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Anchor Operator Connection
Anchor Operator Connection

How to connect your products in Ventrata to operator using Anchor ticketing system to resell their products

Dominic Martinkevic avatar
Written by Dominic Martinkevic
Updated over 3 months ago

Anchor is a ticketing and operations system developed and managed by Hornblower Group and their Encore Studio software development unit. While Anchor powers Hornblower’s own brands, such as City Cruises, Walk, and Devour under the City Experiences umbrella, it is also utilized by various other attraction and tour operators outside the Hornblower network.

This operator connection (also referred to as backend) allows you to connect with other operators using Anchor as their ticketing system to resell their products through Ventrata more efficiently and automatically. The capabilities of this connection include:

  • Syncing availability and pricing from your operator's Anchor system.

  • Posting bookings, updates, and cancellations from Ventrata to Anchor.

  • Receiving vouchers/tickets from your operator's Anchor system and issuing them to your customers.

To connect with resellers using Anchor as their ticketing system for them to sell your products, see Anchor Reseller Connection and related articles.

Configuring Operator Backend

Before You Begin:

  1. Contact your operator using Anchor and request the "OCTO API Key" for you to resell their products through Ventrata. Operators will need to contact their Anchor contact for assistance with obtaining this information.
    ​

  2. In the Ventrata Dashboard, navigate to Products → Operators, and select the Anchor-powered operator for which you would like to set up the connection.

  3. In the Backend Partner section, choose Anchor from the list of available connections and enter the OCTO API Key provided to you by your operator. Unless otherwise instructed by the operator or Anchor, leave the OCTO Endpoint field with the default pre-filled value for Anchor https://my.hornblower.com/api/octo

    In the Backend Partner section, choose Anchor from the list of available connections and enter the OCTO API Key provided to you by your operator. Unless otherwise instructed by the operator or Anchor, leave the OCTO Endpoint field with the default pre-filled value for Anchor <a href="https://my.hornblower.com/api/octo" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://my.hornblower.com/api/octo</a>

  4. Click Update Operator to save the configuration.
    ​

Mapping Products

Once the operator has been configured with its backend, you can proceed to Product Mapping—the process of connecting your Ventrata products and options with the corresponding products and options from the operator's A system:

  1. In the Ventrata Dashboard, navigate to Products → Products and select the product you would like to map to the operator's Anchor system.
    ​

  2. Edit the product and ensure the Operator is set to the correct operator to which this product belongs, where you have already configured the backend.

  3. Check Backend Connected for this product to use the API connection (backend). To pull availability from Anchor, ensure Backend Availability is checked; to pull pricing, check Backend Pricing. If you do not check Backend Availability and/or Backend Pricing, the product will use the availability and/or pricing configured in Ventrata but will still post bookings to Anchor. Click Update Product to save.
    ​

    Check Backend Connected for this product to use the API connection (backend). To pull availability from Expian, ensure Backend Availability is checked; to pull pricing, check Backend Pricing. If you do not check Backend Availability and/or Backend Pricing, the product will use the availability and/or pricing configured in Ventrata but will still post bookings to Expian. Click Update Product to save.

  4. The product page will now display a Mappings tab. Navigate to this tab and map your Ventrata product, option(s), and units by selecting the corresponding products, options, and units from the dropdown lists as received from Anchor. Ensure that no fields are left empty (unmapped), and click Save Changes.

    The product page will now display a Mappings tab. Navigate to this tab and map your Ventrata product, option(s), and units by selecting the corresponding products, options, and units from the dropdown lists as received from Expian. Ensure that no fields are left empty (unmapped), and click Save Changes.

Supported Capabilities (Detailed)

Availability

✅

When Backend Availability is enabled Ventrata will pull availability from Anchor.

This works as follows:

  • Availability Check. When a user interacts with the availability calendar in Ventrata (e.g., selects units and clicks through the dates in the dashboard, web checkout, terminal, etc.), Ventrata will make a live request to Anchor to retrieve availability for the given dates. This is usually done in 7-day ranges or for a specific day.

  • The calendar may display cached (non-live) data from the previous time it was requested before the user interacts with the calendar.

Pricing

✅

When Backend Pricing is enabled Ventrata will pull both retail and net (wholesale) pricing from Anchor.

This works as follows:

  • Availability Check (Pricing Capability). When a user interacts with the availability calendar in Ventrata (e.g., selects units and clicks through the dates in the dashboard, web checkout, terminal, etc.), Ventrata will make a live request to Anchor to retrieve availability along with the pricing for the given dates. This is usually done in 7-day ranges or for a specific day. Pricing will shown to the user and cached / stored in Ventrata as API generated fares.

  • Net (wholesale) pricing returned via the API from Anchor will be recorded as cost pricing, regardless of your cost percentage settings on the operator, when using Backend Pricing.

Booking

✅

Bookings, booking changes and cancellation made in Ventrata for the Backend Connected product will be automatically sent to Anchor.

This work as follows:

  • Booking Reservation. When a product is added to the cart in Ventrata, a request will be made to reserve the availability.

  • Booking Confirmation. After the payment step, a request to confirm the booking will be made, along with any customer contact information sent at this point. The voucher/ticket provided by Anchor will be ingested as a voucher/ticket in Ventrata (except for PDF_FILE, which Ventrata currently does not support).

  • Booking Update. When a booking is changed, an API request to update the booking will be made to Anchor.

  • Booking Cancellation. When a booking is cancelled, an API request to cancel the booking will be made to Anchor.

Redemption

❌

Booking status from Anchor (for example if booking is Redeemed) is not currently communicated back to Ventrata after booking is confirmed.

Pickups

❌

Pickups are not currently supported.

Promotions

❌

Promotions are not currently supported.

Extras

❌

Extras are not currently supported.

​

Troubleshooting

Issue

Possible Solutions

Error when updating operator to save backend configuration.

Likely OCTO API Key or OCTO Endpoint are incorrect. Double-check these details with your operator. If issue persists, contact us for support.

No Backend Connected checkbox in product settings.

Likely operator selected for the product doesn't have backend configured, check backend configuration and try again. If issue persists, contact us for support.

The product/option/unit I want to map is not on the dropdown.

Dropdown list is pulled from Anchor based on products/options/units operator made available to you. Double-check these details with your operator. If issue persists, contact us for support.

Partner Information

Encore Studios / Hornblower Group, Inc.
2645 Townsgate Rd, Building 200

Westlake Village, CA 91361, USA

Partner ID 0e889f0f-dca4-4e9f-ba31-07ae9ae2f9d7

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