When a booking comes in from an OTA like Viator or GetYourGuide, any details the OTA collected from the guest at checkout (passenger weights, ages, dietary needs) can flow straight into your TripWorks custom fields automatically, with no manual entry. When one of those details arrives blank, it's almost always because the name of your custom field doesn't match the question the OTA asked.
In this article
The one rule that makes it work
For an OTA answer to land in a custom field automatically, two things have to line up:
- The field name matches the OTA's question. The OTA sends each answer labeled with the exact question text it showed the guest. TripWorks drops that answer into the custom field whose title matches that label. If the OTA asks for "Passenger Weights" and your field is named "Weight," they don't line up, so the answer has nowhere to go and the field stays empty.
- The field is collected per guest. Details like weight are per-traveler, so the custom field needs to be set to collect on the booking (per guest), not once for the whole trip. See set up custom fields for where to choose this.
Get those two right and the data fills in on its own, on the first booking and every time that reservation is later changed or rebooked.
A real example
A hot-air balloon operator collects passenger weights, which Viator gathers at checkout under the question "Passenger Weights." Their TripWorks field was named "Weight," so the weights kept arriving blank and their team re-typed them by hand on every booking. Renaming the field to "Passenger Weights," an exact match for Viator's question, fixed it immediately: weights now arrive for every traveler automatically, and they stay filled in even when Viator sends a reschedule or rebooking.
How to fix a blank field
- Find the exact wording of the question as the OTA asks it. On Viator this is the "Booking questions" text on the product; the label the guest sees is the label the answer arrives with.
- In TripWorks, go to Setup Booking Fields and open the custom field that should be receiving it.
- Rename the field's title to match that question wording, and set it to collect per guest on the booking.
- Save. New bookings, and rebookings of existing reservations, will now populate that field automatically.
Once it's working, keep the field named to match the OTA's question. If you later rename it to something that no longer matches, the OTA's answers will stop mapping and the field will go blank again.
A quick tip on wording: match the OTA's question as closely as you can. GetYourGuide's matching is a little more forgiving than Viator's, so the safest approach for any OTA is to name the field exactly like the question the guest was asked. That one habit covers every channel.
Why weights sometimes "disappear" after a rebooking
When an OTA sends a change or rebooking, TripWorks rebuilds that reservation from the new details the OTA sends. If your field name matches the OTA's question, the rebuild re-fills it from the incoming data and you never notice. If the names don't match, there's nothing to re-fill it with, so a value someone typed in by hand gets cleared. That's why a mismatch tends to show up most visibly right after a reschedule. Matching the field name is what makes the value survive a rebooking.
Frequently asked questions
Why are my Viator passenger weights showing as blank?
Your custom field's name doesn't match the question Viator asks. Viator sends weights under a specific question label (for example, "Passenger Weights"); TripWorks fills the custom field whose title matches that label. Rename your field to match the question exactly, and the weights will populate automatically.
Do I have to re-enter the data every time, or does it come across on its own?
Once the field name matches the OTA's question, it comes across on its own, for new bookings and for rebookings, with no manual entry. Hand-entering it is only a stopgap while the names don't match.
My weights vanish whenever a booking is rescheduled. Why?
A rebooking rebuilds the reservation from the details the OTA re-sends. If your field name matches the OTA's question, it re-fills automatically. If it doesn't match, there's nothing to re-fill it with, so anything entered by hand is cleared. Matching the field name keeps the value through rebookings.
Where do I find the exact question the OTA is asking?
It's the booking-question text on your OTA product: the label the guest sees when they answer. On Viator, that's the product's booking questions. Whatever wording appears there is the wording your TripWorks field should match.
Does this work the same for Viator and GetYourGuide?
The principle is the same for both: name your field to match the question the guest was asked. GetYourGuide's matching is a bit more forgiving, but naming the field exactly like the OTA's question is the reliable approach for every channel.
The field is named correctly but still empty — what else could it be?
Check that the field is set to collect per guest (on the booking), since details like weight are per-traveler. Also confirm the OTA actually collected that answer for the reservation in question — if the guest wasn't asked, there's nothing to bring over. If it's set up right and the OTA did collect it, send us the confirmation code and we'll take a look.
Will renaming the field affect my manifests or emails?
The field keeps working everywhere it already appears; you're only changing its title so it lines up with the OTA's question. Your manifests and email templates continue to use the field as before.
Related
- How OTA & reseller bookings connect to TripWorks
- Set up custom fields
- Add custom fields to an activity
- Control emails for OTA and reseller bookings
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