Looking to expand? Online distribution channels are the next logical step to take your tour or activity company to the next level.Rezdy gives you all of the tools you need to drive bookings online from new and existing agents. Here’s everything you need to know.What are online distribution channels?Distribution channels are companies or contacts that promote and distribute your products in exchange for a commission.Examples:Online travel agenciesGovernment websitesVisitor information centersDaily deal websitesConcierge servicesWith Rezdy, you’re able to connect with channels directly so that bookings, availability and commissions are all seamlessly tracked in one place. This drastically reduces the risk of overbooking your tours.How can you connect with distribution channels on Rezdy?Step 1: Your Agent CatalogThe first step you need to take is to create an Agent Catalog to set up the commission rate.For EVERY agent that sells your products, you must add them to an Agent Catalog. Within the Agent Catalog are products of your choice, with commission rates you choose.You can see in the below image, the Agent Catalogs list and the agents within each catalog. Essentially, you could have an Agent Catalog for a specific hotel and add all the agents from that hotel in to the same catalog.Step 2: Invite an Agent to distribute your productsInvite an Agent by finding existing agents, or inviting ones that aren’t listed yet.Existing Agents who are on RezdyThis is what it looks like when you search for an agent:Once you click “Invite Agent”, you’ll have to input:An invitation messageAn Agent CodeAn Agent Payment preferenceThe Agent PermissionsThe Catalog that you would like to share with the AgentAgents who aren’t listed on Rezdy yetYou can still provide your real time inventory to agents who aren’t on Rezdy yet. You’ll have a new agent setup form where you input details like their company name and email in addition to the information we’ve listed above.How can you manage your distribution channels on an ongoing basis?Input orders from AgentsWhile it will save both of you time to get your Agents to book on your behalf, sometimes things get busy and you have to input an order for them. This is really easy to do.You will have to manually enter the amount that is paid from your customer to the Agent.Reconcile Agent commissionCommission reports are a big part of having a good relationship with your agents.From your agents’ point of view, your commission is one of many other suppliers that they need to reconcile. They may have staff internally whose job it is to do this – spending up to 20 hours per week doing so!If you don’t have software to help, it can be tough. That’s because your agent may say, “I sent you 5 bookings” but 2 of them cancelled. They then expect 5 payments and get only 3, coming back to you demanding more.It’s a pain on both ends – your agents don’t want to deal with it, and neither do you. Automating the commission reconciliation process helps both sides save money because the numbers are more accurate, and staff can be more productive.Lucky for you, Rezdy can handle all of it for you with our Commission Reconciliation Report. Here’s an example of how that looks:You can see outstanding commissions at a glance, and there’s no need to manually check through all your bookings to see which ones made it through. Staff on both ends can now work on more important tasks.Click here for complete instructions. What’s Next?Browse the Rezdy Academy Distribution sectionDownload our Distribution eBookSee distribution posts from our Tour Operator BlogLog into your accountIntegrate Rezdy with several Online Travel AgentsTry Rezdy for free, we’ll help you getting listed.Sign up Now