What's New in Zonal PMS - February 2026
click here for past feature updates
Integrations
Integration akru EPOS
We’re pleased to announce the completion of our new EPOS integration with arku. This enhancement allows charges from your bar, restaurant, or event spaces to post directly to guest room bills or event rooms, ensuring a smooth and accurate checkout experience.
Guests can now run a tab throughout their visit and settle it whenever they choose, giving them greater flexibility. The integration also provides full itemised visibility of every purchase, including product name, so your team can offer complete clarity when guests request a breakdown of their charges.
Reservations
Card Details Blocked In Notes
A new security feature has been added that prevents card details from being added to any notes field within the system. If a card number is detected while saving a note, the system will block the save until the card details are removed.
To keep payment information secure and compliant, all card details should be added directly to bookings or guest accounts using the Add Card button.
As part of this enhancement, the system has automatically scanned all free‑text fields and masked any detected card number sequences with Xs. This ensures historical notes are also protected under the updated security standard.
Past Feature Updates
User Access
Restrict User Access By IP Address
We have introduced a new system setting that prevents users from accessing the PMS from any IP address or range that is not authorised. This allows both groups and single sites to restrict system access to users who are on the property or within an approved location.
The video below demonstrates how to apply this setting and shows the error messages a user will see if they attempt to access the system from an unsupported IP range.
Badge
Cookies Consent Message
We have deployed a cookies banner across all customer-facing areas of the platform. When accessing the Booking Engine, Manage My Booking, Express Check-In, Pay by Link, or Card by Link pages, users will now be presented with a notification allowing them to accept or decline the use of cookies. This enhancement ensures compliance with data privacy standards and provides users with clear control over their cookie preferences.
Rates
Deposit Rates for Internal Bookings
Deposit rates have been updated to apply to both bookings made by internal staff and those made through your website. This ensures that all bookings, regardless of their source, follow the same rules as your configured deposit rates.
With this update, payments can now be automatically collected according to your deposit rate configuration, triggered at the time you specify. This means that guests’ payments can be taken before they check in, reducing administrative work for your front desk staff and streamlining the check-in process.
Reports
Card Report Update
We have updated the card report to show when card and payment-by-link requests have been sent from the system. The report now displays the date and time each request was issued. Once a request is completed, the entry will be removed (for card-missing reasons), leaving only the outstanding bookings with active requests.
These new filters are also available in our Power BI report, allowing you to view this information across your entire estate.
Other Features & Information
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
|
Enhance API search to Return Total Rooms per Type |
We’ve increased the date range for the availability endpoint. You can now query groups of hotels for up to 12 months at a time, a large improvement on the previous one-month limit. This enhancement gives you access to a much longer span of room data when calling the API. |
Rates
Deposit Rates for Internal Bookings
Deposit rates have been updated to apply to both bookings made by internal staff and those made through your website. This ensures that all bookings, regardless of their source, follow the same rules as your configured deposit rates.
With this update, payments can now be automatically collected according to your deposit rate configuration, triggered at the time you specify. This means that guests’ payments can be taken before they check in, reducing administrative work for your front desk staff and streamlining the check-in process.
Channel Manager
Batch messages sent to the Channel Manager
The connection to the channel manager has been enhanced, making message processing far more efficient. It can now handle 10 times more updates at once, allowing them to be processed quicker. This means that updates for bookings, prices, and restrictions now flow from the PMS to your connected channels more quickly and reliably than ever before!
Other Features & Information
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
|
Enhance API search to Return Total Rooms per Type |
We’ve updated the searchAvailability endpoint in our Open API to provide both the maximum total number of rooms available per room type and the number of rooms still available for sale. This allows you to see all availability options for primary and secondary room types in a single API call. With this update, API users can quickly check the maximum room stock and remaining availability for a single property or a group of properties, making it easier to manage inventory and make informed decisions. |
Bookings
Booking Engine Plus
Our new Booking Engine Plus combines Google Hotel Booking Link and a Price Comparison Widget to boost your direct reservations. Together, they power the ZHS Booking Engine Plus, giving your hotel more reach, more guests, and more profit.
Payments
Hotel Payments from Aztec Point of Sale Terminal
This month’s release introduces the ability to take payments directly through the Aztec Point of Sale. Together with the existing check-in and check-out features, your team can now deliver the complete face-to-face guest journey without needing to access the PMS, boosting staff efficiency and enhancing the guest experience.
We’ve also added a new filter to the payment report, allowing you to separate transactions by source (EPOS or PMS). This makes it quicker and easier for staff to identify exactly where each payment originated.
Click here to watch our videos for check in, check out and payments
Promotion Codes
New Promotional Code Copy Feature for Multi-Hotel Estates
If you manage a group of hotels, you can now copy a promotional code from one property to all others in your estate, eliminating the need to create it manually on each individual site. This feature saves significant admin time and ensures consistency with your promotion codes.
When the code is copied, it will automatically align with room types and rate codes that match those on the original property. For best results, we recommend selecting a site with the highest level of consistency across your estate before copying.
Currently, this feature is limited to ZHS staff users while we monitor performance. However, if you need this action completed, please create the code on a single site and instruct your account manager or support team to perform the copy on your behalf.
Bookings
Google Hotels
We're excited to announce that we've now integrated with Google Hotels! This means your property can now appear directly in Google search results, making it easier for travellers to find and book with you. With real-time rates and availability displayed on one of the world’s most powerful platforms, you’ll benefit from increased visibility and more direct bookings with no commission.
Click here to sign up
Bookings
Speed Improvements – RDX
This month, we’ve made bookings from the channel manager to the PMS faster and smoother than ever. By simplifying the card delivery process, all booking data now flows through a single track, reducing delays and ensuring bookings are processed more quickly.
These improvements mean your team can access and manage bookings more efficiently, helping you deliver a seamless guest experience. We’re continuing to work on further optimisations, so keep an eye out for updates that will bring booking data even closer to real-time.
Payments / Check In & Out
Hotel Payments Via Aztec
This month’s release introduces the ability to take payments directly through the Aztec Point of Sale. Together with the existing check-in and check-out features, your team can now deliver the complete face-to-face guest journey without needing to access the PMS, boosting staff efficiency and enhancing the guest experience.
We’ve also added a new filter to the payment report, allowing you to separate transactions by source (EPOS or PMS). This makes it quicker and easier for staff to identify exactly where each payment originated.
Other Features & Information
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| API | Updated API endpoints for the UAT environment for integration partners |
| RDX | Optimised API calls to one per hotel, improving performance |
| RDX | Added additional logging for outbound worker processes |
| Payment Report | Added a new Sales column to show the original source of each payment |
Bookings
Hotel & Room Amenities
We’ve introduced a new feature in the booking engine to support room and hotel amenities. These amenities come with pre-selected icons, and you can also add custom text and choose the order in which they appear on the booking engine.
Loyalty
Loyalty Update
We have enhanced the loyalty integration by adding a custom setting that allows Aztec postings to be sent back with the full value of the room booking.
If this setting is not enabled, the value sent back to the loyalty system will exclude Aztec postings. This will remain the default configuration to avoid awarding double loyalty points when a customer scans their loyalty card at the bar and posts the items to their room.
Technical
Javascript Update
We’ve recently updated the JavaScript libraries used in our platform to ensure better performance, security, and compatibility across modern browsers and devices.
What this means for you:
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Improved speed and smoother user experience for your guests
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Enhanced security with the latest standards and patches
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Better compatibility with third-party integrations and customisations
These updates are part of our ongoing commitment to delivering a fast, reliable, and secure system
No action is required on your part, but if you have any questions or notice anything unusual, our support team is here to help.
Analytics
Google Update
We’ve updated the data available in Google Analytics to include promotional code usage. This means you can track which customers have booked using a promo code and assess how effective your promotional campaigns have been - from initial interest through to confirmed bookings.
Other Features & Information
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Channel Manager | New logging implemented to detect and automatically restart inbound RDX workers when inactive |
| Open API | Update to the Check-In and Check-Out endpoints to ensure successful processing on Aztec |
| Dashboard | Performance improvements and optimisation |
Registration Cards
Registration Card Enhancements
We’ve updated the dashboard with new registration form printing options. You can now select which registration forms to print using the bulk print feature, giving you the flexibility to exclude guests who have already checked in via the Express Check-In method.
Additionally, for group bookings where the guest name differs from the person who made the booking, the registration form will now appear blank. This allows you to easily capture the correct details for the actual guest staying in the room.
Email Autocomplete for Guest Features in PMS and Booking Engine
We’ve released a new feature that enables staff users to search for existing guests by typing just the first three characters of an email address within the calendar and booking engine. This allows users to quickly locate and select an existing guest profile, significantly improving efficiency and speeding up booking entry for returning guests.
Communications
Card Report Email Communications
To improve communication around payment issues and bookings without cards, we've introduced a new feature. When enabled, a copy of the card report will be atomically emailed to your reservations email address at the start of every day. This digital report highlights all upcoming bookings with missing card details or payment issues. Each booking is hyperlinked, allowing you to click the ID number and be taken directly to the booking page to take any necessary action
Payment Cards
Staff Card Capture Restriction
We’ve introduced a new setting in the PMS that prevents all staff user roles from manually adding card details to a booking, either during the booking process or afterwards. This update is designed to support businesses that wish to prevent staff from collecting card details over the phone or in person. Instead, staff can take the booking over the phone and then send a payment or card request via email or SMS, helping to ensure your business remains PCI compliant.
Tables
Integration with Zonal Tables
This integration enables guests to book a room and a table in a single seamless booking journey. By displaying the availability of Zonal Tables in the hotel booking journey customer and staff can easily reserving a table in your restaurant for the same evening as their hotel booking.
The integration also allows staff to manage table bookings directly within the PMS. They can create, modify, or cancel reservations without needing to switch to the Tables platform, improving efficiency and enhancing the overall guest experience.
Reports
Card Report Enhancements
We've improved the card report to make it easier to use and more transparent, allowing users to clearly see the reasons why their payment failed for bookings due to arrive.
Communications
Email Enhancements
We have updated the email suite with several enhancements for including:
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New Triggers: Emails can now be triggered for cancelled and no-showed bookings, allowing you to create bespoke messages when a booking status changes
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Additional Variables: We've introduced new email variables:
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Number of nights
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Number of children
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Number of adults
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Total number of guests
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Cancellation policy
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Total price
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City
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Room label
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Customisable Email Layout: Emails can now be sent without the default header and footer
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Event Email Control: We now support email notifications for event bookings
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Targeted Email Sending: Users can now choose to send emails specifically to channel or direct bookings
API
Open API Updates
We have enhanced our open API with more data. A new API endpoint now provides access to room type stock values per day. Additionally, we have updated the hotels endpoint to include the total number of rooms in a property.
Click here for more API information
Bookings
Group Booking Identifier
We have improved the booking search functionality to display the number of bookings within a group. This makes it easier to search for group bookings and see their size without needing to visit the group overview page, helping you quickly find and manage large party bookings.
Tables
Integration with Zonal Tables
This integration enables guests to book a room and a table in a single seamless booking journey. By displaying the availability of Zonal Tables in the hotel booking journey customer and staff can easily reserving a table in your restaurant for the same evening as their hotel booking.
The integration also allows staff to manage table bookings directly within the PMS. They can create, modify, or cancel reservations without needing to switch to the Tables platform, improving efficiency and enhancing the overall guest experience.
Card Payments
RSA Credit Card Removal
We have released an update that removes all stored credit card details for customers who are not using the payment gateway. This means these customers will no longer be able to view credit card details for any past or future bookings, as the data will be deleted with the update.
Additionally, we are removing the ability for both customers and staff to enter credit card details into the system that are not on the gateway.
Bookings
Deposit Rates For Third Party Bookings
We're excited to introduce a new feature that enables you to set up deposit rates for third-party bookings. This functionality allows you to automatically collect payments either as soon as a third-party booking enters your system or up to 14 days before the guest’s arrival. By handling payments in advance, you can significantly reduce front desk admin tasks during check-in. For those using virtual cards with third parties, this update also gives you the flexibility to choose when to collect payments, such as one day before the guest’s arrival.
Bookings
Promotional Code – Deep Linking
We've introduced a powerful new deep link feature for promotional codes. With this feature, you can share a link that automatically applies a hidden rate when accessed. Customers will be directed to the booking engine with the promotional code pre-applied, making it easy for them to view and book the exclusive rate. This is perfect for corporate travellers, wedding parties, or any group needing access to a private rate plan.
Bookings
Group Booking Creation
We've developed a new section in the PMS designed to streamline large group bookings. This feature allows you to quickly scan the page, add multiple room types and rate plans to your basket, reducing admin time and enabling you to complete group bookings with ease.
Bookings
Enhancements to Central Reservations
The Central Reservations system has been enhanced to improve usability. This update simplifies the process for users to search all your properties by location, promotions, and vouchers. The new second-screen feature allows bookers to view availability across all room types and rate plans, making large group bookings faster and more efficient across your entire property portfolio.
Integration
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Bookings
Group Booking Creation
We've developed a new section in the PMS designed to streamline large group bookings. This feature allows you to quickly scan the page, add multiple room types and rate plans to your basket, reducing admin time and enabling you to complete group bookings with ease.
Bookings
Central Reservation Enhancements
The Central Reservations system has been enhanced to improve usability. This update simplifies the process for users to search all your properties by location, promotions, and vouchers. The new second-screen feature allows bookers to view availability across all room types and rate plans, making large group bookings faster and more efficient across your entire property portfolio.
Bookings
Booking Engine – Hide Prices on Calendar
In response to customer feedback, we have introduced a new setting in the booking engine. This feature allows you to hide prices on the micro calendar if desired. By enabling this option, users can choose whether to display prices or keep them hidden, providing greater flexibility and customisation.
Bookings
Booking Engine – Optimisations
We have implemented further enhancements to the booking engine to maximise your conversion rates. Our data analysis revealed a processing time when users added multiple reservations to the basket. To address this, we optimised the query handling, ensuring faster response times and a smoother experience when multiple bookings are added to the basket.
Bookings
New Booking Engine
The new booking engine features a modern design that enhances the display of your rooms and upsell opportunities. We encourage you to leverage these improvements to maximise your revenue potential. If you don’t already have product images and descriptions, we recommend adding them.
Any existing images and descriptions have automatically populate from your PMS, so no action will be needed if you have them already. If you need assistance, here's a quick video tutorial on how to add images or descriptions.
Integrations
Enhance My Stay Integration
Enhance My Stay enables hotels to increase revenue and elevate guest satisfaction by offering targeted pre-arrival upsells — all while keeping your brand front and centre. Transform each guest's stay into more: more experiences, more satisfaction, more revenue.
Bookings
Purchase Order Number
This update enables users to add unique numbers to customer invoices, which can also be searched on the booking page. These numbers are distinct from the booking ID, allowing finance teams to track them separately and ensuring they are displayed to customers on their invoices.
Bookings
Booking Search Card Column
We've enhanced our booking search with a new filter that displays bookings without credit card details, making it easier to identify these bookings and allowing you to see what staff members are creating the bookings.
Reports
Filtered Audit Reports Access
Users can now quickly access the audit report from a hyperlink in the Booking Hub page. The report is filtered to show only the viewed booking in the History panel, making it easier to see all user edits to the bookings.
Reports
Visibility of the user who applied the purchase or discount
We are upgrading our purchase report to show what user has applied a discount or purchase to a booking, allowing you to address any issues directly with the user if needed. Additionally, the report will now provide a direct link to the booking hub page for easy access to manage the booking.
Bookings
Group Booking Split On PMS Entry
Following the initial release of Phase One group bookings, we have introduced additional functionality to allow you to manage groups easily. These new features will automatically split group bookings upon entry into the PMS. If any payments are associated with the booking, the system will also automatically allocate the payments to the correct bookings when entered into the PMS. This update will be available as an optional setting that users can choose to enable, or they can continue managing group bookings as they do currently.
Payments
Payment Splitting
We are excited to announce that we now support payment splitting for group bookings. This new feature simplifies the process of allocating deposits to the correct bookings, making complex group reservations effortless and stress-free for your front desk staff. With just a few clicks, you can easily divide a payment among bookings that are part of a group.
Rates
Apply Product Price Changes to All Rate Plans
We’ve introduced a new feature that simplifies updating the prices of products linked to multiple rate plans. Now, you can update the product price directly from the product edit form and apply the change to all connected rate plans in one step. This update eliminates the need to adjust each product individually, saving you time and letting you focus on your guests.
Bookings
Group Booking Split On PMS Entry
Following the initial release of Phase One group bookings, we have introduced additional functionality to allow you to manage groups easily. These new features will automatically split group bookings upon entry into the PMS. If any payments are associated with the booking, the system will also automatically allocate the payments to the correct bookings when entered into the PMS. This update will be available as an optional setting that users can choose to enable, or they can continue managing group bookings as they do currently.
Integration
Hotel TV Company
Introducing a new integration to enhance your guests' experience from the moment they arrive. With this integration, a personalised welcome message will be displayed on the in-room television, allowing guests to feel truly special. Additionally, it offers convenient upsell opportunities by enabling guests to book a table, order food, and request drinks directly through their TV.
Bookings
Group Booking Management
This month, we rolled out enhancements to the way you manage group bookings. This update included features such as easier identification of split group bookings and a new page dedicated to managing all group-related bookings.
Bookings
Group Booking Importer
We have updated our importer tool to now support group booking IDs. This enhancement allows group bookings to be created during the import process, with all associated reservations linked to the respective group. Each reservation will display individually and can be managed on the new group page.
Ledgers
In House Ledger Containing Balances & Payments
We have recently added two additional lines for payment and balance to the In-house Ledger. This means you can now match the closing balance displayed in the sales and daily reports more accurately, enhancing the consistency between the reports.
Bookings
I-Framing the booking engine
The feature below enables users to add website URLS to hotels setting to be display the HLS booking engine within an I-frame on the customer's website. This allows the booking engine to be embedded directly on the website, preventing users from being redirected to a new URL when selected.
Technical
Speed Optimisation
This month, we've been optimising the PMS speed in specific areas. The first release, we improved the booking engine's speed on initial load. Then, we refined two reports: Audit and Bookings. This week we are releasing a larger update to the availability algorithm and open API.
Exports
Payment Subtypes in Aztec Exports
Building upon the integration of subtypes for all gateway transactions into the reporting system, we have extending this functionality to your seven-day statement report in Aztec. This will include information regarding whether a payment was made via a gateway or card reader and grouped by the type of card used. This update will help your reconciliation process across all card types employed, ensuring greater accuracy in your financial reconciliation.
Technical
Speed Optimisation
This month, we've been optimising the PMS speed in specific areas. The first release, we improved the booking engine's speed on initial load. Then, we refined two reports: Audit and Bookings. This week we are releasing a larger update to the availability algorithm.
Reports
Creditor - Power BI Dashboard
Our latest addition to the BI dashboards: the Group Creditor report. This comprehensive view presents aggregated data on guests who are in credit across your estate, organised by booking and lead time. Easily identify with our bar chart visual, which customers are coming to the end of their grace period. Take immediate action by addressing the bookings directly from the report, enabling you to swiftly tackle any outstanding issues and improve your overall sales performance.
Integrated Payments
FreedomPay Card Machine Integration
The PMS now offers seamless integration with the FreedomPay card reader Move 5000 for your system. This integration enables your staff to effortlessly send payment requests to the device, allowing customers to pay using their cards or contactless devices. Additionally, refunds are supported through the token ID associated with the original payment, making the process smooth and hassle-free.
Bookings
Notes
The booking notes have undergone an expansion, resulting in the implementation of three distinct notes areas within the system: Booking notes, Channel notes, and Housekeeping notes. This enhancement aims to keep all user well-informed. Each of the new notes sections is equipped with adding attachments. Housekeeping notes exclusively feature on the housekeeping report and are reservation-specific. This ensures that housekeepers can promptly address messages without the need to sift through unrelated booking notes.
Reports
Payment Subtype On Payment Report
We've added payment subtypes to different sections of the PMS, such as payment reports and guest profiles. Now, it's easier to see the types of cards used and reconcile payments accurately across the big suppliers. This improvement applies to payments made through card readers and gateways.
Communications
SMS Hotel Name Customisation
We've enhanced your system to offer additional customisation options for the message names you send to customers via SMS. Once you input the new name in the hotel settings page of the system, you'll instantly begin sending messages for express check-in/out or payment/card requests using your chosen name. Your SMS name has been automatically updated to match the first eleven characters of your hotel's name.
Reports
Blocked BI Dashboard
We have implemented an extra dashboard on the BI platform. This dashboard enables users to view all blocked rooms across the entire estate in a single report. Users can observe which sites and staff members are adding blocks and the reasons they've entered them. Furthermore, we've included visuals to help you grasp the most blocked days, months, and sites within your estate.
Communications
SMS Sender Name
We've implemented customisation for the sender name on all SMS messages. If you use pay by link, card request by link, or express check-in and check-out, you'll have the ability to set the sender name to match your property. If this isn't entered via your settings, we will automatically add your hotel name, ensuring it fits within our 11-character limit.
Technical
Reports API
This month we have converted our legacy reports API to our open API structure. This will allow you to pull the data within an increased limit of pulls. Data in the API will be the same as the legacy containing sales data, payment data and statistical figures for the day or date range searched.
Bookings
Promotional Codes
Presenting the Promotion Codes feature, a recent enhancement to the PMS that enables you to create codes. When these codes are utilised on the booking engine, they reveal hidden rates or packages. After users input the code, the previously concealed rate becomes visible, allowing them to proceed with their bookings. This functionality is particularly beneficial for discreet promotions and providing exclusive rates, especially for corporate travellers who wish to have their corporate profile linked to the booking.
Users
Staff Matrix
This feature will allow you to easily manage user types and their specific permissions. The grid provides a comprehensive overview of all sections within the PMS, enabling users to view, edit, or delete with a glance. To limit their access or control their ability to perform certain functions, simply choose the designated areas – once you save your updates, the user won't be able to access or execute the selected actions upon their next login.