Kiosk
Some properties employ kiosk solutions that allow guests to self-manage aspects of their stay. Typically, this includes check-in and check-out, but it can extend to walk-in bookings, stay management and all aspects of the guest journey. Functionality can include updating the guest profile, viewing the guest bill and making payments, thus the kiosk category of integration covers a number of use cases. Here we consider the most common use cases, although kiosks need not be limited to these.
Kiosk devicesKiosks can be apps running on off-the-shelf devices such as tablets, or they can consist of custom hardware, incorporating devices such as key encoders, printers and passport scanners. If such devices are integrated into the kiosk, then only one integration is made between the kiosk and Mews, the connections with the devices are handled internally by the kiosk.
Initial configuration
To help configure your kiosk for a specific property, perform an initial pull of configuration data, including supported currencies and the default language code. To offer multiple languages, you can retrieve the list of languages supported by the API. You will want to fetch the list of supported guest services and associated products, as properties can configure additional services as well as the default Stay accommodation service.
Guest check-in
To look up a guest reservation, use the general-purpose operation Get all reservations and specify the required search filters. To check in a reservation, use Start reservation. Note Mews uses the phrase "start reservation" rather than "check-in", and "process reservation" rather than "check-out".
Working with guest profiles
If the guest doesn't have a Mews customer profile, you can add one with Add customer. If the guest already has a profile, but the information in it needs updating (e.g. address, passport or driver's licence), then use Update customer. To relate a guest profile to a specific reservation, use Add reservation companion. Note that "guests" are always referred to as "customers" in the Mews API.
Guest bill
You can fetch a list of revenue and payment items linked to a guest profile, or if there is a bill prepared you can request the guest bill. To split a bill, use the operations to add a new bill and move accounting items between bills. Once a bill is balanced to zero, it can be closed against further change. A PDF version of the bill can be fetched for printing or display purposes.
Payment automationAt the end of the reservation, Mews payment automation may have been enacted, so before taking payment from a guest to settle a bill, confirm the outstanding balance as described above.
Taking payments
Once you have confirmed the outstanding balance, you have three options for handling customer payments to settle the bill:
Gateway payments
You can make payments using Mews Payments, which uses an online payment gateway. If the guest has a credit card on file, you can charge the card — just specify the card and the amount. The payment will be taken by Mews and recorded on the guest bill. If the guest doesn't have a credit card on file, you can add one to their profile. You can also see what cards are registered against a guest profile.
Non-Mews terminal payments
You can take an external payment from a guest using a payment terminal, i.e. outside of Mews. In this case, the payment just needs to be recorded against the guest bill. To record the payment, use the appropriate external payment operation.
Adding external payments
Use Add credit card payment for a card payment specifically — specify the amount, the credit card details (including obfuscated number) and the customer identifier.
Use Add external payment for a general payment of any type — specify the amount, the type of payment (e.g. cash) and the customer identifier.
Use Add alternative payment for supported alternative payment types, such as "Ideal" — specify the amount, the method of payment, the customer identifier, and any special requirements for that payment type.
Mews terminal payments
We also support the option to connect to Mews payment terminals, for which see our detailed use case Mews Payment Terminals.
Guest check-out
Once the bill is settled, the guest can be checked-out. Note Mews uses the phrase "process reservation" rather than "check-out", and "customer" rather than "guest".
Modifying reservations
A number of API operations are available to support modifications to reservations. Update reservations offers the widest range of fields to update simultaneously for a specified reservation, e.g. adult count, assigned resource, company, rate. You can remove a companion (i.e. an additional guest) from a reservation using Delete reservation companion, or change the primary guest or owner of the reservation with Update reservation customer. To add additional products to a reservation, use Add reservation product. To modify only the start and/or end of the reservation, use Update reservation interval.
Products from additional services that may not be configured in Mews can be posted to the guest profile using Add order. If using Item parameters, it is highly recommended to specify the accounting category that the posting belongs to, for the sake of financial reporting. The list of accounting categories configured at a property is obtained using Get all accounting categories.
Walk-in bookings
This section is relevant if your kiosk allows guests to create new reservations, rather than simply fetching existing reservations. The API supports operations to facilitate the process, but consider also looking at the Mews Booking Engine API which is optimized for this task.
Use Get all resources to map out the physical configuration of the property. This will give you the names and descriptions of different resource categories, including room types.
Use Get service availability to fetch availability. This availability does not consider resource blocks temporarily taken out of service, so you will also want to use Get all resource blocks to get this information.
Use Get all rates to retrieve all the rates configured at the property, and Get rate pricing to request the related prices for specified dates and times. Rate packages apply rules to automatically post specified products when certain rates are selected. Use Get all rules to get the full list of rate rules.
To calculate the price of a reservation with specific parameters, i.e. obtain a specific quotation, use Price reservations. This can be used, for example, during check-in or check-out to get the new price of a reservation if you select a different resource category or room type, or to check if a selected or pre-booked product should have its price included or not.
Finally, to make a new booking for the guest, use Add reservations. Note you will need to specify the unique customer identifier for the guest profile (see Working with guest profiles above).
Testing your integration
Ensure you follow our general guidelines for testing integrations. For additional help when working with the demo environment, there is a range of helpful articles in the Mews Help Center, including Understanding services. These are available in a number of languages.
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