Stayntouch PMS: Release Notes (v5.79)

Modified on: Mon, 22 Apr, 2024 at 2:09 PM

Stayntouch PMS

Release Notes (v5.79)


Effective:


TABLE OF CONTENTS



ⓘ We'd like to call out a few special items that have been long-awaited and will make many of our customers happy:

  • All new notes and actions! The alerts functionality is now available for notes. This allows for easy viewing and access of notes, attachments, and actions on the left side of the stay card.
  • No more discrepant rooms! You can now see when a room was last cleaned or inspected by housekeeping, including the option to skip turning it back to “Not Ready” at check-out.
  • A rate can now be greater than its base rate, while preserving its values for "extra adult" and "child" to not increase beyond a certain threshold.


PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS

Enhancements To Notes Design


We’ve updated the NOTES layout design. From the new NOTES popup window, when you create a new note or edit an existing note, it will bring up the note on its own popup window.





Pilot Phase: Update To Stay Card Notes & Actions

 

The NOTES and ACTIONS sections on the stay card have now been moved to the left side of the screen to easily identify notes and actions for a reservation and eliminate the need to click on the respective sections to open and view any notes or actions. We have also added ALERTS functionality to notes, where the user can change a note to an alert to have a more prominent display on top of the stay card.


Note: Actions are assigned to designated departments for execution at specified dates/times, indicating completion status. Alerts, while not inherently time-critical or mandating action, function to underscore the significance of particular reservation notes, thereby mitigating oversight. The checkbox associated with alerts facilitates marking them as completed or dismissing them when deemed irrelevant, contingent upon the situation.

Please note, this functionality is in pilot phase, and we will be gradually moving our customers to this exciting new functionality. If anyone would like to pilot this functionality and switch over now, please contact Customer Support.

 

By clicking the orange MANAGE options next to NOTES and ACTIONS, or by clicking on an individual note or action, you can manage notes and actions as per existing functionality. Please note, there are no changes to the ACTIONS popup window; however, there are minor changes to layout of the NOTES popup window to make adding a note more intuitive.



NOTES

 

Upon clicking into the NOTES popup window, you can add a new note or edit an existing note. When clicking into an existing note, you can delete, edit, or save the note—or even mark the note as an alert.

 

The note will also indicate who created the note and on what date and time. After saving the note, you’ll be redirected to the previous popup window where you can manage all notes. Please note, you cannot click into group or shared notes.

 



 

Notes Marked As Alerts

 

As mentioned above, notes can also be marked as an alert. When a note is marked as an alert, you can either mark the alert note as resolved from the general notes popup window or from the ALERTS banner that will appear in the center of the stay card. From the ALERTS banner, you can mark an alert note as resolved, and the last user who resolved the alert note will appear under the alert note with the date and time resolved. The ALERTS banner will automatically be collapsed when all alert notes are marked as resolved. Marking a shared alert note as resolved does not mark all shared alert notes as resolved. Updates to alert notes (resolved, updates, reopened, removed) will also be recorded in the stay card Activity Log with the name of the user who updated the alert note and on what date and time.







FILE ATTACHMENT

 

If your hotel has file attachments enabled from Settings > Cards > File Attachments, you’ll see the NOTES section is instead called NOTES & FILES, and you can attach files here, as well.







ACTIONS

 

Upon clicking into the ACTIONS popup window, you can add a new action, edit an existing action, complete an action, or delete an action—as per existing functionality.

 

The action will also indicate who created or completed the action and on what date and time.



 

Actions that are due on the current business date will appear in orange along with the time due. Overdue actions will appear in red along with the numbers of days overdue.

 

Action Due On Current Date


 

Action Overdue


 

Reservation History Moved

 

The upcoming/current/history icons have been removed from the stay card. Instead, you can now view a guest’s reservation history by clicking the CONFIRMATION NO. dropdown from the left side of the stay card. When the dropdown is expanded, you can view all current, upcoming, and historical reservations for the guest. Current reservations will display first followed by upcoming reservations and then historical reservations. All reservations will display with the corresponding reservation status icon and color as well as the date range of the corresponding stay. You can click any of the reservations to pull up the corresponding stay card.



 

The CONFIRMATION NO. dropdown can be collapsed once the user is done viewing the reservation history.

No More Discrepant Rooms!


You can now see when a room was last cleaned or inspected by housekeeping, including the option to skip turning it back to “Not Ready” at check-out.


From Settings > Rooms > Housekeeping, you’ll now find a Show Clean/Inspected status at check-out checkbox.


 

Items to Note:

  • If DE-ACTIVATE HK ROOM CHANGE is turned ON from Settings > Hotel & Staff > Settings & Parameters, you will not be able to select the Show Clean/Inspected status at check-out checkbox.

 

 

  • Selecting the Show Clean/Inspected status at check-out checkbox deselects the Enable room status update at check-out checkbox.
  • Selecting the Enable room status update at check-out checkbox deselects the Show Clean/Inspected status at check-out checkbox.
  • Both settings can be deselected.

 

When the Show Clean/Inspected status at check-out checkbox is selected, if a room is not marked as clean or inspected at check-out, there will be no change to the check-out flow.

 

If a room has already been cleaned by housekeeping when the guest checks out at the Front Desk when the Show Clean/Inspected status at check-out checkbox is selected, the following will occur:

  • The popup window will appear showing the room number
  • The popup window will indicate when the room was last cleaned
  • The popup window will indicate who set the room to clean
  • Users can toggle between SET DIRTY and KEEP CLEAN (will default to SET DIRTY)
  • If the user selects SET DIRTY, there will be no change to the check-out flow. The room will be checked out and marked as dirty per existing functionality.
  • If the user selects KEEP CLEAN, the room housekeeping status will not be changed as part of the check-out flow, and it will not overwrite the most recent changes by housekeeping.

 



If a room has been inspected by housekeeping prior to the guest checking out at the Front Desk when the Show Clean/Inspected status at check-out checkbox is selected, the following will occur:

  • The popup window will appear showing the room number
  • The popup window will indicate when the room was last inspected
  • The popup window will indicate who set the room to inspected
  • Users can toggle between SET DIRTY and KEEP INSPECTED (will default to SET DIRTY)
  • If the user selects SET DIRTY, there will be no change to the check-out flow. The room will be checked out and marked as dirty per existing functionality.
  • If the user selects KEEP INSPECTED, the room housekeeping status will not be changed as part of the check-out flow, and it will not overwrite the most recent change housekeeping.


 


The action will then be complete after clicking GO TO DASHBOARD or STAY ON GUEST BILL.

Do Not Disturb Filters Added

 

From Housekeeping > Room Status, when selecting filters, you’ll now see Show Do Not Disturb and Exclude Do Not Disturb options, which allows you to include or exclude rooms marked as “Do Not Disturb” by Housekeeping. The two options cannot be selected simultaneously, and selecting one while the other is selected will deselect the other.



Guests In House By Nationality Report Now Has Two Options

 

Previously, the Guests In House by Nationality Report (Reports > New Report) only showed the guest’s country of residence, not nationality. We’ve added a SHOW filter to the report, which allows the user to select from either Country of Residence (default) or Country of Nationality. Only one can be selected at a time.




If the Country of Residence option is selected, the report data remains the same.

 

If the Country of Nationality option is selected, the report will show nationality data instead of country of residence data.

 

The changes apply to the Reports Inbox, PDF, and CSV formats of the report.



Sort Room Diary Unassigned Rooms By Day Use/Nightly Reservations

 

For Hourly hotels, if the Room Diary (navigate to Front Desk > Room Diary) is toggled to “D” view (Day Use), the Day Use reservations will appear first under UNASSIGNED RESERVATIONS followed by Nightly reservations. Moreover, if the Room Diary is toggled to “N” view (Nightly), the Nightly reservations will appear first under UNASSIGNED RESERVATIONS followed by Day Use reservations.


Day Use Diary


 

Nightly Diary

 

Out Of Inventory Room Status For Hourly Reservations

 

For Hourly hotels, users can now mark rooms as Out of Inventory (OOI) if the room(s) should be removed from the hotel’s inventory or disabled permanently or for a period of time (from midnight to midnight). The Out Of Inventory Service Status feature must be enabled by Stayntouch Admin, so please contact Customer Support if you wish to activate this feature for your property. A full explanation of the OOI functionality can be found here.


Remove Credit Card From House/Group Account

 

From Front Desk > Accounts > Transactions, you can now remove credit cards linked to a house or group account by selecting the red X button when clicking on the payment method.





Items to Note:

  • If a credit card is linked to a bill within the account, this credit card cannot be removed—only credit cards linked to a house or group account but not linked to a bill can be removed.
  • When a credit card is removed from a house or group account, it will be recorded in the Activity Log for the account.
  • Credit cards removed from a house or group account will not delete the credit card, but simply unassociate it from the house or group account. 

Rate Setup: Extra Adult/Child Maximum Amount Threshold


A rate can now be greater than its base rate, while preserving its values for "extra adult" and "child" to not increase beyond a certain threshold. For parent rates configured from Settings > Rates > Rates, you can now configure an EXTRA ADULT/CHILD MAX. AMOUNT THRESHOLD, which will allow you to have a child rate that is greater than the parent rate without increasing the extra adult/child amount beyond a certain threshold.


Multi-Rate Reservations With Add-Ons & Allowances

 

Multi-rate reservations with add-ons and allowances are now supported in Stayntouch PMS. Per this functionality, you can now create multiple night reservations with different types of add-ons (Nightly, Consume Next Day, Last Night, Weekly), and the add-ons will be posted correctly for the respective nights. The same also applies to allowance add-ons.


 



Posted Charges Included In Guest To Pay Balance

 

When the No deposit request on reservations with routed charge checkbox is NOT selected from Settings > Rates > Rules & Restrictions > Deposit Requests > Select Deposit, the deposit rule attached to the reservation now include posted charges in the GUEST TO PAY balance on the stay card (includes the primary guest bill and accompanying guest bills).




 

Payments and posted charges on bills where the entity is a Company or Travel Agent will not be considered for the calculation of paid deposits or deposits due.

Feature Toggle To Enable CVV/CVC Number Capture For Credit Card Payment

 

Hotels that wish to capture the CVV/CVC number from a credit card can choose to have a CVV/CVC feature toggle enabled by a Stayntouch Admin user. Please contact Customer Support to have this toggle enabled.

Reservation With Promo Code Amended

 

When a reservation with a promo code attached is amended, the price will reflect the guest count and stay dates. Please note, if one or more dates fall outside the promotion, the promotion is no longer valid. Furthermore, if the rate is changed, the promotion will no longer be valid. This enhancement is to address the scenario where this functionality was not applied.




Duplicate Credit Cards Removed From Guest Card Wallet

 

When the same credit card is attached to the Wallet multiple times from Front Desk > Guests > Guest Card, duplicate entries will not be displayed; however, additional credit card entry will be logged in the Activity Log.

 

Credit cards with the same card number, name on card, and expiry date will be seen as duplicate cards.



Refund A Guest

 

To refund a guest, navigate to the guest’s stay card and click BILL & CHARGES. Before issuing a refund, review all open bills to make sure none of the bills have pending corrections that may affect the refund amount. Then, navigate to the bill that needs a refund, and then click the purple pencil button next to the transaction and select REFUND.




After selecting the REFUND button, you can edit the amount to refund. If the refund amount is correct, select the REFUND button.

 

Account Card Added To Reservation When Access Code Is Present


When an access code is used to obtain contracted rates when creating a reservation, the primary Company or Travel Agent card associated with the access code’s contract will now be attached to the reservation.


Items to Note:

  • If the Company or Travel Agent card is already present on a reservation, the card will be overridden with the new card, along with any routing/rate information.

Windsurfer Integration: Shoulder Dates Added To Block Message

 

For hotels using the Windsurfer integration, shoulder dates from a block will now be sent in the OTA_HotelInvBlockNotifRQ message.

 

Items to Note:

  • If shoulder dates have been added to the block, a create message will be sent. If shoulder dates have not been added, then this section will not be included in the message.
  • If shoulder dates are added to an existing block where room inventory has been added, then the shoulder dates will be sent in a modify block message.
  • If shoulder dates are removed from an existing block where inventory has been added, then the shoulder dates will not be sent in a modify block message, and this will remove them from Windsurfer, as well.

 

Connect APIs: Restrictions Array Included In Response

 

All rate API endpoints now include restrictions that are attached to a rate code in the configuration. This includes GET/rates/{id} and GET/hotels/{id}/rates. If there is no value, the restriction type will not be displayed in the response.

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