In Mews Operations, you can offer additional products to your guests through your channel manager. Guests can then add additional products when they make a booking through a distribution channel. A channel manager extranet is the channel manager's own web interface where you set up your rates and products. You set up the products in Mews Operations in the settings of your channel manager integration and, depending on the method, in the channel manager extranet. Mews Operations automatically updates the channel manager when you make changes in Mews Operations. For example, if you change the price of a rate connected to the channel manager, the update happens automatically. If you use the SiteMinder integration, go to Offering products through the SiteMinder integration in Mews Operations for the SiteMinder-specific steps and to Which channels support the add-on products function in SiteMinder with Mews Operations? for the list of SiteMinder channels, and to send a different product to one specific channel or travel agency, go to How to add a product to a specific channel (travel agency) in Mews Operations?.

Note: If you connect a product to a rate as a package product, changing the product's price in Mews Operations does not trigger an automatic update to the channel manager. Send a manual update to the channel manager to make sure the rate with the connected product updates correctly.

 

 

In this article, you can learn about:

• How to offer products through your channel manager integration in Mews Operations

  • Offer products as part of a package through your channel manager

    • Step 1: Map the product

    • Step 2: Connect the product to a mapped rate

  • Offer additional products through your channel manager

    • Configure upsell products in Mews Operations and the channel manager extranet

    • Map an upsell product

  • Offer products through your channel manager using product rules

    • Set up product rules with negative product prices

 

How to offer products through your channel manager integration in Mews Operations

There are three ways to offer products through your channel manager integration in Mews Operations: package products with a rate, map upsell products, or create product rules for products that you cannot map.

Offer products as part of a package through your channel manager

You can package products with rates through your channel manager, without creating a product rule. When a reservation arrives for this rate, Mews Operations automatically breaks down the packaged product into accommodation and products. For example, if Mews Operations receives a reservation totaling EUR 120, Mews Operations breaks the total down into EUR 100 for the accommodation and EUR 20 for the product, based on the rate. You can view the accommodation and product cost breakdown in the reservation and billing screens.

Note:

• Packaging products with rates is available for all channel manager connections, but it works with products charged per night or per person per night only.

• Mews Operations does not map packaged products in a channel manager extranet or in online travel agencies, or OTAs, so packaged products are not visible in a channel manager extranet.

• You cannot package products charged once, per person, or per stay in the same way.

To package products charged once, per person, or per stay, you can:

• Create a package directly in the channel manager extranet. Check with your channel manager first to make sure that the channel manager supports packages.

• Map the products in Mews Operations, for example by adding a mapping code to the product rather than attaching the product to a rate. With a mapping code, Mews Operations can automatically assign the booked products when the reservation arrives in Mews Operations.

Step 1: Map the product

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu > Marketplace > My subscriptions.

2. Find your channel manager integration and click Edit to open the integration settings.

3. Click Channel manager products.

4. Click the Add icon Channel manager product.

5. Under Product code, enter a unique code for the product. The code must match the number in the channel manager extranet.

   Note: The channel manager generates this number once you create the product in the channel manager extranet.

6. Under Product, select the product connected to that code.

7. Click Create.

Repeat steps 4 to 7 for every product that you want to send to your channel manager.

Step 2: Connect the product to a mapped rate

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu > Marketplace > My subscriptions.

2. Find your channel manager integration and click Edit to open the integration settings.

3. Click Channel manager rates.

4. Click the Rate code of the rate you want to package the product with.

5. Click the Add icon Create.

6. Click the Add icon Channel manager product.

7. Under Product, select the product you want to package with the rate.

8. Click Create.

Repeat steps 5 to 8 for every product that you want to make available through your channel manager. Repeat these steps with the same rate to package the rate with multiple products.

Offer additional products through your channel manager

You can upsell products so that your guests add products to their accommodation when they book through a distribution channel. You can also set products so that Mews Operations automatically adds them to a reservation. When you upsell products through your channel manager:

• You cannot send upsell product prices to a channel manager.

• You need to map the products that you want to upsell in both Mews Operations and the channel manager extranet.

• Not all channel manager integrations support upselling products. To check whether your channel manager integration supports upselling, read the article about your channel manager in the Mews Help Center or contact your channel manager support.

• You do not need to create a product rule, because Mews Operations automatically adds mapped upsell products to a reservation.

• The correct accommodation and product cost breakdown is visible in the reservation and in billing.

• Upselling works with products of all charging types, for example once, per person, per person per night and per night.

Configure upsell products in Mews Operations and the channel manager extranet

When you configure upsell products in Mews Operations and in the channel manager extranet:

• The charging rule must be the same in Mews Operations and in the channel manager extranet. For example, if the charging rule in Mews Operations is Once, set the charging rule to Once in the channel manager extranet as well.

• The charging rules in Mews Operations always prevail over the channel manager's charging rules.

• Product prices that Mews Operations receives from a channel manager prevail over the product prices that you configure in Mews Operations.

Map an upsell product

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu > Marketplace > My subscriptions.

2. Find your channel manager integration and click Edit to open the integration settings.

3. Click Channel manager products.

4. Click the Add icon Channel manager product.

5. Under Product code, enter the product code supplied by your channel manager.

6. Under Product, select the product you want to upsell.

7. Click Create.

Repeat steps 4 to 7 for every product that you want to send to your channel manager.

Offer products through your channel manager using product rules

If you cannot map certain products, you need to create a product rule. A product rule specifies in which cases Mews Operations adds a product to a reservation automatically. When you use a product rule:

• Mews Operations does not send the product price to the channel manager.

• When a reservation arrives in Mews Operations, Mews Operations either adds the product price on top of the total price or includes the product price in the total price. The correct breakdown of accommodation and product cost is visible in the reservation and in billing. The Exclude price from offer checkbox controls which of the two happens:

  • Checked: Mews Operations sends the price of the rate excluding the product price.

  • Unchecked: Mews Operations sends the price of the rate including the product price.

The screenshot shows the Exclude price from offer checkbox. 

Mews recommends that you add a description to notify bookers that extra fees may apply or that the price of the accommodation includes extra services. 

You can learn more about creating a product rule.

Set up product rules with negative product prices

If Mews Operations always adds a city tax product on top of the reservation cost, but you need to discount the city tax for certain reservations, set up a product rule with a negative product price:

1. In Mews Operations, create a product with a negative price. 

2. Check the Exclude price from offer checkbox. 

The screenshot shows a product with a negative price and the Exclude price from offer checkbox checked. 

3. Create a product rule that specifies in which cases Mews Operations adds this product to a reservation.

 

Once you package products with a rate, map upsell products, or set up product rules, Mews Operations adds the products to the reservations that arrive through your channel manager and shows the correct breakdown of accommodation and product costs in the reservation and in billing.

 

You can learn more about the terms used in Mews Operations for channel managers in the Mews glossary for channel manager partners.