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How to create a template for the app home page

Overview

Brand control is a feature designed for corporate teams to enforce consistency across the guest apps of all hotels within a chain or brand. It allows corporate teams to define clear brand guidelines and consistency parameters, ensuring a unified look while preserving the unique content and identity of each property.

Within Brand control, the corporate team can create home page templates and define specific editing permissions for each hotel. This ensures that the corporate structure and design remain consistent, while individual hotels can customize their local content (within the allowed editing permissions).

 

Before getting started

Before creating a home page template, make sure you have the following:

  • Access to the CMS: Settings > Corporate > Brand control.
  • A corporate user. Other user types (complex ambassador, third party) do not have access.
  • A design plan for which elements must be standardized and which elements can be customized by individual hotels.

Step-by-step guide

Step 1: Access Brand control and create a template

  1. Click the Settings icon in the top right corner.
  2. In the dropdown menu, select Corporate.
  3. Go to the Brand control section.
  4. From the Templates screen, click the Add button to create a new template, or click the edit icon on an existing template to modify it.

Step 2: Understand the editing permission system

When creating a new template or editing an existing one, the screen displayed is very similar to the editing screen for a hotel’s home page (My app > Edit app). This editing screen has two sections: General settings and Widgets.

The corporate template includes an editing permissions system via toggle buttons for both the General settings and the Widgets section. Through this system, the corporate team defines which elements are fixed and which can be edited by individual hotels.

  • If the toggle button for an element is activated, that element can be modified by a hotel.
  • If the toggle button for an element is deactivated, hotels cannot edit that element.

This permission system only applies to content fields. Content fields are:

  • Content destination: This is the content that an element points to, such as a carousel, banner, button, menu section, shortcuts, etc.
  • Headlines texts: The texts used for titles.
  • Button texts: The texts used on buttons or for calls-to-action.

Note: Unlike the content elements mentioned, design elements do not feature the permissions system. This means that design elements cannot be edited or customized by hotels. Only the corporate team, working from Brand control, can define these design elements.

Step 3: Set up General settings

The configuration process for the General settings section works the same way as it does in the editing screen for a specific hotel’s home page (My app > Edit app). You can follow this step-by-step guide to learn how to configure General settings. The key difference is that at the corporate template, the General settings section includes the editing permissions system.

The General settings section includes the following sections to configure:

Template settings
  1. Enter the name of the template.

Note: There is no permissions system to configure here.

Brand styles
  1. Define the main color used on buttons and other UI elements of the home page.

Note: There is no permissions system to configure here.

Header
  1. Define the design by configuring the header type and background style.
  2. Use the permissions system (toggle buttons) to allow or restrict hotels from changing the background image, the logo, and a headline.
  3. Define colors for the text, icons, and button background, and the shape to separate the header from the body.

Example: The most common scenario is to allow each hotel to use a different background image, but restrict permission to change the logo.

Side menu
  1. Define the design by configuring the logo and colors.
  2. Configure the menu structure using groups and sections (groups contain sections).
  3. Use the permissions system (toggle buttons) to allow or restrict hotels from:
    • Creating new groups and sections.
    • Editing existing section content and titles.

Example: You can enforce three standardized groups (Services, My Room, Kids) but allow hotels to choose the content displayed within those Groups.

Launch
  1. Use the permissions system (toggle buttons) to define whether each hotel can decide to show or hide the welcome message.
  2. Use the permissions system (toggle buttons) to define whether each hotel can modify the text that goes above the QR to access the Guest App when opened on a desktop.
Profile

Note: This section has no permission settings as it is highly corporate and standardized, and therefore cannot be edited by individual hotels.

Step 4: Set up widgets

The process for configuring and using the widgets works the same way as it does in the editing screen for a specific hotel’s home page (My app > edit the guest app). You can follow this step-by-step guide to learn how to configure widgets. Inside the home page templates screen, we will differentiate between two types of widgets:

Type 1: All widgets (Dynamic content, Headline, Grid, Calendar, Shortcuts…)

The key difference is that at the corporate template level, widgets feature the editing permissions system. As you add widgets, you must choose which content fields can be edited by the hotels using the toggle buttons.

Follow these steps for configuration:

  1. From the Widgets section, click the Add button. A window with the available widgets will open.
  2. Choose the widget you will use. As you add widgets, they will appear in the left column.
  3. Configure the widget and define which content fields can be modified by hotels using the permissions system and toggle buttons (Content destination, headline texts, and button texts). Design elements (font size, colors, styles) remain restricted to maintain brand consistency.
Type 2 : Custom widget

This is a widget that can only be set up from the templates screen. This exclusive widget creates an open container on the home page where hotels can display content of their choice.

Follow these steps for configuration:

  1. From the Widgets section, click the Add button. A window with the available widgets will open.
  2. Choose the widget named Custom.
  3. Choose which widget types will be allowed within the container. You can choose to allow all widget types, only some, or only one (e.g., all widgets, only Banner, only Button).
  4. Choose the placement within the widget structure and order. The position where the widget is placed in the widget column is the position where it will appear in the hotels' guest apps.

Note: You can set up as many Custom widgets as needed, each with different allowed widget types.

Step 4: Preview the template across different hotels of a chain or brand

The Select sample hotel to preview option allows you to test the template configuration before publishing.

  1. In the upper right corner, above the guest app preview screen, click the Select sample hotel to preview option.
  2. Choose a different hotel within the chain/brand from the dropdown menu.
  3. Review the content. You will see that the content changes based on that specific hotel's content (e.g., restaurants, services).

Note: Viewing a template in different hotels from this dropdown does not apply the changes to the hotels’ actual home pages; it’s only a preview and draft mode

Step 5: Publish the Template

Once the template design is finalized, click the Publish Changes button.

Warning: If this template is linked to any hotels, any changes you publish will be automatically applied to all hotels using that template.

Next steps

Now that you have created and published the template, the next step is to apply it to the specific hotels in your chain or brand.

Need further assistance?

If you have additional questions or require further assistance:

  • Contact us via live chat
  • Send a ticket to our Support team
  • Visit STAY Academy, our training platform.