Guest, corporate, travel agency and group profiles.
Profiles in the CRS store valuable guest details and information that help hoteliers better understand their client base, recognize returning guests, track production and target appropriate marketing efforts.
Profiles are automatically attached to reservations during the booking process through various channels and CRS configurations. You can view and report on the production associated with these profiles.
⚠️Important: Evaluate any connected systems such as PMS and CRM to determine which specific profile fields are passed between them to maximize integration benefits and establish effective business practices.
Chain versus property level profiles
For hotel groups using the CRS, profile management offers two configuration options for each profile type:
Property level profiles:
Profile accessible only by that specific property.
Profile changes affect only that property.
Chain level profiles:
Profile accessible by all properties in the chain.
Profile changes affect the entire group.
⚠️ Important: Changes to these master profile settings and logic must be made in consultation with the support team to review and ensure intended outcomes are achieved.
Guest profiles
Search, view and modify specific guest profiles to manage contact details and preferences.
Follow the steps below to change or view a guest profile.
Go to Profiles.
Go to Guest.
Go to the Profile tab.
Search for the profile by entering criteria:
First name.
Last name.
City.
Email.
Loyalty member ID.
Click Search.
Click the Guest Name to open the modal and see the profile details.
Click Save if making changes.
View or change all bookings associated with a guest profile
Follow the steps below to change or view all bookings associated guest profile.
Go to Profiles.
Go to Guest.
Go to the History tab.
Search for the profile by entering criteria:
First name.
Last name.
City.
Click Search and the reservations matching will appear on the screen.
Guest profile matching and merging
The CRS includes basic logic to prevent unnecessary profile duplication. When new reservations are created, the system automatically determines whether to use an existing profile or create a new one.
Guest profile matching process
Below will outline how the system matches profiles depending on the information available.
When an email address is available the system searches for exact matches using first and last names and the email address.
When an email address is not available the system searches for exact matches using first and last names, address line one, chain ID, city, state code, state, ZIP code and country code.
The minimum requirements for the system to match a profile is at least one of the following: first name, last name, address line one and city. Or all of the following country code, state code, state and ZIP.
If the system can not match the details to an existing profile a new one is created.
If the system does match a profile, the system updates the existing profile with the new booking information.
An example of the system matching a profile is outlined below:
Example Scenario: "John Smith, [email protected]" books again as "J. Smith, [email protected]".
Email matches ([email protected]).
Last name matches (Smith).
First name doesn't match (John ≠ J.).
Result: a new guest profile is created.
All three fields must match when email is provided.
Troubleshooting the matching process
Common issues associated with the matching process are outlined below:
Check for spelling variations in names or email addresses.
Case sensitivity does not affect matching.
Ensure address fields are complete when no email provided.
Look for abbreviations in first names.
Guest profile merging process
Outlined below are the steps to merge a guest profile.
Go to Profiles.
Go to Guest.
Go to the Merge tab.
Search for the profile by entering criteria:
First name.
Last name.
City.
Click Search and the reservations matching will appear on the screen.
Select Record To Keep check box for the profile to retain the data.
Select Dup. check box for the profiles to have the reservations move over to the record to keep.
Click Merge to complete the action.
The pop up will confirm the action, click Yes or No.
📌 Note: Guest profiles need to be purged to comply with guest requests to be forgotten or for GDPR purposes.
Corporate profiles
Create and manage corporate client profiles with negotiated rate access. For most PMSs reservations with a corporate profile will transfer to and from the CRS with a new one created if not already existing in either system.
Configure a corporate profile for bookings
Follow the steps below to learn how to configure a corporate profile for bookings.
Go to Profiles.
Go to Corporation.
Click Create New.
Enter the company name.
Enter a corporate code or another code to use with the booking engine:
This may be a unique code entered here to return the rate on this profile.
This may also be an existing access code and will return the rate on this profile along with any others associated to it.
Enter an email address.
Enter a rate code for the corporate profile.
Enter multiple rate codes separated by a comma.
It is recommended to enter a public rate as well to return alongside or in the event of non-availability of the corporate rate.
Corporate profiles may also be assigned directly to specific rate codes to automatically attach every time that rate code is booked, regardless of the booking channel. This is particularly useful for tracking corporate production by profiles and for GDS bookings that do not send corporate profile information with reservations.
Optional entries for the profile:
Address.
Address two.
City.
State/Province.
Zip code.
Country.
Phone.
Click Create New.
Group profiles
View group client profiles that can be associated with group blocks. These profiles are created when the group block is received via the PMS.
Follow the steps below to learn how to view a group profile.
Go to Profiles.
Go to Group.
Enter the search criteria:
Group master name.
City.
Click Search and the results will display.
Click on the Group Master Name to view the details.
Create group profiles
Group profiles may also be created if needed to associate with a group block in the CRS.
Follow the steps below to learn how to create a group profile.
Go to Profiles.
Go to Group.
Click Create New for the modal to open and enter the criteria:
Group master name.
Email.
Confirmation email.
Language from the dropdown.
Address type from the dropdown.
Address.
Address two.
City.
State or region.
Zip or postal code.
Country from the dropdown.
Telephone.
Click Create New to save.
This group profile may now be assigned to a group block in the CRS.
Travel agent profiles
View travel agent profile information maintained through industry databases. Follow the steps below to learn how to create a travel agent profile.
Go to Profiles.
Go to Travel Agent.
Enter the search criteria:
IATA.
Company name.
Country.
State or region.
City.
Click Search and the results will display.
Click on the agency name to view the details.
Key details of a travel agent profile
Listed below are the key details of a travel agent profile.
Data source: Profiles maintained via SHR's Global Systems Solution (GSS) subscription to IATA database.
Read-only access: Profile integrity maintained through database subscription.
Reservation history: Track bookings made through travel agents.
Travel agent profile mapping: Associate specific travel agent profiles with reservations from particular booking channels.
Primary use case: External Booking Channels (EBC) for tracking production and calculating commissions.
Billing profiles: Specialized profile type for custom PMS integrations.