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Hello everyone,

It happened now a few times that I was in contact with hotels, that were not sure about how they would like to set up their rate structure, what rates to offer and how to define cancellation policies etc.

Thus, I thought it would be nice to ask the community about what it is that is important for you, when developing a new rate structure?

What are rates, where you think that they are a must-have?

To me I often see the following rates:

  • Flexible Rates (with free cancellation)
    • Automatic payment only at the beginning of the stay
  • Non-Refundable Rates (with no cancellation possible)
    • Automatic payment at confirmation of the stay
  • And sometimes special/cheaper rates that can only be booked if I stay for a specific amount of nights

 

When I would create this rate structure, I personally would try to work as much as possible with derived rates. Thus, using one rate as the base rate for all the other rates.
By doing this, I can eliminate the manual work of amending rates, and only need to make changes to one rate instead of all the rates.

 

Warm regards,

Tom

Hey Tom, 

in my opinion, the most important for a rate structure is to keep it simple. 

Check what other systems are in place related to rates, (revenue management system, channel manager) and if there are any specific requirements from that end.

Start first to see what cancellation and payment policies are in place and start building rate groups. 
See how much rates can be derived, however, if a lot of fixed contracts they would need to find someplace in the rate structure too of course. 

What requirements are needed for different booking channels? Make sure the rate groups are reflecting automatic settlement rules for rates coming in with VCC for example. They might require different treatments. 

Ideally drafted on an Excel or flowchart program and then build in MEWS. Its recommended to think through every possibility before building it in MEWS, the plan might take a moment, but then all will work out well.

Great question I do get it often as well. :-) 

Hey Claudia,

Love the tip of pre-planning in Excel before starting to built it in Mews. 
Also, as you said, it then additionally helps to get a better understanding of what you might need to have set up for all the other integrations. Or at least it helps to keep those in mind. 

Thanks a lot for your input 😊

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