Stayntouch PMS: Release Notes (v1.12)

Modified on: Thu, 10 Aug, 2023 at 11:40 AM

Stayntouch PMS

Release Notes (v1.12)


Effective: 23 September 2015


TABLE OF CONTENTS


PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS

Post Accounts Receivable Payments


It is now possible to post payments in the Accounts Receivable section of the Travel Agents and Company cards. Supported payment methods will be any non-credit card payments. These payments will be recorded in the Journal and Financial transactions of the system and deduct from the Total Amount Owed in A/R.

End of Day Guest Balance Summary


Stayntouch PMS will now store and display the daily balance totals on the Summary tab within the Journal in Financials > Journal > Summary. This will include the opening & closing balances as well as the sum of all daily credits and debits to the Deposit Balance, Guest Balance and A/R Balance.

In the Payments tab of the Journal, charges are now grouped into Pre-Stay, In-House and Post-Stay. All Deposit payments will display as Pre-Stay, payments made to the reservation while the guest is checked in will show as In-House and Payments on A/R accounts show as Post-Stay.

Move Account Transaction Charges

 

Ability to move charges from one account to another or to a guest bill is now possible. On the Account Details page, select one, multiple or all charges and moved to another account using the Move Charges icon.

 

For reference, transactions that were moved onto the receiving account will show the 'Originator Account'.  And the Activity Log for both accounts will show the user and transfer account to/from details for each charge.


Updates to the transaction will update the balance and total stay fees on the bill tab, the totals at the top of the transactions tab, the totals in the account tab, and the actual revenue on the Groups Summary tab.

 

Group Move Dates


It will be possible to change just the arrival date, just the departure date or MOVE GROUP to a new arrival date while keeping the same number of nights.

  • When the arrival or departure dates are being moved, any reservations that are already assigned to the Group Rooming list will be moved accordingly
  • When Room Block Details exist, changing dates will update the existing grid for the amended date range. Also, rooms held and picked up and hotel inventory will be adjusted accordingly.
  • If a group has a deduct hold status, the removal of a day will return rooms to inventory. The addition of a day will have no immediate effect on inventory until the user manually adds the rooms into the grid.
  • If No Room Type or House availability exists for new dates, only users with overbooking rights will be able to proceed with the date change.

 

Group Availability


For a good overview of groups over a certain period of dates and to manage their availability, on the Availability screen, the 'Groups' option on the drop down will open a new screen to show:

  • Group Rooms - Each day shows the total number of rooms Held in summary and by Hold Status. 
  • Picked Up - Each day shows the total amount of Rooms Picked Up in summary and by Hold Status.
  • List of each group that will arrive during the selected date period with Group Hold Status.
  • Expand by Group to see Rooms Held and Rooms Picked up Total for each day for each group.
  • By clicking on the Rooms Held for each day the user can select to release the rooms for the selected days and return them to the hotel inventory without having to navigate to the group details.

 

Exceeding Availability Alert


Similar to when a group is exceeding room type availability, if overall house availability is being exceeded by a room block, a message will specify that 'Room Block Allocation exceeds House Availability.' 

  • When Room type is available but house is overbooked, House message displays
  • When Room type is overbooked but house is available, Room Type message displays 
  • When both are overbooked, Room Type, then House message displays
  • When House availability has been overwritten but the user adds more room types with rooms, message displays once for each room type. 

 

Note: Only users with permission will have the ability to override and proceed with booking.

Rate Change Prompts Picked Up Reservation


When in the Room Block screen, if the custom rate is changed after reservations have already been picked up, it will be easy to apply rate change to all other pending reservations. There will be a pop-up with an option to 'Apply to new & existing reservations' or 'Apply to new reservations only'. 

Group Mass Check-Out


New functionality has been added to expedite group check-outs. A mass check-out of all reservations on a Group Rooming list can be done provided the following conditions are met: 

  • Departure date is today's date 
  • Guest Bill Balance is zero or has Direct Bill Payment Method
  • If Guest Bill Balance has a credit amount, payment method is Direct Bill or a valid credit card so that the credit due back can be applied. 

 

Use the ‘CHECK OUT’ button and confirm 'Check out x reservations for Group y?'.  Status for the selected reservations will change to CHECKED OUT room and reservation status.

 

Alternative check-out options on group: 

  • Mark individual reservations on the Rooming list and select Check Out. 
  • On the small edit of the rooming list, select the CHECK OUT button.

 

Overbooking Alert


There is an option to show an alert on the Rooms & Rates screen when a reservation is being made/updated and there is no house or room type availability for the dates selected. A calendar will pop-up displaying dates with no availability in red. The pop up will either show Room Type or House availability and a toggle can be used to switch from one to the other. 


 

To turn this option ON/OFF:

  • Go to Settings > Reservations > Reservation Settings.
  • Turn ON Show Overbooking Alert

 

Examples

  1. User queries for Standard King (-2 on some dates) and general House is -10 on some dates 
    • Shows pop-up for House availability by default, displaying the date where House is -10 in red as per attached sample. User can switch to Room Type availability, displaying the dates where Standard King is on -2   
  2. User queries for Standard King (-2 on some dates), House is > 0 
    • Shows Room Type Availability by Default, user can switch to House availability
  3. User queries for Standard King (available) and general House is -10 at some dates 
    • Shows house availability by default 

Book Reservation with Multiple Rooms


Easily create reservations for more than one room at the same time. Although all reservations will have the same guest name and payment details, each reservation may vary by updating: 

  • Number of guests
  • Room type
  • Room quantity per room type

 

On the Reservations screen, select the 1st room type, specify number of guests and number of rooms. Select '+' button to add additional room types and 'x' to remove. Up to four room types can be added at once. After a room type is selected, it will be removed from the Room Type drop down for the next room type that gets added. 

 


On the Room & Rates screen for the 1st room type, selection will apply to all rooms for this room type. There is a link at the top left for additional room types and the selected one is highlighted. Stayntouch PMS will navigate through the booking process on the Rates & Rooms and Add-ons (if turned ON) for each room type. 


Rate Adjustment Reason


It is possible to make it mandatory to update the Rate Adjustment Reason field on the custom rate screen when the rate is changed on a reservation. To do so, go to: 

  • Settings > Reservations > Reservation Settings
  • Turn ON Force Rate Adjustment Reason

Cancellation Letter


It is now possible to customize the cancellation letter that will be attached as a PDF to the cancellation email sent to guests.  

 

In Settings > Hotel & Staff > Stationery, under Cancellation Email the following fields are customizable: 

  • Cancellation Email Subject
  • Cancellation Email Body
  • When Send Cancellation Letter is ON there will be:
    • Show logo selection box Hotel Logo with standard logo options
    • Show text box for Cancellation Letter Body 


Activity Log for Guest Communication

 

Activity Log will now include a record of when documents are emailed for bookings such as confirmation / cancel letter, folio, etc.

Multiple Rates on Contracts

 

Handling of Travel Agent / Company Cards is now improved. When a travel agent / Company Card has multiple contracts with overlapping dates, all rates that apply within the Rooms & Rates screen will show. And within card search, below the first contract details there is an indicator if more rates exist. 

 

When adding a TA or Company Card from the stay card, a pop up shows: 'Contracted rate exists on selected card. Update rate on reservation?' with options to 'Change to contracted rate' which will navigate to the Rooms & Rates screen where the contracted rates will display first as per usual display or 'Keep existing rate' to maintain the current rate on the reservation. 

 

Also, the company / TA rate will display when attaching an agent through the reservation search screen or during the reservation process.

Add-On Item Inventory

 

Inventory can be managed for add-on items with limited availability. For example, if there is a limited supply of bikes or cribs that can be pre-booked for a nightly fee, inventory needs to be managed to prevent overselling. 

 

Stayntouch PMS will maintain an inventory table for each of the items with specified inventory. Whenever a reservation is made that includes the add-on, either as part of the rate or sold separately at the reservation level, the inventory count will be reduced for the item on the reserved dates. Also, the Post Type (# add on items per night or per person, adult/child) will be taken into account. 

 

When attempting to reserve an item with zero inventory, a pop-up will inform the user that there is ‘Insufficient inventory for <Add On Name>.’ The user can choose cancel or continue (if he/she has user permission to overbook item inventory).


Setup for Add-On Item Inventory: 


1. Reservation Settings: Turn on Item Inventory



2. Rates > Add-Ons: Create add-on and specify # for Inventory and Post Type

 

Stayntouch Guest Mobility Check-In Address Verification

 

On the Guest Profile, the address may be missing, is incorrect or belongs to a third party. To address this, it is now possible during Stayntouch Guest Mobility check-in to for guests to confirm that their address is correct or enter/update it if necessary. After Trip Details are confirmed and before asking for the estimated arrival time, an additional screen can be added for address verification. Information entered on this screen will update into Stayntouch PMS and the PMS for overlay properties.


 

After the page has been designed for your hotel, the option to 'ASK GUEST ADDRESS DETAILS' can be turned ON/OFF in Settings > Guest Mobility > Check In. 

 

Note: If you would like to include the additional guest address verification screen as part of the Stayntouch Guest Mobility check-in process, please send a request to support@stayntouch.com. An additional web page will need to be created for your hotel.

Gift Card Payment

 

For hotels using Givex Gift Cards, Stayntouch PMS now has the ability to read the amount available on the gift card and use it as payment on a reservation. Once the gift card has been set up in Stayntouch PMS as a payment method, it will be possible enter the gift card number on the payment screen in order to:

  • Look up amount available on gift card  
  • Apply a portion or the entire amount available as a payment on the guest reservation 
  • Update PMS with the paid amount using the gift card 
  • Update Givex with the new balance remaining 

 


Note: Integration is currently available for the Givex Gift Card program. If your hotel uses Givex and you would like to request integration, please email support@stayntouch.com.

Guest Nationality and ID Fields

 

The following fields have been added to the guest card to record:   

  • NATIONALITY
  • ID TYPE (e.g., ID Card, Driver's License, Passport)
  • ID NUMBER (free format text entry field)


Reports


The following updates have been made: 

  • Add-On Forecast Report: Will assist with stocking near future items sold and to prepare delivery and aid in staffing, vouchers, bikes, dinners, breakfast. There is an option to run report for: only arrivals, only in house tonight or only departures. This selection can be viewed by quantity or revenue.
  • Group Pick-Up Report: New report has been added to show rooms picked up by group.
  • Rate Adjustment Report: Can now be printed.


Email support@stayntouch.com for further assistance.

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