Contracts are binding written agreements between the customer and the hotel or chain. In B2B Sales, contracts are used to record negotiated booking and rate details with the customer i.e., the sales account. Contracts can define general conditions for the number of annual room nights and respective corporate rate negotiated with the customer. They can also refer to a specific booking scenario.

Using the Contracts tab you can view contracts recorded for the selected account. In addition, you can add, edit and delete contracts.

In this article:

• Viewing contracts
• Adding/editing a contract
• Deleting a contract
• Changing the status of a contract
• Editing the options tab for a contract
• Adding/editing documents for a contract
• Distributing/stop distributing a contract to selected hotels

Viewing contracts

1. From the account detail select the Contracts tab.
   B2B Sales displays a list with all contracts recorded for the selected account.
   
   You can see the from/to dates, the negotiated contract rate, the contract type and description, and the number of room nights.

2. To proceed from here, select the required option. You can:

• Add a new contract by selecting the New icon or select the option from the popup menu.
• Edit a contract by selecting the contract and selecting the Edit icon or select the option from the popup menu.
• Distribute a settled contract to selected properties.
• Delete a contract by selecting the contract and selecting the Delete

Adding/editing a contract

From the Contract dialog box, you can a) enter the contract details, b) record custom-specific details referring to the contract by selecting the Options tab, c) record the contract details in a written document by selecting the Document tab, and d) distribute the contract to selected recipients at the hotel (once you have changed the status to Contracted).

Adding/editing a contract:

1. Do one of the following:

• On the Contract tab, select the New icon to add a new contract.
• On the Contract tab select the required contract and select the Edit
  B2B Sales displays the Contracts dialog box.
  
  On the top of the screen you can see the account name and the account number used for the client.

2. Fill in/modify all the information that you have negotiated with the customer. Use the Remarks box to document important details that you cannot fit into any of the regular fields.

Note: As soon as you have changed the status of a contract to Contracted you can no longer delete or edit the contract.

See the contracts table for a field description of the Contracts dialog box.

3. When you have added the required information, select Ok to save the information.

From a selected contract you have the following options:

• Select the Options tab and fill in the fields, if you want to record custom-specific information about the contract.
• Select the Document tab to add/edit a Word file containing the actual contract text or additional details.
• Change the status of a contract to Contracted by selecting the Change Status.
• Select the Distribution tab to select the hotels which you want to inform about the contract.

Table: Contracts dialog – description of fields

Field Name	Description
Subject	Contract description. Type in a short description for the contract, for example “Main agreement 2021”, or “ACME User Group 10/21”, etc. Try to keep the subject short and concise. In the list of contracts, you only see the first part of the subject line (about 40 characters) in the Subject column.
Type	Contract type. Select the drop-down and select the required contract type. You can have generic main contracts, specific booking contracts, allotment contracts, headquarter contracts, etc. The available selection depends on your configuration of B2B Sales.
Contract Status	This read-only field displays the status of the contract, e.g. pending (the default), contracted, or lost. Caution: Once you have (!) changed the status of a contract, you cannot undo your change. For example, if the contract has expired, it does not make sense to change the status back to Pending or Contracted. If it is necessary to change the status for a contract, select the Change Status button at the bottom right of the screen.
Since	The date is automatically updated each time you change the status for the contract, i.e. from “Pending” to “Contracted” or “Lost”.
Rate Code	Select the down arrow and select the negotiated contract rate code from the pickbox.
Room Nights	Enter the negotiated number of room nights for the contract.
From/Until	Enter the valid dates for the contract. For main contracts, this can stretch over longer periods of time, such as a year. For specific contracts this will usually refer to the booking period. Type in the dates or select the required dates from the calendar available by selecting the down arrow.
Contact	Contact responsible for this contract. Select the down arrow and select the contact from the pickbox listing all contact persons recorded for the respective account.
Remarks	Use the Remarks box to record any additional information pertaining to the contract.
Info Fields: Last/Created	These read-only fields are for information only and cannot be edited. They display the user ID of the person who last edited the contract and the last edit date, the creation date of the contract, and the respective user ID.

Deleting a contract

If a pending contract is no longer required, for example, it has not been properly recorded, or is redundant because there is another record for the same account, you can remove it from B2B Sales.

Note: You can only delete contracts with the status Pending. As soon as you have changed the status of a contract to Contracted, Lost, or Expired, you can no longer delete the contract for the following reason: You may still require the information for reporting purposes.

Deleting a contract:

1. On the Contracts tab, select the required contract and select the Delete icon.
   B2B Sales asks whether you really want to delete the contract.
   

2. Select Yes to delete the contract, select No to abort the operation.

If you confirm the deletion, B2B Sales will no longer display the contract in the list of contracts and delete the record from B2B Sales.

Changing the status of a contract

As a default, the status of a contract is set to Pending, that means that the contract negotiations are on-going but that the contract has not been signed yet. When the status changes, i.e. the customer signs the contract, or if the business is lost, you need to record this fact in B2B Sales.

Changing the status of a contract:

1. On the Contracts tab, double-select the required record to open it.
2. In the Contract dialog box, select the Change Status button at the bottom right of the screen.

B2B Sales displays the Contract status change dialog box for this contract.

3. Select the required status radio option. The following status descriptions are available.

• Contracted – Change the status from Pending to Contracted if the contract has been signed. (Once you have changed the status to Contracted, the Distribution tab becomes active on the Contract dialog box.)
• Expired – Change the status from Contracted to Expired when the signed contract has expired.
• Lost – Change the status from Pending to Lost if the contract was not concluded either because the customer denied it (for example rates too high, customer chose other hotel, etc.)

If you check the radio option Lost, the Reason and Remarks fields are activated.

In the Reason field, select the down arrow and select the proper reason for losing the business in this case.

You can optionally use the Remarks field to describe the reasons for losing the business in more detail.

4. Select Ok when you are done. Select Cancel to leave the previous status.

B2B Sales returns to the Contract dialog box and updates the contract status display accordingly.

Note: If the status has changed to Contracted, the Distribution tab in the Contracts dialog box will be highlighted. Now you can distribute the contract rate codes to your selection of hotels.

Editing the options tab for a contract

Using the Options tab in the Contract dialog box, you can record and modify custom-specific fields pertaining to the contract details. The Options tab is completely user-definable and determined during the configuration of the Sales system.

Editing the Options tab for a contract:

1. From the Contract dialog, select the Options tab.
2. Fill in the required fields or make your selection from the respective pickboxes
3. Select Ok when you are done. Select Cancel to return to the previous settings.

Adding/editing documents for a contract

When you negotiate a contract you will usually create a written document listing all the contract details and conditions in a formal manner.

On the Document tab you can retrieve a contract template and modify it to the requirements of the specific contract. The document will be linked to the contract and can be viewed and printed at any time.

Adding/editing documents for a contract:

1. From the Contract dialog box, select the Document tab.
   

If a document has already been linked to the contract, you will see the template name and description, the name of the person who created the document and the creation date. In addition, you will see the name of the person who updated the document and the change date, if applicable.

2. Do one of the following:

• For editing/deleting an existing template, select the document, and then select the Edit or Delete
• If the contract status is Contracted, select View to open this document.
• For creating a new document, select New.
  B2B Sales displays the Template Selection dialog box.
  

Note: Next to Select the template language. B2B Sales defaults the language entered in the contact record of this contact.
In the list of templates, B2B Sales displays all templates available in the respective language.

3. Select one of the available templates.
4. Select Use.

B2B Sales replaces all the merge codes set in the template with the actual contract data and displays the result of the merge.

B2B Sales will open Word and display the document for editing.

You can make full use of all editing and formatting options available with Word. Make any changes that you require for this contract in particular. If you want to send a printed copy to the customer by mail, make use of the Print option once you have edited the contract according to your requirements.

5. When you are done, select the File menu and then select Save & Return.
   B2B Sales returns to the Document tab.
   
   B2B Sales now displays the document summary, such as the template name, description, User ID, and creation date. If you change the document again, the changed date will be updated accordingly.

6. On the Document tab you have the following options. You can:

• Select a list of hotels to which you want to distribute the contract (select the Distribution tab – only activated when you have changed the contract status to Contracted).
• Attach and edit a new contract template (select New).
• Edit the attached contract once again (select Edit).
  B2B Sales will display the contract in Word for editing.

• Delete the contract (select Delete).
  In this case, B2B Sales will ask whether you really want to delete the contract.
  

• Edit the contract details (select the Details or Options tab).
• Return to the list of contracts (select Ok).

Distributing/stop distributing a contract to selected hotels

Note: This option is only used by some hotel groups. It will only be available if it has been activated.

When a contract has been negotiated and settled, you need to distribute it to a selection of hotels, so that they are aware of the contract rate code and any other negotiated details. With B2B Sales, you can select an individual distribution list for each contract. B2B Sales will carry out the distribution automatically.

Note: The Distribution tab is activated once you have changed the contract status from Pending to Contracted. See Changing the Status of a Contract Subsequent changes to accounts/agents/contacts will trigger an automatic redistribution to all subscribed hotels.

Distributing/stop distributing a contract to selected hotels:

1. In the Contract dialog box, select the Distribution tab.
   
   On the left-hand side of the screen you will receive a list of hotels available for the distribution. On the right-hand side are the hotels to which you will distribute the contract rate code.

2. To distribute this contract to the required hotels, i.e. create a link between the contract of a sales account and a hotel, do one of the following:

• Select > to add a specific hotel to the distribution list.
• Select >> to add all available hotels to the distribution list.

3. Select Ok when you are done, or select Cancel to restore the previous settings.
4. To stop the distribution of this contract to given hotels, i.e. remove the link between the contract of a sales account and a hotel, do one of the following:

• Select < to remove a specific hotel from the distribution list.
• Select << to remove all assigned hotels from the distribution list.

5. Select Ok to save the changes or Cancel to restore the previous settings.

Table: What happens when you create a link between a contract and a hotel?

Affected	Result
Sales Rep	Prior to installation the hotel chain specifies the amount of information that you can distribute. Usually this includes the account address, the contact address, and the actual contract data.
Contract	B2B Sales distributes the rate code of the contract to the PMS systems of the selected hotels. The rest of the contract data is detailed in a standard email.
Hotel	All hotels that you have included in the distribution list will receive the standard email notifying them of new and/or updated contracts. The email recipient is an employee of the hotel whom you have defined as a primary employee in B2B Sales. For an example of an email for new contracts, see Figure 2: Standard Email for New Contracts. For an example of an email for updated contracts, see Figure 3: Standard Email for Updated Contracts.
PMS system of hotel	B2B Sales carries out the distribution automatically, downloading the rate code to the selected local PMS systems. If the profile does not yet exist, a new one is created automatically.

 

Table 22: What happens when you remove a link between a contract and a hotel?

Affected	Result
Sales Rep	The contract between the selected hotels and the sales account in question becomes invalid. You should only remove the link between a contract and a hotel when the contract has expired.
Contract	B2B Sales will not let you stop the distribution of a contract unless you have set the contract status to Expired.
Hotel	The hotel continues to receive updates of account address and contact address. After all, there may be other contracts which are still valid.
PMS of hotel	The contract rate for this corporate customer is automatically removed from the PMS profile to prevent the customer from taking advantage of an expired contract. (Valid contracts and contract rates will remain unaffected.)

 

Figure 2: Standard Email for New Contracts

Note: The contract emails are based on email templates. The system automatically merges all the above variables with the account, contact, and contract details before sending the contract emails to the hotels.

 

Figure 3: Standard Email for Updated Contracts