Author Archive

Auto Refund Cancelations

Auto Refund

Auto refund is a functionality that allows each rate plan to have set criteria that automatically manages refund/kept amount revenue for each reservation.

Auto Refund can be located on the second tab in any rate plan edit, or creation.
All below criteria below is checked when rate reservation is canceled:
1. Option 1
  1. More Than
  2. Less Than
2. Option 2
  1. Days
  2. Weeks
  3. Months
3. Before or After – picklist
4. Option 3
  1. Arrival Date
  2. Creation Date – Booking date
5. Then
6. Option 4
  1. Auto Refund Reservation (Using MOP that paid the deposit)
  2. Do Not Auto Refund
7. Option 5 – If Auto Refund Reservation is selected in option 4
  1. $ amount
    1. The amount that the property will keep, the rest of any leftowber deposited funds will be refunded.
    2. Example: Reservation total amount paid is 200.00 and this $Amount is filled out as 50.00. Guest will be refunded $150.00
  2. % amount of the Total Amount Paid with deposit will be refunded
    1. If criteria allows for a full refund, the % amount would be 100%
On the Guest Reservation Detail
1. There is a field to left of “Ext. Resv #” called “Cxl Pol”
2. If canceled currently, the field will show as
  1. “No Refund” if reservation criteria meets a no refund criteria set for the rate plan.
  2. “Refund Policy” if there is criteria met that has more detailed refund information, ie a certain amount of deposit is refunded.
3. When the reservation is cancelled, a pop up will produce showing the cancelation criteria that the reservation meets.
  1. Any property user can then accept the policy and accept the cancelation, or choose to proceed with the cancelation
    1. In this way a user can verify cancellation policy for quest questions.
  2. If the user is of a high enough user access level (This can be property specific)
    1. An option will appear where user can choose to “Accept Criteria” which is the default.
    2. If this user chooses to ignore the auto refund criteria and simply cancel and manually refund or not, they would uncheck this option.

Owner Reporting

Owner Revenue Report
1. Can be run before processing a period to verify/check on owner/unit data
2. Can be run property wide or on any unit
3. Set start date and end date to match the period
4. Rich data report may take a few minutes to run
5. When run, can be broken down from property – unit – reservation – day
6. Includes owner data:
  1. Gross Revenue
  2. CC Fees
  3. OTA Fees
  4. Management Commision
  5. Held in Escrow
  6. Owner Stay Fees
  7. Owner Charges
  8. Owner Earnings
Owner Contract Charges Report
1. Shows owner charges outside of cleaning/stay fees over a time period
2. Shows total for time period at the bottom.
Property Revenue Report
1. Totals Bar is on top row
2. Each category shows the CY/PY change
3. In the second section below, data can be broken down to the day/reservation level.
4. Report shows YoY data broken down by unit number
  1. Rental Revenue CY/PY Current Year / Past Year
  2. Renter Nights CY/PY
  3. Average Occupancy CY/PY
  4. ADR Average Daily Rate CY/PY
  5. Owner Nights CY/PY
  6. Owner Use Value CY/PY
  7. Owner Use Value = Potential owner revenue lost due to owner staying in their own unit.
Documents
1. Property documents can be uploaded for owners to view in their Owners Portal
2. Once uploaded, the user can choose to allow access to individual owners or all owners.
Post Charges
1. Utility to allow property users to apply owner and guest charges in a quick efficient way
2. Allows date range, search type, and CSV export

Room Types

Room Types and Rooms

Under Admin, go to Room Types
Add room types need for the property by clicking New Room Type
Most all fields must be completed in order to set up that room type.
If you will not be charging extra for additional guests in the room type, you don’t have to fill out Extra People Charge Start and Extra people fee.
Once you set up your room types, you need to create room numbers to set property inventory.
a. Go to Admin, Manage Rooms
Click New Room
Select Room type from the pull down menu
Fill fields appropriately
Add any room condition notes that may be unique to this room
If surveys are set up appropriately with Categories, this tab will show condition scores related to this room.
If this is an owned property/room the contract info will show under the Contract info tab.
If you would like to add pictures to show unique features of this unit, you may do so under the images tab.
Adding Room Images to Sync with External Website (If applicable)
Set up a cloud storage account like DropBox, Amazon AWS, Google Drive etc.
a. Make image urls public.
Open WavePM
a. Go to the property’s room type page and room type you need.
b. Click the edit/pencil icon, and select images.
c. Now paste the image link into the URL box and tab to enter an image title.
d. After you’ve done this with all of the needed images, click save.

Owner Contracts

Owner Contracts can be found under the owner name record in Customers/Owners
Each owner contract contains the following within the individual contract
1. Property, Unit
2. Owner Contract processing Method
  1. Last Night
  2. Departure Day
3. Management Commision % amount
4. Held in Escrow % amount
5. Rental Start Date and Rental End date
6. Commision Before CC Fee (True/False)
7. Charge OTA Fee (True/False)
8. Cleaning Fee (Owner stay Fee) amount
  1. Sales tax, occupancy tax True/False
9. Method of Payment
  1. Direct Deposit
  2. Check
CC Fees and OTA Fees are property wide
1. Owner CC Fees are located under Property Management – Payment Type Management
2. OTA Fees are located on the Rate Plan set up

Connect to Siteminder

Connect Property to Siteminder

Integration Process

If a hotel would like to connect their PMS (WavePM) to The Channel Manager, they will put a request through to their Account Manager or Sales representative.
The Sales Representative or the Account Manager will trigger a case, in order to start the process of the Integration/connection.
As soon as the connection is approved to go forward, the PMS integration team will prepare the setup spreadsheet with all the required connection credentials.

– Account Manager will provide the Hotel Code

The spreadsheet will then be sent to WavePM and hotel copied in to fill in the Inventory Type Code and Rate Plan Code.
Once returned, our PMS integration will proceed with the complete setup and get in touch with WavePM Setup and integration contact to complete to the live phase.

Single Property Initiation

Link WavePM to the live property by connecting all of the relevant credentials under property management. The only unique thing here is the property code. User and Password are the same across each property.
Build Room Type/ Rate configuration in Siteminder channel manager under “WavePM” -> Room/Rate
1. Enter room type code, rateplan code, and Inventory Code (Same as Room Type Code)
Check mapping to ensure all codes match WavePM codes
In WavePM
1. Rates: Sync Rates from Rates page by pushing the Sync Icon of the base (BAR, RACK) rate plan
2. Availability: Sync Availability from Inventory Page, click the sync icon.
  1. Inventory must be pushed the first time in monthly segments
  2. Depending on the amount of room types at the property, appropriately sized date segments must be used in order to sync. Siteminder handles 500 room type date updates per push, so, RoomType x DaysinDateSegemnt if under 500 will sync successfully. For instance most properties will sync at least a month at a time.
  3. Check siteminder inventory grid to ensure availability sync worked
3. Restrictions: order to push Restrictions, load the base rate plan to push by selecting the rate plan until it is highlighted in blue.
  1. On the grid below, click the “Force CRS Sync” button and select what you would like to sync, all dates shown on the grid will sync (Typically 1 month.) Repeat through all dates needed.
  2. Important: If the property has an off season, CTAs must be set in Wave for each room type for dates that the property is not in operation.
If there are any issues with the above, please reach out to support.
Keep in mind that each room type must have each rate plan mapped in Siteminder, even if you do not plan on selling that room type for a given rate plan.

Connect to Windsurfer

Connect Property to Windsurfer

Get hotel code, which can be found in Windsurfer via Property Description (Address/Contacts) navigation listed as CRS Property ID
Request windsurfer to take the integration live.
1. Email windsurfer@shr.global with the following information:
  1. Property Name
  2. Property (hotel) Code
  3. PMS Vendor Contact (Installer) = WavePM
  4. Date you are requesting activation
Windsurfer will then send you a property mappings document which includes your properties hotel code, username, password, and room types.
Check that room type codes in windsurfer match room types codes in Wave. Utilize the mappings or under property description-room type in Windsurfer.
Add windsurfer hotel code, username, and password to the property under Admin-Manage Properties in Wave. Select Integrations and add credentials in fields provided.
Under Admin > Room Rates insure that property availability/inventory is accurate in WavePM.
1. This requires room types, rooms to be accurate and any future reservations to be entered to update availability.
Under Admin > Room Rates ensure you have a rate plan that is set to sync with windsurfer, and accurate rates and restrictions are loaded for all dates.
1. In order to be able to sync, check the box indicating that the rate plan should be enabled to sync, under the rate plan edit icon.
2. Also check that needed restrictions for Min LOS and restricted day of arrival are entered in Wave.
  1. Min LOS is based on arrival or Min A LOS as some OTA sites will request this information.
Go into Windsurfer and make sure that there is a rate code that matches the rate plan code in Wave. You can access the rate codes in Windsurfer > Rate Management > Rate Code.
You can then make additional rates (Expedia, Booking.com, OTAs) derived from your Wave rate for example making your Expedia rate 15% higher than your Wave rate. To use, select rate linkage under rate code in Windsurfer.
If you’d like to set an OTA only rate, ensure that this rate’s ranking is set to 1 and Wave’s rate code is set to 2.
Under the room rate page in Wave select the ((( sync icon to sync the loaded rates and availability to Windsurfer.
Check to make sure that the rate codes, availability, and rate restrictions have synced.
To view rate restrictions select Availability > View All.

Tab States

Arrivals Tab

Click left sidebar under arrivals icon, or flip up menu on “+” button
Name, Nights, Roomtype and Room number are sortable by clicking column header.
If, when the arrivals tab is open, and the user selects to open another tab, like the SMS tab, it will open behind the tab if not closed first.
Unassigned reservations will show on the arrivals tab and can be assigned by quick view or unassigned tab.

Departures Tab

Click either left sidebar under arrivals icon, or flip up menu on “+” button
Name, Room, and Balance are sortable by clicking column header.
If there is a 0.00 balance the reservation will be able to be checked out from the list, otherwise, user must enter full reservation detail to settle.

Reservation Quick View

Top banner shows reservation number and name. Next to that is the pencil icon which indicates if there is, and how many notes there are. Clicking the pencil will bring you to that section.
To the right of the pencil icon will be an SMS icon if that guest has communicated with the property through SMS.
If an arrivals or departure tab is open, it must be closed before clicking the SMS icon. By clicking this icon, you will be brought to the SMS conversation.
1. Conversely when in the SMS conversation tab, clicking a reservation will bring up the quick reservation view.
All room card information can be edited through the quick view reservation.
1. Key code actions
2. Check In
3. Check out
4. Room assignment and room type change
5. Any information under the edit pop up.
Notes can be edited and added though the quick reservation view.
All financial transactions must be made in the full reservation detail.

Reservation Detail

Transactions
1. Credit Card
2. Credit Card External: Credit card charges entered manually through the credit card processor or other means
3. Check
4. Cash
5. Transfer
  1. This option allows the user to transfer an amount to another reservation
  2. The lookup option is available to select the appropriate account
    1. There are tags to the right of the account/name that show the reservation status and check in/checkout date
  3. Once transfer is completed the transaction notes will show where a transfer went, and on the other reservation, where it came from.
Room Cards
1. Name field is editable in the Edit pop up, along with a seperate phone number.
2. Calendar – Shaded area shows room assignment. Red dots are assigned reservations, green dots shows that the unit is available for assignment.
3. Top right field is for Kaba door codes if applicable.
  1. Generate is in hyperlink form
  2. Process icon to resend door code to guest
  3. X icon is to generate a new door code
4. Areas to Edit:
  1. If the cell with the room assignment is clicked, a room assignment pop up will appear. There is also the “X” icon which will unassign.
    1. At the top of the screen you will see the option to add or change a requested room, or set a Do Not Move flag.
    2. You can select a new room assignment in the current room type at the top portion of the screen.
    3. You can choose another room type at the bottom portion of the screen under “Other Available Room Types.”
      1. If another room type is picked, any rate changes will produce a Current and New rate Cal;culation, at which point the user can choose to update the rate or keep the same.
  2. Room Type, Check In Date or Check out Date will produce a room modification pop up, which includes editable fields for:
    1. Check In Date
    2. Check out Date
    3. Room Type and Room assignment.
    4. If any field changes incurs any room charge variance, fields at the bottom of the cell will show average and total current rates vs proposed new rates, with the option to update rates or keep the same.
  3. “Edit” link: clicking this will produce a pop up which will have the following editable fields:
    1. Date by Date nightly rate edit
    2. Room Card specific names and phone numbers (useful if reservation has multiple rooms)
    3. Checkboxes for Charge Cleaning Fee to Owners Statement (For owned properties) and a checkbox for Tax Exempt reservations
    4. Editable tax percentage is only editable by Accounting and above user levels
    5. Deposit amount
    6. Average room rate: will automatically change nightly rates accordingly if edited.
    7. Room Charges: will edit nightly rate, and average rate accordingly
    8. Total resort Fee
    9. Delete room card option exists in the top right corner.
Documentation
1. Statement: Template can be edited under Manage Property Admin screen.
2. Confirmation: Template can be edited under Manage Property Admin screen.
3. Registration Card: Template can be edited under Manage Property Admin screen.
  1. Generic Templates are available at no extra cost.
Rate Plan Field
1. Under Cxcl Policy, it will say “No Refund” if there is no refund, It will say “Cxcl Policy” if there is cancelation criteria set under the rate plan.
2. Ext Reservation #: Will be the reservation number from the CRS used.
3. Rate Plan Code
4. Group: A group can be set up and tracked using Admin – Groups
Notes: Can be added and will print out on various reservation reports
Other Charges: This is where item charges will exists provieded the reservation has any. See Items.
Correspondence History:
1. Will only appear if there have been any Email or SMS communication with the reservation guest. (With the exception of Kaba Generated Key Code Messages, these show in Reservation History)
2. All automation generated SMS messages will show here.

Based On Rates

Adding Based On Rates

Determine how much more of an amount that you want to increase OTA rates over those who book directly. Percentage or dollar amount.
Ensure that your base rate is correct and restrictions are as you would like them to be in Wave
Deactivate the old OTA Rate, by opening the edit button on the rate plan, and deselecting the active button.
The rate plan will then disappear from the list
Go into Windsurfer – Rate Management – Rate Code – Rate Linkage
1. Select 3rd Party Net Rates from the pull down list in the top right under category
2. To the right select which OTA rate you are changing ex. BOOK.
3. Select BOOK from the list and delete.
Under that rate in the Windsurfer dash board you should see no rates under BOOK.
Now back in Wave, click the button to create New Rate Plan
1. Use the same rate code so that Windsurfer recognizes the rate plan: BOOK
2. Fill out description: Booking.com
3. Select the Active button
4. Select the Sync Windsurfer Enabled button
5. Under “Based on Rate Plan” select your main rate plan: RACK or BAR
6. Select Adjustment Type and set to percentage or amount
7. Input the amount, example for 10%, enter 10.
8. Stay dates, deposit and resort fee will be set to mirror the base rate
9. Scroll down and save.
Now select your new rate and ensure everything mirrors your base rate
Click the sync button
You will see the rates and availability immediately update the rate in the windsurfer dashboard.
In order to sync restrictions:
1. Add a any restriction to the base rate, click save, remove it, click save.
2. Sync new rate again
3. You will see restrictions in Windsurfer
Now any change in availability, pricing, or restriction in the base rate (BAR, RACK) and saved, those changes will be reflected in Windsurfer.

SMS Automations

Text Message Workflows (Automations)

Overview:

System checks for new active workflows every 5 minutes. When workflow action is in minutes, accuracy will be within 5-10 minutes.
Reservation Detail correspondence history will show the text messages that have been sent to that reservation.
For now, Owner Reservations have to be assigned to their owner room in order to be classified as an Owner by the workflows.

Workflow Condition Types:

Today Arrival, Today Departure: These workflows can only be sent same day based on arrival or departure. Time of message can be configured with Send Time Type.
Arrival Date: These workflows are set based on the day/date of arrival set on the reservation. Different than Checkin/Checkout Date/Time. Messages can be sent before or after that arrival date.
Checkin Date/Time: This condition is configured based on time of checkin. This is the actual time and date that the reservation is checked in.
1. Because this is the time of checkin, the condition comparator of “Before” will not do anything since you do not yet know what time the reservation has checked in.
Checkout Date/Time: This is the actual time of checkout.
1. Because this is the time of checkout, the condition comparator of “Before” will not do anything since you do not yet know what time the reservation has checked out.
Created Date/Time: This will initiate a text based on the time/date of creation. Again, this condition type will not be able to set to “Before.”
Condition Comparators:
1. To send something 1 day before an event for example, set “Before 1 Day”, after 1 day set “After 1 Day” etc.
2. The “Before” Condition Comparator will only work with Arrival Date condition types.

Send Time Type:

If user is attempting to send something based on date, for instance if trying to send a text 1 day before arrival date; you must set a time by using “Send at Certain Time.”
1. If a time is not set on these types, the text message will fire at 12am.
As mentioned above, immediate and set times will fire with an average variance of about 7 minutes.

Fields:

In order to use fields, each field must exist at the property, and the fields must be entered exactly as shown, for instance {FirstName} will not work as {First Name}