Feature Release Notes - September 2025

Posted 2 days ago by LaurenB

L
LaurenB Admin

Feature Release Notes

Overview 

  • Auto Loading of Data from Manage Reservations
  • Room Schedule Updates
  • Pay by Link Enhancements 
  • Email Content Enhancements
  • Automatic Payment Services 
  • Reservations
  • Stop Auto Loading of Data


Manage Reservations 

Looking at performance and usability we have made the decision to stop auto loading data on the Manage Reservations screen, Reservations Report and Occupancy Report.

This means when accessing those pages you will need to press search before any data loads.

Room Schedule

Following customer feedback we have implemented a warning pop up when making changes to reservations from the room schedule this is to help avoid accidental relocation of reservations to a different date or room.

Once you have clicked "Yes" you must click save to confirm any changes you made. 


Pay By Link Enhancements. 

New features have been implemented, including support for storing cards with a zero balance for future use and the ability to specify custom transaction amounts.

First you will need to set up your email templates –

This will be either your reservation level manually triggered and/or room level manually triggered template.

If you are wanting to just send a link for the storing of the card then you must use the custom email option and not the send Pay By Link email, Please ensure that the StoreCardUrl custom field is attached to the custom email being sent.

For custom amounts via the pay by link ensure the below custom field is entered.




To generate your custom Pay By Link:

  1. Go to Manage Reservations and locate the reservation.
  2. Choose either the RES or RESX drop-down, depending on where the charges are directed.
  3. Select Guest Notifications.
  4. Click Send Pay By Link Email.














On the pop-up, you can select your email template from the drop-down menu, enter the amount to be paid, and choose the email recipient.
If the recipient is not the guest or booker listed on the reservation, you can add a new contact.

You will see an overview of the total cost, a breakdown of any extras or services, and the current balance paid.

Please note: The payment link in the preview will not be active until the email has been sent.



You will also see a log of the payment link being sent in the reservation history. This will include the user who initiated the "Pay by Link," the recipient's email address, and the amount requested.

All other Pay By Link’s either via the invoice or event deposit Pay By Links remain unaffected.


Email Content Enhancements.

We have made significant changes to how email templates work we have moved from setting specific confirmation/pre stay and post stay templates within the rate plans to adding all configuration options for emails to the Email/SMS content area of Hop.

*IMPORTANT*

For any existing Rate Plan templates these have been migrated to the Email/SMS Content and can be updated/amended here moving forward.

Below I will outline all the changes and how best to configure your email set up.

Overview

When sending templates, the system follows a hierarchy to decide which template to use:

  1. Rate Plan + Room Type Combination
    • If a template exists for this exact combination, it takes priority.
  2. Rate Plan Only
    • If no combination match is found, the system checks for a rate plan match.
  3. Room Type Only
    • If no rate plan is matched, it looks for a room type match.
  4. Default Template
    • If none of the above rules apply, the default template is sent.




Reservation Confirmations and Template Assignment

Reservation confirmation emails do not depend on time (i.e. they are not triggered based on when the reservation is made or the stay dates). Instead, they are determined by how the reservation is created and by the confirmation template setup in the PMS.

Confirmation emails in the PMS can be configured to automatically apply based on rate plans, room types, or even specific combinations of both. This allows you to tailor the guest experience by ensuring they receive the most relevant information for their booking.


1. Confirmation by Rate Plan Only

You can set up a confirmation email that applies whenever a guest books a particular rate plan (regardless of the room type).

Example:

You have several Dinner, Bed & Breakfast rate plans across different room types.

Instead of creating a separate template for each room you assign one Dinner, Bed & Breakfast Confirmation Email to all those rate plans.

Result: Any booking with that rate plan will trigger the same confirmation email.

2. Confirmation by Room Type Only

You can configure a confirmation email to apply to all bookings for a specific room type, regardless of which rate plan is used.

Example:

You have a lodge that has specific check in requirements

Any reservation for that room type (no matter which rate plan was booked) will use the Lodge Confirmation Email.

3. Confirmation by Room Type + Rate Plan Combination

You can set highly specific rules by combining both room type and rate plan.

Example:

You have a Self-Catering Cottage that only applies to a certain Self-Catering Rate Plan.

You create a custom confirmation email that only triggers when that room type + that rate plan are booked together.

Result: Guests booking that exact package get tailored instructions, such as check-in procedures, kitchen details, or key collection notes.

Set Up

Select the Reservation Confirmation for the Email Type > Choose the appropriate Email Template you have set up.

Add the rate plans / room types you wish this to be applicable to and ensure this is set to active.


Important things to note

Automatic Assignment for OTA and Booking Engine (BE) Reservations

  • If a Reservation Confirmation email template has been configured in the PMS, it will automatically be applied when:
  • A reservation is created through an OTA connection (e.g., Expedia, Booking.com, etc.).
  • A reservation is created directly via the Booking Engine (BE).
  • In these cases, the system automatically uses the pre-defined confirmation template—no manual selection is required.

Manual Reservations in PMS

  • When creating a reservation manually inside the PMS (for example, via:
    • Create New Reservation form,
    • Property Groups Sales View
    • Group Reservation


You are given the option to select a confirmation template at the time of booking.

This ensures flexibility—for example, if you want to send a special template for group bookings or corporate clients.


Editing Reservations

At any point after a reservation has been created (regardless of whether it came from an OTA, BE, or was entered manually), you can edit the reservation and change the assigned confirmation template if needed.


Key Point to Remember:

  • Confirmation emails are not linked to timing (like booking date or check-in date).
  • Instead, the confirmation template is chosen automatically for OTA/BE reservations, but remains manual and flexible when you’re creating or editing reservations directly in the PMS.


Pre-Stay & Follow Up 

The same logic is applied to Pre-Stay and Follow Up email templates, the difference here is that you can specify time and days before arrival.

You can have multiple pre stay and follow up templates, the hierarchical flow and priority is as follows for all templates.









Important Note on Duplicates within templates

  • If there are multiple templates with the same parameters, the system will send the first template that was created for that rule.

Stayover Templates

We have introduced new stayover templates this includes

X Days After Arrival

Day Before Departure

Day of Departure

Once your stayover templates have been set up in Administration > Templates you then need to set up the rules in Email/SMS Content.

Here you can set the parameters for each template and email type specifying when the email is sent. The rate plan and room types you wish the template to be sent for.

The stayover templates can be used for handy information when the guest is in house or to note departure procedures.


Automatic Payment Service

We have now changed how our Automatic Payment Service works, this used to work on a background job which would run every 7-10 minutes. For bookings which are 100% at time of booking the payment is taken instantly rather than the reservation created and then the automatic payment service run.


You will see on the charges tab of the RESX a new area for Automatic Payments

Here you can check the status of the payment and click straight into the logs.



When the guest is on the Booking Engine you will notice the confirm booking button will look different depending on the linked policy.

For 100% at time of booking you will see the below button display.


For example if the policy is set to take 50% at time of booking it will display 50% of the total payable at time of booking.


If there is no automatic payment linked to the policy, it will show “Confirm Booking”


On the charge tab on the RESX screen you will see a new area outlining the status for Automatic Payments. You can change the status of the APS this will mainly used for manual booking, so they can be “Set to not required” or “Set to Pending”

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