WO2001099013A1 - A method and system for planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation over a communications network - Google Patents

A method and system for planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation over a communications network Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2001099013A1
WO2001099013A1 PCT/US2001/019775 US0119775W WO0199013A1 WO 2001099013 A1 WO2001099013 A1 WO 2001099013A1 US 0119775 W US0119775 W US 0119775W WO 0199013 A1 WO0199013 A1 WO 0199013A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
customer
vacation
vendor
computer system
travel
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2001/019775
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Bernard D. Frelat
Patrice O. Suncic
Annick Le Coz-Mishra
Original Assignee
Rail Europe Group, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Rail Europe Group, Inc. filed Critical Rail Europe Group, Inc.
Priority to AU2001286387A priority Critical patent/AU2001286387A1/en
Publication of WO2001099013A1 publication Critical patent/WO2001099013A1/en

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Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/02Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00Commerce
    • G06Q30/06Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a computer method and system for planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation via a communications network such as the Internet.
  • BACKGROUND Communications networks allow one or more individuals to communicate through the transmission of information between two or more locations. These networks have existed for some timeiand. include such things as telegraph and telephone systems.
  • WWW World Wide Web
  • Graphical pages of information can be sent over the WWW from a server computer system (i.e., Web server or Website) to a receiving computer system, operated by another person such as a client or customer.
  • the recipient computer system can then display the graphical information on its computer screen ("Web pages”) so that it can be viewed by the client or customer.
  • Web pages computer screen
  • a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL") is attached to each computer and/or Web page of the WWW, identifying that computer or Web page.
  • a recipient computer system can view a specific eb page by specifying the URL for that Web page in a request (e.g., Hyper Text Transfer Protocol ("HTTP") request).
  • HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
  • This request can be made in many different ways such as a user typing the request into the computer system or the user clicking on a link on a Web page.
  • the request is forwarded along the WWW to the Web server that supports the requested Web page. Once it receives the request, the Web server sends the requested Web page to the receiving computer system.
  • the receiving computer system then typically displays the Web page using a software program designed to display the Web page (e.g., a browser) so that is can be viewed by the user of the receiving computer system.
  • Hyper-Text Markup Language (“HTML”) is typically used to define how a Web page is to be displayed.
  • HTML Hyper-Text Markup Language
  • the browser on the user's computer system sends a request to the server computer system on which the requested Web page is stored.
  • the server computer system Upon receiving the request, the server computer system will transfer to the requesting computer system the HTML document that defines the Web page so that the browser on the receiving computer system can display the Web page for its user.
  • the HTML document contains information about the display of the Web page and " may " contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server, computer systems.
  • These Web pages may also query the customer to enter information about the product or service that the customer wants to purchase, ultimately asking the customer to select a product or service for purchase.
  • the vendor's server computer system may request additional information from the customer such as the customer's name, address and phone number.
  • the vendor's server computer system may request payment information such as the customer's credit card number.
  • the vendor's server computer system will typically send confirmation of a purchase by e-mail or over a Web page to the customer's computer system, thereby notifying the customer that the purchase has been completed. Additional materials may also be sent to the customer's mailing address to complete the transaction or notify the customer that the transaction has been made.
  • Vendors are currently using these systems to sell a variety of products and services. Customers can purchase these different products over the Internet or WWW and the products are then shipped to the customer. The customer simply selects the product on the Web page and the customer is billed for the product on a credit card or under some similar billing arrangement. The purchased product arrives at the customer's mailing address in a few days.
  • ⁇ formation from customers For example., if a- customer wants to purchase an airline . .. ticket; he or she could access an airline company's Web page that allows customers to determine the availability of and price for various airline tickets, make reservations for those tickets and purchase those tickets over the Web site. This can easily be accomplished when a customer wants to purchase a single travel service (such as an airline ticket or hotel reservation) from a single vendor who operates a Web site for this purpose, such as an airline or hotel company.
  • a single travel service such as an airline ticket or hotel reservation
  • some vendors are using the Internet or WWW to advertise and sell certain prepackaged travel packages or vacations that may include travel services from one or more companies. For example, some vendors advertise and sell pre-packaged travel vacations whereby a customer may purchase his or her entire vacation package for one predetermined price. These packaged vacations include a predetermined itinerary to- one or more destination cities and may include travel, lodging and reservations for other attractions and/or activities during the vacation. These packages provide a customer with the convenience of one-stop shopping and allow a customer to purchase an entire vacation at one time and for one price without having to make all of the separate and individual travel arrangements that are usually associated with planning a vacation. However, these vendors offer a limited number of prepackaged vacations that can only be altered or changed in very limited ways, leaving customers with a very limited number of inflexible prepackaged vacation options.
  • some vendors will assist a customer in planning a customized vacation.
  • the customer provides information to the vendor about the vacation the customer wants to take. For example, the customer tells the vendor which city or cities the customer wants to visit and which days the customer wants to visit that city or those cities.
  • the customer may tell the vendor where the customer wants to stay and which attractions the customer wants to visit.
  • the vendor is unable to tell the customer at that time whether or not the requested travel arrangements can be purchased by the customer because the vendor must determine the availability of and the price for the requested arrangements. Typically, this is done by an employee of the vendor who contacts various airlines, hotels and other travel service providers to determine the availability of and price for the travel accommodations requested by the customer.
  • This process can be time consuming and costly as the vendor must recontact the customer to inform him or her about availability and price before confirming the individual components of the vacation. This could take several hours or even days. The whole process may need to be repeated several times if the desired accommodations are not available or their price is more than the customer is willing to pay. This creates further delays and makes it even more difficult to complete the process.
  • the present invention is a method and system that permits a customer to, in real time and over an automated system, quickly and ⁇ easily plan a customized vacation, check the availability of and prices for that vacation, purchase the vacation and receive confirmation that the requested travel arrangements have been booked for the customer. This can be done over a communications network such as the Internet utilizing the WWW.
  • the present invention provides the customer with much flexibility to customize the vacation to meet the customer's needs and desires.
  • the customer has real time access to information about the availability of and price for the customized vacation on the automated system and that information can be quickly updated as the customer makes changes to the vacation.
  • the customer can also use the automated system to purchase the vacation or hold the vacation for a specified period of time.
  • the customer can also purchase the customized vacation over the automated system and quickly receive confirmation of the purchase over the communications network.
  • the customer can do all of these things using a computer system to interact in real time with a vendor's server computer system.
  • the customer can plan a customized vacation by selecting one or more travel components such as an airline ticket, a train ticket, a car rental reservation, a hotel reservation or a reservation/ticket for an attraction or an activity.
  • the customer can also create plans for one or more days of the vacation by adding to a daily schedule attractions preselected by the vendor or another activity in a free format. This gives the customer much flexibility to create a personalized daily schedule for each day of the vacation. By adding, deleting and changing these travel components, the customer can plan the customized vacation.
  • the customer can check in real time the availability of and price for the customized vacation (as planned at that time) over an automated system.
  • the vendor's server computer system will be able to check this information in real time, usually in less than a minute or two, and notify the customer whether the customized vacation is available for purchase and the total price for the vacation.
  • the customer can then choose to purchase the vacation, place the vacation on hold, or continue customizing the vacation. If the customer chooses to continue customizing the vacation, the vendor's server computer system will permit the customer to continue adding, deleting or changing travel components.
  • the vendor's system can place the vacation on hold for a 5 specified period of time so that the customer can decide whether to purchase the vacation.
  • the vendor's server computer system will make the appropriate travel arrangements (e.g., purchase tickets, book reservations, etc.) in real time over the automated system. The vendor's server computer system can then quickly confirm the purchase for the customer.
  • the customer can also use this invention to customize prepackaged vacations
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of the way that the information 5 received by the vendor's server computer system from the customer's computer system can be processed by the vendor's system when a customer is planning a customized vacation.
  • FIGS. 3-31 are screen shot representations of Web pages accessible to a customer through a Web browser which demonstrate one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the present invention provides a method and system for a customer to plan a customized vacation, check the availability of and prices for the requested travel components of the customized vacation, and purchase the available travel components of the vacation over a communications network such as the Internet utilizing the WWW. 5 Importantly, all three steps can be accomplished quickly and easily with this system.
  • the word- "vacation" in this specification is intended to have a broad meaning and include almost any kind of trip or travel for almost any purpose.
  • a customer is initially identified by the vendor's server computer system. This can be done by storing consumer identification information on a customer database on the vendor's server computer system.
  • This customer identification information is important because the vendor's server computer system associates each part or component of the customized vacation with the customer as the customer updates, adds or deletes portions of the customized vacation while planning the vacation.
  • the customer identification information can be stored in a customer database and later referenced by the vendor's server computer system each time the customer accesses the vendor's server computer system through a login process.
  • the customer can begin to plan a customized vacation by selecting the travel components that the customer wants to include in the customized vacation.
  • the customer's computer system transmits to the vendor's server computer system information about each travel component that the customer wants included with the vacation.
  • a travel component is a part or portion of the vacation that is purchased or reserved in advance of a trip such as an airline ticket, a train ticket, a car rental reservation, a hotel reservation or a ticket/reservation for an activity (e.g., a tour or meal) at a certain place.
  • an activity e.g., a tour or meal
  • the present invention allows the customer to quickly and easily plan such a customized vacation through the selection of these travel components over the Internet utilizing the WWW. Then, the invention allows the customer to quickly determine the availability of and prices for the travel package containing the selected travel components, and immediately purchase the components that are available.
  • the customer provides some basic information about each requested travel component so that the vendor's server computer system can determine the availability of and price for the requested component.
  • This basic information can include, but is not necessarily limited to, such things as the dates that the customer wants to travel, the airline on which the customer prefers to travel, the destination city or cities that the customer wishes to visit and the order in which the cities are to be visited, the length of the customer's visit in each destination city, the nights for which the customer needs lodging, the type of lodging accommodations desired by the customer, and the attractions or other activities that the customer wants to include as part of the customized vacation.
  • the information is stored in a component database on the system and associated with the customer's identification information so that each travel component can easily be matched to a specific customer's customized vacation by the vendor's server computer system.
  • the vendor's server computer system determines what it should do with that information. Then, after finishing with that information, the vendor's systems may return a message, which can be in a form such as a Web page, back to the customer's computer system. That message may acknowledge that the vendor's server computer system received the transmitted information and updated the customized vacation accordingly. Furthermore, that message may request or permit the customer to provide additional information or update existing information about a travel component.
  • While planning a customized vacation the customer can add components to, delete components from or change existing components that are included in the customized vacation.
  • the vendor's server computer system receives from the customer's computer system instructions to add, delete or change a travel component
  • the vendor's system updates a database containing information about the requested travel components to include the addition, deletion or changes submitted by the customer. Therefore, the components database is updated each time the customer's computer system transmits updates about a travel component. This process of adding, deleting or changing individual travel components can be repeated many times until the customer is satisfied with all of the components in the customized vacation.
  • the present invention also allows the customer to check the availability and price of the selected travel components based on the information transmitted to the vendor's server computer system and stored in the component database. This can be done at virtually anytime during the travel planning process.
  • the customer's computer system transmits to the vendor's server computer system a request to check the availability of and prices for the customized vacation as comprised of the various travel components selected by the customer.
  • the vendor's system will check the availability of and prices for each of the travel components selected by the customer.
  • the vendor's server computer system can then inform the customer's computer system which, if any, of the selected travel components are unavailable.
  • the vendor's system can transmit to the customer's computer system the total price for the available travel components.
  • the present invention can check on the availability and price of all of the selected travel components relatively quickly and confirm this information for the customer in a minute or two. This ⁇ alleviates the necessity for later communications between the customer and the vendor to confirm availability and prices.
  • the customer can then chose to purchase the available travel components or continue to plan the customized vacation by adding, deleting or changing individual travel components.
  • the customer can continue the process of planning the customized vacation by adding, deleting or updating individual travel components until the customer has finished planning the vacation.
  • the customer can then purchase the vacation from the vendor at the same time.
  • the invention provides tremendous flexibility for a customer to quickly and easily plan, confirm and purchase a customized vacation through that customer's computer system. This can be accomplished in the privacy of the customer's home or office.
  • the customer can quickly and easily compare the availability of and prices for different customized vacations by simply changing one or more of the individual travel components in the customized vacation and checking the availability of and prices for the new customized vacation. • This allows a customer to almost immediately determine which travel components are available and the price for each travel component.
  • a customer can establish an account with a vendor by providing customer information to that vendor.
  • the vendor's server computer system assigns a unique customer identifier to the customer and records the customer's information on a customer database on the vendor's server computer system.
  • a customer wants to plan a customized vacation, the customer accesses the vendor's Web site and logs into the vendor's server computer system. Once the customer has logged into the Web site, information about the customized vacation that is transmitted from the customer's.,computer system to the vendor's server computer system is associated with the customer's;identification information when it is stored in the components database.
  • a travel component e.g., dates of travel and places to stay
  • This information is added to, deleted from or changed in the components database on the vendor's server computer system in accordance with the instructions from the customer's computer system.
  • the vendor's server computer system then transmits to the customer's computer system information about the contents of the components database on the vendor's system.
  • the customer can update the customized vacation by adding, deleting or changing the individual travel components stored in the components database.
  • the customer continues the planning process by adding, deleting and/or changing the individual travel components stored in the components database until the customer has finished planning the vacation.
  • the customer may check the availability of and prices for the travel components the customer has entered into the database at that time. For example, the customer can check the availability of travel reservations on the date or dates that he or she has requested to travel and lodging reservations on the date or dates that he or she has requested for lodging.
  • the vendor's server computer system will determine the availability of and price for each travel component that is - included in the vacation. This allows the customer to check the availability of and prices for the selected travel components at any time during the planning process.
  • the customer can once again request that the vendor's server computer system check the availability of and price for the selected travel components to determine whether the entire customized vacation can be purchased by the customer or only certain components can be purchased by the customer. The customer may be required to further change and update individual travel components if the selected components are unavailable.
  • the customer may be quoted a single price for the entire vacation package or may be quoted prices on individual travel components.
  • Th -Customer can then purchase the customized vacation, or the available components "• thereto; ' This allows the customer to plan, confirm and purchase a customized vacation over the- communications network during a single session. The customer can plan his or her customized vacation and does not have to wait for further confirmation to purchase the vacation.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention, This embodiment illustrates how the customer's computer system and vendor's server computer system can interact during the process of planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation.
  • Information can be transmitted between the customer's computer system 110 and the vendor's server computer system 120 over the Internet 130 utilizing the WWW.
  • the vendor's server computer system 120 includes but is not necessarily limited to, a server engine 121, various Web pages 122, a customer database 123, a component database 124, a destination database 125, and a routine for checking the availability and price of one or more components in a customized vacation 126.
  • the server engine 121 receives HTTP requests from the customer's computer system to access certain Web pages stored on the vendor's server computer system.
  • the vendor's server computer system then provides Web pages 122 to the customer's computer systems as requested.
  • the HTTP requests received by the vendor's server computer system may include such things as a request to update a travel component, a request to check the availability of and price for the travel components currently included in the customized vacation, or a command to purchase the travel components in the customized vacation that are currently available to the customer.
  • the customer database 123 includes customer information such as the customer's name, mailing address, billing information, shipping information and travel preferences.
  • the component database 124 contains information regarding the various travel components selected by the customer to be included as part of the customized vacation. This information can be updated by the customer through additions, deletions and changes to the travel components that are transmitted from the customer's computer system to the vendor's server computer system.
  • a travel component in this database may include a requested airline ticket, a requested train reservation, a requested rental car reservation, a requested hotel reservation and/or a requested ticket or reservation for another attraction or activity during the customized vacation.
  • a travel component involving an airline ticket may include such information as the point of departure, destination, dates of travel, preferred airline and preferred class of ticket (e.g., economy or business).
  • a travel component involving a reservation for lodging may include such information as the city where the lodging is being requested, the dates on which the lodging is needed, and the type of lodging desired by the customer.
  • a travel component involving an attraction or. activity may include such information as the activity or attraction that the customer wants to do, the place of the requested attraction or activity, and the date and/or time of day that the customer wants to visit the attraction or participate in the activity. This information about each travel component is stored in the component database and can be revised or deleted while a customer is planning a vacation. ⁇
  • the destination database 125 includes information about various destinations such as attractions, activities, restaurants and other information that a customer planning a vacation might find useful.
  • the vendor's server computer system is able to check the availability of and prices for the requested travel components 126 in real time without human interaction. By fully automating the process, it can usually be accomplished in less than a minute or two. This affords the customer much flexibility because the customer can quickly and easily check the availability of and prices for several different customized vacations or several variations of a single customized vacation in a small amount of time.
  • the automated checking process has been found to work particularly well when using a back end computer system 127 and a dedicated link to a travel reservation system, such as the SABRE system 128.
  • the vendor may negotiate contracts with various businesses in the travel industry for a certain allotment of travel products at a negotiated price. This information can be inputted into an inventory database that is stored on and maintained by the back end computer system.
  • the vendor's system can request the back end computer system to check the ⁇ . inventory database to determine the availability of and prices for the various requested travel components.
  • the back end computer can notify the vendor's server system whether the travel component is available and, if so, its price. However, if the vendor has sold its entire allotment of the requested component, then the back end computer can notify the vendor's server system that the product is unavailable. Upon being notified that a component is unavailable in the inventory database, the vendor's server system can then check a travel reservation system such as the SABRE reservation system to try and locate the requested product at the lowest available published price. If the requested product is also unavailable on the travel reservation system, then the customer is notified that the requested travel component is unavailable.
  • a travel reservation system such as the SABRE reservation system
  • the price for the component in the back end system or the price for the component in the travel reservation system is used to determine the total price of the vacation.
  • the vendor's system can add up the prices for each available travel component to determine the total price for the vacation. This total price can be transmitted back to the customer's computer system.
  • the information about the customer's vacation is transferred from the vendor's server computer system to the back end computer system and the purchased travel components are removed from the inventory database on the back end computer so that these components cannot be purchased by another customer.
  • the customer's information can also automatically be transferred to the travel business that supplies the component to inform that business who purchased the product and the price at which it was purchased.
  • the vendor can negotiate contracts with almost any travel business for almost any kind of travel product, including but not necessarily limited to airline tickets, train tickets, car rentals, hotel accommodations, and other activities or attractions.
  • the vendor can add the available products to the inventory database.
  • the vendor may also provide travel businesses with whom the vendor has contracted access (on line or otherwise) to the vendor's back end system so that the business may determine how many of its products remain available in the vendor's inventory database at any given time.
  • the travel business can also release an additional allotment of products, thereby adding to the vendor's inventory on the back end computer.
  • the entire system can also be further automated to do such things as notify the travel businesses when the inventory for their products gets low so that those businesses can release another allotment of their products to replenish the vendor's inventory.
  • This automated system has many advantages in that the customer benefits from the prices negotiated by the vendor, the customer can check the availability of and prices for the travel components in the customized vacation in real time on a fully automated system that does not require human interaction, and the travel businesses can monitor the availability of their products.
  • the automated system can check the availability of and prices for the travel components almost immediately, allowing the customer to check the availability of and prices for several customized vacations in a very short amount of time.
  • the customer's computer system and the vendor's server computer system interact via the Internet 130, exchanging information relating to the various travel components that are included in the customer's customized vacation.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of one way that the information received by the vendor's server computer system from the customer's computer system can be processed by the vendor's system when a customer is planning a customized vacation.
  • the routine is triggered when the vendor's server computer system receives information from the customer's computer system.
  • the vendor's server computer system determines whether the information being transmitted from the customer's computer system is updating the travel components, for the customized vacation (e.g., adding components, deleting components or .changing components), requesting that the vendor's system check, the availability ofand price for the travel components that are currently included in the customized vacation, or directing the vendor's system to purchase the available components included inthe customized vacation. • '/- • •
  • the vendor's server computer system If the vendor's server computer system is receiving information that updates travel components for the customized vacation (e.g., adds a component, deletes a component or changes a component), then the vendor's system updates the component database with the transmitted information about the travel component as shown in step 203. The vendor's server computer system can then send a message back to the customer's computer system which tells the customer that the information about the travel component has been updated as shown in step 204. This can be done by transmitting a Web page to the customer's computer system which contains the relevant information. Then, the routine returns to step 201 when the vendor's server computer system receives additional information from the customer's computer system..
  • the vendor's server computer system checks the availability of and price for the travel components as shown in step 205. This can be done by using an inventory database on a back end computer that keeps track of travel products allotted to the vendor through a contractual relationship with the provider of that travel product. Then, as shown in step 206, the vendor's system determines which, if any, of the travel components are unavailable for purchase by the customer.
  • the vendor's server computer system transmits a message back to the customer's computer system which tells the customer that all of the travel components are available as shown in step 207. This can be done by transmitting a Web page to the customer's computer system which contains this information and asks the customer whether the customer wants to purchase this vacation or continue planning the vacation. However, if one or more of the travel components are unavailable for purchase by the customer, then the vendor's server computer system sends a message back to the customer's computer system which tells the customer that one or more of the travel components are not available for purchase by the customer as shown in step 208.
  • step 207 the routine returns to step 201 when the vendor's server computer system receives additional information from the customer's computer system.
  • the vendor's system can make the requested reservations and purchase the requested tickets for the customer as shown in step 210.
  • the customer can be billed in accordance with the billing information associated with the customer's account and stored in the customer database. Additional materials (e.g., an itinerary or other relevant papers) can either be mailed to the customer's mailing address or transmitted back to the customer's computer system.
  • the vendor's server computer system can transmit a confirmation message back to the customer's computer system informing the customer that the vacation has been successfully purchased. At this point, the customer's process of planning, confirming and purchasing the customized vacation ends.
  • the customized vacation can be planned, confirmed and purchased during one visit or over the course of multiple visits.
  • This planning routine or process can be interrupted at any time if the customer decides to finish planning the customized vacation at a later time.
  • the information about the travel components that are included in the customized vacation remain stored in the components database on the vendor's server computer system and can easily be retrieved by the vendor's system at a later time.
  • the customer wants to continue planning the customized vacation, the customer can log back onto the vendor's Web site and continue the planning process.
  • the customer can continue to update the travel components of the customized vacation and check the availability of and pricing for the travel components.
  • the customer has completed the planning process, the customer can purchase the available travel components for the customized vacation.
  • a customer can work on planning more than one customized vacation at a time.
  • Each customized vacation is simply associated with an identifier, such as a name or number, so that the vendor's server computer system knows which customized vacation is being planned at any given time. Then, the vendor's server computer system can work to update the customized vacation that is being planned by the customer at that time. This allows a customer to simultaneously work on planning several customized vacations during multiple visits to the vendor's server computer system.
  • FIGS. 3-31 are screen shot representations of Web pages accessible to a customer through a customer's computer system that has a Web browser which demonstrate one embodiment of the present invention. These screen shot representations show the customer interface with the Web pages from the vendor's server computer system as the customer is planning and confirming a customized vacation in Europe from a departure point in North America. After the customer requests the URL for this vendor's server computer system, the vendor's home Web page is transmitted to the customer's computer system for display as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the customer's computer system should have a Web browser (not shown) which may be Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or almost any other compatible Web browser.
  • a Web browser not shown
  • the home Web page 300 provides the customer with several options including the following select buttons: "Most Popular Vacations” button 301, "Plan My Vacation” button 302, "Purchase” button 303, "Pack” button 304, "My
  • CyberSuitcase” button 305 "Planes” button 306, “Hotels” button 307, “Cars” button 308, “Trains” button 309, “Hot Deals” button 310, “Login” button 311, and “Help” button 312.
  • Each option has a select button whereby a user can select that option by clicking on that select button with a mouse or similar device that is part of the customer's computer system. - This is a common way for a computer user to select various options on a Web page and instruct the computer system to transmit that information back to the vendor's server computer system.
  • the customer can click on the Login select button 311 to identify himself or herself to the vendor's server computer system. The customer can do this by clicking on the "Login" select button 311 and transmitting login information to the vendor's system. After the customer clicks on the "Login” button 311 the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 400 as shown in FIG. 4. On this Web page, the customer can enter his or her email address and password so that the vendor's server computer system can identify the customer and verify that it is actually that c ⁇ stomer.
  • This Login Web page 400 also contains many of the same options as the home Web page 300 shown in FIG. 3 (e.g., select buttons for "Most Popular Vacations” 401, "Plan My Vacation” 402, “Purchase” 403, “Pack” 404, and "My CyberSuitcase”
  • This Web page also contains a "new to Eurovacations.com?" select button 406.
  • a new customer who has not set up an account with the vendor can click on this button to set up a customer account in the vendor's customer database.
  • a customer enters his or her e-mail address and password in the "E-mail Address” box 407 and the "Password” box 408, respectively. If a customer forgets his or her password, the customer can click on the "Forgot your password” select button 410 for assistance in remembering the password.
  • the customer can click on the "Go” select button 409 to transmit that information to the vendor's server computer system. If the vendor's system recognizes the customer, the vendor's system will transmit the home Web page back to the customer's computer system.
  • this Web page displays boxes with pull down menus that permit a customer to enter up to three primary destinations for this vacation along with the types of activities he or she is most interested in doing at each destination. These options can be selected with the pull down menus in the boxes under the "Primary Destinations" menu 501 and "Your Interests" menu 502. This Web page also has a "design your own vacation" select button 503 near the bottom of the screen.
  • This Web page is the starting point for any customer to plan a customized vacation.
  • the customer is asked to provide a name for the customized vacation that is being planned in the applicable box 601.
  • the customer is asked to select a city from which the customer will depart from the pull down menu in the box titled "Leaving From” 602.
  • the customer is also asked to enter the date on which the customer wishes to depart on this vacation in the box titled "When (mm/dd/yyyy)" 603.
  • the customer can click on the calendar icon 604 to view a calendar for assistance in determining the desired departure date.
  • the customer then identifies the total number of passengers for which the vacation is being planned and these numbers should be entered in the appropriate boxes: "No. of adults” box 605, “Children (2-11)” box . 606, and "Infants” box 607.
  • An example of how this information can be filled in on a Web page 600 is shown in FIG. 7 where the customer has named the vacation "My European Dream Vacation”; the customer plans to leave from “Chicago, IL”; the customer plans to begin this vacation on "10/20/2000”; and this vacation is being planned for two adults and no infants or children.
  • the customer can click on the "Go" select button 701 to transmit the information to the vendor's server computer system.
  • FIGS. 8A and 8B These two figures are a single Web page.
  • This Web page contains the departure information that the vendor's system received from the customer's computer system in the first paragraph on the Web page. The customer can change that information by clicking on the "change it" select button 801.
  • This Web page also includes the name of the customized vacation that is being planned, in this case "My European Dream Vacation” 802, and an area to build a calendar for this trip 803 (see FIG. 8B).
  • Web page 800 contains three select buttons that allow the customer to continue planning a customized vacation: "Add Destination" select button 804, "Print” select button 805, and "Email” select button 806.
  • the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 900 (shown in FIG. 9) that allows the customer to begin customizing the vacation by adding a destination city to the vacation.
  • the customer can provide certain information in the appropriate boxes: "Destination” box 901, "When” box 902, "No. of Nights” 903, “Place to stay?” box 904, and "No. of Rooms” box 905.
  • This Web page also provides pull down menus that are accessed by clicking on the down arrow on the right hand side of each box for easy entry by the customer. This information should be entered into the appropriate boxes as shown in FIG. 10 where the customer has entered the following information into these boxes:
  • This application uses a system to rate the quality of the lodging accommodations which includes three globes, four globes or five globes. Therefore, this customer is requesting to stay in a hotel that has been rated with four globes.
  • This Web page also has a box for the customer to inform the vendor's server computer system that the customer will arrange his or her own place to stay 1001. When this information has been entered, the customer can click on the "Go" select button 1002 to transmit this information back to the vendor's server computer system. This information is stored as a travel component as part of the vacation. The vendor's system will then send back a "Plan My Vacation" Web page 1106 similar to the one shown in FIG. 11.
  • FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 8 A but includes an updated calendar 1101 showing the travel components that have been entered by the customer and are currently included as part of the vacation.
  • the customer requested to leave from Chicago, Illinois on October 20, 2000 and will arrive in Paris on October 21, 2000 (day one of this vacation). This is graphically displayed under the heading "Day 1" 1102.
  • the Web page contains several select buttons which a customer can use to update or add information about various travel components. For example, on Day 1 of the calendar.. 1101, there are six select buttons: "Paris” button 1103, "Customize” button 1104, "Remove'' button 1105, "Daily Plans” button 1106, airline icon, 1107 and house or lodging icon 1108.
  • this Web page has four select buttons on its right side: "Add Destination” button 1109, “Check Availability and Price” button 1110, "Print” button llll, and "Email” button 1112. These buttons allow the customer to select these additional options when planning the vacation.
  • the vendor's server computer system transmits another Web page 1200 (shown in FIG. 12) which allows the customer to add an additional destination to this vacation.
  • this Web page asks the customer to provide the same information about the destination that will be added to this vacation in the following boxes: "Destination” box 1201; "When” box 1202; “No. of Nights” box 1203; “Place to stay?” box 1204; and "No. of Rooms” box 1205.
  • the customer has entered a destination of "Barcelona” and requested to stay in Barcelona for "1" night after the two nights in Paris.
  • the customer can click on the "Go” select button 1206 to transmit this information back to the vendor's server computer system.
  • the vendor's server computer system will update the customized vacation to include this travel component and then send back to the customer's computer system an updated "Plan My Vacation” Web page 1300 (shown in FIG. 13).
  • the calendar 1301 on this Web page has been updated to show that the customer now wants to spend Day 3 in Barcelona and return to Chicago, Illinois on Day 4 of the vacation.
  • This planning process can be repeated to add, remove or update travel components for the vacation.
  • a customer is adding Florence, a third destination city, to the vacation and requesting that a day in Florence be added after the two days in Paris and before the one day in Barcelona.
  • the vendor's system After the customer hits the "Go" select button 1401 and transmits this information to the vendor's system, the vendor's system once again returns an updated "Plan My Vacation” Web page 1500 (shown in FIG. 15) that has an updated calendar 1501 which includes Florence on Day 3 of the vacation. • - ⁇ - ⁇ ' - - - . - -
  • the customer can also update or change existing travel components in the vacation. For example, if the customer clicks on the airplane icon 1502 under Day 1 of the calendar 1501, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 1600 (shown in FIG. 16) which allows the customer to enter additional information about this travel component (I.e.; the transatlantic air arrangements).
  • the Web page 1600 provides a box for the customer to select a "Preferred Airline” 1601 and a "Preferred Class” of airline ticket 1602. As shown in FIG. 16, the customer has entered “United Airlines” as the preferred airline and has requested a "Business Class” airline ticket. This information will be transmitted to and stored by the vendor's server computer system when the customer clicks on the "Go" select button 1603.
  • the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 1700 (shown in FIG. 17) that allows the customer to update or change information about the requested lodging accommodations during this part of the vacation.
  • This Web page allows the customer to update or change information regarding the number of nights he wishes to stay in the city, the sequence of this destination city in the customer's vacation, the type of lodging accommodations being requested, and the number of rooms that the customer wants to reserve. Again, after the customer has updated this information, the customer can transmit this updated information to the vendor's server computer system by clicking on the "Go" select button 1701.
  • the vendor's server computer system By clicking on the "Paris" select button 1505 in Web page 1500 of FIG. 15, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 1900 that provides information about Paris to the customer shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B (these two figures make up a single Web page).
  • This Web page 1900 also contains a series of select buttons 1901 that allow the customer to request additional information, about this city from the vendor's server computer system. Furthermore, this Web page also .provides weather information 1902 for this city. The customer can click the "Go Ba'ek” ! select button 1903 to return to the "Plan My Vacation" Web page. - .
  • the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2000 (shown in FIG. 21) that allows the customer to add, delete or update information regarding activities for that day.
  • the table 2101 shows that the customer has no activities planned for Day 1 of this vacation.
  • the customer can click on the "Add Activities” select button 2102 to add activities to that day, the "Add Special Deals” select button 2103 to add or update special deals to that day, or the "Calendar View” select button 2104 to return to the "Plan My Vacation" Web page 1500 with the updated calendar.
  • the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2200 (shown in FIG.
  • This feature of the system affords the customer much flexibility to plan a daily schedule of activities.
  • the customer can add predetermined attractions to the daily schedule by selecting those attractions from the pull down menus on this Web page. For example, in FIG. 22, the customer has chosen to see the "Eiffel Tower" 2201 in the "Morning” 2202 and the “Notre Dame Cathedral” 2203 in the "Evening/Night" 2204.
  • this part of the system also allows a customer the flexibility to add additional things to the daily schedule in a free format. For example, a customer could enter something like "Meet Bob for coffee (10:30)" in box 2205 as a customized free format entry to be added to the daily schedule.
  • the customer can click on the "Go" select button 2206 to transmit this information to the vendor's server computer system.
  • the vendor's server computer system When the customer has transmitted the updated information about the attractions and activities for that day of the vacation, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2300 (shown in FIG. 23) that has an updated table of activities 2301. These activities can be removed by clicking on the "(remove)" select button 2302 next to the activity that is to be removed from the vacation. This same process can be followed to select and add or remove Special Deals for that day of the vacation.
  • the customer can also update travel components within Europe during the middle of the vacation. For example, by clicking on the airline icon 1508 under Day 3 of the calendar in Web page 1500 of FIG. 15, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2400 (shown in FIG. 24) that allows the customer to update or change information regarding this travel component between Paris and Florence.
  • This Web page 2400 contains boxes (some with pull down menus) that allow the customer to select the mode of transportation 2401, the time the customer wants to begin traveling 2402, information about a rental car 2403, and various train options 2404. A customer can update this information. As shown in FIG.
  • the customer has requested to take a "Train” from Paris to Florence leaving around "5 PM” with an "Economy Class” ticket in Web page 2400.
  • the customer can transmit this information to the vendor's server computer system by clicking on the "Go" select button 2501.
  • the vendor's server computer system returns the updated "Plan My Vacation” Web page 1500 as shown in FIG. 26.
  • the updated calendar now has a train icon 2601 under Day 3 of the calendar instead of the airline icon to show that the .customer has requested to travel.by train on this part of the vacation.
  • the customer can click on the "Check Availability and prices" select button 2602 to have the vendor' s_ server computer system check the availability of and prices for the selected travel components. While the vendor's server computer system is checking these things, the vendor's server system returns, a Web page 2700 (shown in FIG. 27) that informs the customer that the checking process is in progress and to please, wait for the results.
  • the vendor's server system can usually check for this information in less than a minute or two, retrieving results almost immediately without human intervention. .
  • the vendor's server computer system After it is done checking on the availability ofand prices for the travel components in the vacation, the vendor's server computer system then sends a Web page 2800 (shown in FIGS. 28A-28D (these four figures make up a single Web page)) to the customer's computer system that notifies the customer about the availability ofand prices for the customized vacation.
  • This Web page informs the customer if there are any travel components that are unavailable (not shown on this Web page).
  • the Web page also informs the customer of the total price for the vacation 2801 and various options for the individual travel components in the vacation. For example, the Web page contains several travel options (e.g., see "Option #1" 2802) that the customer can select by clicking on the circle icon 2803 next to the desired option.
  • the customer is provided with similar options for hotels in Paris 2804, Florence 2805 and Barcelona 2806.
  • the customer is also provided with options for the train ride from Paris to Florence 2807.
  • This vendor's system defaults to the cheapest option thus providing the customer with the lowest available price for the vacation.
  • the circle icon is marked by those options that have been used to determine the given price.
  • this embodiment provides much flexibility to the customer because the customized vacation can easily and quickly be updated using one or more of the options displayed on this Web page.
  • the customer simply clicks on the circle icon next to the desired option and then clicks on the "Update Price" select button 2808 (see FIG. 28C).
  • the automated process on the vendor's server computer system quickly updates the total price for the vacation with the selected option and transmits another Web page with the updated information to the customer's computer system. Therefore, the customer could easily and quickly obtain the price for this vacation with many different available options.
  • This Web page also provides the customer with the options to purchase, hold or continue customizing this vacation by clicking on the "Purchase Now" select button 2809, "Hold” select button 2810 or “Customize” select button 2811. If the customer wants to continue planning the customized vacation, the customer can click on the "customize” select button to continue the vacation planning process. When the customer is finished planning the vacation and is satisfied with the available options and prices, the customer can purchase the customized vacation by clicking on the "Purchase Now" select button 2809. The vendor's server computer system will then complete the transaction by verifying billing information, finalizing the purchase, updating the inventory database and confirming the purchase.
  • This embodiment also has a feature which allows the customer to search for prepackaged vacations offered by the vendor and then customize those vacations by adding, deleting or changing travel components in those prepackaged vacations.
  • the customer can search for prepackaged vacations based on factors such as the primary destinations desired by the customer and the customer's interests. As shown in FIG. 29, a customer has chosen from the pull down menu for primary destinations the city of "Paris" 2901. This pull down menu also contains many other European cities that a customer can select. The customer has also identified "Historic & Cultural Sites" 2902 as the 5 customer's interest at this destination.
  • This pull down menu contains many other categories of interests such as Highlights & Must Sees, Museums & Expositions, Art & Music, Charming Places, Beautiful Natural Sites and other categories.
  • the customer can .click on the "Go" select button 2903 to transmit the search information to the vendor's 10 server computer system. It should be obvious that these two search terms are merely examples of terms that could be used to search through the prepackaged vacations available from this vendor, and other search criteria could be used as well.
  • the vendor's server ' • --•' ⁇ computer system searches through the prepackaged tours offered by this vendor and 15 transmits a Web page 3000 (partially shown in FIGS. 30A and 30B) with information about 43 prepackaged vacations that meet the customer's search criteria.
  • the customer can click on one of several select buttons to receive more information about any one of these prepackaged vacations. For example, if the customer clicks on the "Day by Day Details" select button, the vendor's server computer system transmits to the customer's 20 computer system a Web page 3100 (shown in FIG.
  • 31 A, 3 IB and 3 IC make up a single Web page) which provides day by day details about the prepackaged vacation.
  • the customer can also click on the "Customize My Vacation” select button 3001 or 3101 to customize the prepackaged vacation. This allows the customer to add, delete or change travel components in the prepackaged vacation, thereby customizing it as the 25 customer desires.
  • the vendor's server computer system transmits a Web page 600 (FIG. 6) which permits the customer to provide information about his departure and the number of passengers for which the vacation is being planned. After this information has been .
  • the planning process 30 continues and the customer can customize the vacation by adding, deleting or changing travel components in the prepackaged vacation.
  • the customer can also check the availability of and prices for the different vacations as the customer plans and customizes the vacation.

Abstract

A method and system by which a customized vacation or other trip can be easily and quickly planned, confirmed and purchased over a communications network such as the Internet (130) utilizing the WWW. The customer can plan a customized vacation or trip by identifying requested travel components such as travel arrangements, lodging accommodations, attractions and/or activities. This information is transmitted to the vendor's server computer system (120) which associates the information with a client identifier. At the customer's request, the vendor can check in real time using an automated system the availability of and prices for each travel component identified by the customer and transmit that information to the customer over the communications network. The customer can continue to plan the vacation by adding, deleting or changing travel components until the customer is satisfied with the price for the available travel components comprising the vacation. The customer can then purchase the vacation from the vendor over the communication network.

Description

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PLANNING,
CONFIRMING AND PURCHASING A CUSTOMIZED
VACATION OVER A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a computer method and system for planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation via a communications network such as the Internet.
BACKGROUND Communications networks allow one or more individuals to communicate through the transmission of information between two or more locations. These networks have existed for some timeiand. include such things as telegraph and telephone systems. One of the fastest growing communications networks in the United States and around the world in the past six years-has been the Internet which comprises a vast number of computers and computer networks that are interconnected through communication links. Information is exchanged between these interconnected computers using various services such as the World Wide Web ("WWW"). Graphical pages of information can be sent over the WWW from a server computer system (i.e., Web server or Website) to a receiving computer system, operated by another person such as a client or customer. The recipient computer system can then display the graphical information on its computer screen ("Web pages") so that it can be viewed by the client or customer.
A Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") is attached to each computer and/or Web page of the WWW, identifying that computer or Web page. A recipient computer system can view a specific eb page by specifying the URL for that Web page in a request (e.g., Hyper Text Transfer Protocol ("HTTP") request). This request can be made in many different ways such as a user typing the request into the computer system or the user clicking on a link on a Web page. The request is forwarded along the WWW to the Web server that supports the requested Web page. Once it receives the request, the Web server sends the requested Web page to the receiving computer system. The receiving computer system then typically displays the Web page using a software program designed to display the Web page (e.g., a browser) so that is can be viewed by the user of the receiving computer system.
Hyper-Text Markup Language ("HTML") is typically used to define how a Web page is to be displayed. When a computer user requests a Web page, the browser on the user's computer system sends a request to the server computer system on which the requested Web page is stored. Upon receiving the request, the server computer system will transfer to the requesting computer system the HTML document that defines the Web page so that the browser on the receiving computer system can display the Web page for its user. The HTML document contains information about the display of the Web page and" may "contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server, computer systems.
. In the past -five or six years, businesses have increasingly used the Internet or WWW to conduct electronic commerce in the United States and throughout the world. These businesses or vendors can advertise and sell their products and services through Web pages that can be uniquely developed and stored on Web servers. The vendor's server computer system contains information about the vendor's products and services which can be displayed on Web pages available to customers with a computer system that can access the Internet or WWW. A potential customer may review this information by accessing the vendor's Web pages using the browser on his or her computer system.
These Web pages may also query the customer to enter information about the product or service that the customer wants to purchase, ultimately asking the customer to select a product or service for purchase. When the user has finished selecting the products or services he or she desires to purchase, the vendor's server computer system may request additional information from the customer such as the customer's name, address and phone number. In addition, the vendor's server computer system may request payment information such as the customer's credit card number. The vendor's server computer system will typically send confirmation of a purchase by e-mail or over a Web page to the customer's computer system, thereby notifying the customer that the purchase has been completed. Additional materials may also be sent to the customer's mailing address to complete the transaction or notify the customer that the transaction has been made. Vendors are currently using these systems to sell a variety of products and services. Customers can purchase these different products over the Internet or WWW and the products are then shipped to the customer. The customer simply selects the product on the Web page and the customer is billed for the product on a credit card or under some similar billing arrangement. The purchased product arrives at the customer's mailing address in a few days.
Companies involved in the travel industry also use electronic commerce to provide information about and sell products and services related to the travel industry. For example, many vendors use electronic commerce to advertise and sell tickets or • ' . " " reservations for airlines, trains, car rentals and hotels. Many of these vendors have developed and maintain their own Web pages to provide information to and request
; .^formation from customers. For example.,, if a- customer wants to purchase an airline ... ticket; he or she could access an airline company's Web page that allows customers to determine the availability of and price for various airline tickets, make reservations for those tickets and purchase those tickets over the Web site. This can easily be accomplished when a customer wants to purchase a single travel service (such as an airline ticket or hotel reservation) from a single vendor who operates a Web site for this purpose, such as an airline or hotel company.
In addition, some vendors are using the Internet or WWW to advertise and sell certain prepackaged travel packages or vacations that may include travel services from one or more companies. For example, some vendors advertise and sell pre-packaged travel vacations whereby a customer may purchase his or her entire vacation package for one predetermined price. These packaged vacations include a predetermined itinerary to- one or more destination cities and may include travel, lodging and reservations for other attractions and/or activities during the vacation. These packages provide a customer with the convenience of one-stop shopping and allow a customer to purchase an entire vacation at one time and for one price without having to make all of the separate and individual travel arrangements that are usually associated with planning a vacation. However, these vendors offer a limited number of prepackaged vacations that can only be altered or changed in very limited ways, leaving customers with a very limited number of inflexible prepackaged vacation options.
Alternatively, some vendors will assist a customer in planning a customized vacation. In this case, the customer provides information to the vendor about the vacation the customer wants to take. For example, the customer tells the vendor which city or cities the customer wants to visit and which days the customer wants to visit that city or those cities. In addition, the customer may tell the vendor where the customer wants to stay and which attractions the customer wants to visit. The vendor is unable to tell the customer at that time whether or not the requested travel arrangements can be purchased by the customer because the vendor must determine the availability of and the price for the requested arrangements. Typically, this is done by an employee of the vendor who contacts various airlines, hotels and other travel service providers to determine the availability of and price for the travel accommodations requested by the customer. This process can be time consuming and costly as the vendor must recontact the customer to inform him or her about availability and price before confirming the individual components of the vacation. This could take several hours or even days. The whole process may need to be repeated several times if the desired accommodations are not available or their price is more than the customer is willing to pay. This creates further delays and makes it even more difficult to complete the process.
When this type of customized vacation is purchased over the WWW, the information is transmitted to the vendor's server computer system and an employee of the vendor will usually check the availability of and prices for the requested travel accommodations. In addition, the vacation is often not available for one price and the customer must pay each travel service provider individually. Therefore, there remains a need for a method and system for planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation via a communications network such as the WWW, whereby a customer can quickly and easily plan, confirm and purchase a customized vacation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method and system that permits a customer to, in real time and over an automated system, quickly and ■easily plan a customized vacation, check the availability of and prices for that vacation, purchase the vacation and receive confirmation that the requested travel arrangements have been booked for the customer. This can be done over a communications network such as the Internet utilizing the WWW. The present invention provides the customer with much flexibility to customize the vacation to meet the customer's needs and desires. In addition, the customer has real time access to information about the availability of and price for the customized vacation on the automated system and that information can be quickly updated as the customer makes changes to the vacation. The customer can also use the automated system to purchase the vacation or hold the vacation for a specified period of time. The customer can also purchase the customized vacation over the automated system and quickly receive confirmation of the purchase over the communications network. The customer can do all of these things using a computer system to interact in real time with a vendor's server computer system.
The customer can plan a customized vacation by selecting one or more travel components such as an airline ticket, a train ticket, a car rental reservation, a hotel reservation or a reservation/ticket for an attraction or an activity. The customer can also create plans for one or more days of the vacation by adding to a daily schedule attractions preselected by the vendor or another activity in a free format. This gives the customer much flexibility to create a personalized daily schedule for each day of the vacation. By adding, deleting and changing these travel components, the customer can plan the customized vacation.
At any time during the planning process, the customer can check in real time the availability of and price for the customized vacation (as planned at that time) over an automated system. The vendor's server computer system will be able to check this information in real time, usually in less than a minute or two, and notify the customer whether the customized vacation is available for purchase and the total price for the vacation. The customer can then choose to purchase the vacation, place the vacation on hold, or continue customizing the vacation. If the customer chooses to continue customizing the vacation, the vendor's server computer system will permit the customer to continue adding, deleting or changing travel components. If the customer chooses to place the vacation on hold, the vendor's system can place the vacation on hold for a 5 specified period of time so that the customer can decide whether to purchase the vacation. If the customer chooses to purchase the vacation, the vendor's server computer system will make the appropriate travel arrangements (e.g., purchase tickets, book reservations, etc.) in real time over the automated system. The vendor's server computer system can then quickly confirm the purchase for the customer.
0 . The customer can also use this invention to customize prepackaged vacations
' offered- by the vendor and then purchase them over the communications network.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
■ . FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of the way that the information 5 received by the vendor's server computer system from the customer's computer system can be processed by the vendor's system when a customer is planning a customized vacation.
FIGS. 3-31 are screen shot representations of Web pages accessible to a customer through a Web browser which demonstrate one embodiment of the present invention.
0 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and system for a customer to plan a customized vacation, check the availability of and prices for the requested travel components of the customized vacation, and purchase the available travel components of the vacation over a communications network such as the Internet utilizing the WWW. 5 Importantly, all three steps can be accomplished quickly and easily with this system. The word- "vacation" in this specification is intended to have a broad meaning and include almost any kind of trip or travel for almost any purpose. A customer is initially identified by the vendor's server computer system. This can be done by storing consumer identification information on a customer database on the vendor's server computer system. This customer identification information is important because the vendor's server computer system associates each part or component of the customized vacation with the customer as the customer updates, adds or deletes portions of the customized vacation while planning the vacation. The customer identification information can be stored in a customer database and later referenced by the vendor's server computer system each time the customer accesses the vendor's server computer system through a login process.
After the vendor's server computer system identifies the customer, the customer can begin to plan a customized vacation by selecting the travel components that the customer wants to include in the customized vacation. During the planning process, the customer's computer system transmits to the vendor's server computer system information about each travel component that the customer wants included with the vacation. A travel component is a part or portion of the vacation that is purchased or reserved in advance of a trip such as an airline ticket, a train ticket, a car rental reservation, a hotel reservation or a ticket/reservation for an activity (e.g., a tour or meal) at a certain place. As a customer selects different travel components to form a customized vacation, the customer is effectively "building" the customized vacation out of these individual travel components. The present invention allows the customer to quickly and easily plan such a customized vacation through the selection of these travel components over the Internet utilizing the WWW. Then, the invention allows the customer to quickly determine the availability of and prices for the travel package containing the selected travel components, and immediately purchase the components that are available.
The customer provides some basic information about each requested travel component so that the vendor's server computer system can determine the availability of and price for the requested component. This basic information can include, but is not necessarily limited to, such things as the dates that the customer wants to travel, the airline on which the customer prefers to travel, the destination city or cities that the customer wishes to visit and the order in which the cities are to be visited, the length of the customer's visit in each destination city, the nights for which the customer needs lodging, the type of lodging accommodations desired by the customer, and the attractions or other activities that the customer wants to include as part of the customized vacation. As this information is received by the vendor's server computer system, the information is stored in a component database on the system and associated with the customer's identification information so that each travel component can easily be matched to a specific customer's customized vacation by the vendor's server computer system.
Each time that it receives information from the customer's computer system, the vendor's server computer system determines what it should do with that information. Then, after finishing with that information, the vendor's systems may return a message, which can be in a form such as a Web page, back to the customer's computer system. That message may acknowledge that the vendor's server computer system received the transmitted information and updated the customized vacation accordingly. Furthermore, that message may request or permit the customer to provide additional information or update existing information about a travel component.
While planning a customized vacation, the customer can add components to, delete components from or change existing components that are included in the customized vacation. When the vendor's server computer system receives from the customer's computer system instructions to add, delete or change a travel component, the vendor's system updates a database containing information about the requested travel components to include the addition, deletion or changes submitted by the customer. Therefore, the components database is updated each time the customer's computer system transmits updates about a travel component. This process of adding, deleting or changing individual travel components can be repeated many times until the customer is satisfied with all of the components in the customized vacation.
The present invention also allows the customer to check the availability and price of the selected travel components based on the information transmitted to the vendor's server computer system and stored in the component database. This can be done at virtually anytime during the travel planning process. The customer's computer system transmits to the vendor's server computer system a request to check the availability of and prices for the customized vacation as comprised of the various travel components selected by the customer. When this is done, the vendor's system will check the availability of and prices for each of the travel components selected by the customer. The vendor's server computer system can then inform the customer's computer system which, if any, of the selected travel components are unavailable. In addition, the vendor's system can transmit to the customer's computer system the total price for the available travel components. Unlike other methods and systems where this process of checking the availability of and prices for the individual travel components for a customized vacation can take anywhere from an hour or more to several days depending upon the method used, the present invention can check on the availability and price of all of the selected travel components relatively quickly and confirm this information for the customer in a minute or two. This~alleviates the necessity for later communications between the customer and the vendor to confirm availability and prices. Once the customer has been notified as to the availability of and price for each travel component, the customer can then chose to purchase the available travel components or continue to plan the customized vacation by adding, deleting or changing individual travel components. The customer can continue the process of planning the customized vacation by adding, deleting or updating individual travel components until the customer has finished planning the vacation. When the customer has planned an affordable customized vacation that the customer wants to purchase, the customer can then purchase the vacation from the vendor at the same time.
This entire process can all be done easily and quickly over a communications network such as the Internet utilizing the WWW and neither the customer nor the vendor has to worry about follow up communications regarding the availability of or prices for various portions of the trip. The invention provides tremendous flexibility for a customer to quickly and easily plan, confirm and purchase a customized vacation through that customer's computer system. This can be accomplished in the privacy of the customer's home or office. In addition, the customer can quickly and easily compare the availability of and prices for different customized vacations by simply changing one or more of the individual travel components in the customized vacation and checking the availability of and prices for the new customized vacation. This allows a customer to almost immediately determine which travel components are available and the price for each travel component.
In one embodiment of this invention, a customer can establish an account with a vendor by providing customer information to that vendor. The vendor's server computer system assigns a unique customer identifier to the customer and records the customer's information on a customer database on the vendor's server computer system. When a customer wants to plan a customized vacation, the customer accesses the vendor's Web site and logs into the vendor's server computer system. Once the customer has logged into the Web site, information about the customized vacation that is transmitted from the customer's.,computer system to the vendor's server computer system is associated with the customer's;identification information when it is stored in the components database. Each time the: customer enters information about a travel component (e.g., dates of travel and places to stay) this information is added to, deleted from or changed in the components database on the vendor's server computer system in accordance with the instructions from the customer's computer system. The vendor's server computer system then transmits to the customer's computer system information about the contents of the components database on the vendor's system. The customer can update the customized vacation by adding, deleting or changing the individual travel components stored in the components database. The customer continues the planning process by adding, deleting and/or changing the individual travel components stored in the components database until the customer has finished planning the vacation.
At any time during this process, the customer may check the availability of and prices for the travel components the customer has entered into the database at that time. For example, the customer can check the availability of travel reservations on the date or dates that he or she has requested to travel and lodging reservations on the date or dates that he or she has requested for lodging. When requested, the vendor's server computer system will determine the availability of and price for each travel component that is - included in the vacation. This allows the customer to check the availability of and prices for the selected travel components at any time during the planning process.
Once all of the requested travel components have been transmitted from the customer's computer system to the vendor's server computer system, the customer can once again request that the vendor's server computer system check the availability of and price for the selected travel components to determine whether the entire customized vacation can be purchased by the customer or only certain components can be purchased by the customer. The customer may be required to further change and update individual travel components if the selected components are unavailable. Once all the requested travel components have been confirmed, the customer may be quoted a single price for the entire vacation package or may be quoted prices on individual travel components. - Th -Customer can then purchase the customized vacation, or the available components "• thereto; ' This allows the customer to plan, confirm and purchase a customized vacation over the- communications network during a single session. The customer can plan his or her customized vacation and does not have to wait for further confirmation to purchase the vacation.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention, This embodiment illustrates how the customer's computer system and vendor's server computer system can interact during the process of planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation. Information can be transmitted between the customer's computer system 110 and the vendor's server computer system 120 over the Internet 130 utilizing the WWW. The vendor's server computer system 120 includes but is not necessarily limited to, a server engine 121, various Web pages 122, a customer database 123, a component database 124, a destination database 125, and a routine for checking the availability and price of one or more components in a customized vacation 126.
The server engine 121 receives HTTP requests from the customer's computer system to access certain Web pages stored on the vendor's server computer system. The vendor's server computer system then provides Web pages 122 to the customer's computer systems as requested. The HTTP requests received by the vendor's server computer system may include such things as a request to update a travel component, a request to check the availability of and price for the travel components currently included in the customized vacation, or a command to purchase the travel components in the customized vacation that are currently available to the customer.
The customer database 123 includes customer information such as the customer's name, mailing address, billing information, shipping information and travel preferences.
The component database 124 contains information regarding the various travel components selected by the customer to be included as part of the customized vacation. This information can be updated by the customer through additions, deletions and changes to the travel components that are transmitted from the customer's computer system to the vendor's server computer system. A travel component in this database may include a requested airline ticket, a requested train reservation, a requested rental car reservation, a requested hotel reservation and/or a requested ticket or reservation for another attraction or activity during the customized vacation. A travel component involving an airline ticket may include such information as the point of departure, destination, dates of travel, preferred airline and preferred class of ticket (e.g., economy or business). A travel component involving a reservation for lodging may include such information as the city where the lodging is being requested, the dates on which the lodging is needed, and the type of lodging desired by the customer. A travel component involving an attraction or. activity may include such information as the activity or attraction that the customer wants to do, the place of the requested attraction or activity, and the date and/or time of day that the customer wants to visit the attraction or participate in the activity. This information about each travel component is stored in the component database and can be revised or deleted while a customer is planning a vacation.
. The destination database 125 includes information about various destinations such as attractions, activities, restaurants and other information that a customer planning a vacation might find useful. The vendor's server computer system is able to check the availability of and prices for the requested travel components 126 in real time without human interaction. By fully automating the process, it can usually be accomplished in less than a minute or two. This affords the customer much flexibility because the customer can quickly and easily check the availability of and prices for several different customized vacations or several variations of a single customized vacation in a small amount of time.
The automated checking process has been found to work particularly well when using a back end computer system 127 and a dedicated link to a travel reservation system, such as the SABRE system 128. The vendor may negotiate contracts with various businesses in the travel industry for a certain allotment of travel products at a negotiated price. This information can be inputted into an inventory database that is stored on and maintained by the back end computer system. When a customer requests the vendor's . server computer system to check the availability of and prices for the customized . .;. vacation, the vendor's system can request the back end computer system to check the ■ . inventory database to determine the availability of and prices for the various requested travel components. If the inventory database shows that the vendor has not sold his entire allotment of a requested component, then the back end computer can notify the vendor's server system whether the travel component is available and, if so, its price. However, if the vendor has sold its entire allotment of the requested component, then the back end computer can notify the vendor's server system that the product is unavailable. Upon being notified that a component is unavailable in the inventory database, the vendor's server system can then check a travel reservation system such as the SABRE reservation system to try and locate the requested product at the lowest available published price. If the requested product is also unavailable on the travel reservation system, then the customer is notified that the requested travel component is unavailable. Otherwise, the price for the component in the back end system or the price for the component in the travel reservation system is used to determine the total price of the vacation. After the vendor's system has done this for each travel component, the vendor's system can add up the prices for each available travel component to determine the total price for the vacation. This total price can be transmitted back to the customer's computer system. When a customer actually purchases a vacation, the information about the customer's vacation is transferred from the vendor's server computer system to the back end computer system and the purchased travel components are removed from the inventory database on the back end computer so that these components cannot be purchased by another customer. The customer's information can also automatically be transferred to the travel business that supplies the component to inform that business who purchased the product and the price at which it was purchased.
The vendor can negotiate contracts with almost any travel business for almost any kind of travel product, including but not necessarily limited to airline tickets, train tickets, car rentals, hotel accommodations, and other activities or attractions. When the vendor acquires an allotment of products, the vendor can add the available products to the inventory database. In addition, the vendor may also provide travel businesses with whom the vendor has contracted access (on line or otherwise) to the vendor's back end system so that the business may determine how many of its products remain available in the vendor's inventory database at any given time. The travel business can also release an additional allotment of products, thereby adding to the vendor's inventory on the back end computer. The entire system can also be further automated to do such things as notify the travel businesses when the inventory for their products gets low so that those businesses can release another allotment of their products to replenish the vendor's inventory.
This automated system has many advantages in that the customer benefits from the prices negotiated by the vendor, the customer can check the availability of and prices for the travel components in the customized vacation in real time on a fully automated system that does not require human interaction, and the travel businesses can monitor the availability of their products. The automated system can check the availability of and prices for the travel components almost immediately, allowing the customer to check the availability of and prices for several customized vacations in a very short amount of time. Throughout the entire process, the customer's computer system and the vendor's server computer system interact via the Internet 130, exchanging information relating to the various travel components that are included in the customer's customized vacation.
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of one way that the information received by the vendor's server computer system from the customer's computer system can be processed by the vendor's system when a customer is planning a customized vacation. As shown in step 201, the routine is triggered when the vendor's server computer system receives information from the customer's computer system. As shown in step 202, the vendor's server computer system determines whether the information being transmitted from the customer's computer system is updating the travel components, for the customized vacation (e.g., adding components, deleting components or .changing components), requesting that the vendor's system check, the availability ofand price for the travel components that are currently included in the customized vacation, or directing the vendor's system to purchase the available components included inthe customized vacation. '/- •
If the vendor's server computer system is receiving information that updates travel components for the customized vacation (e.g., adds a component, deletes a component or changes a component), then the vendor's system updates the component database with the transmitted information about the travel component as shown in step 203. The vendor's server computer system can then send a message back to the customer's computer system which tells the customer that the information about the travel component has been updated as shown in step 204. This can be done by transmitting a Web page to the customer's computer system which contains the relevant information. Then, the routine returns to step 201 when the vendor's server computer system receives additional information from the customer's computer system..
If the information received from the customer's computer system in step 201 is a request for the vendor's server computer system to check the availability ofand price for the travel components currently included in the customized vacation, then the vendor's server computer system checks the availability of and price for the travel components as shown in step 205. This can be done by using an inventory database on a back end computer that keeps track of travel products allotted to the vendor through a contractual relationship with the provider of that travel product. Then, as shown in step 206, the vendor's system determines which, if any, of the travel components are unavailable for purchase by the customer. If all of the travel components are available for purchase by the customer, then the vendor's server computer system transmits a message back to the customer's computer system which tells the customer that all of the travel components are available as shown in step 207. This can be done by transmitting a Web page to the customer's computer system which contains this information and asks the customer whether the customer wants to purchase this vacation or continue planning the vacation. However, if one or more of the travel components are unavailable for purchase by the customer, then the vendor's server computer system sends a message back to the customer's computer system which tells the customer that one or more of the travel components are not available for purchase by the customer as shown in step 208. This can be done by transmitting a Web page to the customer's computer system which identifies the travel components that are unavailable for purchase by the customer and asks the customer whether the customer wants to purchase the available travel components or continue planning the vacation. After either step 207 or step 208, the routine returns to step 201 when the vendor's server computer system receives additional information from the customer's computer system.
If the information received from the customer's computer system in step 201 is directing the vendor's server computer system to purchase the available components that are currently included in the customized vacation, then the vendor's system can make the requested reservations and purchase the requested tickets for the customer as shown in step 210. The customer can be billed in accordance with the billing information associated with the customer's account and stored in the customer database. Additional materials (e.g., an itinerary or other relevant papers) can either be mailed to the customer's mailing address or transmitted back to the customer's computer system. Once the customized vacation has been purchased and booked, the vendor's server computer system can transmit a confirmation message back to the customer's computer system informing the customer that the vacation has been successfully purchased. At this point, the customer's process of planning, confirming and purchasing the customized vacation ends.
The customized vacation can be planned, confirmed and purchased during one visit or over the course of multiple visits. This planning routine or process can be interrupted at any time if the customer decides to finish planning the customized vacation at a later time. The information about the travel components that are included in the customized vacation remain stored in the components database on the vendor's server computer system and can easily be retrieved by the vendor's system at a later time. When the customer wants to continue planning the customized vacation, the customer can log back onto the vendor's Web site and continue the planning process. The customer can continue to update the travel components of the customized vacation and check the availability of and pricing for the travel components. When the customer has completed the planning process, the customer can purchase the available travel components for the customized vacation. ■■'" ÷ ' •;'■■ ■ •.
" In addition, a customer can work on planning more than one customized vacation at a time. Each customized vacation is simply associated with an identifier, such as a name or number, so that the vendor's server computer system knows which customized vacation is being planned at any given time. Then, the vendor's server computer system can work to update the customized vacation that is being planned by the customer at that time. This allows a customer to simultaneously work on planning several customized vacations during multiple visits to the vendor's server computer system.
FIGS. 3-31 are screen shot representations of Web pages accessible to a customer through a customer's computer system that has a Web browser which demonstrate one embodiment of the present invention. These screen shot representations show the customer interface with the Web pages from the vendor's server computer system as the customer is planning and confirming a customized vacation in Europe from a departure point in North America. After the customer requests the URL for this vendor's server computer system, the vendor's home Web page is transmitted to the customer's computer system for display as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the customer's computer system should have a Web browser (not shown) which may be Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or almost any other compatible Web browser.
As shown in FIG. 3, the home Web page 300 provides the customer with several options including the following select buttons: "Most Popular Vacations" button 301, "Plan My Vacation" button 302, "Purchase" button 303, "Pack" button 304, "My
CyberSuitcase" button 305, "Planes" button 306, "Hotels" button 307, "Cars" button 308, "Trains" button 309, "Hot Deals" button 310, "Login" button 311, and "Help" button 312. Each option has a select button whereby a user can select that option by clicking on that select button with a mouse or similar device that is part of the customer's computer system. - This is a common way for a computer user to select various options on a Web page and instruct the computer system to transmit that information back to the vendor's server computer system.
'-'- In order to plan a customized vacation, the customer can click on the Login select button 311 to identify himself or herself to the vendor's server computer system. The customer can do this by clicking on the "Login" select button 311 and transmitting login information to the vendor's system. After the customer clicks on the "Login" button 311 the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 400 as shown in FIG. 4. On this Web page, the customer can enter his or her email address and password so that the vendor's server computer system can identify the customer and verify that it is actually that cμstomer. The vendor's system can then locate the customer's information in the customer database and associate or match all information transmitted from that customer's computer system to the vendor's system with the customer who is sending the information. This Login Web page 400 also contains many of the same options as the home Web page 300 shown in FIG. 3 (e.g., select buttons for "Most Popular Vacations" 401, "Plan My Vacation" 402, "Purchase" 403, "Pack" 404, and "My CyberSuitcase"
405). This Web page also contains a "new to Eurovacations.com?" select button 406. A new customer who has not set up an account with the vendor can click on this button to set up a customer account in the vendor's customer database. To login, a customer enters his or her e-mail address and password in the "E-mail Address" box 407 and the "Password" box 408, respectively. If a customer forgets his or her password, the customer can click on the "Forgot your password" select button 410 for assistance in remembering the password. Once the customer's information has been entered into the appropriate boxes, the customer can click on the "Go" select button 409 to transmit that information to the vendor's server computer system. If the vendor's system recognizes the customer, the vendor's system will transmit the home Web page back to the customer's computer system.
After a customer has completed the login process and clicked on the "Plan My Vacation" select button 302 or 402, the vendor's server computer system transmits a "Plan My Vacation" Web page 500 as shown in FIG. 5. In addition to the standard five select button options 401, 402, 403, 404 and 405 found on most of this vendor's Web pages, this Web page displays boxes with pull down menus that permit a customer to enter up to three primary destinations for this vacation along with the types of activities he or she is most interested in doing at each destination. These options can be selected with the pull down menus in the boxes under the "Primary Destinations" menu 501 and "Your Interests" menu 502. This Web page also has a "design your own vacation" select button 503 near the bottom of the screen.
When a customer clicks on the "design your own vacation" select button 503, the vendor's server computer system returns a "Customize My Vacation" Web page 600 as shown in FIG. 6. This Web page is the starting point for any customer to plan a customized vacation. The customer is asked to provide a name for the customized vacation that is being planned in the applicable box 601. In addition, the customer is asked to select a city from which the customer will depart from the pull down menu in the box titled "Leaving From" 602. The customer is also asked to enter the date on which the customer wishes to depart on this vacation in the box titled "When (mm/dd/yyyy)" 603. The customer can click on the calendar icon 604 to view a calendar for assistance in determining the desired departure date. The customer then identifies the total number of passengers for which the vacation is being planned and these numbers should be entered in the appropriate boxes: "No. of adults" box 605, "Children (2-11)" box .606, and "Infants" box 607. An example of how this information can be filled in on a Web page 600 is shown in FIG. 7 where the customer has named the vacation "My European Dream Vacation"; the customer plans to leave from "Chicago, IL"; the customer plans to begin this vacation on "10/20/2000"; and this vacation is being planned for two adults and no infants or children. When this information has been entered into the appropriate spaces, the customer can click on the "Go" select button 701 to transmit the information to the vendor's server computer system.
After the customer has entered and transmitted the initial departure information as shown is FIGS. 6 and 7, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 800 as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B (these two figures are a single Web page). This Web page contains the departure information that the vendor's system received from the customer's computer system in the first paragraph on the Web page. The customer can change that information by clicking on the "change it" select button 801. This Web page also includes the name of the customized vacation that is being planned, in this case "My European Dream Vacation" 802, and an area to build a calendar for this trip 803 (see FIG. 8B). In addition; Web page 800 contains three select buttons that allow the customer to continue planning a customized vacation: "Add Destination" select button 804, "Print" select button 805, and "Email" select button 806.
By clicking on the "Add Destination" select button 804, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 900 (shown in FIG. 9) that allows the customer to begin customizing the vacation by adding a destination city to the vacation. The customer can provide certain information in the appropriate boxes: "Destination" box 901, "When" box 902, "No. of Nights" 903, "Place to stay?" box 904, and "No. of Rooms" box 905. This Web page also provides pull down menus that are accessed by clicking on the down arrow on the right hand side of each box for easy entry by the customer. This information should be entered into the appropriate boxes as shown in FIG. 10 where the customer has entered the following information into these boxes:
"Paris"; "In the Beginning"; "2"; "Four Globes"; and "1". This application uses a system to rate the quality of the lodging accommodations which includes three globes, four globes or five globes. Therefore, this customer is requesting to stay in a hotel that has been rated with four globes. This Web page also has a box for the customer to inform the vendor's server computer system that the customer will arrange his or her own place to stay 1001. When this information has been entered, the customer can click on the "Go" select button 1002 to transmit this information back to the vendor's server computer system. This information is stored as a travel component as part of the vacation. The vendor's system will then send back a "Plan My Vacation" Web page 1106 similar to the one shown in FIG. 11.
FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 8 A but includes an updated calendar 1101 showing the travel components that have been entered by the customer and are currently included as part of the vacation. In this case, the customer requested to leave from Chicago, Illinois on October 20, 2000 and will arrive in Paris on October 21, 2000 (day one of this vacation). This is graphically displayed under the heading "Day 1" 1102. In addition, the Web page contains several select buttons which a customer can use to update or add information about various travel components. For example, on Day 1 of the calendar.. 1101, there are six select buttons: "Paris" button 1103, "Customize" button 1104, "Remove'' button 1105, "Daily Plans" button 1106, airline icon, 1107 and house or lodging icon 1108. The customer can click on any of these buttons to further customize the vacation by changing or updating information about various travel components. In addition, this Web page has four select buttons on its right side: "Add Destination" button 1109, "Check Availability and Price" button 1110, "Print" button llll, and "Email" button 1112. These buttons allow the customer to select these additional options when planning the vacation.
When the customer clicks on the "Add Destination" select button 1109, the vendor's server computer system transmits another Web page 1200 (shown in FIG. 12) which allows the customer to add an additional destination to this vacation. Like the Web pages shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, this Web page asks the customer to provide the same information about the destination that will be added to this vacation in the following boxes: "Destination" box 1201; "When" box 1202; "No. of Nights" box 1203; "Place to stay?" box 1204; and "No. of Rooms" box 1205. In FIG. 12, the customer has entered a destination of "Barcelona" and requested to stay in Barcelona for "1" night after the two nights in Paris. This customer wants to stay in a "Five Globes" hotel and needs only "1" room. Once the customer has entered the requested information, the customer can click on the "Go" select button 1206 to transmit this information back to the vendor's server computer system. The vendor's server computer system will update the customized vacation to include this travel component and then send back to the customer's computer system an updated "Plan My Vacation" Web page 1300 (shown in FIG. 13). The calendar 1301 on this Web page has been updated to show that the customer now wants to spend Day 3 in Barcelona and return to Chicago, Illinois on Day 4 of the vacation.
This planning process can be repeated to add, remove or update travel components for the vacation. For example, on Web page 1400 (shown in FIG. 14), a customer is adding Florence, a third destination city, to the vacation and requesting that a day in Florence be added after the two days in Paris and before the one day in Barcelona. After the customer hits the "Go" select button 1401 and transmits this information to the vendor's system, the vendor's system once again returns an updated "Plan My Vacation" Web page 1500 (shown in FIG. 15) that has an updated calendar 1501 which includes Florence on Day 3 of the vacation. - -■ ' - . - . -
In addition to adding travel components to the vacation, the customer can also update or change existing travel components in the vacation. For example, if the customer clicks on the airplane icon 1502 under Day 1 of the calendar 1501, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 1600 (shown in FIG. 16) which allows the customer to enter additional information about this travel component (I.e.; the transatlantic air arrangements). The Web page 1600 provides a box for the customer to select a "Preferred Airline" 1601 and a "Preferred Class" of airline ticket 1602. As shown in FIG. 16, the customer has entered "United Airlines" as the preferred airline and has requested a "Business Class" airline ticket. This information will be transmitted to and stored by the vendor's server computer system when the customer clicks on the "Go" select button 1603.
By clicking on the house or lodging icon 1503 or the "Customize" select button 1504 in Web page 1500 of FIG. 15, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 1700 (shown in FIG. 17) that allows the customer to update or change information about the requested lodging accommodations during this part of the vacation. This Web page allows the customer to update or change information regarding the number of nights he wishes to stay in the city, the sequence of this destination city in the customer's vacation, the type of lodging accommodations being requested, and the number of rooms that the customer wants to reserve. Again, after the customer has updated this information, the customer can transmit this updated information to the vendor's server computer system by clicking on the "Go" select button 1701.
By clicking on the "Paris" select button 1505 in Web page 1500 of FIG. 15, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 1900 that provides information about Paris to the customer shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B (these two figures make up a single Web page). This Web page 1900 also contains a series of select buttons 1901 that allow the customer to request additional information, about this city from the vendor's server computer system. Furthermore, this Web page also .provides weather information 1902 for this city. The customer can click the "Go Ba'ek"!select button 1903 to return to the "Plan My Vacation" Web page. - .
By clicking on the "Remove" select button 1506 in Web page 1500 in FIG. 15, the vendor's server computer system will remove that- travel component from the vacation and transmit an updated "Plan My Vacation". Web page 2000 (shown in FIG. 20) with the Paris travel component removed from the vacation. The calendar 2001 now shows the customer visiting Florence on Day 1, Barcelona on Day 2 and returning to Chicago on Day 3.
By clicking on the "Daily Plans" select button 1507 in Web page 1500 in FIG. 15, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2000 (shown in FIG. 21) that allows the customer to add, delete or update information regarding activities for that day. The table 2101 shows that the customer has no activities planned for Day 1 of this vacation. The customer can click on the "Add Activities" select button 2102 to add activities to that day, the "Add Special Deals" select button 2103 to add or update special deals to that day, or the "Calendar View" select button 2104 to return to the "Plan My Vacation" Web page 1500 with the updated calendar. By clicking on the "Add Activities" select button 2102 in FIG. 21, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2200 (shown in FIG. 22) that allows the customer to add activities and attractions for the day being planned. This feature of the system affords the customer much flexibility to plan a daily schedule of activities. The customer can add predetermined attractions to the daily schedule by selecting those attractions from the pull down menus on this Web page. For example, in FIG. 22, the customer has chosen to see the "Eiffel Tower" 2201 in the "Morning" 2202 and the "Notre Dame Cathedral" 2203 in the "Evening/Night" 2204. However, this part of the system also allows a customer the flexibility to add additional things to the daily schedule in a free format. For example, a customer could enter something like "Meet Bob for coffee (10:30)" in box 2205 as a customized free format entry to be added to the daily schedule. When the customer has completed planning the activities and attractions for this day, the customer can click on the "Go" select button 2206 to transmit this information to the vendor's server computer system.
When the customer has transmitted the updated information about the attractions and activities for that day of the vacation, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2300 (shown in FIG. 23) that has an updated table of activities 2301. These activities can be removed by clicking on the "(remove)" select button 2302 next to the activity that is to be removed from the vacation. This same process can be followed to select and add or remove Special Deals for that day of the vacation.
By clicking on the "Calendar View" select button 2104 as shown in Web page . 2100 of FIG. 21, the-vendor's server computer system returns the "Plan My Vacation" , Web page 1500 with the updated calendar for the vacation.
In addition to changing information about the transatlantic flight to Europe,' the customer can also update travel components within Europe during the middle of the vacation. For example, by clicking on the airline icon 1508 under Day 3 of the calendar in Web page 1500 of FIG. 15, the vendor's server computer system returns a Web page 2400 (shown in FIG. 24) that allows the customer to update or change information regarding this travel component between Paris and Florence. This Web page 2400 contains boxes (some with pull down menus) that allow the customer to select the mode of transportation 2401, the time the customer wants to begin traveling 2402, information about a rental car 2403, and various train options 2404. A customer can update this information. As shown in FIG. 25, the customer has requested to take a "Train" from Paris to Florence leaving around "5 PM" with an "Economy Class" ticket in Web page 2400. The customer can transmit this information to the vendor's server computer system by clicking on the "Go" select button 2501. The vendor's server computer system returns the updated "Plan My Vacation" Web page 1500 as shown in FIG. 26. The updated calendar now has a train icon 2601 under Day 3 of the calendar instead of the airline icon to show that the .customer has requested to travel.by train on this part of the vacation.
When the customer .has completed planning the vacation, the customer can click on the "Check Availability and Prices" select button 2602 to have the vendor' s_ server computer system check the availability of and prices for the selected travel components. While the vendor's server computer system is checking these things, the vendor's server system returns, a Web page 2700 (shown in FIG. 27) that informs the customer that the checking process is in progress and to please, wait for the results. By using a real time, automated process to check the availability ofand prices for the customized vacation, the vendor's server system can usually check for this information in less than a minute or two, retrieving results almost immediately without human intervention. .
After it is done checking on the availability ofand prices for the travel components in the vacation, the vendor's server computer system then sends a Web page 2800 (shown in FIGS. 28A-28D (these four figures make up a single Web page)) to the customer's computer system that notifies the customer about the availability ofand prices for the customized vacation. This Web page informs the customer if there are any travel components that are unavailable (not shown on this Web page). The Web page also informs the customer of the total price for the vacation 2801 and various options for the individual travel components in the vacation. For example, the Web page contains several travel options (e.g., see "Option #1" 2802) that the customer can select by clicking on the circle icon 2803 next to the desired option. The customer is provided with similar options for hotels in Paris 2804, Florence 2805 and Barcelona 2806. The customer is also provided with options for the train ride from Paris to Florence 2807. This vendor's system defaults to the cheapest option thus providing the customer with the lowest available price for the vacation. The circle icon is marked by those options that have been used to determine the given price.
Once again, this embodiment provides much flexibility to the customer because the customized vacation can easily and quickly be updated using one or more of the options displayed on this Web page. The customer simply clicks on the circle icon next to the desired option and then clicks on the "Update Price" select button 2808 (see FIG. 28C). The automated process on the vendor's server computer system quickly updates the total price for the vacation with the selected option and transmits another Web page with the updated information to the customer's computer system. Therefore, the customer could easily and quickly obtain the price for this vacation with many different available options.
This Web page also provides the customer with the options to purchase, hold or continue customizing this vacation by clicking on the "Purchase Now" select button 2809, "Hold" select button 2810 or "Customize" select button 2811. If the customer wants to continue planning the customized vacation, the customer can click on the "customize" select button to continue the vacation planning process. When the customer is finished planning the vacation and is satisfied with the available options and prices, the customer can purchase the customized vacation by clicking on the "Purchase Now" select button 2809. The vendor's server computer system will then complete the transaction by verifying billing information, finalizing the purchase, updating the inventory database and confirming the purchase.
This embodiment also has a feature which allows the customer to search for prepackaged vacations offered by the vendor and then customize those vacations by adding, deleting or changing travel components in those prepackaged vacations. When the customer begins the planning process at Web page 500 (shown in FIG. 5), the customer can search for prepackaged vacations based on factors such as the primary destinations desired by the customer and the customer's interests. As shown in FIG. 29, a customer has chosen from the pull down menu for primary destinations the city of "Paris" 2901. This pull down menu also contains many other European cities that a customer can select. The customer has also identified "Historic & Cultural Sites" 2902 as the 5 customer's interest at this destination. This pull down menu contains many other categories of interests such as Highlights & Must Sees, Museums & Expositions, Art & Music, Charming Places, Beautiful Natural Sites and other categories. When the customer has entered the customer's primary destinations and interests, the customer can .click on the "Go" select button 2903 to transmit the search information to the vendor's 10 server computer system. It should be obvious that these two search terms are merely examples of terms that could be used to search through the prepackaged vacations available from this vendor, and other search criteria could be used as well.
.'•'-' v, ---. :■ ■ After the customer clicks on the ."Go" select button 2903, the vendor's server ' •--•' computer system searches through the prepackaged tours offered by this vendor and 15 transmits a Web page 3000 (partially shown in FIGS. 30A and 30B) with information about 43 prepackaged vacations that meet the customer's search criteria. The customer can click on one of several select buttons to receive more information about any one of these prepackaged vacations. For example, if the customer clicks on the "Day by Day Details" select button, the vendor's server computer system transmits to the customer's 20 computer system a Web page 3100 (shown in FIG. 31 A, 3 IB and 3 IC make up a single Web page) which provides day by day details about the prepackaged vacation. However, the customer can also click on the "Customize My Vacation" select button 3001 or 3101 to customize the prepackaged vacation. This allows the customer to add, delete or change travel components in the prepackaged vacation, thereby customizing it as the 25 customer desires. When the customer clicks on the "Customize My Vacation" select button, the vendor's server computer system transmits a Web page 600 (FIG. 6) which permits the customer to provide information about his departure and the number of passengers for which the vacation is being planned. After this information has been . entered and the customer clicks on the "Go" select button 701, the planning process 30 continues and the customer can customize the vacation by adding, deleting or changing travel components in the prepackaged vacation. The customer can also check the availability of and prices for the different vacations as the customer plans and customizes the vacation.
Having described an embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many changes in the embodiment and application of the invention described herein will suggest themselves without departing from the scope of the present invention. The disclosures and the description herein are intended to be illustrative and are not in any sense limiting of the invention or the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS We claim:
1. A method for planning and confirming a customized vacation over a communications network comprising:
receiving information from a customer over said communications network where said information identifies at least two travel components of said vacation;
checking in real time the availability of and price for each of said at least two travel components using an automated system;
notifying the customer about the availability of and a price for said . vacation over said communications network;
booking in real time said at least two travel components using an automated system;
billing the customer for said vacation using an automated system; and
confirming in real time the purchase of said vacation to the customer over ■ said communications network.
PCT/US2001/019775 2000-06-23 2001-06-21 A method and system for planning, confirming and purchasing a customized vacation over a communications network WO2001099013A1 (en)

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WO2008055379A1 (en) * 2006-11-06 2008-05-15 Fanghua Lei A business travel system based on a network platform

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