JP2002163522A - Travel reservation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a travel reservation system whereby a customer, without having to spend much time and energy, can make a comparative study of travels of his desired price and other conditions and proceed with a reservation, and, at the same time, a travel agency can gather customers effectively. SOLUTION: A control center 12, a customer's a terminal 13 and a service provider's terminal 14 at accommodations are connected through the Internet 11. The control center 12 has a member DB 15, an accommodation DB 16, a tour DB 17, a request DB 18 and an answer DB 19. When request information is transmitted from the customer's terminal 13 to the control center 12, the control center 12 retrieves information of the service provider's terminal 14 stored in the accommodation DB 16 from that request information. Then the request information is distributed to an unspecified number of the service provider's terminals 14. The service provider's terminals check the request information received and transmit answer information to the control center 12, which transmits unspecified pieces of received answer information to the customer's terminal 13 collectively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a travel reservation system capable of making a travel reservation procedure using a terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a customer plans a trip in advance and makes a reservation with a travel agency such as a travel agency, a transportation agency, or an accommodation, the customer himself / herself travels in a book, an advertisement, a telephone directory or the like. Investigating the information of the institution, making inquiries to an unspecified number of travel agencies by telephone, facsimile, etc., and comparing them. Also,
Travel agencies put up a large amount of advertisements in mass media and other media to receive customer inquiries.

[0003]

However, customers have to search, inquire, compare and review travel agencies in order to find conditions that meet their needs within a limited time until the day of travel. They often contacted many travel agencies individually and wereted time waiting for replies from them. Further, since the fee paid to each travel agency after the customer makes a reservation is in accordance with the amount provided by each travel agency, the price may not meet the customer's desire. The large volume of advertising by travel agencies was also exposed to people unrelated to customers planning to travel, causing excessive advertising costs.

The present invention enables customers to save time and effort, to compare and book trips that meet their requirements, including prices, and to allow travel agencies to efficiently collect customers. It is to provide a travel reservation system that can be used.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a travel reservation system which is connected to a customer terminal and a request destination terminal via a network. Request information relating to the travel collected from the terminal, means for delivering to an unspecified number of the request destination terminals, means for collecting response information to the request information from the request destination, and transmitting to the customer terminal, The gist of the present invention is to include means for collecting reservation application information for the answer information and transmitting the request to the requesting terminal, and means for collecting reservation confirmation information from the requesting terminal and transmitting the information to the customer terminal.

With this configuration, the customer can transmit the travel request information from the terminal to a large number of unspecified requesters at once, and collect the response information. After comparison, reservation application and reservation confirmation can be made. Therefore, it is possible to save time and labor, and to efficiently book a trip under conditions such as a price that suits a desired condition. If the travel agency registers the inn information, contact information, and the like in the management center, the request information is distributed, so that it is possible to easily negotiate with a customer who has a high possibility of a contract.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a storage unit for storing travel information related to the words of the request information in advance and a means for providing the travel information to a customer are provided. And

With this configuration, the customer can easily collect a wide range of related travel information by inputting the name of the anniversary or the like on which the travel is planned on the terminal. Time and effort can be saved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, a storage unit for storing collected information from the customer terminal is provided, and a request for browsing the collected information is made from the customer terminal. The main point is to make them browse.

With this configuration, the customer checks the past request information and, when planning a trip under the same conditions as the request information, reuses the past request information as new request information. Since input and selection can be performed easily.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, a management center (which constitutes the travel reservation system of this embodiment) 12, a customer terminal 13 of a customer, and a request terminal 14 of an accommodation institution as a travel institution are connected via the Internet 11. Connected. The management center 12 includes a collecting unit, a distributing unit, a transmitting unit, a browsing unit, and a selecting unit. Management center 12
Accepts travel proposals, manages them, and operates a booking homepage (hereinafter referred to as a homepage). The management center 12 includes a member DB 15 and a hotel DB 1 as storage units (hereinafter, referred to as DBs).
6, a tour DB 17, a request DB 18, and an answer DB 19 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the member DB 15 stores a customer ID (Identity) as personal authentication information of the customer.
personal information (name, reading of the name, e-mail address, postal code, address, telephone number, gender, occupation, date of birth, etc.) in addition to the personal information and the customer password, and information such as the URL of the customer-specific screen Is stored.
The URL of the customer-specific screen is set for each customer.

The inn DB 16 includes an inn ID, an institution name, a district, a travel time from a predetermined area to a destination, a keyword (for example, "open-air bath" representing the characteristics of the institution), an electronic device, and the like. Information such as e-mail addresses, contact information, charges, facility contents, maps, etc. is stored.

In the tour DB 17, tour IDs (set for each type of tour) and tour travel information assumed to be suitable for the customer to use on the anniversary are classified by type of the anniversary. Is stored. As the tour travel information, the itinerary, the cost, the contact information of the organizer, and the like are stored.

The request DB 18 is associated with a request ID for identifying request information from a customer, and is used by a customer to view travel request information entered by a customer in accordance with a standard format on a homepage and to view the request information. Browsing password, customer ID of the customer who entered the request information
Is stored.

The answer DB 19 includes lodging answer information transmitted from the lodging institution based on the request information and the tour DB 17
The tour travel information extracted based on the request information is stored. These accommodation response information and tour travel information
Each is stored in association with a request ID, a hotel ID, and a tour ID. Further, when the customer makes a reservation application for the inn answer information and the tour travel information, various information related to the reservation application is also stored.

Next, the operation of the travel reservation system will be described. (Collection of Travel Information) First, in the case where travel information is to be collected, the customer uses the predetermined URL from the customer terminal 13 to send the information to the management center 12 via the Internet 11.
To access. In response, the management center 12 transmits an initial screen (not shown) to the customer terminal 13. The customer inputs the customer ID and the customer password, and requests the member to log in. As shown in FIG. 3, when the customer inputs and logs in the customer ID and the customer password previously assigned from the management center 12 (step S10), the management center 12 receives the customer ID and the customer password from the member DB15. (Step S11). The menu selection screen 30 is transmitted to the customer terminal 13 as shown in FIG. 7 using the customer-specific screen URL of the member data (step S12). Customers,
When looking at the menu selection screen 30 and inputting the planned travel itinerary into the input section 31 and wanting to know the inn information, the inn reservation button 32 is used for the tour information and travel for holidays and anniversaries. If the user wants to know the information to be performed, the user clicks the holiday / anniversary plan button 33 and transmits a selection signal to the management center 12 (step S13).

When the hotel reservation button 32 is clicked on the basis of the above selection signal, the management center 12 displays the hotel reservation request input screen 34 shown in FIG. 8 and the holiday / memorial day planning button 33 is clicked. In this case, a holiday / memorial day plan request input screen 35 shown in FIG. 9 is transmitted to the customer terminal 13 (step S14). The customer enters and selects travel request information according to the format 36 or 37 (step S15). At this time, in the format 36, the district selection unit 39 and the travel time selection unit 4
0, after the selection section 41 of the keyword is selected, if the inn list button 42 is clicked, the selection sections 39, 40,
41 is transmitted to the management center 12 and the management center 1
2 selects the information of the inn corresponding to the selection signal from the inn DB16.

The management center 12 transmits a request destination inn list screen (not shown) displaying the same to the customer terminal 13, and the customer confirms the information of the accommodation institution on the received request inn list screen. After the customer selects and fills in all the items of the format 36 or the format 37, and clicks the request button 43 or the request button 44, the input information of the format 36 or the format 37 is transmitted from the customer terminal 13 to the management center 12. The information is transmitted together with the customer ID (step S16). Then, when the customer clicks the logout buttons 45 and 46, the customer logs out from the inn reservation request input screen 34 and the holiday / anniversary plan request input screen 35 (step S17). The management center 12 adds the request ID and the browsing password to the received customer ID and
18 (step S18).

The management center 12 determines the request information transmitted from the inn reservation request input screen 34 as accommodation information. The request information transmitted from the holiday / anniversary plan request input screen 35 is determined as accommodation information when the button 48 for requesting accommodation information is selected, and when the button 49 for requesting tour information is selected. Is determined as tour information. If the type of the request information is tour information (in the case of tour information in step S19), the management center 1
2, the tour DB 17 selects tour travel information matching the anniversary entered in the request information input section 47 from the tour DB 17 (step S20), and stores this in the answer DB 19 in association with the request ID (step S21). .

When the type of request information is accommodation information (in the case of accommodation information in step S19), as shown in FIG. 4, data that can be browsed by e-mail is created based on the request information, and (Step S24). The distribution data includes a URL for displaying an answer input screen 50 as shown in FIG.
It contains information on a browsing password for browsing 0 and information on a due date at which the accommodation institution inputs an answer. An accommodation institution having an item matching the request information is selected in the inn DB 16, and the e-mail address of the request destination terminal 14 of the accommodation institution is extracted (step S25). The distribution data is distributed to the request destination terminal 14 using the extracted e-mail address (step S26).

The accommodation institution checks the contents of the e-mail received by the request destination terminal 14 and, if there is an intention to receive the request, notifies the e-mail by the response date described in the e-mail. The management center 12 is accessed using the answer screen URL. Based on this access, an authentication screen (not shown) for displaying an answer screen is transmitted from the management center 12 to the request destination terminal 14. That is, the accommodation institution is notified by the management center 12 in advance of the browsing password described in the e-mail and enters the accommodation institution-specific ID on the screen and logs in (step S27). At 12 authentication is performed. The management center 12 creates an answer input screen 50 based on the request information stored in the request DB 18 and sends it to the request destination terminal 14 (step S28). The lodging institution receives the response input screen 50 received by the request destination terminal 14.
When the user accepts the request contents 51 under the above conditions and clicks the button 52, and when the user wants to change the amount, he or she inputs the desired amount in the input section 53 and clicks the button 54. When the buttons 52 and 54 are clicked, information that the request has been accepted or information of the desired amount is displayed.
It is transmitted to the management center 12 together with the request ID and the hotel ID as the hotel response information (step S29), and the response DB 19
(Step S21). After the answer date, the management center 12 tabulates the in-house answer information and the tour travel information stored in the answer DB 19 for each request ID, creates answer data that can be browsed by e-mail, and answers the customer terminal 13. Transmit as data (step S2
2). The customer checks the response data received by the customer terminal 13 (step S23).

(Reservation Confirmation) The response data transmitted from the management center 12 to the customer terminal 13 displays a reservation screen 60 as shown in FIG. 11 for confirming the hotel response information and the tour travel information and making a reservation. And information on the input date of the reservation application. Customer is customer terminal 1
In step 3, check the content of the received e-mail, and if there is information that you wish to apply for reservation in the inn response information and tour trip response information in the e-mail, the reservation written in the e-mail The management center 12 is accessed using the URL for displaying the screen 60. For this reason, an initial screen (not shown) is transmitted from the management center 12 to the customer terminal 13, and a request is made to enter a customer ID and a customer password on the screen. As shown in FIG. 5, the customer inputs a customer ID and a customer password, and logs in as a member (step S30). The information on the reservation screen 60 is transmitted to the customer terminal 13 (step S31), and the customer terminal 13 looks at the response content 61 of the reservation screen 60 received by the customer, and from the information, the hotel response information and the tour trip for which a reservation is desired. Select information. Then, based on the selection, the buttons 62, 6
When one of 3, 64 is clicked, the reservation application information that the reservation application for the selected inn response information and tour travel information has been made is transmitted to the management center 12 (step S32). The customer logs out from the customer-specific screen by clicking a logout button (not shown) (step S33).

Upon receiving the reservation application information, the management center 12 stores it in the answer DB 19 (step S).
34). If the type of reservation application information is tour information (in the case of tour information in step S35), the management center 12
The reservation application information is transmitted to an operation center (not shown) (step S36). In the operation center,
Based on the reservation data, an inquiry is made to each travel agency by telephone or facsimile to make a reservation.

If the type of reservation data is accommodation information (in the case of accommodation information in step S35), as shown in FIG.
The management center 12 extracts the reservation application information, creates simple reservation application information that can be viewed in the form of an e-mail, and transmits it to the request destination terminal 14 (step S37). The simple reservation application information includes URL information for displaying a reservation confirmation screen (not shown) for confirming and answering the details of the reservation conditions. At the request destination terminal 14, the content of the received e-mail is confirmed by the accommodation institution, and in order to inform the customer that the reservation has been confirmed, the management center uses the URL for displaying the described reservation confirmation screen. 12
, An authentication screen (not shown) is opened. When the lodging institution inputs the accommodation ID given in advance from the management center 12 on the screen and logs in (step S38), authentication is performed in the management center 12, and the information on the reservation confirmation screen is displayed on the request destination terminal 14. Is transmitted to (step S39). At the request destination terminal 14, the customer confirms by looking at the received reservation confirmation screen, and clicks a confirmation button (not shown). When the button is clicked, reservation confirmation data indicating that the reservation has been confirmed is transmitted to the management center 12 (step S40), and the reservation confirmation data is converted into a data format that can be viewed by e-mail in the management center 12 (step S40). Step S41) is transmitted to the customer terminal 13 (step S42). The customer receives the e-mail and confirms that the reservation has been officially made (step S4).
3). After the reservation is confirmed, the customer pays directly to the accommodation institution, and the management center 12 collects a brokerage commission from the accommodation institution.

(History Confirmation) When the customer wants to confirm the history of past request information, he / she clicks the history button 70 on the menu selection screen 30. By clicking, the history browsing request information is transmitted from the customer terminal 13 to the management center 12,
In the management center 12, past request information is extracted from the request DB 18 based on the customer ID and posted as a list.
A history confirmation screen (not shown) is transmitted to the customer terminal 13. The customer receives the history confirmation screen at the customer terminal 13 and confirms the history of past request information. If the history confirmation screen contains information that you want to use again as request information, enter the travel itinerary for this request information into the input section (not shown) and click the button (not shown) provided next to the request information. By doing so, a selection signal of the request information is transmitted to the management center 12. The management center 12 reflects the request information on the lodging reservation request input screen 34 or the holiday / anniversary plan request input screen 35 and transmits the request information to the customer terminal 13 based on the selection signal. After confirming the screens 34 and 35 received by the customer, if it is desired to partially change the previous request conditions, the selection units and input units of the formats 36 and 37 are changed. The customer confirms all items, clicks the request button 43 or the request button 44, and transmits request information to the management center 12.

According to the travel reservation system of the above embodiment, the following effects are exhibited. (1) Management center 12, customer terminal 13, request destination terminal 14
Are connected via the Internet. For this reason,
When the customer transmits the travel request information from the customer terminal 13 to the management center 12, the request information is distributed from the management center 12 to a large number of unspecified request destination terminals 14 at a time, and the response information can be collected at one time. Therefore, the customer has the customer terminal 1
In step 3, the user can compare and examine the answers from the request destination terminal 14 and make a reservation application and reservation confirmation, so that time and labor can be saved, and travel reservations can be made under conditions such as price, etc. . The lodging institution is the inn DB1 of the management center 12.
By registering the hotel information and contact information in 6,
Since the request information is transmitted, it is possible to easily negotiate with a customer who has a high possibility of closing.

(2) The customer uses the customer terminal 13 to enter the input unit 4
When the name of the anniversary for which the trip is planned is entered in 7, the information such as the related tour trip in the management center 12 is displayed.
It is extracted from the tour DB 17. Therefore, the management center 1
Since it is transmitted to the customer terminal 13 from the second, time and labor for travel planning can be saved.

(3) The management center 12 stores the past request information of the customer in the request DB 18. When the customer clicks the history button 70 and desires to view the past request information, the management center 12 sends the history to the customer. The confirmation screen can be transmitted to the customer terminal 13 for viewing.

The above embodiment may be modified as follows. Distribution data distributed from the management center 12 to the request destination terminal 14 and the customer terminal 1 from the management center 12
3. To transmit the reply data transmitted to the third party by a transmission means other than an electronic mail, for example, by facsimile, telephone, mail, or the like.

With such a configuration, information can be obtained without being in a constant connection environment to the Internet. The request destination terminal 14 is used by a travel agency other than the accommodation agency, for example, a travel agency, a rental car company, an airline company, etc., and the request content is to use a rental car, obtain a flight ticket, and the like.

[0032] The customer can input and specify the due date of the lodging institution or the like to the request information on the homepage, or can make the date until the day of travel.・ The reservation application due date for the response information of the lodging institution etc. can be made until the day of travel.

The items to be input to the request information input section 47 are keywords other than anniversaries, for example, information on family structure and hobbies, and the tour DB 17 stores tour travel information associated with these keywords.

When inputting an answer input screen 50 on the request destination terminal 14, items other than the desired amount, for example, changes can be input and transmitted to the management center 12 as answer information.

The Internet 11 is a network such as an intranet, an extranet, a wide area network, or a combination of these.
Next, technical ideas other than those described in the claims that can be grasped from the above embodiment and other examples will be described below together with their effects.

(1) The travel reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a method of transmitting information from the management center to the customer terminal and the request destination terminal is electronic mail. .

In this way, the contents of the e-mail can be confirmed at the terminal and at the same time the management center can be accessed at the same terminal. (2) The travel reservation system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the phrase is an anniversary day.

This makes it possible to propose a trip suitable for the anniversary. (3) In any one of claims 1 to 3,
When the request destination terminal accesses the management center,
A travel reservation system characterized by password authentication.

In this way, the confidentiality of the customer information is increased. (4) The travel reservation system according to claim 3, further comprising means for converting the collected information into the request information when a customer desires.

With this configuration, the customer checks the past request information and, when planning a trip under the same conditions as the request information, reuses the past request information as new request information. Since input and selection can be performed easily.

(5) The travel reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising means for selecting the request destination terminal based on the request information. With such a configuration, the requestee can collect request information of the customer with a high contract rate, which matches the type of business or district of the requestee, so that time and labor for acquiring the customer can be reduced.

[0042]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a customer can save time and labor, and can compare and book a trip according to desired conditions such as a price. In addition, the travel agency can efficiently collect customers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of data stored in a storage unit.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a procedure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the procedure.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the procedure.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the procedure.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a display screen of a customer terminal.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a display screen of a customer terminal.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a display screen of the customer terminal.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a display screen of a request destination terminal.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a display screen of a customer terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: Internet as a network, 13: customer terminal, 14: request destination terminal, 17: tour DB as a storage unit, 18: request DB as a storage unit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A travel reservation system connected to a customer terminal and a request destination terminal via a network, for distributing request information on a trip collected from the customer terminal to an unspecified number of the request destination terminals. A means for collecting response information to the request information from a request destination and transmitting the request information to the customer terminal; a means for collecting reservation application information for the response information from the customer terminal and transmitting the request information to the request destination terminal; Means for collecting reservation confirmation information from a request destination terminal and transmitting the information to the customer terminal. 2. The travel reservation system according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage unit that stores travel information related to a phrase of the request information in advance, and a unit that provides the travel information to a customer. 3. The storage device according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage unit for storing collected information from the customer terminal, wherein when the customer terminal requests viewing of the collected information,
A travel reservation system characterized by browsing.