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. |
| 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. |
| Occupancy Based Pricing | Rate Code uses Occupancy Based Pricing, which allows us to have separate rates for Adult1 through Adult5 Note: Daily Room Rate Config section changes and shows "Daily Adult 1" to "Daily Adult 5" next to PAX field |
| Accommodation Item No. | Item No. used to charge accommodation tax. If empty then Accommodation Item in Hotel Setup is used |
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 | Value for the Discount Type. Note: Only applied if Calculated from Rate Code is set. |
| Derived Rate Rounding Type | Specifies how to round derived rates. Determines whether the derived rate will be rounded up or down to the nearest interval as specified in the derived rate rounding precision field. Note: Only applied if Offset Typeis Percentage |
| Derived Rate Rounding Precision | Specifies the digit to which derived rates are rounded. Note: Only applied if Offset Typeis Percentage |
| Derived Rate Decimal Places | Specifies the setup of the decimal places in the Daily Room Rate field. Note: Only applied if Offset Typeis Percentage |
| Deposit Policy | Specifies what Deposit Policy should be applied for deposits on this rate code. |
| Cancellation Policy | Specifies what Cancellation Policy should be applied when cancellation occurs on this rate code. |
| Rate Attribute | See the Rate Attribute section below. |
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. |
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. |
| Quantity | Quantity of the type. |
| Unit Price | Default to item or activity product price, but can be overwritten. |
| Amount | 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. |
| 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 | Rate attribute line copied was from base rate code to rate attribute for derived rate code. If set then not allowed to be deleted |
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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| Extra Adult | The amount you will charge for additional adults.
|
| All Days and week days | Days of week the rate applies to. |
| Daily Adult 1 to Daily Adult 5 | Specify the price per adult. Is only displayed when "Occupancy Based Pricing" is set |
Note: If the rate code is to be used with Channel Management Systems, they may not support extra adults or child groups.
To export Room Rate Configs to Excel
You can export room rate configs to an Excel file.
- Click the Daily Price Config action in the Daily Room Rate Config FastTab.
- Click the Export to Excel action.
To import Room Rate Configs from Excel
You can import room rate configs from an Excel file previously exported or 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.
Dynamic Rates
It is possible to set up dynamic rates by importing rates directly into Daily Room Rate table