Stayntouch PMS: Release Notes (v5.11) – 7 August 2019

Modified on: Thu, 10 Aug, 2023 at 11:39 AM

Stayntouch PMS

Release Notes (v5.11)


Effective: 7 August 2019


TABLE OF CONTENTS


PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS 

Rate Sequences Now Configurable in Stayntouch PMS


You can now configure custom rate sequences in Stayntouch PMS from Settings > Rates > Rate Sequence. Rate sequences can be configured for the Stayntouch PMS Room and Rates Screen, Admin Rate Setup, Stayntouch PMS Rate Manager, and Stayntouch PMS Dashboard.



This new feature allows you to create custom sequences and manage the rates linked to each sequence and the order in which the rates display within each sequence. By linking a specific sequence to the relevant screens, the sequence will then adjust the rate order according to the sequence setup. For the Stayntouch PMS Dashboard, only the rate selected will display. Moreover, you will now find all the rates in Admin Rate Setup from a dropdown list.


To edit a rate sequence, select the blue EDIT CUSTOM SEQUENCE button to be directed to the Create Custom Sequence screen. From this screen, you can toggle between MANAGE SEQUENCE and MANAGE RATES as desired.



Automatic Confirmation Email Sent Only With Changes to Dates/Rates


We now only send automatic confirmation emails for changes to the stay date or rates/add-ons. The confirmation email will still be sent upon creating a new reservation; however, after the first confirmation email has been sent, only subsequent changes of the stay date or rates/add-ons will trigger a new email. Other minor changes will not trigger the email.

Reinstate Cancellation/No-Show for 1-Night Reservation


Previously, we didn’t support reinstating 1-night reservations after the reservation was a no-show; however, we now allow hotels to reinstate no-shows for 1-night reservations.

Changes to Group Date Extension Logic


Under existing functionality, when attempting to extend group stay dates, the only option would be to extend the group for the Total number of rooms blocked as opposed to Pick-Up rooms. This meant you wouldn’t be able to extend group stay dates if the House Availability didn’t match the Total number of rooms blocked for the group (i.e., there weren’t enough rooms in-house for the extended dates).

 

Now, however, two options exist for extending group stay dates. Upon navigating to the Summary tab of the Group Details page, you can adjust the TO date beyond the original stay date. At which point, you will receive a popup with the options to EXTEND RESERVATIONS or DO NOT EXTEND RESERVATIONS.



Upon selecting EXTEND RESERVATIONS, only the number of Pick-Up rooms will be extended.



In comparison, if you select DO NOT EXTEND RESERVATIONS, no rooms will be added to the Total or Pick-Up rooms. Instead, you can manually enter the exact number of rooms you’d like to add to the group date extension.



In summary, with group date extension, we add additional dates to the block, but we do not block any rooms automatically for those additional dates, unless the user selects EXTEND RESERVATIONS. In which case, we attempt to block the number of Pick-Up rooms, but we are not automatically blocking any rooms that are not picked up.

Card Merge Functionality for Guest, Company, and Travel Agent Cards


Card merge functionality is now available for Guest, Company, and Travel Agent Cards. 


To use this functionality for Guest Cards, navigate to Front Desk > Guests, where you will see a toggle to switch between the traditional Guest Card VIEW and the MERGE view.



In MERGE view, Guest Cards can be selected to be merged. Once selected, they will appear in the CARDS TO MERGE section on the right hand side of the screen.



Multiple cards can be selected for merge at the same time. One of the selected cards should be marked as primary, which is the card where all information is kept in the merged card. For any other cards merged into the primary card, past reservations and statistics will be merged into the primary card. No other information will be kept from the non-primary cards.


Once cards are selected, and the primary card is defined, the selection can be verified if the merge is possible.


If one of the selected cards is not eligible for merge, the reason will be displayed, and the card can be removed from the CARDS TO MERGE area to proceed with the merge process.



Please note, merge is not possible as a non primary card if a current in-house or future reservation is attached to the card.


After verification, the cards can be merged by clicking the MERGE CARDS button.



Merge activity is logged in the Guest Card activity log of the primary card, as well as in the Stay Card activity log of any past reservation where the attached Guest Card was merged.


The same functionality is available for Company and Travel Agent Cards by navigating to Revenue Management > Company & TA Cards.



Once MERGE view has been selected, an additional toggle becomes available to switch between Company and Travel Agent Cards. Please note, Company Cards cannot be merged with Travel Agent Cards and vise versa.


The following restrictions exist against merging a primary card: 

  • Current in-house or future reservation is attached to the card

  • Current or future group or allotment is attached to the card

  • Card is attached to an A/R account

  • Card is attached to a commission account

  • Card has a contract rate attached


Merge activity is logged in the Guest Card activity log of the primary card as well as in the Stay Card activity log of any past reservation where the attached Guest Card was merged.


Note for hotels belonging to a chain: Cards are shared across all hotels within a chain in Stayntouch PMS; therefore, all eligibility checks are carried out across all hotels in the same chain.

Deposit Rules: Schedule Added to Collect Remaining Deposits At Check-In


You can now set deposit schedules that will be prompted for and collected at the time of check-in. As before, at check-in, all remaining unpaid deposits will be collected.

Accounts Receivable: Lock Invoice on Final Payment


When a guest invoice gets settled to the direct bill, it will now be locked and given a folio number at the time of check-out and then securely stored. Once a payment is allocated to the invoice and the amount due is brought to 0.00, the invoice moves to the PAID tab. From there, you will be able to create the A/R invoice.


Accounts Receivable: Print/Email Invoice


Once an A/R invoice is generated as per the above story, you can now print/email A/R invoices as desired.


Room Diary: Room Types Cannot Be Overbooked from the Reservation Creation Screen


We have added additional background procedures to the Room Diary to avoid overbooking of specific room types from the reservation creation screen. With the enhancement of background procedures, you will receive one of the below warning messages when attempting to overbook a room (depending on the settings configured for your hotel).


Extend/Shorten Reservations in Different Modes


For both Nightly and Day Use modes, you are now able to extend or shorten reservations. This new functionality takes into account arrival and departure times for reservations that want to exist in the same room at the same time to avoid an overbooking.


Nightly Diary: Update Billing Information When Reservation Stay Dates Are Extended/Shortened


From the Nightly Diary, we have added additional checks to the reservation flow when extending or shortening a reservation. If extending or shortening a reservation, users will get a popup message to update billing information on file. If you do not want to update the billing information for a reservation, you can select the red X as pictured in the screenshot below.


Stayntouch Guest Kiosk: Capture Email/Location for Room Ready Alert and Place in Pre-Check-In


When no rooms are ready to check-in, Stayntouch Guest Kiosk now allows placing the reservation in pre-check-in and captures how to inform the guest once a room is ready. Guests are given three choices:

  1. Send me an email. Stayntouch Guest Kiosk prompts for an email address to use. If an email address is already on file, the field is pre-filled with the known email address, and the guest may confirm or choose to enter a different one.

  2. Find me in a location. The guest may pick one from a list of predefined locations (e.g., lobby, bar, restaurant, etc.), and his/her location will be added as a note to the reservation.

  3. Will come back later. No specific action is made to contact the guest.





To enable this setting at your hotel, Stayntouch Guest Kiosk needs to be active. If you have not activated Stayntouch Guest Kiosk, please reach out to Customer Support. Once enabled, first navigate to Settings > Guest Mobility > Check-In, enable the PRE-CHECK-IN ONLY toggle, and select AUTO CHECK-IN from the CHECK-IN ACTION section.



Please reach out to Customer Support to add predefined guest locations.

Stayntouch Guest Kiosk: Exclusion By Payment Type


We have added a configuration option that allows any payment method selected by Hotel Admin to be excluded from Stayntouch Guest Kiosk check-in eligibility. For example, when a voucher needs to be collected from the guest, at check-in or for any other reason, the payment type requires the guest to see an agent. These methods can now be excluded, even if they are otherwise considered guaranteed or the reservation is prepaid.



Please contact Customer Support to activate payment type exclusions for Stayntouch Guest Kiosk. Then navigate to Settings > Station > Check-In > EXCLUDE PAYMENT TYPES. From here, you can drag and drop payment types from EXCLUDED PAYMENT TYPES to ALLOWED PAYMENT TYPES (and vice versa) as desired.



COUNTRY SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Austria: Fiskaltrust Payment Receipts


Due to legal requirements in Austria, we have made updates to the Fiskaltrust payment receipt. Whenever generating the Fiskaltrust payment receipt from Stayntouch PMS, it will call the Fiskaltrust interface and collect a QR code that will be printed on the receipt. Each receipt will have a unique payment receipt sequence generated against each QR code. Please note, you cannot have the same receipt with more than one QR code.



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