Beds24 feature announcements and updates from 2019, newest first. For the latest news, see New Features and Updates.
Communicate with Airbnb guest directly from Beds24
- You can view all messages from the "API Messages" component on the dashboard.
- The complete message thread with a guest is available in "API Messages" tab in the booking. Attachments are available as links.
- You and your guests will see the messages in the channels extranet.
For more information please see OTA Messages.
December 27th 2019
Multiple currencies
If you need to manage bookings in another currency than your default currency you can create an "invoicee" for the additional currency and assign the charges it. For more information on the invoice function please see Invoicees.
December 9th 2019
Zero Commission* bookings from Agoda Homes
Agoda Homes charges 0% per booking for single-room units (rent out entire places). Read more about advertising on Agoda Homes on our Agoda blog.
For information on how to set a connection up go to SETTINGS-> CHANNEL MANAGER -> AGODA and click on HELP in the top right.
November 26th 2019
Occupancy pricing for Agoda supported
You can now choose to send occupancy based prices to Agoda. When you go to SETTINGS-> CHANNEL MANAGER -> AGODA you will see a new setting "Pricing Model"
- If your pricing model is Per Day Pricing only single price, double price and room price will send.
- If your pricing model is Per Occupancy Pricing a price for each occupancy defined in Beds24 can be sent.
For details please see the Agoda help page.
November 21st 2019
Airbnb will be limiting iCal functionality
Airbnb have informed us that they will be removing guest information from their iCal data from Dec 1st 2019.
After this change, Airbnb iCal will contain little or no more than the booked dates.
As an Airbnb preferred partner our certified XML connection is more reliable than iCal and will continue to provide detailed booking information.
If you are still using Airbnb iCal we recommend changing to XML. You can choose to send only prices and availability if you do not want to change the content of your listings from Beds24.
To set the XML connection up please go to SETTINGS-> CHANNEL MANAGER -> AIRBNB XML and click on HELP in the top right for instructions.
October 30th 2019
Calendar link for guests
If you add one of the new iCal template variables to your confirmation messages guests will be able to add their booking dates to their calendars.
October 23rd 2019
Interface with eDreams Odigeo / Opodo
The interface allows you to automatically update prices and inventory to eDreams Odigeo and import bookings into Beds24. To set the connection up go to SETTINGS-CHANNEL MANAGER-EDREAMS ODIGEO. For instructions click on HELP in the top right of the page.
October 15th 2019
Trigger Auto Actions on template variables
You can now use template variables to generate dynamic trigger values based on the booking.
All template variables are available in Template Variables. For information on how to set up Auto Actions go to SETTINGS->GUEST MANAGEMENT->AUTO ACTIONS then click on HELP in the top right.
October 8th 2019
Integration with RoomPriceGenie
This seamless integration allows Beds24 customers to push dynamic prices from RoomPriceGenie to their own web site and to their booking channels.
See RoomPriceGenie.com for more information.
October 1st 2019
Strong customer Authentication in the EU
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) comes into effect on September 14th in Europe.
This will affect EU based businesses charging cards issued within the EU. Non EU business’s and non EU cards should not be affected by the new rules.
Bookings from OTAs:
Collecting a credit card number without SCA will no longer be a reliable means of security as the card holders bank will likely reject the transaction.
Many OTAs including Booking.com and Expedia can collect guest payments at the time of booking (channel collect) with SCA. The OTA will then distribute the funds to you by bank transfer or virtual credit card so you avoid the need to deal with SCA and declined transactions.
Beds24 can automatically process the virtual cards on the day the funds become available at Stripe and deposit them directly to your account.
If you require security or prepayment but do not want the OTA to collect payment, you can accept bookings without card or deposit from the OTA and send a payment request to the guest from Beds24 manually or using auto actions.
Direct bookings:
You can collect a card payment with the booking using SCA. If you require additional payments from EU guests you will need to send a payment request so the guest can complete the SCA again.
Payment Gateways:
Paypal and Realex will are taking care of the required functionality from their end.
If you enable ‘Strong Customer Authentication’ for Stripe in SETTINGS-> PAYMENTS -> PAYMENT GATEWAYS ->STRIPE , it enables SCA authentication for Stripe booking page payments and payment requests sent to guests.
Payment requests:
Payment requests sent to the guest after booking are an alternative to collecting a card from an OTA as security. Information on how to set up payment requests is available in How to setup Payments.
You can find more information about SCA on our blog.
September 12th 2019
Set "Extra person" and "Extra child" prices in daily prices
There are two options to set an extra person/extra child price by specifying either a positive or negative value:
- A positive value will be applied to each additional guest above the "Maximum Guests" setting for the daily price. The daily price will be available up to the number of guests the room settings allow.
- A negative value will be deducted for each guest less than the "Maximum Guests" setting for the daily price. The daily price will not be available for more than the daily price Maximum Guests value.
There are limitations for channel management which are different for each channel. Channels do not accept children prices and most channels cannot accept the extra person price. Please see the daily prices help pages and channel help pages for more information.
August 19th 2019
Create Custom Graphs and Charts
You can now also create custom graphs and charts.
Like all custom reports graphs can be added to the DASHBOARD.
Go to SETTINGS -> REPORTS->CUSTOM REPORTS and click on HELP in the top right for further instructions.
July 30th 2019
Upgrade for Auto Actions sent to Airbnbn Guests
We can now send messages via the Airbnb messaging system. This means that you and your guests will see the Auto Actions which are sent from Beds24 in Airbnb. To use this function you need to:
1. Add a plain text version to your Auto Actions (Airbnb does not support HTML).
2. Upgrade the connection. This is how you do it:
- If you have multiple Airbnb accounts, log completely out of Airbnb.
- Log into Beds24. If you have connected more than one Airbnb account in Beds24 make sure you are logged into the Beds24 account/subaccount which is connected to the Airbnb account you are logged in.
- Go to Settings > Channel Manager > AirBnB.com XML > Specific Content
- Scroll down and click the 'Airbnb additional functions' link.
- Then click the button. This will take you to Airbnb where you should log into the Airbnb account connected to your beds24 account.
- Accept the new permissions and you will be returned to Beds24
To check the upgrade worked, log into your Airbnb account and go to ACCOUNT SETTINGS -> CONNECTED APPS. Click on 'Beds24. If you see 'Access and respond your messages' in the list of permissions, your upgrade worked.
July 24th 2019
Plain text option for Auto Action EMails
You have now the option to set up plain text versions for Auto Action Emails.
If you have both a HTML version and a plain text version the plain text version will be sent additionally as back-up for systems which do not support HTLM.
July 19th 2019
Create properties on Booking.com from Beds24
Create a new Booking.com account from Beds24
We are beta testing our new integration with Booking.coms content API. With this new function you can
- onboard new properties on Booking.com directly from Beds24 without having to enter your data in Booking.com
- create new Booking.com accounts directly from Beds24
This help page gives more information.
Send us a support ticket if you want to use these new functions.
July 10th 2019
View and respond to reviews from Booking.com from Beds24
To access Booking.com reviews from your DASHBOARD unlock the DASHBORAD click on the hamburger menu then on "Extentions" and add the Booking.com Review Module.
You can also access them via SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER-BOOKING.COM->REVIEWS.
June 7th 2019
Increase bookings with new Airbnb service fee options
Airbnb now offers property managers using our XML connection two structures for their service fee.
The new Host-only fee gives you full control over your end rate by removing the guest fee so guests will see a 0 service fee throughout the booking process.
You can find more information for hotels here and more inforrmation for property managers here. Please also visit Airbnbs help center.
June 5th 2019
VactionStay by Rakuten added to the channel manager
The 2-way interface allows you to automatically update prices and inventory to VacationStay and import bookings into Beds24. To set the connection up go to SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER->VACATIONSTAY. For instructions click on HELP in the top right of the page.
May 30th 2019
New menu for payment functions
We have added new payment functions and restructured the menus so all payment functions are available in SETTINGS->PAYMENTS.
May 11th 2019
Automatically report invalid cards to Booking.com
If you use Stripe and send all credit card details to Stripe you can set in SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER to automatically report invalid cards to Booking.com.
May 9th 2019
Hostelsclub added to the channel manager
The 2-way interface allows you to automatically update prices and inventory to Hostelsclub and import bookings into Beds24. To set the connection up go to SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER->HOSTELSCLUB. For instructions click on HELP in the top right of the page.
May 7th 2019
Manage Pending Payments
Customers using Stripe can automatically collect channel collect payments with virtual cards. To use this function you will need to adjust your setting for "Channel Collect Invoice" in SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER to "Charges and Pending Payments" and adjust your set "Virtual Cards" = Yes on the channel pages of the channels which supply virtual cards i.E. SETTINGS->CHANNEL MANAGER->BOOKING.COM.
Pending payments can also be scheduled manually.
For more information see this help page.
April 25th 2019
Send WhatsApp messages to Guests
Click on the green icon next to the phone number in the "Summary" tab of the booking to send a WhatsApp message to guests.
April 23rd 2019
Multi Room Bookings across properties
When you click on "Add Booking" and then on "Price Check" and select "All" properties you can now add rooms from different properties to the cart.
April 8th 2019
Enhance the booking display in the CALENDAR with icons
This help page explains how to add icons to the bookings in the CALENDAR: How to Manage Bookings
March 12th 2019
Company and State
Company and State have been added to the standard booking questions.
March 11th 2019
New template variables
We have added a range of useful new template variables:
[DAYSTOCHECKIN] - number of days until Check-in
[PERMITID] - the permit ID
[OFFERNAME1] - offer name for this booked room only
For group bookings: [BOOKGROUPROOMLIST], BOOKGROUPROOMLISTTOTAL], [BOOKGROUPROOMLISTCHARGETOTAL], [BOOKGROUPNAMELISTCHARGETOTAL] , [BOOKGROUPUNITLISTCHARGETOTAL], [BOOKGROUPUNITLIST], [BOOKGROUPUNITLISTTOTAL], [GROUPNOTE]
See all template variables in Template Variables.
March 9th 2019
Copy settings
Where you see this a copy Icon you can click and then copy the value of this setting to other rooms or properties.
March 2nd 2019
Manage Booking.com promotions directly in Beds24
Promotions can set up, viewed and changed in SETTINGS-CHANNEL MANAGER-BOOKING-COM-PROMOTIONS.
February 22nd 2019
Mailchimp integration
We have just launched a new integration with MailChimp the probably most popular email marketing service available today.
Go to SETTINGS->APPS & INTEGRATIONS->MAILCHIMP to set up your integration. Beds24 will start to populate your mailing list with your guests, ready for your next newsletter.
January 24th 2019
Scheduled maintenance
Due to sheduleded maintenance Beds24 will be unavailable for 5-10 minutes on 30th of January between 3am and 5am GMT to perfrom important updates.
January 23rd 2019
Add multiple guests fo bookings
In the "Guests" tab of the booking you can now add additional guests and remove guests.
January 22nd 2019
Prices for different occupancies to Google Hotel Ads
Prices for 1, 3, 4 , 6 and 8 guest will now also be send if they are defined. Please note that a 2 person price is still compulsory. If no 2 person price is supplied the room will send as unavailable.
January 21st 2019
Booking.com Reservations Degradation - Resolved
Booking.com reported technical issues sending some XML booking notifications to partners on the 7th and 8th Jan.
The issue is reportedly now resolved.
f any bookings have still not imported, please contact us via support ticket with the Booking number and we will request a resend.
If these issues have resulted in an overbooking or any other loss, please contact Booking.com support and reference the Degraded performance of reservation retrieval issues from the 7th or 8th January.
January 9th 2019
Prices for different occupancies and different length of stay via Airbnb XML
You can now send prices for different occupancies and different length of stay to Airbnb. If you want do use this option please go to SETTINGS-CHANNEL MANAGER-AIRBNB XML- SPECIFIC CONTENT and change the setting for "Price Strategy" to "Per Occupancy Pricing. Please read the information under "Prices" on the Airbnbn help page before you change the setting.
January 2nd 2019