Hello and welcome to the new INNsight weekly training e-blast. Our weekly posts will highlight and educate you about one existing feature each week.
Now that you have made the smart choice to have your property Powered by INNsight, we want to make sure you are getting the most out of all the tools available within the system.
This week, we are going to educate you on how to set rates for your property.
You can always get into your system to raise or lower rates for certain days, weekends, holidays, or whenever you feel like changing your rates.
If you don't set your rates for the year, guests who are browsing your website will see incorrect rates and this could cause them to book elsewhere costing you much more in commissions.
Let's walk through the different wizards that can assist you in setting, managing, and optimizing your rates.
After logging into The INNsight PMS, select the Rate Card tab to get started.
The Rate Card operates very similarly to the Room Management GRID insofar as there is a search function atop which allows you to identify the rates that you have set for any date, room type, room #, or room status.
The Rate Card also displays color-coded cells demonstrating the status of each room like the Room Management GRID. By understanding the status of the rooms, you can make more informed pricing decisions.
The Rate Card operates very similarly to the Room Management GRID insofar as there is a search function atop which allows you to identify the rates that you have set for any date, room type, room #, or room status.
The Rate Card also displays color-coded cells demonstrating the status of each room like the Room Management GRID. By understanding the status of the rooms, you can make more informed pricing decisions.
The Weekend Rate field will set the rate for Fridays and Saturdays within the selected date range/room type configuration
The Base Rate is the Rack Rate you would like to set for the date range/room type configuration
The Floor Rate is a novel rate concept introduced to the INNsight platform which asks the question: What is the lowest rate which you are willing to sell this room on this date? Note: this rate will only be displayed with your consent as INNsight algorithmical
When you open the Rate Wizard, you can quickly and easily change rates for specific rooms, specific dates, and specific room types which would be more time consuming using the Rate Manager tool. Simply choose your year and room type at the top-right of the window, choose your month on the left side of the window, and then click in each date's rate box for which you want to change rates. Once you're done, click Update.
You can quickly go from one date to another by tabbing through them with the Tab key on your keyboard after you enter the updated rate. Any rates that are updated will appear with a green highlight color.
To return back to the PMS, simply click Cancel or the 'X' atop the window to close the Rate Wizard. You will be taken back to the Rate Card which will be refreshed to display your latest change.
The Rate Wizard also displays a small house icon which displays the number of rooms available per date per room type thereby quickly informing you of availability so you can make an educated decision on rate setting. You can even edit the number of rooms available for that room type by directly clicking on the house icon and editing the number of rooms available by typing a number.
The Bulk Rate Uploader is an application which allows you to edit rates for one or many days and control the differences of rates between room types. For example, if you want to quickly drop or increase rates for a date or series of dates, simply select the room type you want to edit, input the rate delta and press the plus or minus icons to increase or decrease the rate respectively.
To make any edits to rates, select the From and To dates. If you want to change the rates for today, just leave the default From and To date as today's date itself. If you just want to increase or decrease the rate, keep the Base Rate blank.
For example, let's say you want to increase all rates for today by $10: Keep From date set as Today and To date set as Today, leave Base Rate Unchanged, and type in '10' in all room types' cells and ensure the green plus icon is selected. Click 'Update' and all of you rates will increase by $10
If you want to set a new base rate enter that Base Rate.
Then you can accordingly update the rates per room type below by entering a different rate figure and clicking on the plus or minus icons. If you select the minus icon, it will turn red and decrease the current rate or the Base Rate by that amount. If you select the plus icon (default), it will be green and increase the current rate or the Base Rate by that amount.
If you want to set a new base rate enter that Base Rate.
Then you can accordingly update the rates per room type below by entering a different rate figure and clicking on the plus or minus icons. If you select the minus icon, it will turn red and decrease the current rate or the Base Rate by that amount. If you select the plus icon (default), it will be green and increase the current rate or the Base Rate by that amount.
With the Bulk Rate Uploader, let's put today's date: 7/18/14 in the "From" box at the top. Then, let's put the end of this year, 12/31/14 in the "To" box. In the "Base Rate" box, enter your property's base room rate. I am going to enter $79.00.
Then, in the boxes that say "Single Queen" enter $20.00 if your Queen room is $20.00 over your base rate. In "Single King" enter $10.00, if your Single King room is $10.00 over your base rate. Make all the pricing changes in this way, and click the green "Update" tab. It's that easy!
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