Channel management FAQs

What are channel partners?

Channel partners are third-party affiliates or contractors that expand distribution of your tickets and increase visibility by marketing through their own channels. Some partners are Online Travel Agents (OTAs), which are marketplace resellers like Viator, GetYourGuide and Klook. When you connect to a channel partner, they typically manage booking confirmation emails, booking reminder emails and receipts for guests who book through them. They also usually handle booking adjustments and cancellations.

What are reseller types?

Reseller types are similar to product variations in ROLLER. They represent different purchase options for the same product but are shown on the channel partner’s side (such as in their marketplace or checkout). These typically vary by age or demographic, for example Adult, Child, Senior or Student.

Because channel partners are external to ROLLER, they may use different names for product variations than you’re familiar with. When creating products in ROLLER for sale via a channel partner, it’s important to map each variation to a corresponding reseller type. Most of the time these types will be easy to map.

What if there isn’t a reseller type that closely matches the variation I’ve defined?

If your variation doesn’t map exactly to one of the available reseller types, choose the one that most closely aligns based on the age or demographic. The current implementation supports only one reseller type per ticket variation.

Are reseller types supported by all integration partners? 

Viator supports only a subset of reseller types. For example, variations cannot be mapped to "Student" for Viator. For detailed reseller type compatibility please see below.

* Adult variation for GetYourGuide: guests must only be able to select ONE of either Adult OR EU Citizen in the GetYourGuide checkout.

** Student variation for GetYourGuide: guests must only be able to select ONE of either Student OR EU Citizen Student in the GetYourGuide checkout.

*** Traveller variation forGetYourGuide: only supported when the product is a group pass AND it must be the only variation of the product sold via GetYourGuide.
 

Why do products sold via channel partners need to be tax inclusive?

Channel partners expect tax-inclusive pricing so that the price displayed to guests reflects the final amount they’ll pay. This ensures pricing consistency across platforms and avoids confusion or discrepancies at checkout.

If your products are usually sold with exclusive tax and you want to maintain the same tax and price, you will need to calculate the tax the guest usually pays, and add this to the unit price when configuring the reseller sale price. For example:

A $34.00 product with 9.5% exclusive tax, will have a sale price (incl. tax) of:

• $34.00 + ($34.00 x (9.5 / 100)) = $37.23

And if the reseller takes a 2% commission, the revenue price (incl. tax) would be:

• $37.23 - ($37.23 x (2 / 100)) = $36.49

How is product availability determined for products sold via resellers?

The availability of your products listed via resellers is the same as their availability via ROLLER's progressive checkouts. This means the following settings are relevant:

• Available booking dates (Specified on the product, or schedule)
• Available session times in schedules
• Sale periods (When the product should be made available for purchasing online)
• Exclusion periods
• Limitations of any resources linked to the product
• Limitations of any quantity settings specified on the product
• The state of the Hide from Online Sales checkbox

Should I create new products to provide resellers or edit existing ones?

It's recommended to make a new product.

This is because if you wish to have separate controls over availability for the same product sold on your ROLLER progressive checkout, and the product sold via your OTA integrations like Viator and GetYourGuide, you will need to create additional variations and products so you can configure their availability separately.

What if I manage multiple ROLLER venues—can I connect them all to one OTA account?

Typically, OTAs require a separate account for each venue. Get in touch with your OTA account manager to find out if they support multiple supplier connections under a single account.

How are Companies created and how do they work?

In ROLLER, a company record is automatically created for each active OTA integration. These records are system-generated, uneditable and marked with a globe icon in the Companies grid. While the email listed on these records doesn't serve a purpose, the records themselves play an important role.

This allows you to filter many reports by Company — such as Klook, Tiqets, or GetYourGuide — making it easier to analyze OTA performance.

How can I stop selling through an OTA immediately?

To stop sales immediately, you can either:

• Apply blockout capacity
• Adjust the product’s availability settings

Both options will prevent new bookings from being made through the OTA. 

Alternatively, you can reset the API key from the relevant channel partner configurations page to disconnect the OTA from ROLLER. The previous key will be deactivated and can no longer be used, meaning the OTA will need to be contacted to restore the connection.

What parts of an OTA booking can I edit in ROLLER?

OTA bookings are created and managed by the reseller, meaning most editing actions are not available in ROLLER. Editing is still available for:

• POS Notes
• Guest record of the booking holder
• Cancelling bookings
• Editing ticket details such as name, customTicketId, and ticket photo

All other changes are not possible, such as switching the booking holder to another guest or company, issuing refunds, changing booking items, adding tips etc.

Will guests have access to their OTA booking via online accounts?

No, guests cannot access OTA bookings through their ROLLER online account. These bookings can't be edited, and pricing often differs from your regular checkout.

Does redeeming a ticket in ROLLER also redeem it in the OTA system? What if I don’t redeem it in the OTA portal?

No, redeeming tickets in ROLLER doesn’t automatically update the OTA system's records. Most OTAs do not require redemption of tickets to issue your pay-out. Get in touch with your OTA to find out more.

How long does it take for availability changes in ROLLER to show on OTAs?

When you change product availability in ROLLER, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to up to an hour for those changes to appear in the OTA’s checkout.

During this update window, some guests might see an error saying the time slot is no longer available. If that happens, they’ll need to pick a different time.

Can I search for an external booking ID in ROLLER?

Yes, you can. Use the Global Search in Venue Manager or POS, and enter the external booking ID to find the booking. This external booking ID is typically not needed, as ROLLER ticket ID's are forwarded to the guest via the OTA anyway. 

How are OTA bookings handled in revenue reporting?

For OTA bookings, Funds Received will always show as $0 — whether you're using accrual or cash accounting. That’s because guest payments are made to the OTA, not to ROLLER.

Here’s how it works in Accrual Accounting:

• Other Deferred Revenue is used instead of regular Deferred Revenue
• Net Revenue increases based on the revenue price of the product
• Gross Revenue increases based on the sale price of the product
• When revenue is recognized, the amount moves from Other Deferred Revenue into Net Revenue—but Funds Received stays at $0

What is OCTO?

OCTO is a standardized API framework used by several online travel agents (OTAs) to connect with ticketing platforms like ROLLER. It allows OTAs to retrieve real-time availability, pricing and product information from venues without requiring custom integrations for each supplier.

ROLLER officially supports the OCTO API framework, making new OTA integrations faster and simpler to implement. Reach out to us if you have OTA's you'd like to see supported.