Important Message for SiteMinder US Customers

Dear Hotel Partner Using SiteMinder –

As you may be aware, SiteMinder forwards data from external connections (Booking.com, Expedia, etc.) based on how that vendor sends them rate price data. They do not have a standard they use specific to how the hotel is set up internally for rates and taxation. We’ve had a number of hotels request consistency in which rate amount to use in these messages. To do this, we are rolling out a solution for this as a two-step item. The first is to create a setting for you, the hotel, to determine which amount to use in messages as the standard:

  • AmountBeforeTax (for hotels that post taxes as exclusive generally)
  • AmountAfterTax(for hotels that have taxes posted as inclusive, such as VAT)

We will be updating the logic and process flow as a later step (scheduled for January 7, 2020). Until the logic is deployed, this setting will not yet do anything. Prior to January 7, 2020, your hotel needs to determine which amount to use as the standard—update it in the settings and save it. To make the change, a person with appropriate access needs to do the following:

  • Log into StayNTouch
  • Go to Settings > Integrations > Central Reservation Systems > SiteMinder
  • Scroll to the bottom of the section and find the Reservation Settings
    • Determine which Reservation Settings your property wants to use for RATE TYPE AMOUNT TO USE ON RESERVATION IMPORT
    • Save

Once the logic is in place, we will work on the following basis, as this is a default setting:

  • If the setting AmountAfterTax is selected, the following will occur:
    • If a message comes in with both AmountAfterTaxand AmountBeforeTax, AmountAfterTax will be used
    • If a message comes in with ONLY AmountAfterTax, AmountAfterTax will be used
    • If a message comes in with ONLY AmountBeforeTax, AmountBeforeTax will be used
  • If the setting AmountBeforeTax is selected, the following will occur:
    • If a message comes in with both AmountAfterTax and AmountBeforeTax, AmountBeforeTaxwill be used
    • If a message comes in with ONLY AmountAfterTax, AmountAfterTax will be used
    • If a message comes in with ONLY AmountBeforeTax, AmountBeforeTax will be used

The logic to use this setting is currently set to be released on January 7, 2020; there may be changes to that date. There will be no change to current functionality until the update code is deployed.

Please ensure that your hotel has updated this setting prior to January 7, 2020.