Stayntouch PMS: Release Notes (v5.86)

Stayntouch PMS

Release Notes (v5.86)

Effective:

• 1 October 2024 (3pm EST) for customers using https://pms.eu.stayntouch.com 
• 3 October 2024 (6am EST) for customers using https://pms.stayntouch.com
• 8 October 2024 (6am EST) for customers using https://pms.us.stayntouch.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• A/R Manual Balance Permission
• Accounts Receivable “Show” Filter Defaults To Open Balances Only
• Swiss QR Code
• Monthly Totals Added To Business On The Books Report
• Monthly Totals Added To Forecast Report
• Daily Production Report: Display Totals
• Daily Production Report By Demographics: Display Totals
• Group Rooms Report: Run For No More Than Two Months
• Group Rooms Report: Picked Up & Available Revenue
• Complimentary Rooms Report: Export To CSV
• New API Integrations With Stayntouch PMS
• Delphi: Sync Past Dates For AccountProduction3 Files
• Vertical Booking Reservations: Enhanced Handling Of Age Qualifying Codes
• Vertical Booking: Support For Profile Types 5 & 10 – Convert Into 4
• Vertical Booking: Send Room Rate For Up To 10 People
• Connect APIs New Endpoint: Payment Link Generation
• Connect APIs Enhancement: GET/accounts Endpoint Search Functionality
• Connect APIs Enhancement: Custom Group Flag In Group API Responses
• Connect APIs New Endpoint: Gender Configuration
• Connect APIs Enhancement: New Gender Feature In Guest APIs
• Connect APIs: New Endpoint – Payment Methods For Posting Accounts
• Connect APIs New Endpoint:  Fetch Folios For Given Date
• Connect API Enhancement: Chain ID In Hotel APIs
• Webhook Enhancement: Chain ID Added To Guest Webhooks
• Webhook Enhancement: VIP & Marketing Communications
• Webhook Enhancement: Room Assignment Success
• Webhook Enhancement: Room Information In Event Payloads
• Multi-Property Dashboard: Availability

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

• You can now view all availability across all of your properties and expand availability by room type on the Multi-Property dashboard!
• New reporting capabilities! Daily Production Reports now display the number of rooms and available rooms, PLUS monthly totals have been added to the Business on the Books and Forecast Reports!
• You can now choose to display picked up and available revenue on the Group Rooms Report. When selected, the report will show picked up and available revenue figures.

Too Long; Didn’t Read?

We've got your back with this abridged version of the v5.86 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.

Financials

1. A/R Manual Balance Permission: We’ve added an Add A/R Manual Balance permission to Settings > Hotel & Staff > Permissions. When this permission is granted to a user, they will be able to add an A/R manual balance.

2. Accounts Receivable “Show” Filter Defaults To Open Balances Only: We’ve updated the SHOW filter from Financials > Accounts Receivables to default to Open Balance Only. The All or Zero Balance Only filters will still remain available for selection.

3. Swiss QR Code: We now support the Swiss QR code on Direct Bill and A/R Information Invoices, which will allow the Swiss banking app to scan the code and settle the invoice via their Swiss bank account. Please note, this functionality must be enabled by Stayntouch Admin, so please contact Customer Support if you’re interested in this feature.

Reports

4. Monthly Totals Added To Business On The Books Report: You can now choose to INCLUDE MONTHLY TOTALS on the Business on the Books Report.

5. Monthly Totals Added To Forecast Report: You can now choose to INCLUDE MONTHLY TOTALS on the Forecast Report.

6. Daily Production Report: Display Totals: We’ve added a new DISPLAY TOTALS parameter to the Daily Production Report. When this parameter is selected, and the report is run for more than two days, you’ll notice new TOTAL columns added to the report, which will show totals/averages for each room type shown on the report. This enhancement is also reflected on the print and CSV export formats of the report.

7. Daily Production Report By Demographics: Display Totals: We’ve added a new DISPLAY TOTALS parameter to the Daily Production By Demographics Report. When this parameter is selected, and the report is run for more than two days, you’ll notice new TOTAL columns added to the report, which will show totals/averages for each room type shown on the report. This enhancement is also reflected on the print and CSV export formats of the report.

8. Group Rooms Report: Run For No More Than Two Months: The Group Rooms Report can now be run for no more than a two-month date range.

9. Group Rooms Report: Picked Up & Available Revenue: You can now choose to display picked up and available revenue on the Group Rooms Report by selecting the SHOW PICKED UP AVAIL REVENUE checkbox. When selected, the report will show picked up and available revenue figures.

10. Complimentary Rooms Report: Export To CSV: You can now export the Complimentary Room Report to a CSV file.

Integrations

11. New API Integrations: Stayntouch PMS now integrates with the following new vendors:

12. Delphi: Sync Past Dates For AccountProduction3 Files: From Settings > Integrations > Sales and Catering > Delphi.fdc, we’ve added a new SYNC tab, where you can resend AccountProduction3. From this tab, we’ve added a new Synchronize Historical Data checkbox, and when selected, you’ll see the option to select/deselect the ACCOUNTPRODUCTION3 checkbox. If the Synchronize Historical Data checkbox is selected, you can only choose dates in the past, with a maximum date range of 31 days. After running a date range, the same dates cannot be re-run for the next 180 minutes. If the ACCOUNTPRODUCTION3 checkbox is selected, AccountProduction3 data will be sent to Delphi for the selected historical dates.

13. Vertical Booking Reservations: Enhanced Handling Of Age Qualifying Codes: We’ve made the following enhancements for reservations made via an integration with Vertical Booking CRS:

• If AgeQualifyingCode=”9” is received in the reservation message, the count will be added to the number of children.
• If AgeQualifyingCode=”7” is received in the reservation message, the count will be added to the number of infants.

14. Vertical Booking: Support For Profile Types 5 & 10 – Convert Into 4: For reservations made via an integration with Vertical Booking CRS, we’ve made the following update:

• If Profile Type 5 or Profile Type 10 is received in the reservation message, Stayntouch PMS will treat it as Profile Type 4 and match it against travel agencies.
• If no match is found, Stayntouch PMS will automatically create a new travel agent profile

15. Vertical Booking: Send Room Rate For Up To 10 People: For hotels with a Vertical Booking CRS integration, we’ve made the following changes to the OTA_HotelRateAmountNotifRQ rate message:

• The rate message will now display rates for up to 10 people.
• The extra adult rate will be shown with AgeQualifyingCode="12".

16. Connect APIs New Endpoint: Payment Link Generation: We’ve added a new API endpoint for GET/reservations/{id}/pay_link. This endpoint will generate a payment link for valid reservations using Adyen and Shift4 payment processors.

17. Connect APIs Enhancement: GET/accounts Endpoint Search Functionality: We’ve made the following improvements to the GET/accounts API endpoint:

• Added search_keyword to the endpoint, allowing users to filter the response and return only matching records.
• Users can now search by search_keyword using the first three characters of the company or travel agent name.
  • Both company and travel agent types can be searched by name.
• When searching for a company or travel agent by less than three characters, the API response will return all data.

18. Connect APIs Enhancement: Custom Group Flag In Group API  Responses: We’ve added a new custom_group flag to the following Connect API endpoints:

• GET/groups
• GET/groups/{id}

These endpoints will now return the custom_group flag in their responses.

19. Connect APIs New Endpoint: Gender Configuration: We’ve added a new GET/hotels/{id}/genders endpoint to our Connect APIs. This endpoint allows users to retrieve the new gender configuration options for a specific hotel.

20. Connect APIs Enhancement: New Gender Feature In Guest APIs: We’ve updated the following endpoints to reflect the new gender configuration options:

• GET/guests/{id}
• POST/guests
• PUT/guests/{id}

21. Connect APIs: New Endpoint – Payment Methods For Posting Accounts: We’ve added a new endpoint to the /posting_accounts resource:

• POST/posting_accounts/{id}/payment_methods
  • This endpoint supports posting payment methods to house and group accounts.
    • Stayntouch PMS will use a combination of credit_card_number + expiry date or token + masked_card_number for credit card postings.
    • This endpoint will override existing details in the PMS for the specified posting account.

22. Connect APIs New Endpoint: Fetch Folios For Given Date: We’ve introduced a new GET /bills/direct_bills endpoint, which will fetch direct bills settled on a given date. This endpoint allows you to retrieve direct bills details for a specific date, enhancing your ability to manage and access direct bill information.

23. Connect API Enhancement: Chain ID In Hotel APIs: We’ve updated the following endpoints in our Connect APIs:

• GET/hotels
• GET/hotels/{id}
• New Field: chain_id

This addition helps streamline the onboarding process by providing essential chain information.

24. Webhook Enhancement: Chain ID Added To Guest Webhooks: We’ve updated the create_guest, edit_guest, and anonymize_guest webhooks to include chain_id. The chain_id is now included in the payload for relevant guest webhook types, providing additional context and improving integration capabilities.

25. Webhook Enhancement: VIP & Marketing Communications: We’ve enhanced the create_guest and edit_guest event webhooks to include the following new boolean fields:

• is_vip: Indicates whether the guest is marked as a VIP.
• opted_promotional_emails: Indicates whether the guest has opted in for promotional emails.

These additions provide more detailed information in guest event notifications.

26. Webhook Enhancement: Room Assignment Success: We’ve updated the room_assignment_succeed webhook to include additional fields:

• room_number: The number of the assigned room.
• room_id: The unique identifier for the assigned room.

These fields are now included in the webhook payloads to provide more detailed room assignment information.

27. Webhook Enhancement: Room Information in Event Payloads: We’ve updated the following webhook events to include additional room details:

• checkedout
• checkin_completed
• reverse_checkin
• reverse_checkout

The updated payloads now include:

• room_id: The unique identifier for the room.
• room_number: The number of the room.

These enhancements provide more detailed room information in event notifications.

Multi-Property Functionality

28. Multi-Property Dashboard: Availability: You can now view all availability across all of your properties and expand availability by room type. From the Multi-Property dashboard, you can now toggle from Properties to Availability. The Availability screen will show up to nine properties per page, and you can expand availability by hotel and then further by Available Rooms per room type.

Financials

A/R Manual Balance Permission

We’ve added an Add A/R Manual Balance permission to Settings > Hotel & Staff > Permissions. When this permission is granted to a user, they will be able to add an A/R manual balance. Users without this permission will not be able to add an A/R manual balance anymore.

Accounts Receivable “Show” Filter Defaults To Open Balances Only

We’ve updated the SHOW filter from Financials > Accounts Receivables to default to Open Balance Only. The All or Zero Balance Only filters will still remain available for selection.

Swiss QR Code

We now support the Swiss QR code on Direct Bill and A/R Information Invoices, which will allow the Swiss banking app to scan the code and settle the invoice via their Swiss bank account. Please note, this functionality must be enabled by Stayntouch Admin, so please contact Customer Support if you’re interested in this feature.

The QR bill will be displayed on a separate page for the Direct Bill and A/R Information Invoices.

Reports

Monthly Totals Added To Business On The Books Report

You can now choose to INCLUDE MONTHLY TOTALS on the Business on the Books Report. The new functionality is explained below:

• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report in the PMS view
• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report in CSV.
• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report in print view.
• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report from Reports > Schedule a Report/Export > Scheduled Reports.

Monthly Totals Added To Forecast Report

You can now choose to INCLUDE MONTHLY TOTALS on the Forecast Report. The new functionality is explained below:

• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report in the PMS view
• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report in CSV.
• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report in print view.
• If the report spans multiple months, a monthly total (of the dates on the report) is present on the report from Reports > Schedule a Report/Export > Scheduled Reports.

Daily Production Report: Display Totals

We’ve added a new DISPLAY TOTALS parameter to the Daily Production Report. When this parameter is selected, and the report is run for more than two days, you’ll notice new TOTAL columns added to the report, which will show totals/averages for each room type shown on the report.

This enhancement is also reflected on the print and CSV export formats of the report.

Daily Production Report By Demographics: Display Totals

We’ve added a new DISPLAY TOTALS parameter to the Daily Production By Demographics Report. When this parameter is selected, and the report is run for more than two days, you’ll notice new TOTAL columns added to the report, which will show totals/averages for each room type shown on the report.

This enhancement is also reflected on the print and CSV export formats of the report.

Group Rooms Report: Run For No More Than Two Months

The Group Rooms Report can now be run for no more than a two-month date range.

Group Rooms Report: Picked Up & Available Revenue

You can now choose to display picked up and available revenue on the Group Rooms Report by selecting the SHOW PICKED UP AVAIL REVENUE checkbox. When selected, the report will show picked up and available revenue figures.

Items to Note:

• Picked up revenue will display for each group in the individual group header
• Total picked up revenue will display for each day
• Non-picked up room revenue (available rooms) will display for each group in the report in the individual group header
• Total non-picked up revenue (available rooms) will display for each day
• Picked up and non-picked up revenue will match the total revenue for the group(s)
• The default date range is two weeks

Complimentary Rooms Report: Export To CSV

You can now export the Complimentary Room Report to a CSV file.

Integrations

New API Integrations With Stayntouch PMS

Stayntouch PMS now integrates with the following new vendors. For more information, please contact your Client Success Manager or Customer Support.

Below is a list of the newly supported integration partners with links to supporting documentation detailing the integration with each vendor:

1. OTA Savings by X-quic is a solution designed to validate the commissions claimed by OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) from hotels. It uses automated rules to cross-check the commissions claimed by OTAs against the commissions based on the hotel’s PMS data. When discrepancies are found, X-Quick disputes the commission amounts, helping hotels avoid overpaying due to situations like cancellations, no-shows, or early departures.

2. Bodhi is a cloud-based building management platform that provides centralized monitoring, analysis, scheduling, and control of all technologies on your property through a single interface. Whether it’s lighting, climate control, water management, electrical metering, audio/visual systems, or other building technologies, Bodhi seamlessly integrates and manages them. Additionally, it interfaces with solutions like SmartTV, making it a versatile tool for various applications.

3. Spontaneous allows hotels to send personalized invites to their guests via email, SMS, or WhatsApp a few days before their arrival, inviting them to bid on one of the available premium rooms or enhance their stay with other products. With a simple slider, guests can name their price for an upgrade, and the hotel has the option to accept or reject the offers. The entire process can be fully automated, taking into account the availability of the rooms.

4. Skytab by Shift4 is an all-in-one restaurant platform designed to streamline every aspect of your business, transforming operations and enhancing customer satisfaction. It's ideal for table service restaurants, quick service restaurants, nightclubs, pubs, pizzerias, coffee shops, and multi-location enterprises. Skytab’s integration is effective on a global scale.

5. Kismet is a sales engine for the hotel sales team. It is powered by an AI assistant called Smerf.ai. Kismet helps with paperwork tasks, such as sending emails, qualifying leads, sentiment analysis, writing contracts, and entering leads in their CRM. Kismet can also be used to help in the booking of social groups in the lead starting phase. The hotel sales person will receive a lead request, log into the Kismet platform, and check availability. The platform will elaborate a response on behalf of the sales person that can include either an email response, proposal, or a contract. The group can be booked in Kismet and through the connect APIs it will send to Stayntouch PMS.

6. AVPMi Unified Solutions is a leading parking platform systems provider of integrated technologies and mobility-based interrelated solutions. They offer cross-industry property owners and parking operators the flexibility of cloud-based, multi-cloud, and on-premise IaaS and SaaS computing services utilizing mobility, IoT, V2X, artificial intelligence, and highly secure PCI payment transactions to improve and better manage parking operational resources and to enhance the end-to-end parking experience of guests. AVPMI will retrieve the list of in-house guests and post transactions to the bill.

7. hotelOS helps hotels optimize energy consumption by efficiently controlling lighting, air-conditioning, and heating. hotelOS uses an algorithm that controls the usage based on the occupancy of the room. hotelOS will need to know the rooms occupied/vacant for checked-in rooms, due-in rooms, checked-out rooms, and departures.

8. Nonius Connections offers many guest-facing products, including internet and network solutions. The connection with Stayntouch PMS supports digital products only, not third party integrations. Supported features with Stayntouch PMS include internet (including cloud manager WiFi and switching), interactive TV, interactive TV RF, TV headend, and digital signage.

9. Otelier processes the right data in an optimized way to help hoteliers make the best possible decisions. The hotel business intelligence software pulls data from more than 100 systems to enable centralized access to the property or portfolio’s most critical insights. Otelier provides rich, interactive data visualizations and reviews the most important portfolio metrics quickly with automated reports. The integration currently includes data from groups and reservations. In a following phase 2, Otelier will support more data, such as billing, posting accounts, and room status.

10. NetSapiens is a Next Generation PBX functionality that is cloud-hosted. This integration was built by Nomadix, a trusted vendor to the world’s largest brands in networks and managed Wi-Fi in over 150 countries. This integration can be used globally. The version of NetSapiens is 4.3 and higher. When the guest checks in, NetSapiens recognizes their name and room number, and this information is displayed during the stay period. At the time of check-out, the guest information is reset to accommodate the new guest.

11. Hotel Genie is a self-service technology provider. It offers customized communication solutions for hotels and casinos. Hotels using Hotel Genie provide an Amazon Alexa device in the room as a communication solution for voice and touch interaction with the customers. This integration can be used globally.

12. RIMS has been designed to replace standard static confirmation/cancellation letters used by hotels. RIMS gathers data from the PMS and then crafts an email template using the reservation details and the hotel’s design preferences. RIMS also supports pre-arrival and post-stay communications. This integration can be used globally.

13. Woby is a self-order and pay app that integrates your POS and PMS simultaneously. It removes all the hassle and pain points from digital menus, orders, payments, and logistics processes for a great guest experience that saves costs. This integration can be used globally. Using their mobiles, in-house guests can scan the QR code from their room or other F&B outlets. The order from the guest is sent to the POS system. The guest can choose to pay the order immediately or send the charges to the room. Woby is integrated with different POS systems that are integrated with Stayntouch PMS. Some examples are Taurus POS and Lightspeed POS.

14. Monscierge allows hotels to increase communication efficiency, staff accountability, and guest experience. Through Monscierge’s Apple TV, the hotel can offer services or items that help drive additional revenue, such as extra pillows, outdoor activity, or a bottle of wine that generates revenue for the hotel. This integration can be used globally.

15. HotelEXPERT is a product of TymeGlobal, and is a customisable hotel management system. It works using web and mobile-enabled modules to support operations and ticketing for housekeeping, maintenance, and more. This integration can be used globally.

Delphi: Sync Past Dates For AccountProduction3 Files

From Settings > Integrations > Sales and Catering > Delphi.fdc, we’ve added a new SYNC tab, where you can resend AccountProduction3.

From this tab, we’ve added a new Synchronize Historical Data checkbox, and when selected, you’ll see the option to select/deselect the ACCOUNTPRODUCTION3 checkbox. If the Synchronize Historical Data checkbox is selected, you can only choose dates in the past, with a maximum date range of 31 days. After running a date range, the same dates cannot be re-run for the next 180 minutes.

If the ACCOUNTPRODUCTION3 checkbox is selected, AccountProduction3 data will be sent to Delphi for the selected historical dates.

Vertical Booking Reservations: Enhanced Handling Of Age Qualifying Codes

We’ve made the following enhancements for reservations made via an integration with Vertical Booking CRS:

• If AgeQualifyingCode=”9” is received in the reservation message, the count will be added to the number of children.
• If AgeQualifyingCode=”7” is received in the reservation message, the count will be added to the number of infants.

Vertical Booking: Support For Profile Types 5 & 10 – Convert Into 4

For reservations made via an integration with Vertical Booking CRS, we’ve made the following update:

• If Profile Type 5 or Profile Type 10 is received in the reservation message, Stayntouch PMS will treat it as Profile Type 4 and match it against travel agencies.
• If no match is found, Stayntouch PMS will automatically create a new travel agent profile 

Vertical Booking: Send Room Rate For Up To 10 People

For hotels with a Vertical Booking CRS integration, we’ve made the following changes to the OTA_HotelRateAmountNotifRQ rate message:

• The rate message will now display rates for up to 10 people.
• The extra adult rate will be shown with AgeQualifyingCode="12".

Connect APIs New Endpoint: Payment Link Generation

We’ve added a new API endpoint for GET/reservations/{id}/pay_link. This endpoint will generate a payment link for valid reservations using Adyen and Shift4 payment processors.

Connect APIs Enhancement: GET/accounts Endpoint Search Functionality

We’ve made the following improvements to the GET/accounts API endpoint:

• Added search_keyword to the endpoint, allowing users to filter the response and return only matching records.
• Users can now search by search_keyword using the first three characters of the company or travel agent name.
  • Both company and travel agent types can be searched by name.
• When searching for a company or travel agent by less than three characters, the API response will return all data.

Connect APIs Enhancement: Custom Group Flag In Group API Responses

We’ve added a new custom_group flag to the following Connect API endpoints:

• GET/groups
• GET/groups/{id}

These endpoints will now return the custom_group flag in their responses.

Connect APIs New Endpoint: Gender Configuration

We’ve added a new GET/hotels/{id}/genders endpoint to our Connect APIs. This endpoint allows users to retrieve the new gender configuration options for a specific hotel.

Connect APIs Enhancement: New Gender Feature In Guest APIs

We’ve updated the following endpoints to reflect the new gender configuration options:

• GET/guests/{id}
• POST/guests
• PUT/guests/{id}

Connect APIs: New Endpoint – Payment Methods For Posting Accounts

We’ve added a new endpoint to the /posting_accounts resource:

• POST/posting_accounts/{id}/payment_methods
  • This endpoint supports posting payment methods to house and group accounts.
    • Stayntouch PMS will use a combination of credit_card_number + expiry date or token + masked_card_number for credit card postings.
    • This endpoint will override existing details in the PMS for the specified posting account.

Connect APIs New Endpoint:  Fetch Folios For Given Date

We’ve introduced a new GET /bills/direct_bills endpoint, which will fetch direct bills settled on a given date. This endpoint allows you to retrieve direct bills details for a specific date, enhancing your ability to manage and access direct bill information.

Connect API Enhancement: Chain ID In Hotel APIs

We’ve updated the following endpoints in our Connect APIs:

• GET/hotels
• GET/hotels/{id}
• New Field: chain_id

This addition helps streamline the onboarding process by providing essential chain information.

Webhook Enhancement: Chain ID Added To Guest Webhooks

We’ve updated the create_guest, edit_guest, and anonymize_guest webhooks to include chain_id. The chain_id is now included in the payload for relevant guest webhook types, providing additional context and improving integration capabilities.

Webhook Enhancement: VIP & Marketing Communications

We’ve enhanced the create_guest and edit_guest event webhooks to include the following new boolean fields:

• is_vip: Indicates whether the guest is marked as a VIP.
• opted_promotional_emails: Indicates whether the guest has opted in for promotional emails.

These additions provide more detailed information in guest event notifications.

Webhook Enhancement: Room Assignment Success

We’ve updated the room_assignment_succeed webhook to include additional fields:

• room_number: The number of the assigned room.
• room_id: The unique identifier for the assigned room.

These fields are now included in the webhook payloads to provide more detailed room assignment information.

Webhook Enhancement: Room Information In Event Payloads

We’ve updated the following webhook events to include additional room details:

• checkedout
• checkin_completed
• reverse_checkin
• reverse_checkout

The updated payloads now include:

• room_id: The unique identifier for the room.
• room_number: The number of the room.

These enhancements provide more detailed room information in event notifications.

Multi-Property Functionality

Multi-Property Dashboard: Availability

You can now view all availability across all of your properties and expand availability by room type. From the Multi-Property dashboard, you can now toggle from Properties to Availability. The Availability screen will show up to nine properties per page, and you can expand availability by hotel and then further by Available Rooms per room type.

From the top center of the screen, you can also search for properties by name, city, or country; change the starting date; and choose to show the next 7 days, next 14 days (default), or next 30 days.

You can also view the Availability screen in fullscreen mode by clicking View fullscreen.