Our Client Web Service API is a fully responsive Web Booking Module which will run on both mobile and non-mobile devices. This will make it unnecessary to have two versions of the web booking module.
This responsive version of the web booking module contains an example “formatted” version of the booking steps. The formatted version comes with a standard interface that with a few minor changes can be plugged directly into your company’s website. These minor changes generally include things like colour scheme, logos and which fields are mandatory or not when collecting the customer’s information.
To get started you must first make the decision as to whether you will build your own booking pages to make requests from your own website OR choose to run our standard formatted version which can either be hosted through Rental Car Managers secure booking URL's or on your own web server.
We generally recommend using our standard formatted version initially as this is a quick solution to getting a set of booking steps up and running on your website.
There are two choices if you are using our standard formatted version:
- RCM hosts the web booking steps - as we can provide all the styling and configuration required to match the booking process to your existing website and ensure the integration works smoothly from day one. Note that there is a charge for this initial styling and configuration but this still remains a very cost effective and quick "out of the box" solution. For pricing please contact our sales team at sales@rentalcarmanager.com and provide your website URL so we can provide a quotation for the work required.
- Alternatively if you would like to build a more customised version or simply host the booking process through your own website we can supply your web developer with a full code set in either .NET or PHP that will provide a great base to begin building your own fully customised version.
There is also the option of your web developer building a set of booking steps from scratch, this would allow you to have a set of steps which look and behave exactly how you want them to.
We provide a full sandbox environment for development testing. This Developer's Sandbox also contains the following:
- A Developer's Guide
- Detailed information about each API method, including the parameters to pass in and the returning datasets.
- A downloadable .Net and PHP version of our standard formatted booking steps.
- An area to do some initial testing.
For further information on initialising the API see the Developer's Guide, which can be found in the Developer's Sandbox.
Processes
The web booking module is broken down into 5 steps, a brief overview of these steps is shown below.
The key difference with this version of the Web API as opposed to older ones is that we return all of the datasets for each step of the booking process in one call. Previously a series of API calls had to be made to perform one booking step. Now there is one call and this call is managed within the client side API.
Step 1 - Request Booking
This first booking step allows the customer to enter the location, date and time information relevant to the booking request they wish to make. They can also enter a vehicle type and a promo code.
For more information on Step 1 see the Developer's Sandbox.
Step 2 - Select Vehicle
This booking step displays the vehicles that are available and allows the customer to select the one they are interested in booking. They can also rerun the search if they wish to change any of the location, date and time information.
For more information on Step 2 see the Developer's Sandbox.
Step 3 - Select Extras and Confirm Booking/Quote
This booking step displays the information about the vehicle that has been selected, including any mandatory fees that will be applied to the booking. A booking total is also displayed.
All of the optional extras that can be added to the booking are also displayed and the customer is able to choose the ones that they are interested in. The booking total will be updated as extra fees are either selected or de-selected by the customer. That way they will always see a current booking total.
When the customer decides to proceed with either a quote or a booking request, this step also collects their personal information.
For more information on Step 3 see the Developer's Sandbox.
Step 4 - Make Payment
This booking step allows the customer to save their credit card details into the secure credit card vault. No payment is taken, the credit card details are simply saved against the booking.
If you are hosting the steps yourself, you can replace the collection of credit card information with a payment gateway. You can then save any successful payment information against the booking request inside RCM.
For more information on Step 4 see the Developer's Sandbox.