Customer satisfaction in booking process

• US 8,484,088 B1
• Filed: 10/06/2004
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deem, Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Original Assignee: Rearden Commerce Inc
• Inventors: Orttung, Mark, Chen, Jerome, Mah, Anson, Herrmann, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hayles, Ashford S
• Application Number:
  US10/960,408
• Time in Patent Office: 3,198 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system and system to improving customer satisfaction in booking process. In one embodiment a system and method are described to determine the cause of the issue in procuring the service is and, based on a set of rules, offer the user a path to complete the procurement successfully. In one embodiment, a system and method are described to determine when a supplier is not available and queue requests until the supplier system is available again. In one embodiment, a system and method are described to actively manage the status of each account so that the user'"'"'s transactions do not fail because of mis-configured or expired account configuration status.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving, via a computing device, notification of an event, the event to include a group of participants, including at least one participant who acts as a group leader for the event;

notifying, via the computing device, the group of participants of the event;

processing, via the computing device, at least one request of the group leader to procure at least one service related to the provision of a resource used for attending the event;

automatically notifying, via an Internet access, the other participants of the at least one service procured for the group leader for the resource used for attending the event;

automatically offering to other participants of the event, via the Internet access, an option to procure the at least one service procured for the group leader in order to share the resource needed for attending the event with the group leader;

processing, via the computing device, at least one request from at least one other participant for the procurement of the at least one service procured for the group leader by completing a transaction for the procurement of the at least one service for the at least one other participant to share with the group leader the resource needed for attending the event;

detecting a circumstantial delay in completion of the transaction;

delaying provision to the at least one other participant of a final confirmation regarding the completion of the transaction;

notifying the at least one other participant regarding a projected duration of the delay, the projected duration constituting a time period between detection of the delay and a projected completion of the transaction;

maintaining, in a virtual waiting queue, the transaction as active, pending completion of the transaction;

determining a future time when the transaction can be completed;

waiting for arrival of the future time; and

completing the transaction after arrival of the future time.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein notifying includes sending the at least one other participant an invitation for the event, for which the at least one other participant may do one of accept and decline.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein in response to a first participant declining the invitation, discontinuing notifications and offerings related to the event to the first participant, the method further comprising providing to the at least one other participant an option regarding processing of the transaction, wherein the option includes allowing the at least one other participant at a later time to be notified about a completion of the transaction.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the event comprises at least one attribute selected from a group comprising:

date, time, duration, and location.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one service comprises at least one attribute selected from a group comprising:

an airline ticket, a train ticket, a hotel reservation, a car rental, an airport shuttle and an admission ticket.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the group leader of the event defines the group of participants.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein processing at least one participant request includes processing a request for a second participant that is dissimilar from a request for a third participant, the method further comprising contacting, via the Internet access, a call center;

and receiving missing data provided by the call center to complete the transaction.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein processing of the at least one request of the group leader includes procuring requested services according to the requirements of a preexisting mutual service requirement of the group, and an alteration in a reservation made by at least one further participant in the group.

9. The method of claim 1 further including altering the at least one service procured for the group leader in response to an alteration in the at least one procured service made by at least one further participant in the group.

10. A system comprising:

a processing unit configured to receive notification of an event, the event to include a group of participants, including at least one participant who acts as a group leader for the event;

a network connection unit configured to notify the group of participants of the event;

wherein the processing unit is configured to process a request from the group leader for the procurement of at least one service related to the provision of a resource used for attending the event;

wherein the processing unit is configured to notify the other participants of the at least one service procured for the group leader for the resource used for attending the event;

wherein the processing unit is configured to offer to the other participants of the event an option to procure the at least one service procured for the group leader in order to share the resource needed for attending the event with the group leader;

wherein the processing unit is configured to process at least one request from at least one other participant for the procurement of the at least one service procured for the group leader by completing a transaction for the procurement of the at least one service for the at least one other participant to share with the group leader the resource needed for attending the event,

wherein the processing unit is configured to detect a circumstantial delay in completion of the transaction;

wherein the processing unit is configured to delay provision to at least one other participant of a final confirmation regarding the completion of the transaction;

wherein the network connection unit is configured to notify the at least one other participant regarding a projected duration of the delay, the projected duration constituting a time period between detection of the delay and a projected completion of the transaction;

wherein the processing unit is configured to maintain, in a virtual waiting queue, the transaction as active, pending completion of the transaction;

wherein the processing unit is configured to determine a future time when the transaction can be completed;

wherein the processing unit is configured to wait for arrival of the future time; and

wherein the processing unit is configured to complete the transaction after arrival of the future time.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the processing unit configured to send at least one of the participants an invitation for the event, for which the at least one participant may do one of accept and decline.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein in response to a first participant declining the invitation, the processing unit discontinue notifications and offerings related to the event to the first participant, the system further comprising the processing unit being configured to provide to at least one other participant an option regarding processing of the transaction, wherein the option includes allowing at least one other participant at a later time to be notified about a completion the transaction.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the event comprises at least one attribute selected from a group comprising:

date, time, duration, and location.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein at least one service comprises at least one attribute selected from a group comprising:

an airline ticket, a train ticket, a hotel reservation, a car rental, an airport shuttle and an admission ticket.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the group leader defines the group of participants.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the processing unit is configured to process at least one request for a second participant that is dissimilar from at least one request for a third participant, the system further comprising the processing unit being configured to:

contact a call center; and

receive missing data provided by the call center to complete the transaction.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the processing unit is further configured to procure at least one requested service within the requirements of a preexisting mutual service requirement of the group, and alterations in at least one reservation made by at least one further participant in the group.

18. The system of claim 10 further including the processing unit further configured to alter at least one procured service in response to at least one alteration in at least one procured service made by at least one additional participant in the group, the system further comprising the processing unit configured to use stored payment information regarding at least one other participant to complete the transaction.

19. A tangible machine readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving notification of an event, the event to include a group of participants, including at least one participant who acts as a group leader for the event;

notifying the group of participants of the event;

processing a request from the group leader for the procurement of at least one service related to the provision of a resource used for attending the event;

notifying the other participants of at least one service procured for the group leader for the resource used for attending the event by completing a transaction for the procurement of the at least one service for the at least one other participant to share the resource needed for attending the event;

offering to the other participants of the event to procure the at least one service procured for the group leader in order to share the resource needed for attending the event with the group leader;

processing at least one request from at least one other participant for the procurement of the at least one service procured for the group leader by completing a transaction for the procurement of the at least one service for the at least one other participant to share with the group leader the resource needed for attending the event;

detecting a circumstantial delay in completion of the transaction;

delaying provision to the at least one other participant of a final confirmation regarding the completion of the transaction;

notifying the at least one other participant regarding a projected duration of the delay, the projected duration constituting a time period between detection of the delay and a projected completion of the transaction;

maintaining, in a virtual waiting queue, the transaction as active, pending completion of the transaction;

determining a future time when the transaction can be completed;

waiting for arrival of the future time; and

completing the transaction after arrival of the future time.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the method further comprises notifying includes sending the at least one other participant an invitation for the event, for which at least one other participant may do one of accept and decline.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20 wherein the method further comprises in response to a first participant declining the invitation, discontinuing notifications and offerings related to the event to the first participant, the method further comprising providing to the user an option regarding processing of the transaction, wherein the option includes allowing the user at a later time to be notified about a completion of the transaction.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the event comprises at least one attribute selected from a group comprising:

date, time, duration, and location.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein at least one service comprises at least one attribute selected from a group comprising:

an airline ticket, a train ticket, a hotel reservation, a car rental, an airport shuttle and an admission ticket.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the group leader defines the group of participants.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein the method further comprises processing at least one request for a second participant that is dissimilar from at least one request for a third participant, and contacting a call center;

and receiving missing data provided by the call center to complete the transaction.