Rate Management

Hotels offers flexible and powerful rate management. The rate engine used by LS Central for hotels has rates configured as one or more rate codes. A rate code is the deal on which a room is sold. A simple rate code may only have the room price included in the rate. More complex rate codes that include items, activities, or hotel packages must use Rate Attributes.

Rate Code

The Rate Code page lets you create new rates for room types and date ranges and publish the rates to the Daily Room Rate table.

Note: The Daily Room Rate table is useful when viewing daily room prices. It only shows rate attributes that have the Daily posting pattern. If the rate code has rate attributes with posting pattern Arrival/Departure, those additional amounts are only shown when the system is displaying the price (arrival/departure dates known), for example, when creating a new reservation.

Field	Description
Rate Code	Unique identifier for the Rate Code.
Visible	Controls if the Rate Code is visible in BackOffice.
Enabled	Controls if the Rate Code can be used for reservations.
Booking Engine Enabled	Enable this when the rate code is used with Channel Management Systems like SynXis, SiteMinder, or Booking.com. The Booking Engine Connector (BEC) application will only be notified about rate changes when this is enabled and disregards other rate codes. Note: This option must be enabled before publishing, otherwise the Booking Engine Connector (BEC) will not be notified when the room rate is published.
Web Enabled	Only Web enabled rate codes can create reservations via Web. Used with the Hotel Web Service API but not with Channel Management Systems.
Occupancy Based Pricing	Rate Code uses Occupancy Based Pricing, separate rate for Adult1 through Adult5.
Accommodation Item No.	Item number to charge accommodation. If empty, the Accommodation Item in Hotel Setup is used.
Currency Code	Required field. Lets you enter rates in other currencies than specified in the hotel setup. The hotel reservation is always created in the same currency as specified in the Store Card as all stores and POSs must use the same currency. Currency Exchange must be kept up to date. Note: Derived rates (calculated from the rate code) are forced to use the same currency code as the parent rate code.
Check-in Housekeeping Rule	Specifies which housekeeping rule is applied to the room at check-in on arrival date.
Stayover Housekeeping Rule	Specifies which housekeeping rule the housekeeping job applies to the room, when a reservation is staying over (excluding arrival and departure date). Only used when a reservation is longer than one night.

Rate Configuration

The following options are available in the Rate Configuration FastTab:

Field	Description
Derived from Rate Code	Used when a rate code is derived from another rate code. This is the Base Rate Code. Derived rate codes can have discounts and new rate attributes, but always use the same Daily Room Rate Config data as the Base Rate.
Offset Type	Percentage or amount. Note: Only applied if Calculated from Rate Code is set.
Offset (+/-)	Offset value for the rate code. The Daily Room rate is increased or decreased for this value. Note: Only applied if Derived from Rate Code is set.
Derived Rate Rounding Type	Only visible if the Offset type is Percentage. Neither – Rounds to the rate rounding precision. Up – Rounds up to the rate rounding precision. Down – Rounds down to the rate rounding precision.
Derived Rate Decimal Places	Specifies the setup of the decimal places in the Daily Room Rate field. Examples: If you enter 1 in this field, exactly 1 decimal place is set. If you enter 1:4, a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 4 decimal places is set. If you enter 2: a minimum of 2 decimal places is set. If you enter :2 a maximum of 2 decimal places is set.
Deposit Policy	The Deposit Policy that is set on reservations with this rate code.
Cancellation Policy	The  Cancellation Policy that is set on reservations with this rate code.

Rate Attribute

The rate attribute affects how the room rate is calculated. The attribute is very flexible and decides how the hotel reservation is charged, that is the amount that is charged for the accommodation (room price), items, or activity products. Once a hotel reservation has been confirmed, the rate attribute configuration decides how data is saved to the Detail Revenue Entry table (and from there to the sales invoice).

Important: The final room rate may not be known until a new hotel reservation is created, since only then are the arrival and departure dates known. Also, the customer number, the hotel contract, and other related information may affect the rate when the reservation is created.

There are three types of rate attributes, but all behave the same whey when the rate attribute amount is calculated.

Rate Attribute Type	Description
Item	Any item, item price can be overwritten. This item is added to the Detailed Revenue Entry table and to the sales invoice.
Hotel Package	Consists of one or more items, same rules apply as for item.
Activity Product	The price of an Activity Product for a default location is shown. Activities are created in draft mode when a hotel reservation is confirmed. The Posting Item is added into the Detailed Revenue Entry table and to the sales invoice. The Activity Product can also be an Activity Package.

Rate Attribute Type

Description

Item

Any item, item price can be overwritten.

This item is added to the Detailed Revenue Entry table and to the sales invoice.

Hotel Package

Consists of one or more items, same rules apply as for item.

Activity Product

The price of an Activity Product for a default location is shown.

Activities are created in draft mode when a hotel reservation is confirmed.

The Posting Item is added into the Detailed Revenue Entry table and to the sales invoice.

The Activity Product can also be an Activity Package.

The room price rate inserts the Accommodation Item No. as configured in the Hotel Setup into the Detailed Revenue Entry table and to the sales invoice.

A new rate attribute defaults to a Daily Posting Pattern which is always included in the daily rate. This means that the rate attribute amount is part of the Daily Room Rate in the Daily Room Rate Config FastTab.

Rate Attribute Field	Description
Type	Item, Hotel Package, or Activity Product.
No	Item No, Hotel Package Code, or Activity Product No.
Description	Description of the Item, Hotel Package, or Activity Product.
UOM	Unit of measure for the product.
Quantity	Quantity of the item or activities.
Unit Price	Price of the item or activity added to the reservation. Default is the retail price but can be overwritten.
Amount	The amount for the rate attribute line (=Quantity * Unit Price).
Per Guest	If selected, the amount is multiplied with the PAX number on the reservation.
Posting pattern	Daily – Amount is always included in the Daily Room Rate, because this pattern can only be Included in Rate. Arrival date, Departure date – If Included in Rate, the amount is included in the Daily Room Rate but only on the date of arrival/departure. If not Included in Rate, amount is added to the rate on the date of arrival/departure.
Offset	Sets the consumption date (in Detailed Revenue Entry) for the rate attribute line. For posting pattern: Daily - Consumption date is room stay date +1. Example is breakfast which is consumed a day later than the night stay. Arrival - Consumption date is arrival date +1. Example is lunch that is consumed a day after arrival. Departure - Consumption date is departure date -1. Example is dinner that is consumed the night before departure
Included in Rate	If selected, the amount is included in the Daily Room Rate. If the check box is clear, amount is added to Daily Room Rate on the date of arrival/departure, that is the final room rate is only known when a reservation is created (arrival and departure dates are known).
Currency Code	Indicates the currency for the unit price and amount.
Exists in Base Rate Code	For derived rate codes, shows if the rate attribute comes from the parent rate code or not.

Note: A rate derived from another rate can have rate attributes added to it. An example of this could be a BAR WITH BREAKFAST rate code that is derived from a BAR rate code where the BAR WITH BREAKFAST rate code has a breakfast item rate attribute.

Important: Rate Codes with Booking Engine Enabled are not allowed to have rate attributes where Included in Rate is not enabled. This is because OTAs, such as SynXis, SiteMinder, and Booking.com, must have all daily rates the same. They do not support having different rates for Day1, Day2, or Day3 of the reservation.

Note: The Web API and Channel Management Systems always send the rate or price that the room was sold at. This means that the rate or price sent via Web API is the Daily Room Rate. The price data from Web API is saved in the Daily Room Rate Log table, so if the reservation needs to be changed, the original data is still available. Hotel reservations via Web do not have customer discounts calculated of the price since there is no customer number included in the Web API.

To import Rate Attributes from Excel

You can import rate attributes from an Excel template (LS Hotel Import from Excel Template.xlsx). The template is included in the Hotels package.

Click the Rate Attribute action in the Rate Configuration FastTab.
Click the Import from Excel action.

Daily Room Rate Config

Daily room rate uses the Rate Attributes, so the final Daily Room Rate may not be known until the hotel reservation is created, since only then the arrival and departure dates are known.

Field	Description
PAX	Defaults to the number of adults for the room type. Used with rate attributes. When a Hotel Reservation is created, its number of adults + children is used to create reservation extras and activities, but no more than PAX are created. For example, if PAX=2 and Adults=1, then only one activity is created.
Daily Room Rate	The rate for this room type and date range. This is the amount the customer will pay per day. The amount, however, can change depending on how rate attributes are used. This is the daily room rate if no rate attributes are used. Rate attributes not included in rate will be added for the arrival and departure date.
Daily Room Price	The Daily Room Rate minus the Daily Rate Attr. Amt.
Daily Rate Attr. Amt	The sum of Rate Attributes where Posting Pattern is Daily multiplied with PAX if Per Guest check box in the Rate Attribute line is selected.
Child Groups	The number of child groups and the amount to charge for each child group. The Room Type number of children decides if children are allowed and is charged.
Extra Adult	The amount you will charge for additional adults. The Room Type number of adults decides if an extra adult is allowed and is charged. If the number of adults in the reservation is greater than No. Of Adults in Room Type, this amount is added to the room price.
All Days and week days	Days of week the rate applies to.

Note: If the rate code is to be used with Channel Management Systems, they may not support extra adults or child groups.

To import Room Rate Configs from Excel

You can import room rate configs from an Excel template (LS Hotel Import from Excel Template.xlsx). The template is included in the Hotels package:

Click the Daily Price Config action in the Daily Room Rate Config FastTab.
Click the Import from Excel action.

Publish Room Rates

Once the Daily Room Rate Config data has been entered, the room rate needs to be published to the Daily Room Rate table and its data can be checked using the View Room Rate action. The action shows the Daily Room Rate and Room Price from the Daily Room Rate Config.

When you create a hotel reservation, the Daily Rate and Room Price is looked up in the Daily Room Rate (or the Daily Room Rate Log) table, and a rate attribute amount is calculated from data in the Rate Attribute table.

To view all valid Rate Codes

Click the icon, enter Daily Room Rate, and select the relevant link. This gives all valid rate codes in the system.

External Rates

Third party Yield Management systems can write rates directly into the Daily Room Rate table or the Rate Config table.