9.9. Price Right and Save

 

In the last newsletter we likened your ResRequest system to a Landrover (a high performance machine, custom designed to work hard and go places other machines cannot) - following on from that analogy you need to think of your Rates as the fuel that makes your system run. If your rates aren't set up optimally your system is compromised: you cannot get the level of reporting you might want, your accounts department has to do manual work outside the system, making a reservation can become time consuming and margins for error creep into this process.

 

We know that you are used to thinking of your Rates in a certain way – and setting them up in a certain way. In order to get the most from your system – we recommend the following:

1. Set up Rack Rates – and give Agents commission. This is cleaner and quicker to set up than multiple Nett Rates. You can adjust the commission on a booking by booking basis, if you want to. But every booking you create for an Agent will use their default commission percentage. (You can now round rates up or down, so Agents don't see cents on their invoice - see note below).                                                                                                                                                                                          

2. Use Components – anything that Accounts has to calculate outside of the system for their reporting purposes can probably be included in your rate build, so that the system does all the calculations for you. For instance – if you attribute a certain percentage (or fixed amount) of a bednight to "Beverages" or a "Conservation Fund" - set these up as components within your rate. You can choose whether these are shown to the client or not – they can be purely for back-end reporting and financial controls.

3. Use Optional Components – these allow you to add certain things to the rate on a booking by booking basis. Again – you can choose to show them to the client or not. And they add an amount to the rate – as opposed to the Components above, which extrapolate amounts from the rate. For instance – you could make Park Fees an Optional Component, which means you don't include them in your rate, but you can add them as you make the booking instead of adding Extras after you've made the booking. Optional Components can be a percentage or a fixed amount – and can differ from rate group to rate group (i.e. Adults might pay more than children).

There are some new additions to the Rates Module that will make your rates even more dynamic and precise. Some of these are already in the system, some will be released in our next version due in mid March, and some will be released later in the year:

1. Ordering of Rate Groups – you can now decide what order you'd like your rate groups (e.g. Adult, Child) to appear when you create a reservation. You can also ensure that unused rate groups don't show up at all if you don't want them to.

2. Rounding Rates – if you create Rack Rates and offer commission (as opposed to Nett Rates) you can now round those rates, so you don't see cents – you see whole numbers. (This is OPTIONAL - you don't have to round). In rounding, one party tends to lose – depending on whether you round up or down. In ResRequest – if you want to ensure your client doesn't lose, you would round Down, which means the Commission rounds Up. Depending on your currency, you can round to the nearest unit (81.50 becomes 81 or 82), you can round to the nearest 10 (81.50 becomes 80 or 90); you can round to the nearest 100 (181.50 becomes 100 or 200); or you can round to the nearest 1000 (1081.50 becomes 1000 or 2000).

3. Optional Components can be added by Default – for Optional Components (i.e. those components you add which add a charge to the rate) you can now decide if they should be included or not as default. If you set it to include as default – when you create a reservation it will automatically add the component, but you can de-select it. This is good for components like Park Fees – which you want add to every booking, but don't want to include in the Rate.

4. Specials Rates – this is a very exciting, brand new module we are developing this year, which will allow you to create "specials" attached to normal rates. It will be useful for almost any kind of Special you want to run. Some examples of specials our Specials Rate Module will handle:

- Circuit Discounts

- Stay for 5, Pay for 4 Nights

- Honeymoon Special – Bride pays 50%

- With 2 full paying Adults, 1 child travels free

 

We will give you more information on this development closer to the time – but bear it in mind if you're planning on creating special rates in the future.

We know that Rates can seem a little overwhelming – we would be very happy to chat to you about your specific needs, and help you set up your rates in the best way possible for you in order to streamline your booking, reporting and accounting procedures. Contact our Consulting Team if you would like to workshop setting up your rates effectively or working with our financial interfaces.