How to set up an OTA billing automation in Mews Operations

Online travel agency billing automations automatically route reservation items to the correct bill based on payment responsibility. You set up an OTA billing automation in Mews Operations when you manage reservations from online travel agencies and need to route charges to either the company bill or the customer bill.

How to set up a typical OTA billing automation

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu > Operations > Billing automations.
2. Click + Create automation.
3. Enter the following details:
   • Name: Enter the name of the automation. For example, Travel Experts OTA. Note: Use specific names to help you identify the bill or billing purpose. Avoid generic names like Rule 1.
   • Description: Enter a description of the automation to help other users understand what you intend this automation to do. For example, Reservations to be paid by virtual credit card.
4. Under Timing, select Continuous as the billing automation type. Note: The system then continually moves items to the bill based on the conditions in this billing automation.
5. Click Next.
6. Choose the Bookable services that you want to route to the company bill.
   • Nights
   • Deposits
   • Additional expenses
   • City tax
   • Products
   ⓘNote
   

   • If your OTA rate includes products such as breakfast, select the relevant products so the automation routes them to the company bill.
   • Products usually stay on the customer's bill because they often pay for additional products at the property.
   • Select city tax if the OTA covers the tax.
   • Deselect city tax if the guest pays the tax at the property.
7. Optional: Skip the Additional services configuration unless you need a specific setup for contracts or events.
8. Under Conditions, select:
   • Reservations prepaid in online travel agency (OTA): This option helps the system identify reservations marked as Prepaid when they come via the OTA.
   • Companies or travel agencies: Select the online travel agencies that the automation applies to. For example, Booking.com, Expedia, or other relevant online travel agencies.
9. Optional: Under Rates, select specific rates if you want the automation to apply only to selected OTA rates.
10. Click Next.
11. Under Target bill, select Company bill. Note: Select the company bill as the target bill when the online travel agency is responsible for payment. This includes reservations paid through virtual credit cards or bank transfers where the guest does not make payment at the property.
12. Choose how you want to group bills.
    • Create a separate bill for each reservation group: Mews recommends this group option when the online travel agency sends one payment or one virtual credit card for multiple reservations in the same reservation group. This setup keeps all related charges on one bill and supports easier payment reconciliation. Note: This setup supports automatic payment processing, automatic bill balancing, and automatic bill closing during check-out without manual action.
    • Group all moved items on one bill: Mews recommends this group option if the OTA combines multiple payments into a single bank transfer.
13. Click Next.
14. Review the summary of your selections and click Save.

This creates a billing automation in Mews Operations to route reservation charges to the correct bill based on standard OTA payment method.