information including availability information and pricing information associated with the first lodging property;

a second external database in communication with the centralized database, the second external database being configured to store inventory information associated with the second lodging property, the inventory information including availability information and pricing information associated with the second lodging property; and

a reservations management system in communication with the centralized database and at least one database selected from the group of the first external database and the second external database, the reservations management system being configured to;

determine, based at least partially on guest information for a guest, a predetermined category of guests within which the guest can be classified, the predetermined category of guests including guests having similar guest profile information,

determine, based at least partially on a room request made by the guest, a predetermined category of room from which the room request can be satisfied,

access an inventory of hotel rooms that is organized as a hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes associated with a room,

wherein said hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes comprises;

a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination;

determine whether a room satisfying at least one room attribute in said room request is available within said inventory of rooms based on said plurality of attributes associated with said room, and

determine a room rate for the guest based on the predetermined category of guests a forecast of demand for a room from the predetermined category of room, the forecast of demand being based on historical data received from the centralized database.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein said first external database is configured to store an inventory of hotel rooms as a hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes associated with rooms of the first lodging property, said plurality of attributes comprising a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein said second external database is configured to store an inventory of hotel rooms as a hierarchal combination of a plurality of attributes associated with rooms of the second lodging property, said plurality of attributes comprising a plurality of first attribute combinations, second attribute combinations, and third attribute combinations, wherein each said first attribute combination comprises at least one second attribute combination and each said second attribute combination comprises at least one third attribute combination.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the third attribute combination comprises more attributes than the second attribute combination, and wherein the second attribute combination comprises more attributes than the first attribute combination.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the third attribute combination comprises more attributes than the second attribute combination, and wherein the second attribute combination comprises more attributes than the first attribute combination.