Stayntouch PMS: Release Notes (v1.8)

Modified on: Thu, 22 Sep, 2022 at 12:33 PM

Stayntouch PMS

Release Notes (v1.8)


Effective: 9 September 2015


PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS


Stayntouch PMS: Release Notes (v1.8) includes the below items, which are detailed for your review and to share with your team.

System enhancements have been made to help meet compliance. In addition to Stayntouch PMS check-ins, check-outs and financial transactions appearing on the screen where the transaction happens (i.e., post charge on guest folio), they will also be logged in the new Stay Card Activity Log with user names and in several reports.

In addition, improvements have been made to permissions, reports, reservations process, floor configuration and the addition of a floor filter on the room assignment screen.

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@stayntouch.com and we'll be happy to assist!

Thank you,
The Stayntouch Team


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Permissions


Robust Permissions functionality has been added that will allow the Hotel Admin to specify what areas of Stayntouch PMS each User Role will have permission to access.

Review & Update Permission:

  • Go to Settings > Hotel & Staff > Permissions 
  • Select a user role (i.e., Front Office or Floor & Maintentance)
  • Click on a task such as Check In, Add Charge or a report and use the arrow icon to move it from the Not Assigned to Assigned columns and vice versa. 

 

Multi-Property Access

 

For users who need to access two or more hotels on Stayntouch PMS, the location to switch from one hotel to another has been moved to the Menu tab. This will allow all users, including Front Office and Floor & Maintenance level users, to have one Stayntouch PMS login with access to all hotels that are within the same chain.

 

Activity Log

 

The Activity Log accessible on the Stay Card, below Notes, lists detials of actions performed, by user, on a reservation along with date and time. Actions include:

  • Check-in/check-out 
  • Upsell 
  • Add/Adjust Charge 
  • Add Credit Card via Swipe or Manual
     at check-in or on Deposit window
  • Create/Edit/Cancel Reservation


Stay Card: New Look


The Stay Card has a new look due to design changes on the buttons. Changes include: 

  • Font/color update
  • Balance amount has been moved off the Deposit / Balance button 
  • View Bill and Add Charge is combined on Bill & Charges

 

Updating Number of Guests


When updating number of guests on a stay card with a custom rate where changing the number of guests would evoke a change of rate, the system will prompt the user to 'Keep current rate' or 'Change to new rate'. 

Room Move for In-House Guest


On the Stay Card, click on the room number of a checked in reservation to initiate room move. The room assignment screen will display to select a new available room. Upon selecting a room, a pop up will display with FROM/TO details for room type, room number and rate. 

  • Apply Rate Change will add the new room number and transfer all payments and charges to the new room. Rate change will take affect starting on day room change is done and recalculate ADR.  
  • Move Without Rate Change will apply the new room type and room number but keep the previous rate information.
  • The previous room should change to status vacant / dirty. 
  • Revenue distribution will remain on the old room up to the date of the room move and on the new room from the room move date onwards.

 

Reports


In addition to the Activity Log, several new reports have been added and improvements made to existing reports which include:

  • Orientation of reports has been set to portrait or landscape, based on what is most optimal to view and print.
  • Daily Payments and Daily Transactions Report - New reports added to help with hotel compliance.
  • Reservations by User - New report added
  • Arrivals Report - Filter added to include NO SHOW when report is run for past days and filter to only show ‘Due In’ reservations for current day.
  • Departure Report - Similarly, a filter option, 'Due Out' can be checked to only display the remaining departures for the day. 
  • Occupancy & Revenue Summary - Report can now be printed for a date range of up to 15 days.

Deposit and Reservation Summary Screens


The option 'Direct Bill' has been removed as a form of payment from the Deposit screen and the Reservation Summary screen since it is not possible to make a payment to Direct Bill through any of the payment screens. Direct Bill can only be used on Check Out, and with a valid A/R account attached.

 

Deposit Payment and Tax


When the rate is exclusive of tax, the deposit amount due will include the room charge plus the required tax for this charge. Also, if deposit request rule is set to 'Entire Stay', then the requested amount will also take 'exclusive' add-ons into account since they charged in addition to the room rate. This way, the correct full amount can be requested when payment is collected. 

 

Add-On Posting


Along with posting nightly room and tax charges, the End of Day Routine, will check for and post add-on charges. Stayntouch PMS will post the configured charge code on the guest bill taking into account: 

  • Amount type and post type (i.e., flat or per adult / per child / per person)
  • Nightly or first night posting only
  • Possible routing of charges based on existing billing information 
  • Check flag for 'Manual Posting' on add-on configuration, when set to Y, EOD will not post the add-on automatically.

 


Note: Above applies to both manually added packages and packages that are part of the rate configuration. If the add-on is part of the rate and set to EXCLUSIVE, then it will be posted as per above rules. If the add-on is part of a rate and set to INCLUSIVE, then the posting will be for $0.00 amount. If the add-on package is part of rate as either Inclusive or Exclusive and has Manual Posting flag set to Y, then it will not be posted as part of EOD.

Message When Refund Amount Is Zero


When a reservation is cancelled the guest receives confirmation a 'refund of £xxx has now been completed and the money will be credited back to the original card you provided when you made your booking.' Previously, even if there was no refund due back, the message displayed that 'refund of £0 has now been completed'. This verbiage will not display if the refund amount is $0. Instead the guest will be shown 'Thank you for your cancellation request for booking #xxx'

View and Book Restricted Rates


Restricted rates were previously hidden and could not be booked. Now, unless permission is revoked, all users will be able to proceed with booking, even if there are no rooms available.

 A 'Show Closed Rates' checkbox has been added, next to the 'Show Stay Dates' check box. When marked, Rates & Room Types that have been excluded due to restrictions or no room type availability will be shown and will be bookable, provided the user has permission. When 'Show Closed Rates' is selected: 

  • Restricted rates will appear in grey to distinguish from available rates   
  • Room types will show the current availability count, and when inventory drops below 5 rooms, count will display in red

 

Required Demographic Codes

 

In Reservation Settings, if Force Source Code, Force Reservation Type, Force Market Code and/or Force Origin of Booking is marked, those code(s) will be required when a reservation is made, after taking payment. To update setting and require demographic codes, a Hotel Admin user may: 

  • Go to Settings > Reservation > Reservation Settings
  • Then mark the Force code boxes.

 

On the GUEST DETAILS and PAYMENT SCREEN during create or edit a reservation, when the DEMOGRAPHICS button is selected, the code(s) will be required. The SAVE button color will change from grey to green once required codes are selected so that the information can be saved. If the user does NOT go to the DEMOGRAPHICS screen, there will be a pop-up of the demographics window with the required fields that will need to be selected in order to continue and obtain confirmation. For multiple room bookings, the fields entered on the demographics pop up will automatically be applied to all reservations during booking.

 

Custom Rate Adjustment Reason


On the Custom Rate screen, the Rate Adjustment reason will be saved in the Stay Card notes for general reference. In addition, for the next time that the Custom Rate screen is opened, the comment will be saved in the discount field itself so that it will not be necessary to have to go back and view notes for the adjustment reason.

Reservation: Edit Dates on Stay Card


Dates for reservations that have not yet been checked in can also be edited from the Stay Card. A calendar will display when the arrival or departure date is clicked. When theRoom, Room Type, Rate & House is available, the booking will be moved to the new dates. Alerts will display for:

  • 'Total Stay Cost has changed, please review rate' with an OK button to acknowledge and proceed.
  • 'Assigned Room not available for selected dates. Please re-assign room.' with OK to acknowledge the message.
  • 'Rate / Room Type not available for selected dates' with options CANCEL and ROOM & RATES to navigate to the room & rates screen.

Additional Reservation Improvements


Company & Travel Agent Rates
 

Company and Travel Agent Rates have been labeled 'COR' instead of Best Available on the room & rates screen.

Create / Edit Reservation - Navigation


Previously, when changing dates on the sidebar, the user would be directed to the Extended Calendar screen. Improvement has been made so that navigation remains on the Rooms & Rates screen. Also, if currently on Reservation Summary or Add-On screen, navigation will direct to the Rooms & Rates screen and re-query data with the new criteria.


Add Accompanying Guests
 

On the reservation summary screen, will be an option to add up to three additional guests onto a reservation. In list view, identifying icons will display and accompany names will be searchable.

 

Check-In With Not Ready Room Assigned


When checking in a room that is in Not Ready status, the system redirects to the Room Assignment screen. This is fine, if the times are exactly matching the current time. But when the current time is different to the reservation time, to avoid a mismatch from occuring, the checkin of a not ready room will be redirected to the diary, so that the booking will be in edit mode in order to be moved to a room that is Ready.

 

Note: 

  • Reservation with a room assigned that is 'not ready' will redirect to diary screen with edit mode
  • Reservation without a room assigned will redirect to room assignment screen.

Floor Filter for Room Assignment


Similar to the Housekeeping Floor Filter, ability to search for rooms on a specific floor has been added to the Room Assignment Filter. It includes an option to deselect 'Show All Floors’ and use the ’Select floor' dropdown to search for rooms on a specific floor.

 

Floor Filter Setup


In order to use the Floor Filter in Housekeeping or during check-in, floors need to be configured with room numbers in Stayntouch PMS Settings. It is now easy to do this on the Floor Setup page. A Hotel Admin user will be able to:

  • Go to Settings > Rooms > Floor Setup 
  • Either Add New Floor or select an existing one 
  • Enter a specific room number or range in the search field
  • Select one or more rooms to move from the Unassigned to Assigned box and Save Changes.

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