Merchant Booking Availability Engine

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed for associating time slots with a promotion and for scheduling time slots for redemption of the promotion based on merchant availability. The method includes receiving details, from a merchant, of a promotion for a good or service, and presenting, by a merchant interface, a set of proposed time slots for redeeming the promotion and a predicted booking limit for each proposed time slot. The method further includes receiving, from the merchant, selection of one or more time slots from the set of proposed time slots. Optionally, the method may include presenting, by the merchant interface, a commission schedule for the set of proposed time slots, wherein receiving the selection of time slots for use with the promotion is based on the commission schedule. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method of scheduling a time slot for redeeming a promotion by a promotional server of a promotion and marketing service, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a communications module of a promotional server of a promotion and marketing service, merchant promotion data from a merchant device associated with a merchant, wherein the merchant promotion data comprises details of a promotion for a good or service;   storing, by the booking optimization module, the merchant promotion data at a promotion system database associated with the promotion and marketing system in association with one or more of the merchant and the good or service;   identifying, by a booking optimization module of the promotional server, a set of proposed time slots for redeeming the promotion based at least in part on the merchant promotion data associated with the one or more of the merchant and the good or service;   determining, by the booking optimization module, a predicted booking limit for each of the proposed time slots based at least in part on a calculated hidden demand value for each proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots, wherein the hidden demand value for a particular time slot comprises prediction of external bookings for the particular time slot that are placed from external sources other than the promotion and marketing service;   determining, based at least in part on the predicted booking limit for each of the proposed time slots, a commission schedule for the set of proposed time slots, wherein the commission schedule comprises a set of commission values due to the promotion and marketing service for enabling redemption of the promotion at a respective proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots; and   transmitting, by a communications module of the promotional server, a predictive scheduling interface comprising the set of proposed time slots for redeeming the promotion, the predicted booking limits for each of the proposed time slots, and the commission schedule for each of the proposed time slots to the merchant device for rendering at a merchant interface thereof.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the commission value for each proposed time slot is further based on whether the respective proposed time slot will be allocated based on consumer membership status. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising, increasing the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is above a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising, increasing the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is below a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising, decreasing the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is above a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising, decreasing the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is below a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising receiving, by the communications module from the merchant device, a selection of one or more time slots from the set of proposed time slots, the one or more time slots comprising time slots at which redemption of the promotion is enabled. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein each of the commission values of the commission schedule is rendered within the predictive scheduling interface at a respective interactive dialog configured to receive user input, and wherein the method further comprises receiving, by the communications module from the merchant device, updated merchant promotion data associated with a selected one or more time slots from the set of proposed time slots, the updated merchant promotion data comprising merchant input data received via the predictive scheduling interface that comprises an updated commission schedule proposed by the merchant. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the hidden demand is calculated by the booking optimization module using an iterative reinforcement learning technique and based on an empirical cumulative density function. 
     
     
         30 . An apparatus for scheduling a time slot for redeeming a promotion by a promotional server of a promotion and marketing service comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing computer program code that, when executed by the processor, causes the apparatus to:
 receive, by a communications module of a promotional server of a promotion and marketing service, merchant promotion data from a merchant device associated with a merchant, wherein the merchant promotion data comprises details of a promotion for a good or service;   store, by the booking optimization module, the merchant promotion data at a promotion system database associated with the promotion and marketing system in association with one or more of the merchant and the good or service;   identify, by a booking optimization module of the promotional server, a set of proposed time slots for redeeming the promotion based at least in part on the merchant promotion data associated with the one or more of the merchant and the good or service;   determine, by the booking optimization module, a predicted booking limit for each of the proposed time slots based at least in part on a calculated hidden demand value for each proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots, wherein the hidden demand value for a particular time slot comprises prediction of external bookings for the particular time slot that are placed from external sources other than the promotion and marketing service;   based at least in part on the predicted booking limit for each of the proposed time slots, determine a commission schedule for the set of proposed time slots, wherein the commission schedule comprises a set of commission values due to the promotion and marketing service for enabling redemption of the promotion at a respective proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots; and   transmit, by a communications module of the promotional server, a predictive scheduling interface comprising the set of proposed time slots for redeeming the promotion, the predicted booking limits for each of the proposed time slots, and the commission schedule for each of the proposed time slots to the merchant device for rendering at a merchant interface thereof.   
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the commission value for each proposed time slot is further based on whether the respective proposed time slot will be allocated based on consumer membership status. 
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the computer program code, when executed by the processor, further causes the apparatus to: increase the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is above a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the computer program code, when executed by the processor, further causes the apparatus to: increase the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is below a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the computer program code, when executed by the processor, further causes the apparatus to: decrease the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is above a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         35 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the computer program code, when executed by the processor, further causes the apparatus to: decrease the commission value for a first proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots in response to determining that a first predicted booking limit for the first proposed time slot is below a stored predicted booking limit threshold value. 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the computer program code, when executed by the processor, further causes the apparatus to: receive, by the communications module from the merchant device, a selection of one or more time slots from the set of proposed time slots, the one or more time slots comprising time slots at which redemption of the promotion is enabled. 
     
     
         37 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein each of the commission values of the commission schedule is rendered within the predictive scheduling interface at a respective interactive dialog configured to receive user input, and wherein the computer program code, when executed by the processor, further causes the apparatus to receive, by the communications module from the merchant device, updated merchant promotion data associated with a selected one or more time slots from the set of proposed time slots, the updated merchant promotion data comprising merchant input data received via the predictive scheduling interface that comprises an updated commission schedule proposed by the merchant. 
     
     
         38 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the hidden demand is calculated by the booking optimization module using an iterative reinforcement learning technique and based on an empirical cumulative density function. 
     
     
         39 . A computer program product for scheduling a time slot for redeeming a promotion by a promotional server of a promotion and marketing service comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program code that, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, causes the apparatus to:
 receive, by a communications module of a promotional server of a promotion and marketing service, merchant promotion data from a merchant device associated with a merchant, wherein the merchant promotion data comprises details of a promotion for a good or service;   store, by the booking optimization module, the merchant promotion data at a promotion system database associated with the promotion and marketing system in association with one or more of the merchant and the good or service;   identify, by a booking optimization module of the promotional server, a set of proposed time slots for redeeming the promotion based at least in part on the merchant promotion data associated with the one or more of the merchant and the good or service;   determine, by the booking optimization module, a predicted booking limit for each of the proposed time slots based at least in part on a calculated hidden demand value for each proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots, wherein the hidden demand value for a particular time slot comprises prediction of external bookings for the particular time slot that are placed from external sources other than the promotion and marketing service;   based at least in part on the predicted booking limit for each of the proposed time slots, determine a commission schedule for the set of proposed time slots, wherein the commission schedule comprises a set of commission values due to the promotion and marketing service for enabling redemption of the promotion at a respective proposed time slot of the set of proposed time slots; and   transmit, by a communications module of the promotional server, a predictive scheduling interface comprising the set of proposed time slots for redeeming the promotion, the predicted booking limits for each of the proposed time slots, and the commission schedule for each of the proposed time slots to the merchant device for rendering at a merchant interface thereof.   
     
     
         40 . The computer program product of  claim 39 , wherein each of the commission values of the commission schedule is rendered within the predictive scheduling interface at a respective interactive dialog configured to receive user input, and wherein the computer program code, when executed by the apparatus, further causes the apparatus to receive, by the communications module from the merchant device, updated merchant promotion data associated with a selected one or more time slots from the set of proposed time slots, the updated merchant promotion data comprising merchant input data received via the predictive scheduling interface that comprises an updated commission schedule proposed by the merchant.