This tutorial will explain how to setup an "Rate Grid" Rate Discount and the various different options you have available to you.
Rate discounts are only for online bookings. They do not apply to manual calendar bookings.
Open Rate Discount in setup.
If you're not sure how to do this, please check this tutorial on how to find this section in the setup.
Click on "Add" in order to create your new special.
Make sure that you've selected "Rate Grid" as the type of Rate Discount.
If you would like to know more about the other types of rate Discounts, please click here.
A button called "Enter Percentages on Rates Grid" will appear.
This button will open up a blank Rate Grid.
The Rate Grid allows you to enter a % amount that will override your base rate (RACK or STO) that displays online.
Click here if you need more information about using the Rate Grid.
This new screen that will display a blank grid of all your rooms for the applicable dates that you selected earlier.
- This is a list of all your room types and associated meal plans. You're able to select specific room types or meal plans with a setting mentioned later in this tutorial.
- These are the applicable dates that you specified earlier.
Double click on the blank block that covers the date and room type/meal plan.
This will allow you to edit the block by entering a percentage (%) amount to the block.
Enter a minus sign (-) in the block if you want the rates to be decreased.
Enter the amount WITHOUT the minus sign with increase the rates.
Save your changes once you've finished updating your Rate Grid.
Add a name for the Rate Grid that you're creating.
Use a name that gives you an indication as to what you're using the Rate Grid for.
E.g. If you're adjusting your rates based off of your occupancy levels, you might want to name it as such.
Add the dates that you want the Rate Grid to cover.
This section will allow you to add the dates that the Rates Grid will cover. Therefore, if you want to manage your rates grid for the following month, you will need to set the applicable dates to begin and end during those date.
If you want to add another date range, you can do so, but remember that the dates will all show up in the same Rate Grid.
Would you like to set up price pointing?
Price pointing allows you to setup your prices so that they're rounded to a specific price. E.g If the price is R500 per night, you can setup the price pointing to round off to R499 per night.
- Price Rounding: You can setup the price rounding which means that the price will be rounded to the nearest R1, R5, R10, R100 etc. This is useful when you have rates that are not whole numbers and you would like round off the price.
- Price Pointing: You can then setup your price pointing to then round the price to the nearest 99 or 95 if the rate change ends up on a 100 or 1000 denomination. Therefore if your rate is R1000, the system will then round your prices to R999.
Apply rate grid to any specific room types/meal plans.
If you only want your rate grid to apply to a specific room type or meal plan, you're able to set this up here.
You would first need to click on the slider to turn off the setting that applies the rate grid to all room types/meal plans. Once you've done that, then you can tick the boxes to choose which room types and meal plans the rate grid will apply to.
For display purposes, the Rates Grid will always automatically show all room types by default. This does not mean that a discount would be applied to that room type, it will just make it available for you to adjust your rates there.
Would this Rate Discount apply to a specific rate sheet or channel?
If you would like to only apply the rate discount to a specific rate sheet such as the RACK or an STO, you're able to select this here. This would only be relevant if you've setup multiple rate sheets for different channels/agents (click here if you're not sure what an STO is).
You're able to apply the rate grid to one or multiple rate sheets at a time.
Alternatively, you could also choose to distribute this rate grid to a specific channel such as your own website or to an OTA like Booking.com. You're also able to apply the rate grid to more than one channel at a time.
Only sites that you have connected through NightsBridge will show in this list and so if the channel you're looking for is not in the list, it's not connected to your NightsBridge.
Keep the following in mind that certain channels like Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, etc. require that you provide them with the "best available price" or rate parity. Therefore, if you only apply the rate grid to one of the channels and not the competing site, they will be unhappy.
When you're happy with your selection, save and publish your setup.
Once you're finished with setting your preferences, you will then need to save and then publish the setup.
It's always recommended that you test to see if you've setup the rate grid correctly by double checking on your own website and maybe make a test booking.
How do the adjusted rates display on the NightsBridge booking form?
If you apply a rate discount, the booking form will show the % saved for that day as well as a strike-through that show the original rate.
Please note that:
- Discounted rates will show under the "Available Rates" section on the booking form when the guest selects the room they want to book.
- If you increase your rates through the Rate Grid, the increased rate will show as if it's a normal rate with no strike-through.