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.
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.

BAR - Best Available Rate

The Best Available Rate (BAR) is a special type of rate code. BAR room rates are never created, but use rates configured as “BAR Source Data” rate codes (BAR Source Data).

Only one of the BAR Source Data rate codes can be used by the system as the BAR room rate at any given time. Furthermore, a BAR Source Data rate code (Bar01 and so on) can never be used as a rate code in the system - only the BAR that uses it. BAR can be of different types:

Daily BAR (predefined or fixed room rates). The BAR Source Data rate code is set according to the daily room forecast done by the hotel staff, that is the staff decides which BAR Source Data rate code is used as the room rate at any given time.
This is configured in the BAR Grid Config page which determines what BAR rates are active in the Daily Room Rate table.
Rates from 3rd party Yield Management systems can fall under BAR. The Yield Management system can write rates directly into the Daily Room Rate table or the Rate Config table.

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.
Deposit Policy
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.

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.

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 set up prices for the BAR

Click the icon, enter Rate Code List, and select the relevant link.
Click the New action.
Add a Rate Code ID (for example BAR01 ), and fill in the relevant fields.
1. Rate Code must have Visible and Enabled selected to make a reservation on that rate code
Set the rate code to Is BAR Source Data.
To add a room rate, go to the Daily Room Rate Config FastTab and fill in the Room Types, PAX, Date from, Date to, and the Rate Price.
Click the Publish Room Rate action to publish the rate.
Click the icon, enter BAR Grid, and select the relevant link.
Click the BAR Grid Config action.
On the Bar Grid Config card in the Change BAR FastTab, enter the Room Type,Date from, Date to, and which Rate Code (must be BAR Source) is valid for the given days within the period.
Important: The Rate Code selected in this step must be valid for the selected dates in this step.
Click the Publish BAR Dates action to make this Rate Code valid as a Bar Code Source.

To view which BAR Code is valid

Click the icon, enter BAR Grid, and select the relevant link.
Verify that the rate code for a given date has been added.

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.

Fixed Rates

To set up a fixed rate for the hotel, do not specify any settings on the BAR Setup configuration in the Rate Codes.

Dynamic Rates

It is possible to set up dynamic rates that are calculated from BAR.