Stayntouch PMS: Release Notes (v5.84)

Modified on: Fri, 30 Aug, 2024 at 7:11 AM

Stayntouch PMS

Release Notes (v5.84)


Effective:


TABLE OF CONTENTS



ⓘ We'd like to call out a very exciting new item that has been long-awaited and will make many of our customers happy:

  • We have made so long awaiting functionality improvements to our Toast POS integration!
  • We now support tourist tax by rate amount. This is a requirement by certain European cities.

 

Too Long; Didn’t Read?

 

We've got your back with this abridged version of the v5.84 product release! If you want the full details, click the linked enhancements in the Table of Contents above for a full explanation of each enhancement.


Toast Improvements

 

1. Toast POS: Improved Quantified Postings: For customers using the Toast POS integration, we have optimized the way Stayntouch PMS posts checks with large quantities. This enhancement is in the backend only, so users are not impacted. The purpose of this enhancement is to support posting checks with large quantities to avoid timeout issues, especially in properties with slower network connections.

 

Reports/Exports

 

2. Schedule The Manager Daily Report: You can now schedule the Manager Daily Report from Reports > Schedule a Report/Export > Scheduled Reports > + NEW REPORT SCHEDULE.



Rates & Add-Ons

 

3. Rate Strategy: Apply Restrictions To “Based On” Rates: When the Rate Strategy functionality is enabled for a property, from Revenue Management > Rate Strategy, you will now see the option to AND INCLUDE "BASED ON" RATES when selecting rates. When this option is selected and saved, it will be displayed on other Rate Strategy screens.



 

4. Add-Ons With Date Range: Day Of The Week Selection: When a user selects an add-on with a date range, day of the week selection will not be visible. However, when a user selects an add-on without a date range, day of the week selection will be visible. The user can also remove date range sets from a stay card if necessary. These actions can be taken from the stay card, during reservation creation, on the group/allotment Summary tab, on the stay card, and on the add-on screen.

 

Reservations

 

5. Add Note, File, & Action Buttons: We’ve added + NOTE, +FILE (if file attachments are enabled for your property), and +ACTION buttons to the stay card, so you can easily add notes, files, or actions without having to open the respective popup windows first.


 

Financials

 

6. Set Cash Payment Limit: You can now set a cash payment limit in Stayntouch PMS. This will allow you to track the total amount of cash applied to a reservation and restrict the ability to add additional cash payments to a reservation. Please note, cash payment limits must be set by Stayntouch Admin, so please contact Customer Support to set a limit for your property.


 

7. Tax By Rate Amount: Calculation Of Culture & Tourism Tax (“Bed Tax”): We’ve added a new tax rule, in which the tax calculation is based on the rate amount of the reservation. You can enable this TAX BY RATE AMOUNT from Settings > Financials > Financial Settings. Tax rules must be enabled to activate tax by rate amount.


 

8. Search By A/R Account Number From The Billing Information Window: You can now search by account number or A/R account number from the Billing Information window when applying routing, to pull up a company or travel agent card. The account number or A/R account number will then display with the card details, as per existing functionality.


 

9. Reservation Bill Details Expanded By Default: When accessing bills for a reservation, all bills will expand by default to view the transaction details. Users will no longer have to expand the bills to see the transaction details.


 

Stationery

 

10. Pay by Link Button Text: Character Limit

 

Per customer requests, pay by link button text now has a character limit of two lines. Any supporting text can be added to display below the button, and that will not have a character limit.




Integrations

11. Connect APIs: Add-On Flag For Custom Groups Included In GET/groups & GET/groups/{id}: The GET/groups and GET/groups/{id} API endpoints now return an add-on flag for custom groups. If “addons” = true, use the GET/groups/{id}/custom_group_addons to obtain the detailed add-on data.

 

12. Connect APIs: Changes Made To PMS Via POST APIs Display As C-API In Activity Log: All Connect API POST calls that result in changes in Stayntouch PMS will display C-API in the PMS activity log. The new user C-API will help hotels easily understand the changes made by vendors using Stayntouch Connect APIs.

 

13. Connect APIs: Changes Made To PMS Via PUT & DELETE APIs Display As C-API In Activity Log: All Connect API PUT and DELETE calls that result in changes in Stayntouch PMS will display C-API in the PMS activity log. The new user C-API will help hotels easily understand the changes made by vendors using Stayntouch Connect APIs.

 

14. Connect APIs: New Endpoint POST/reservations/{id}/external_references: We’ve added a new POST/reservations/{id}/external_references API endpoint to provide vendors with the ability to post external_references to existing reservations. We support multiple external_references in a single API request.

 

15. Connect APIs: is_channel_manager=true Used In GET/hotels/{id}/availability Returns Assigned Channel Manager Rates & Room Types Only: When a parameter is_channel_manager=true is used in the GET/hotels/{id}/availability API, Stayntouch PMS will return assigned channel manager rates and room types only. Previously this parameter supported rates only.

 

Multi-Property

 

16. Multi-Property Dashboard View Can Be Assigned To Any User Role: Hotels using the Multi-Property functionality can choose to assign the Multi-Property dashboard view to additional user roles. To enable this functionality, please contact Customer Support. Once enabled, when you log into a Multi-Property account, a new permission will be available from Configuration > Roles & Permissions called Multi-Property Dashboard. When a user logs in with a user role that has the Multi-Property Dashboard permission assigned, they will be directed to the Multi-Property dashboard.


 

Toast POS Improvements

Toast POS: Improved Quantified Postings

 

For customers using the Toast POS integration, we have optimized the way Stayntouch PMS posts checks with large quantities. This enhancement is in the backend only, so users are not impacted. 

 

The purpose of this enhancement is to support posting checks with large quantities to avoid timeout issues, especially in properties with slower network connections.

 

Reports/Exports

Schedule The Manager Daily Report

 

You can now schedule the Manager Daily Report from Reports > Schedule a Report/Export > Scheduled Reports > + NEW REPORT SCHEDULE.



 

Rates & Add-Ons

Rate Strategy: Apply Restrictions To “Based On” Rates

 

When the Rate Strategy functionality is enabled for a property, from Revenue Management > Rate Strategy, you will now see the option to AND INCLUDE "BASED ON" RATES when selecting rates. When this option is selected and saved, it will be displayed on other Rate Strategy screens.



 

Items to Note:

  • When the AND INCLUDE "BASED ON" RATES option is selected, when the determined threshold is met, “Based On” rates will be closed.
  • When the AND INCLUDE "BASED ON" RATES option is selected, when the determined threshold is no longer met, “Based On” rates will be opened.
  • When the AND INCLUDE "BASED ON" RATES option is deselected, “Based On” rates will not be updated.

Add-Ons With Date Range: Day Of The Week Selection

 

When a user selects an add-on with a date range, day of the week selection will not be visible. However, when a user selects an add-on without a date range, day of the week selection will be visible. The user can also remove date range sets from a stay card if necessary. These actions can be taken from the stay card, during reservation creation, on the group/allotment Summary tab, on the stay card, and on the add-on screen.

 

Reservations

Add Note, File, & Action Buttons

 

We’ve added + NOTE, +FILE (if file attachments are enabled for your property), and +ACTION buttons to the stay card, so you can easily add notes, files, or actions without having to open the respective popup windows first.


 

Financials

Set Cash Payment Limit

 

You can now set a cash payment limit in Stayntouch PMS. This will allow you to track the total amount of cash applied to a reservation and restrict the ability to add additional cash payments to a reservation. Please note, cash payment limits must be set by Stayntouch Admin, so please contact Customer Support to set a limit for your property.



When a cash payment limit is set for your property, when you post a cash payment to a reservation that is higher than the limit set, regardless of the date it is posted to that reservation, the user will get an error message.

 

If the user has the Override Cash Payment Limit permission assigned from Settings > Hotel & Staff > Permissions, they will still get the error message, but with an option to proceed. Please note, the Override Cash Payment Limit permission will not automatically be allocated to any user groups, except for Hotel Admin and Multi-Property users.




If the user does not have the Override Cash Payment Limit permission assigned, the error message will display, but with no option to proceed.



Any cash payment attempts that are higher than the limit set will be recorded in the stay card Activity Log.


 

Please note, payment movement from other reservations or bills due to routing or transfers won’t be prevented based on cash payment limits. The restriction only applies to payment being directly applied to the reservation.

Tax By Rate Amount: Calculation Of Culture & Tourism Tax (“Bed Tax”)

 

We’ve added a new tax rule, in which the tax calculation is based on the rate amount of the reservation. You can enable this TAX BY RATE AMOUNT from Settings > Financials > Financial Settings. Tax rules must be enabled to activate tax by rate amount.



Tax By Rate Amount Charge Code

 

Tax by rate amount will be calculated based on the rate revenue. Moreover, based on the revenue, tax by rate amount will use the rate thresholds and rules to calculate the tax that will be added to the reservation with an option to add the tax amount to the rate or show as a separate line on the Guest Bill. 

 

The tax by rate amount charge code can be set up to calculate per person, adult, or child for the post type per night only.


 

The tax by rate amount must be configured with the required rate thresholds and the tax that will be applied if the rate falls within that threshold. This should also include an option to set an incremental rate value for taxes to be calculated where the rate amount exceeds the last threshold.



Additional calculation rules can be configured to calculate the tax based on the gross or net amount of the rate. You can also configure rules to calculate the tax on the total rate amount or the total rate amount divided by the number of people in the room (depending on the amount type selected).

 

Moreover, you can choose to set a rule to only calculate this for stays less than the specified nights. If tax by rate amount is linked to a tax exempt group, and that is linked to a reservation, the reservation will not post the tax linked to the rate. The reservation will be exempted from tax.

 

Once the tax by rate amount tax charge code is linked to the accommodation charge code, it can be set to either show the tax calculated as a separate line item on the Guest Bill, or add the tax amount calculated to the rate amount. Please note, tax by rate amount will always be calculated as an exclusive tax, and linking the tax by rate amount will link to the new section on the parent charge code. This section will only be displayed if the TAX BY RATE AMOUNT setting is enabled.


 

Group Reservations

 

Tax by rate amount will be calculated for group reservations linked to a group rate code when a tax by rate amount charge code is linked to the group. Please note the following:

  • Rooms Blocked (Not Picked Up): Tax by rate amount will be calculated by per person or adult specified on the room block (single, double, triple, etc.).
  • Rooms Picked Up: Tax by rate amount will be calculated based on the occupancy allocation for the reservation.

 

Deactivate Tax By Rate Amount

 

When there are any financial transactions created using tax by rate amount charge codes, Stayntouch PMS will NOT allow the TAX BY RATE AMOUNT toggle to be disabled from Settings > Financials > Financial Settings. The same rule will apply if any financial transactions were created using a tax charge code using tax rules. Moreover, when tax rules are deactivated, the toggle for tax by rate amount will not be available.

Search By A/R Account Number From The Billing Information Window

 

You can now search by account number or A/R account number from the Billing Information window when applying routing, to pull up a company or travel agent card. The account number or A/R account number will then display with the card details, as per existing functionality.


Reservation Bill Details Expanded By Default

 

When accessing bills for a reservation, all bills will expand by default to view the transaction details. Users will no longer have to expand the bills to see the transaction details.


 

Stationery

 

Per customer requests, pay by link button text now has a character limit of two lines. Any supporting text can be added to display below the button, and that will not have a character limit.




Integrations

Connect APIs: Add-On Flag For Custom Groups Included In GET/groups & GET/groups/{id}

 

The GET/groups and GET/groups/{id} API endpoints now return an add-on flag for custom groups. If  “addons” = true, use the GET/groups/{id}/custom_group_addons to obtain the detailed add-on data.

Connect APIs: Changes Made To PMS Via POST APIs Display As C-API In Activity Log

 

All Connect API POST calls that result in changes in Stayntouch PMS will display C-API in the PMS activity log. The new user C-API will help hotels easily understand the changes made by vendors using Stayntouch Connect APIs.

Connect APIs: Changes Made To PMS Via PUT & DELETE APIs Display As C-API In Activity Log

 

All Connect API PUT and DELETE calls that result in changes in Stayntouch PMS will display C-API in the PMS activity log. The new user C-API will help hotels easily understand the changes made by vendors using Stayntouch Connect APIs.

Connect APIs: New Endpoint POST/reservations/{id}/external_references

 

We’ve added a new POST/reservations/{id}/external_references API endpoint to provide vendors with the ability to post external_references to existing reservations. We support multiple external_references in a single API request.

Connect APIs: is_channel_manager=true Used In GET/hotels/{id}/availability Returns Assigned Channel Manager Rates & Room Types Only

 

When a parameter is_channel_manager=true is used in the GET/hotels/{id}/availability API, Stayntouch PMS will return assigned channel manager rates and room types only. Previously this parameter supported rates only.


Multi-Property

Multi-Property Dashboard View Can Be Assigned To Any User Role

 

Hotels using the Multi-Property functionality can choose to assign the Multi-Property dashboard view to additional user roles. To enable this functionality, please contact Customer Support. Once enabled, when you log into a Multi-Property account, a new permission will be available from Configuration > Roles & Permissions called Multi-Property Dashboard. When a user logs in with a user role that has the Multi-Property Dashboard permission assigned, they will be directed to the Multi-Property dashboard.


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