Agoda YCS: a guide to Agoda's extranet for hotels

Agoda's Partner Hub says YCS is now the Agoda Partner Portal, built on YCS: the extranet through which you manage your property on Agoda, including your prices and the rooms you sell. YCS stands for Yield Control System. Agoda's help pages and its app still use both names, so a page that says YCS and one that says Partner Portal mean the same place.

• Sign in at portal.agoda.com, the address Agoda's own help gives. Agoda's Partner Hub still links ycs.agoda.com too, under “YCS Extranet”.
• The app is Agoda Partner Portal (YCS), from Agoda, on Google Play and the App Store. Agoda says it lets you keep prices and rooms up to date, and handle reservations, promotions, messages to guests and reviews.
• Before your first sign-in, Agoda's Accommodation Support Team must link your Agoda account to your property.

To sign in for the first time, Agoda's help gives these steps:

1. 1Create an account on Agoda.com with “Create account”, using your email address and a password of at least 8 characters.
2. 2Go to Partner Portal at portal.agoda.com and enter your email address and password.
3. 3Click “Sign in”. Agoda emails a secure sign-in link to your registered address.
4. 4Click the blue “Sign in” button in that email to finish.

If you forget the password, the reset starts on Agoda.com:

1. 1Go to Agoda.com, click “Sign in”, then “Forgot Password?” in the window that opens.
2. 2Enter the email address your property is registered with, tick “I'm not a robot” and click “Reset password”.
3. 3Open Agoda's email and click “Reset my password”.
4. 4Enter a new password in the window that opens and click “Change Password”.

If Agoda's emails don't arrive, Agoda suggests checking that your email provider isn't blocking them. Partner Portal may also ask for a one-time code by email or phone, and asks for a new one after 6 hours without activity. If you look after more than one property, it opens on Listings, where you choose the one to work on.

Give each member of staff their own sign-in rather than sharing yours. Agoda's steps:

1. 1Go to Settings, then User management.
2. 2Click “Add a new user”.
3. 3Enter the person's name, the email address they will sign in with, and their phone number.
4. 4Select the properties they may open, and their role for each.
5. 5Click “Apply”.

Agoda's roles are Admin, Content Only, Reservations Only, and three for finance: Finance Supervisor, Finance Card Info Viewer and Finance General. Any change to users needs two-factor authentication as well as the password, and every Admin is told when someone's access changes. A new user signs in the first time through “Forgot my password”.

Agoda's own advice to properties on staying safe:

• Don't click links or open attachments in messages you didn't expect, and ask your account manager if one looks wrong.
• Don't use the same password for more than one account. If your account is taken over, change both your email password and your Agoda password.
• Turn on Partner Portal's multi-factor authentication on your phone rather than your computer. Agoda's reason: someone who controls your computer can read codes sent to your email, but not those sent to your phone.

OneHorizyn is not part of Agoda. Type your Agoda password only at portal.agoda.com or in Agoda's app, never on any other site, this one included.

Agoda's guide to Partner Portal lists its menus. These are the ones a hotel uses most:

• Performance: the Dashboard, Analytics (your figures against the competitors you choose), Opportunities (Agoda's suggestions), Competitor set and Guest Reviews.
• Bookings: Reservations, where you search, view and manage bookings.
• Rates and Availability: the Calendar for prices and rooms, the Availability Center, Promotions, Rate Plans, Surcharge and Agoda Deals.
• Property: Photos, Rooms, Property details, Property location, Content, Room mapping, Cancellation policies and the Arrival guide.
• Finance: Current Transactions, All Transactions, Remittances, My Payment Accounts, Contracted compensation and Marketing Solutions Invoices.
• Growth Program: Agoda Growth Express, Agoda Growth Program, Sponsored Listing, and Campaigns, where you see how each one is doing.
• Settings: Contacts, Tax Settings, User Management and System Logs, a record of the actions taken for your property.
• Messages: the messaging icon at the top of the page.

For help, Agoda points you to the “Need Help” button at the bottom right of Partner Portal. Its support page also lists phone numbers for India, with support in Hindi.

Agoda says keeping your prices and rooms for sale up to date is the property's job under its agreement with Agoda, and that Agoda doesn't manage prices for you. On the Calendar:

1. 1Sign in to Partner Portal and, if you have more than one property, choose it from Listings.
2. 2Go to Rates and availability, then Calendar.
3. 3Select the rooms and rate plans you want to change.
4. 4Choose the date or dates with the date selector at the top right.
5. 5For each room type, change the number of rooms under “Availability per day”.
6. 6For each rate plan, enter the new price.
7. 7Check your changes and click “Save”.

The Availability Center shows the same as a list. To change your rooms for sale there:

1. 1Go to Rates and availability, then Availability Center.
2. 2Choose the dates at the top left, and use the “Rooms” dropdown to show only the rooms you need.
3. 3In the “Remaining availability” row for the room, select a date, or drag the blue slider across several.
4. 4Change the number of rooms in the window that opens and click “Update”. Prices change the same way, in each rate plan's row.

A rate plan is a price with its own terms, such as its cancellation policy and meals. To create one:

1. 1Go to Rates and availability, then Rate plans, and click “Create”.
2. 2Enter a name, which only you see.
3. 3Choose a cancellation policy: search “free” or “non refundable” to find those.
4. 4Add any benefits, such as breakfast or other meals.
5. 5Turn on “Advanced setup” for settings such as dates, rooms or kinds of guest, then check the plan and click “Save”.
6. 6Add prices and rooms for sale to it on the Calendar or in the Availability Center, so that it can be booked.

A rate plan can't be deleted, only deactivated. For a minimum or maximum stay, Agoda's help says to choose the room type and dates on the Calendar, open the “Advanced” tab and change “Minimum/Maximum Stay”. The cross-out rate, which Agoda also calls the rack rate, is set under Property, then Rooms: choose the room type and change “Rack Rate” under Basic Information.

If a channel manager sends your prices to Agoda, make your changes there: Agoda says to update prices and availability in the channel manager's own system. To connect one:

1. 1Go to Property, then Property settings, and click “Optional Settings”.
2. 2Select “Channel manager mode”, or tick “Enable channel manager mode”.
3. 3Choose your channel manager from the list and click “Save”.
4. 4Give the channel manager your property ID, room type IDs and rate plan IDs. “Export items to .xlsx” downloads them.

To add a room type:

1. 1Go to Property, then Room setup, and click “Create”.
2. 2Choose the room's name from the list. Agoda's room names can't be typed in.
3. 3Enter how many rooms of this type you have, the lowest and highest prices, and how many guests it takes.
4. 4Add the room's details, content and photos now or later, and click “Save”.

Renaming a room doesn't change bookings already made; ask your channel manager to update its room mapping afterwards. An extra bed counts only once its price is set under Property, then Property settings, then Property age policy, then Extra bed. To add photos:

1. 1Go to Property, then Photos.
2. 2Click “Add photo” under Property photos, or under the room you want to update.
3. 3Select and upload your photos.
4. 4Tick a photo, click “Tags”, choose its tag and click “Tag photo”. Agoda shows the tag with the photo and uses it to put your photos in order.
5. 5To choose the photo guests see first, click it and choose “Set as main photo”.

• Each photo needs at least 800 by 600 pixels, looks best at 2048 by 1536, and can be up to 4 MB, as a .jpg or .png.
• Agoda recommends at least 24 photos of the property and at least 4 of each room type, in colour and in landscape.
• Changes show on your Agoda page within a few hours. Photos you put on Booking.com or Priceline can show on Agoda too, and are changed there, not in Partner Portal.

To set a cancellation policy for the whole property:

1. 1Go to Property, then Cancellation policies, and click “Add cancellation”.
2. 2Set the stay dates it covers.
3. 3Choose the policy from the list, and the rate plans it applies to.
4. 4Click “Save”.

When several policies could apply to a booking, Agoda uses EasyCancel if you offer it; otherwise the strictest of any Seasonal or Essential promotion's; otherwise the strictest of the rate plan's, any Targeted promotion's and those on the Cancellation policies page.

Agoda measures your page with a Content Score, made of your property's details, your rooms' details, your photos and your child policy. Agoda warns that if the child policy is wrong, guests may not see your rooms or your property at all. Analytics shows the score out of 100, and the app puts it on the last page of the Production Report, made from its Dashboard tab with “Generate”, then “View”.

Agoda names three kinds. Seasonal promotions run for its sales, such as the Payday Sale and the New Year Sale. Essential promotions include Early Bird, Last Minute and Long Stays. Targeted promotions go only to some guests, such as those booking from certain regions or Agoda's loyal customers. Some stack: a Seasonal promotion can combine with Essential and Targeted ones, so one guest can see more than one discount at once.

To make your own:

1. 1Go to Rates and availability, then Promotions.
2. 2Click “Choose new promotion”.
3. 3Under Essential promotions, click “Customized promotion”, and give it a name, which only you see.
4. 4Set the booking dates and the stay dates.
5. 5Set the discount.
6. 6Turn stacking on only if this promotion should always add to your other Essential promotions with stacking on.
7. 7Add any limits under Additional settings and “Add a restriction”, check it and click “Activate”.

To stop one, select it and click “Edit”, then “Deactivate”, choose a reason and click “Deactivate” again. To start one again, click “Inactive”, then “Activate promotion” or “Resume this promotion”. A Targeted promotion can also be paused: click “View”, then “Pause”, enter the day it resumes and click “Confirm”.

Agoda also invites properties into its own campaigns, by email, by a pop-up in Partner Portal or by a notice in the app. Read each one in full: some need a reply to join, and others a reply to stay out. To change your answer later, contact Agoda.

1. 1Go to Bookings, then Reservations.
2. 2Click “Confirmed” to see every confirmed booking.
3. 3Select a booking to see its details.

Agoda also emails a confirmation for every booking to your registered address. Its top right corner says “PREPAID” when the guest paid Agoda, which Agoda calls Agoda Collect, or “TO BE PAID BY GUEST” when you collect the money at the hotel, which it calls Property Collect. At check-in, Agoda asks you to:

1. 1Check that you have Agoda's confirmation for the booking, and any later message from Agoda changing it.
2. 2Ask the guest for the booking confirmation, on paper or on a phone, and a valid photo ID whose name matches it.
3. 3If anything doesn't match, or you can't find the booking, contact Agoda before letting the guest check in.

Agoda suggests taking a refundable deposit at check-in against damage, and saying so in your policies: Agoda doesn't take one for you.

To answer a guest's message, click the messaging icon at the top of the page, or the one beside the booking under Reservations, and choose the message. To start a conversation, open the booking under Bookings, then Reservations, and click “Chat”. A guest's request to waive a cancellation fee must be answered with “Agree to Waive” or “Do Not Agree to Waive” within 48 hours, before the message expires.

For a Property Collect booking, Agoda gives you the guest's card to check. Agoda's steps:

1. 1Go to Bookings, then Reservations, open “Payment models”, select Property Collect and click “Apply”.
2. 2Open the booking, click “Payment & pricing”, then “Verify now”. You can check a card only once.
3. 3To see the card, click “View card details” and enter the code Agoda sends by SMS to the number on your Contacts page.

• You can view the card three times at most, from 7 days before check-in, and Agoda then deletes it.
• Agoda says not to charge or hold money on the card before the guest arrives.
• Once you have viewed the card, collecting any cancellation fee is your job, not Agoda's.
• “Request new card” asks the guest for another card, before check-in.

If a Property Collect guest hasn't arrived by midnight on the check-in date, report a no-show:

1. 1Go to Bookings, then Reservations.
2. 2Click the booking.
3. 3Click “Mark as no-show”.

Agoda suggests waiting 24 hours, and checking whether the guest asked for a late check-in. The button works for 72 hours from midnight of the arrival date; after that, and for Agoda Collect bookings, report it through “Need Help” with the booking ID. The fee follows the booking's cancellation policy, and Agoda tries to charge it to the card it holds only if no one has viewed the card.

1. 1Go to Performance, then Guest reviews.
2. 2Click “Reply” on the review.
3. 3Write your reply and click “Submit reply”.

• To change a reply, click “Edit reply”, then “Update reply”.
• Agoda checks every reply first: it shows as “Pending approval” for up to 48 hours, and Agoda may turn down one with personal details or anything irrelevant. Use only the guest's first name, and leave out their nationality, their room type and their dates.
• Only real guests can review you, after check-out. They score value for money, service, facilities, location and cleanliness, and your Review Score shows in Agoda's search results. Agoda calls review scores one of the most important things in getting bookings.

Analytics compares you with a set of competitors you choose. To set them:

1. 1Go to Performance, then Competitor set, and click “Edit competitor set”.
2. 2Click “+Add a competitor”, search for a property in your country, select it and click “+Add”.
3. 3Add at least five, check the set and click “Save”.

You can change the set once a quarter. Agoda's advice is to choose properties like yours in size, facilities, star rating and the guests they serve, in your own area. Analytics then shows your room nights and revenue against theirs over the last 7, 14, 30 or 365 days, with tabs for Traveler insights, Revenue distribution, Content score and Market demand.

OneHorizyn's guide How to price your rooms against your competitors explains how to use what you see.

• Agoda says its commission depends on where your property is and, in some cases, on how the guest pays. Your contracted rate is under Finance, then Contracted compensation.
• For an Agoda Collect booking, open it under Bookings, then Reservations, and go to Payment & pricing, then Price breakdown: Agoda's share is shown as “Compensation”.
• None is due when a guest cancels within the free cancellation period, or when you waive a cancellation fee.

Agoda pays a property by bank transfer where that is offered, or by a virtual Mastercard, which Agoda calls a UPC, among other ways. To change how you are paid, ask Agoda through “Need Help”. To charge a UPC:

1. 1Go to Bookings, then Reservations, and click the booking.
2. 2Click “Get payout (UPC)” to see the card.
3. 3Check the amount in the latest confirmation email or in the booking's details.
4. 4Enter the card on your card machine and charge that amount.

Agoda says to charge it on the guest's departure date or one day after check-in, as your payment terms say. The card stops working 150 days after check-out, and the payment can't be claimed after that. To be paid into a bank account instead:

1. 1Go to Finance, then Bank Accounts, and click “Add account”.
2. 2Enter the details in English letters only, writing “and” for “&”.
3. 3Click “Choose File” to upload the documents, check the details and click “Submit”.

For India, Agoda asks for a savings account at a bank in India, its IFSC code, a government ID such as Aadhaar, PAN or a GST certificate, and proof the account is yours, such as a passbook, a statement or a cancelled cheque. The account shows as “Pending” until Agoda has checked it, and Agoda says it writes within 5 business days.

To see what you were paid, go to Finance, then Past payouts, and click a payout for the bookings in it. For one booking, find it under Finance, then All transactions, and copy its Payout ID once it says Paid.

Agoda says it can't give the guest an invoice for your rooms, so a tax invoice at the price the guest paid is yours to issue, in your property's name, even for an Agoda Collect booking. It should show the hotel's name, the guest's full name, the amount before GST, the GST and the total. OneHorizyn's guide What booking sites charge hotels in commission sets Agoda's commission beside the other sites'.

Agoda's own pages name these:

• Prices: Agoda says competitive prices bring more bookings, and that keeping your prices and rooms up to date helps you be seen.
• Your page: good photos, clear descriptions of your facilities, and good reviews.
• Promotions: Agoda says guests are more inclined to click on a property when they see a discount on its price.
• Agoda Growth Express: campaigns you set for chosen stay dates, travellers' origin and booking lead times, paid as an extra cost per booking on top of your commission, only on stays that happen. Agoda says it raises your place in its search and adds a badge. Campaigns shows its results, including the median place guests saw you in.
• Agoda Growth Program: a longer commitment that also adds to your commission, for a higher place in Agoda's search and app, its Preferred Partner badge, and adverts for your property on search engines such as Google and Bing. Once in, you stay for at least 90 days.
• Sponsored Listing: a place Agoda reserves for you in its top 3 or top 15 results, for a city or an area and the dates you choose, paid by the booking or upfront. Once made, a campaign can't be edited in Partner Portal.

To start an Agoda Growth Express campaign, Agoda's steps:

1. 1Go to Growth programs, then Agoda Growth Express.
2. 2Set the budget, from the choices given or your own.
3. 3Set who it reaches: stay dates, travellers' origin, lead time, and weekdays or weekends. Each starts at “All”.
4. 4Choose how to pay: from your payouts, or with credits bought ahead.
5. 5Tick the terms, click “Review details”, check the cost per booking and click “Create campaign”.

These are Agoda's programmes and Agoda's figures. Before paying for a higher place, search your town on Agoda as a guest would, signed out, and note where you come. After a few weeks in a programme, compare the bookings it brought with what the extra commission cost.

The price a guest sees on Agoda can differ from the one you set, and from your website's. Agoda's own pages name the reasons: promotions that stack; Targeted promotions shown only to some guests, which Agoda groups as Product, Loyalty, Geography, Platform and Maximum Gain; and coupons that Agoda pays for itself, which it says don't change your base rate.

1. 1Pick a few nights over the coming weeks, weekdays and weekends, and note your website's price for one room and two adults, with its cancellation terms and meals.
2. 2Search your hotel on Agoda in a private window, signed out, for the same nights and guests, and note the price for the same room on the same terms.
3. 3Look again in the Agoda app and signed in, since Targeted promotions reach only some guests.
4. 4Where Agoda is lower, open Rates and availability, then Promotions, and see which of your promotions run on those nights and whether they stack.
5. 5If none of yours explains it, ask Agoda through “Need Help”, with the nights, both prices and screenshots.
6. 6Check the same nights again a week later.

OneHorizyn's guide How to check your hotel's price on every booking site covers the same check across every site, and What rate parity is, and how to check it for your hotel explains the rules on matching prices.