Hi there,

What's New?

We’ve introduced a new “Relationships” tab within CRM contact profiles to support the management of emergency contact information. This enhancement allows users to create and track emergency contact relationships across their CRM data. Whether selecting an existing contact or creating a new one, emergency contacts are now consistently linked and stored as permanent relationships, ensuring safety and compliance.

Key Features:

• Relationships Tab in CRM

What’s changed?

A new tab has been added to CRM contact profiles to allow linking of emergency contacts.

Why was this changed?

To centralise and standardise emergency contact data across the platform.

• Link Existing or New Contacts

What’s changed?

Users can now select existing contacts or create new ones as emergency contacts from within a profile.

Why was this changed?

To make it faster and easier to establish emergency contact relationships.

• Permanent Relationship Records

What’s changed?

All emergency contact relationships are stored as permanent, non-booking-specific CRM records.

Why was this changed?

To ensure emergency contact data is always accessible and supports future integration with the student booking journey.

​Why Have We Made This Change?

As Lavanda expands its support for student accommodation providers, it’s essential to manage emergency contact information effectively. By treating emergency contacts as CRM relationships rather than booking-specific entries, we ensure long-term data visibility, regulatory compliance, and readiness for future automation in the booking process.

• Enhances safety and compliance by maintaining permanent emergency contact records
• Improves CRM data consistency for student and long-term accommodation workflows
• Lays ground work for future automation in the student booking journey

Availability:

This feature is available to all Lavanda customers from 3rd June 2025.

Getting Started:

To begin using Emergency Contact Relationships, navigate to any CRM contact profile and select the new "Relationships" tab. From there, you can view, add, or manage emergency contact links.

Warm regards,

The Lavanda Product Team

Hi there,

What's New?

We’re excited to share a set of powerful enhancements to Lavanda PMS that significantly reduce manual work across invoicing and payment allocation. These updates form part of a broader initiative to automate all billing and payment operations across short-let and long-let stays.

We’re laying the groundwork for a fully automated, end-to-end payment journey—from booking through to reconciliation. Our goal is a seamless, automated flow from booking to cash collection and reconciliation, significantly reducing admin, improving visibility, and ensuring faster payments.

This release includes:

• Auto-allocation of payments to issued invoices, where payments are paid in advance
• Auto-issuing of non-recurring invoices at checkout (available on request)
• Release of auto-issuing for monthly recurring invoices (available on request)

Key Features:

• Auto Allocation of Payments made at the time of booking to Issued Invoices

What’s changed?

OTA payments are now automatically matched to their corresponding invoices once the PMS detects the OTA payout post-checkout.

Why was this changed?

Direct booking payments are automatically allocated when the invoice is issued.

• Auto-Issuing of Non-Recurring Invoices (Short Stays)

What’s changed?

• Nightly-rated invoices for short-let bookings are now automatically issued at checkout — whether via manual or automated processes.
• Applicable to direct and OTA bookings for stays that have not yet checked out.
• Corrective drafts created after checkout will however need manual issuing.
• A new Document Management screen helps resolve data validation issues before issuing.

Why was this changed?

To improve invoicing speed, accuracy, and reduce admin for short stays.

Note: This feature is available on request. Please contact your Implementation Manager or Client Advisor if you’d like to enable this.

• Auto-Issuing of Recurring Monthly Invoices

What’s changed?

• Recurring invoices will be auto-issued on the 1st day of their billing period.
• Any valid drafts with billing periods starting from 1st April 2025 onward will be issued automatically.
• Correctives and fixed invoices also auto-issue after a 1-hour grace period if valid.
• Blocking functionality has been introduced to prevent automated issuance when needed.

Why was this changed?

To reduce friction in recurring billing cycles and lay the groundwork for upcoming automation of payment collections.

Note: This feature is available on request. Please contact your Implementation Manager or Client Advisor if you’d like to enable this.

​Why Have We Made This Change?

This marks a major milestone in Lavanda’s invoicing and payment automation journey. By eliminating the need for repetitive finance tasks, we’re helping customers scale operations with less admin, fewer errors, and better visibility.

These changes are designed to:

• Increase operational efficiency
• Reduce finance team workload
• Enable seamless and timely billing

Impact:

• Manual allocation and issuing effort is significantly reduced
• Enhanced control with fail-safe handling for invoice exceptions
• Customers can opt-in to powerful new automation capabilities

Availability:

• Auto Allocation: Now live for all users as of 11th April 2025
• Non-Recurring Invoice Auto-Issuing: Contact your Implementation Manager or Client Advisor
• Recurring Invoice Auto-Issuing: Contact your Implementation Manager or Client Advisor

Getting Started:

• To learn more about enabling automatic issuing for your short-stay invoices, visit our Help Centre
• For documentation on managing draft invoices and validation errors, search “Automated Invoicing Overview” in the Help Centre
• Contact your Implementation Manager or Client Advisor for activation or a detailed walkthrough

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

We’re introducing a new Invoicing & Receipts Report within the standard finance menu. This report consolidates all AR document types — not just issued invoices — and offers extensive filtering options to support finance teams with insight, control, and reconciliation.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive AR Reporting

What’s changed?

A single report now surfaces all accounts receivable (AR) document types, including drafts, issued, and blocked invoices.

Why was this changed?

To enable additional financial oversight and control.

• Advanced Filtering Options

What’s changed?

Filters now allow you to easily view:

1. Draft invoices or charge notes that have passed their auto-issue date but remain unissued due to blocks or missing data.
2. Issued invoices within a selected billing period that remain unpaid and may not yet have triggered a payment request.

Why was this changed?

To streamline reconciliation workflows and improve visibility into invoice statuses.

Why Have We Made This Change?

This release is designed to assist all customers — including those using auto-issuing of invoices — in managing the end-to-end invoicing and reconciliation process. It complements the Document Management control screens, ensuring smoother operations and proactive financial oversight.

Impact:

• Enhanced visibility over all invoice types
• Faster identification of invoicing
• Greater control and support for automated billing workflows

Availability:

Available to all customers from 13th May 2025 via the standard finance menu in Lavanda PMS.

Getting Started:

Simply navigate to the Reporting > Finance > Invoicing & receipts Report section. No setup is required. Use the new billing status filters to uncover and manage key AR scenarios.

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

Lavanda has released a new Overbookings Report as part of our standard reporting library. This enhancement empowers operational teams with the visibility they need to proactively manage overbooked reservations by reviewing impacted bookings and resolving them with ease.

Key Features:

• Overbookings Report

What’s changed?

A new report has been added to the reporting suite that displays all current overbookings across the platform.

Why was this changed?

To give customers a clear overview of overbooked reservations and the ability to resolve issues efficiently.

• Linked Bookings for Easy Resolution

What’s changed?

Each overbooking entry includes direct links to the affected bookings.

Why was this changed?

To streamline the resolution process—users can quickly access bookings to amend, cancel, or move them as needed.

• Clear Summary of Overbooking Volume

What’s changed?

The report includes a count of total overbookings within a defined period.

Why was this changed?

To help operational teams track and reduce overbooking trends over time.

Why Have We Made This Change?

Overbookings can cause operational disruption and guest dissatisfaction. By making this information easily accessible via reporting, customers are better equipped to identify and act on overbooked stays before they result in service issues. This update is part of our continued efforts to improve visibility and usability across Lavanda PMS.

Impact:

• Enhances operational oversight of booking anomalies
• Reduces risk of guest issues due to overbooking
• Supports timely and informed decision-making by customer teams

Availability:

This report is available to all customers from 11th April as part of the standard reporting library.

Getting Started:

The report can be accessed directly via the Reporting module in Lavanda PMS. Look for the “Overbookings” report under Operations.

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

We’re excited to roll out the first in a series of enhancements to automate invoicing and payments in Lavanda PMS. Starting today, non-recurring invoices (e.g. short-let, nightly-rated bookings) will now be automatically issued on checkout.

Key Features:

Auto-Issue on Checkout for Nightly Rated Stays

• What’s changed?

Non-recurring invoices are now automatically generated and issued when a booking checks out, either via manual checkout or automated checkout.

• Why was this changed?

This ensures faster, more consistent invoicing with reduced manual effort, helping teams focus on higher-value tasks.

Smart Draft Handling

• What’s changed?

Draft invoices which failed to issue and any corrective invoices created after checkout will need to be issued manually. Historic drafts (for bookings already checked out) are excluded from this automation.

• Why was this changed?

To preserve invoice accuracy and avoid issuing incomplete or outdated data, while still allowing flexibility for edge cases.

New Document Management Control Screen

• What’s changed?

A dedicated control screen has been introduced to manage draft invoices with missing or invalid data, complete with a “Fix” button for easy resolution.

• Why was this changed?

This improves visibility and control over invoice exceptions, making it easier for teams to resolve issues before they impact operations

Why Have We Made This Change?

This release is the first phase in a broader project to fully automate the Lavanda invoicing and payments system. Automating non-recurring invoicing is a key step in reducing friction and admin for short-stay bookings. Recurring invoices, allocations, and payment collection automation will follow shortly, all scheduled for release by the end of June.

Impact:

• Reduces manual workload for finance and operations teams
• Improves speed and accuracy of invoicing
• Provides more control through the new invoice exception management screen

Availability:

This feature improvement is now available as of 8th April 2025.

Getting Started:

This feature is already enabled for specific Be Casa workspaces. To learn where it’s available, how it works, and how to access the Document Management control screen, please refer to this help article for a step-by-step guide:

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

We’re introducing Ava, Lavanda’s AI Support Agent, designed to enhance our customer support experience by providing faster and more efficient responses to common queries. This AI-powered assistant will now serve as the first point of contact for general support inquiries, instantly delivering answers and guiding users to relevant help articles. If a query requires further assistance, users can seamlessly escalate to a human support agent via the “Talk to a person” option.

Why This Change?

In 2024 alone, over 499 how-to queries were handled by human agents, despite answers being readily available in our help centre. By integrating Ava, we aim to:

• Speed up resolutions by offering instant responses to frequently asked questions.
• Reduce reliance on human agents for simple queries, allowing them to focus on more complex cases.
• Enhance customer satisfaction by cutting down waiting times and improving accessibility to support resources.

What This Means for Users:

• Quicker Answers – Get immediate responses to common questions.
• Seamless Escalation – Easily connect with a human agent for more complex issues.
• Improved Efficiency – Less time searching for answers, more time focusing on business.

Availability:

This feature will be live to all customers from 4th March 2025 onwards.

Getting Started:

We’re excited about this update and look forward to continuously improving the support experience with AI-powered assistance. 🚀

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

We’re excited to announce a major upgrade to the Lavanda-PMS Invoicing System alongside improvements to Move & Split Booking functionality.

These enhancements further automate invoice adjustments, ensuring accurate financial reporting when bookings are modified, and provide greater flexibility in moving and splitting bookings across different units.

Key Enhancements & Updates

1. Automated Invoicing Adjustments for Booking Modifications

Whenever a booking is edited via the Edit Booking UI in the Multi-calendar or the Booking Summary Page, invoices will now be automatically updated.

✔ Draft invoices are adjusted to reflect booking changes.

✔ Issued invoices are amended via credit notes & corrective invoices to maintain financial accuracy.

Supported Use Cases:

✅ Unit Moves – including moves during an active stay (split stays).

✅ Stay Date Adjustments – bookings starting earlier or later.

✅ Stay Extensions & Curtailments – ensuring accurate invoicing for extended/reduced stays.

✅ Recurring Invoicing Rate Changes – updates for bookings with monthly invoicing, including rate adjustments mid-stay.

✅ Non-Recurring Invoice Rate Changes – manual rate recalculations for short stays where entire stay pricing is affected.

✅ OTA Bookings – only unit moves are automated; rate and date changes must be handled on the OTA platform.

🔹 Recurring Optional Services:

• If stay dates change, assigned services will automatically adjust.
• If a room move occurs, services will not change. If services need to be adjusted, as a result of the move, these need to be done manually.

2. Move & Split Booking Enhancements

We have improved the Move & Split Booking functionality to allow greater flexibility and control over bookings.

🔹 Move Booking Functionality

• PMS users with appropriate permissions can now move bookings:
  ✅ Prior to check-in
  ✅ After check-in
  ✅ After check-out
• Moves can be performed from both the Multi-calendar and the Booking Summary Page, allowing seamless adjustments.
• The system now warns users if a move will create a booking overlap, ensuring conflicts are flagged in advance.

🔹 Split Booking Functionality

• Bookings can now be split after check-in, allowing for flexible reallocation of stays.
• PMS users can split multi-night bookings into different units or unit types, selecting new accommodation for part of the stay.
• The system provides warnings for unavailable units and requires a reason for the move, ensuring full auditability.
• Single-night bookings cannot be split, maintaining system integrity.

3. Pro Rata Calculation Update for Monthly Invoicing

A significant improvement in how final month invoices are calculated:

❌ Previous approach: Invoices deducted the final day, basing calculations on nights stayed.

✔ New approach: The final checkout date (contract end date) is now included, ensuring invoicing is based on days stayed.

Future Update:

We will separate contract dates from check-in/out dates, allowing PMS users to define whether to charge by days or nights when setting contract terms.

Short Stays Unaffected:

Short-stay bookings remain charged on a nightly rate, with no changes to final-day invoicing.

4. Historic Booking Adjustments

Bookings created before this update remain unaffected, unless a new booking edit triggers the updated system.

🔹 Fixing Past Invoicing Issues:

• If a legacy booking is edited, any incorrect invoicing will be automatically corrected, either by updating draft invoices or generating credit notes & corrective invoices for issued invoices.

Why Have We Made This Change?

Financial Accuracy – Ensuring invoices always reflect real-time booking details.

Greater Booking Flexibility – Allowing seamless movement and splitting of bookings.

Efficiency & Automation – Reducing manual intervention in invoicing and booking changes.

Operational Simplicity – Improving the guest and staff experience with streamlined processes.

Impact:

Improved Revenue Management – More accurate invoicing means fewer revenue leaks.

Reduced Admin Workload – Automated adjustments eliminate manual recalculations.

Better Financial Visibility – Real-time updates ensure PMS users always work with the correct data.

Optimised Guest Experience – Greater flexibility in managing stays.

Availability:

These updates are now live for all customers from 17th February 2025.

Getting Started:

To experience these updates, simply log into Lavanda PMS and explore the enhanced invoicing automation and Move & Split Booking functionality.

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

We’ve introduced the ability to manage Multiple Contracts on a Single Booking within Lavanda PMS, along with an enhanced Booking Checklist to accommodate this new functionality. These updates provide greater flexibility and efficiency in contract management, ensuring clarity and ease of use for all users.

Key Features:

Why Have We Made This Change?

By enabling multiple contracts and updating the checklist feature, we’re improving flexibility in booking management and ensuring that the PMS meets the needs of all users, regardless of complexity.

Impact:

These improvements are available to all users of the Lavanda PMS.

Availability:

This feature improvement is now available as of 7th January 2025.

Getting Started:

To manage multiple contracts or access the enhanced checklist, log into Lavanda PMS and navigate to the Booking Summary or Edit Booking Sidebar. These features are immediately accessible.

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

We’re introducing a streamlined Edit Booking Sidebar in Lavanda PMS, which allows users to perform all essential booking adjustments from a single, intuitive side drawer. This enhancement is designed to improve ease of use and efficiency, supporting both long-term and short-term stay requirements.

Key Features:

• Relocate Bookings

What’s changed?: Users can now relocate bookings directly from the Edit Booking sidebar. The Modify Booking option has been replaced with the new Edit Booking option.

Why was this changed?: To centralize key booking adjustments, making it easier to manage bookings without navigating away.

• Adjust Stay Dates (where applicable)

What’s changed?: Stay dates can be adjusted directly within the sidebar.

Why was this changed?: To simplify the process for changing stay dates, improving efficiency for short-term and long-term stays.

• Modify Occupancy (where applicable)

What’s changed?: Occupancy adjustments can now be made within the same interface.

Why was this changed?: Consolidating occupancy modifications within the sidebar reduces the need for separate screens, speeding up booking adjustments.

• Change Rates

What’s changed?: Rates can be easily modified from the sidebar, where applicable. E.g. Long stay bookings on a monthly interval rate

Why was this changed?: By enabling rate changes in one location, users can quickly and efficiently manage booking pricing.

• Resend Contracts

What’s changed?: The option to resend contracts is now accessible from the sidebar.

Why was this changed?: Centralising contract resending minimises steps and makes it easier for users to manage contracts.

Why Have We Made This Change?

This update is designed to streamline the booking management workflow and enhance user experience. By bringing all booking edits into one place, the Edit Booking Sidebar reduces user confusion and accelerates the booking management process.

Impact:

These improvements aim to reduce complexity and increase productivity, making it easier to manage bookings within Lavanda PMS.

Availability:

This feature improvement is now available to all customers as of 8th November 2024.

Getting Started:

To access the new sidebar, log into Lavanda PMS, select a booking, and click the Edit Booking option to make adjustments. The enhanced management options are available immediately.

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda

Hi there,

What's New?

We are excited to introduce a significant enhancement to the booking management process within Lavanda PMS. You can now move bookings to units of different unit types. This is the first in a series of updates designed to improve the move booking process, which previously allowed moves only to units of the same type.

Key Features:

• Flexible Booking Moves: Users can now move bookings to units of different types, offering greater flexibility in managing guest accommodations.
• Streamlined Process: This update streamlines the process for upgrading or downgrading unit types, making it easier to accommodate common scenarios like guest requests for alternative accommodations.
• Enhanced User Experience: The new feature improves the overall user experience, making it easier to manage and adjust bookings to meet guest needs.

Why Have We Made This Change?

Upgrades and changes to unit types are common occurrences. The previous process did not support such changes, limiting flexibility in booking management. By enabling moves to different unit types, we aim to make the booking process more intuitive and versatile, aligning with the real-world needs of our users.

Impact:

This enhancement streamlines the booking process for all customers, making the system more intuitive and user-friendly. It reduces the time spent on managing booking adjustments and improves operational efficiency.

Availability:

This new feature is now available in all workspaces on 6th November 2024.

Getting Started:

Explore the new feature within Lavanda PMS and experience the improved flexibility in managing your bookings.

Warm regards,

Team Lavanda