Before you set up an online travel agency in Mews Channel Manager, there are things you need to have ready on the agency side. Missing any of them means you cannot complete the setup, or you complete it but with results your guests notice. This article lists the prerequisites so you can gather everything before you start.

 

Every online travel agency is different, so the exact fields and steps vary by channel. This article covers what applies across all agencies. For channel-specific details, see the setup screens in Mews or the channel's own documentation.

 

In this article, you can learn about:

• Account and contract

• Credentials from the agency extranet

• Room rates on the agency extranet

• Photos and descriptions on the agency extranet

• Permission to set a connectivity partner

• What to do next

 

Account and contract

You need an active account with the online travel agency, with a signed contract in place. Without an account, there is nothing to connect Mews to.

 

If you do not yet have an account with the agency, sign up with the agency directly before you start setup in Mews.

 

Credentials from the agency extranet

The Add credentials step of the setup flow asks you for fields the agency requires, such as a reservation email address, a property code, a property ID, or a currency. These fields vary by agency.

 

You get these credentials by logging into the agency extranet, either as a property administrator or through your revenue or distribution manager. Have the credentials to hand before you start the setup step.

 

Room rates on the agency extranet

Your room rates must exist on the agency extranet before you can map them in Mews. Mews reads the agency's room rates during the Map room rates step and matches them to your Mews room categories and rates.

 

Set your room rates up on the agency extranet first, then return to Mews to map them.

 

Photos and descriptions on the agency extranet

Upload photos and complete room descriptions on the agency extranet before you enable the channel in Mews. Once you enable the channel, your rooms start selling on the agency and guests see the listing.

 

Enabling a channel with missing photos or incomplete descriptions leads to poor ratings on the agency, which are hard to recover from once bookings start arriving.

 

Permission to set a connectivity partner

During setup, you set SiteMinder as the connectivity partner on the agency extranet. This is what allows Mews to send rates and availability to the agency. To do this, you need permission on the agency account to change connectivity or integration settings.

 

If you do not have this permission, ask your account administrator on the agency to make the change, or to grant you the permission before you start setup.

 

What to do next

Once you have gathered all the prerequisites:

1. In Mews, in the side navigation menu, click Revenue > Tools > Channels.

2. Select the online travel agency you want to connect and start the setup. See How to set up an OTA channel in Mews Channel Manager for the five-step flow, or How to add a new channel in Mews Channel Manager Pro if you are adding a channel from the SiteConnect catalogue on Pro.

3. Work through the setup with your credentials, extranet access, and account permissions to hand.

 

With every prerequisite in place before you start, you move through the setup in a single sitting instead of stopping at each step to gather more information.