General.

General details
Office address: Binzstrasse 38
Postal code: CH -8045
City: Zurich
Country: Switzerland
Telephone number: +41 (0)43 210 55 15
Customer support: +41 (0)43 210 55 15

Website: http://www.stc.ch
Extranet: http://www.stc/ch (go to Hotel partner login)
Specified contact details

Switch.

An existing customer on the channel:

Please be informed that because of the data protection regulation the Channel manager configuration can only be set by the hotel itself.

The hotel has to login in the STC-databank with its hotel credentials

  • in the main menu “Hotel” -> select submenu “Data Partner”
  • change the existing ChannelManager type 1 to “Sunstar Smart”
  • activate the receipt of bookings by Channel Manager

  • accept the GDPR-Agreement
  • save these modifications with “SAVE Modification”-button

As soon as the hotel has completed this, the channel manager connection can be done.

A new customer on the channel:

The hotel has to contact STC on telephone number +41 (0)43 210 55 15 or email the help desk to create a new setup on STC. This will take approximately 3 to 4 working days.

Timeframe

A hotel can be switched to XML in 1 working day, however, it is usually quicker.

Credentials.

Who provides what

STC will provide the details. 1 user on the STC extranet could potentially have more properties to manage. The difference in the XML connection is made by the hotel ID which needs to be entered in the PIN section.

Rates

On STC the rates are being grouped in date ranges if the values are the same. The moment a value differs, the date ranges will split up. In the “Rates” section is visible what rate options are enabled (like minimum stay, meals, arrival possible etc.). If this is not activated, the option will not be visible. See below screenshot from the “Ratelevel” “RAC”. For “RAC” all options are activated on “Ratelevel”, which means that the Channel Manager can send all the options:

Below print screen shows the example of a rate with certain fixed values on STC and it shows the impact on the view of the rate:

Please note that the settings on “Ratelevel” can be changed if desired. Depending on the rights of the user logged into the extranet this can be done by the hotel itself or, in case the button “Save changes” is not activated, the hotel needs to send the request of the change to the hotelhelp team.

Meal values supported:

Guarantees supported:

Rate values

STC accepts rates based on occupancy. This also depends on the room settings and the mapping in the Channel Manager.

In below screenshot a room with Standard 2 persons and max. occupancy of 4 persons is visible. The rate values sent are single use, double use and triple use. Quad use is supported via the extra person/adult rate. These room settings can be changed on the STC extranet if desired and again if there is no “Save changes” button, this means that the team from hotelhelp can only do this.

!! In order for all messages from the Channel Manager to update STC, make sure the various settings on ratelevel are always set to “define with rate”. In case a setting is defined on STC, this setting will overrule the Channel Manager! !!

Mapping.

Rooms

Occupancy based pricing is supported.

Rates

Multiple rates are supported.

Mapping

STC has rate level availability and multiple rates are supported.

Occupancy based settings

If occupancy settings aren't applied then the Standard rate will be sent to all occupancies.

Useful Info.

Bookable until

23 months ahead inventory, rates and restrictions data can be sent (from today's date). The month is opened every 1st of the month.

STC is bookable for the guest the same period as inventory, rates and restrictions can be sent (23 months).

Reservations

Reservations and cancellations are supported. Modifications are not supported via XML!

Pull / Push cycle

We pull reservations from STC every 10 minutes. STC itself has a cycle of 15 minutes when reservations are processed.

Credit card information?

Yes, however, we receive the credit card information encrypted from STC, since they are PCI compliant. The hotel needs to pull the credit card information from the extranet of STC.

STC has specific Ratelevel settings (“define with rate”) which are not overwritten by the Channel Manager. Please see above explanation for more details.

STC uses FIT and other negotiated rates. These rates are not to be updated by the Channel Manager; a rate has to be created in the Channel Manager with the setting “No R&A update” in order to process the reservations correctly.  These specific Ratelevels will have the tick box “Rate updates locked for hotel user” ticked!

STC print screen (setting restricted to STC Hotelhelp only!)

Errors.

General rate update error from STC. This could have different causes. One possible cause that the rate-setting on STC is set as follows:

With this setting you are not allowed to send updates and below error is received:

-<soap:Body>

-<UpdateRatesResponse>

<UpdateRatesResult>false</UpdateRatesResult>

</UpdateRatesResponse>

</soap:Body>