CURRENT SYSTEM BEHAVIOUR:

At present, if a guest attempts to modify a paid reservation through any channel — typically an OTA — the changes are not applied in Mews. Instead, we simply receive an email notification stating that Mews was unable to process the requested modifications and we are asked to implement the changes manually.

This approach presents two significant issues:

1.) In many cases, this restriction is unnecessary, as the modification does not impact the reservation's price. For instance, if a guest only updates their smoking preference or changes the name of the person staying at the hotel, it has no effect on the payment. However, the staff must manually investigate what was modified and then manually record these changes in Mews. This results in unnecessary administrative work, as such information should update automatically in the system.

2.) Occasionally, modifications to a paid reservation do affect the price — such as when a guest changes the stay dates. However, Mews' current handling of these cases can lead to serious issues. Consider the following scenario:

A guest with a Booking.com reservation changes their stay dates on Booking.com. The channel manager software checks availability and confirms that there are still rooms of the same type available for the new dates. However, instead of processing the date change, Mews merely sends an email stating that it couldn't apply the modifications because the reservation has already been paid.

If the staff does not notice this email immediately (for example, because it arrives overnight), it is possible that by the time they manually address the issue, the hotel may no longer have availability for the new dates. Consequently, even though the guest has received confirmation from Booking.com (or from the OTA they booked their reservation) that their date change was successful, the hotel may be unable to accommodate them due to overbooking.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:

When modifications are made to a paid reservation, Mews should:
- Automatically apply the incoming changes AND
- Send an email notification indicating that the reservation has been modified and that an additional payment (or a refund) may be required.

This way, the staff remains informed of necessary actions regarding the reservation, but there is no risk of failing to honor a date modification that the guest has already received confirmation for.