Updates to Group Module – Date Change Improvements - Available in RoomKeyPMS Versions 11.0.0.57 and higher
Previous Issues When Changing Group Dates:
- Group Block was automatically released.
- Existing Rate Overrides were not preserved.
- Reservations did not always update correctly depending on the date change type.
New Enhancements:
- Option to maintain the original Block.
- Intelligent Block updating when Group dates are shortened or extended.
- Option to maintain existing Rate Overrides.
- Intelligent Rate Override updating for adjusted Group dates.
- Smarter Reservation updating with the ability to review and adjust reservations before saving date changes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Group updates are suggested changes provided for convenience. Clerks must review and verify all details before proceeding and again after updates are applied. RoomKeyPMS is not responsible for any incorrect or unintended updates applied by Clerks.
When updating Group Dates in RoomKeyPMS, the following screen will now appear. Please note:
- BLOCK updates cannot be made in this screen.
- Any Block adjustments must be completed in the Block tab after the date change has been applied.
- RATE updates cannot be made in this screen.
- Any Rate adjustments must be completed in the Rates tab after the date change has been applied.
- RESERVATION updates can be made directly in this screen.
- Fields located to the left of the Rate column are editable, and all changes will be applied once the date change is saved.
Expand each scenario to see the Group Update Logic when Move is selected
- Copies Block from closest date
- Copies Overridden Rate from the closest day
- Extends stays ONLY if the guest was originally booked on ALL Group Nights
- Removes Block from date being removed
- Removes Overridden Rate from date being removed
- If Reservation falls on date being removed:
- Night count is adjusted to remove additional night
- If only booked for night being removed, reservation is shifted to the nearest available group night
- the existing Blocks move to the new dates
- the existing Rate Overrides move to the new dates
- Reservations are re-positioned based on their original arrival relative to the new Group Arrival Date
- Copies block from the last day to the new day
- Copies Overridden Rates from last day to new day
- Reservation is repositioned based on new dates - extends stays ONLY if the guest was originally booked on ALL GroupNights
- Removes block from the last day
- Removed Overridden Rates from last day
- Reservation is repositioned based on new dates – if reservation falls on date being removed:
- Night count is adjusted to remove additional night
- If only booked for night being removed, reservation is shifted to the nearest available group night
- No block is added. Must manually add after updates are complete
- Default Rate for attached Rate Plan is assigned to date
- No updates to existing Reservations
- Copies Block from the closest existing Pre/Post Night
- Copies Overridden Rate from the closest existing Pre/Post Night
- Only Reservations that are in for ALL Group Nights + ALL Pre/Post Nights will have the new Pre/Post Nights added
- Removes Pre/Post night Block
- Removes Overridden Rate from Pre/Post night
- Removes Pre/Post Night from Reservation – nights adjusted accordingly
- Reservations are typically not booked on Pre/Post nights ONLY, however, if one was, it would be shifted to the 1st available Group Night
Expand each scenario to see the Group Update Logic when Release or Clear are selected
When "RELEASE" is selected, this means that no Block will be copied or extended onto the new dates. All Block will default to 0.
After Date Changes have been applied, proceed to the Block Tab to enter your Block.
When "CLEAR" is selected, once the Date Change is complete:
- All rate overrides on the group will be removed, and all reservations will be updated accordingly
- This also removes any reservation-level overrides set using "Enable Rate Override"
What will not change when "CLEAR" is selected:
- Reservations with a Manual Rate
- Reservations with a non-Default Rate Plan (ie: Comp Rate)
After Date Changes have been applied, new Rate Overrides may be entered with the Rates Tab. New Rate Overrides will then apply to any newly created Reservations. Existing Reservations will need to have their Rates manually updated.
There are two types of Overbooking Warnings. Expand the Overbooking Warnings below to learn more
Inventory Overbooking is when Inventory for the new dates is not enough to cover the assigned Block. When this occurs, the INV number will be highlighted in RED
Should you wish to proceed with this update, check the "Enable Overbooking" checkbox at the bottom of the screen and the Date Change will proceed resulting in an Inventory Overbooking.
In the example below we can see that should we move forward with this Date Change, our KING Inventory for Fri, May 1st will end up being -1 (4 rooms in Inventory minus 5 rooms in Block = KING Inventory of -1)
Once the update is complete, navigating to the Block tab (or opening the Inventory Calendar using F12) will display an inventory of -1 for the KING room on May 1st.
Block Overbooking is when Group Pickup has exceeded the Block that has been assigned to the Group. When this occurs, the PUP (Pickup) and REM (Remaining) numbers will be highlighted in RED.
This situation typically occurs in one of two situations:
- The overbooking existed prior to selecting the new Group Dates
- An overbooking is being caused by a Reservation Update during the Group Update process
In both scenarios, the Block Overbooking needs to be resolved before the Date Change can occur.
In the example below, after selecting my new Group Dates, I decided to increase the number of nights for ResID 2911 from 1 night to 2 nights. However, my Block for night 2 was only for 4 rooms. Updating this Reservation means my Pickup is now 5, which means I have overbooked my Block by 1 room. When I select OK to proceed with this update, the below warning will appear. I have two choices:
- YES - selecting YES will automatically increase my BLK to cover my PUP. So, in the example below, my BLK for May 20th will be increased to 5 rooms.
- NO - selecting NO means no changes will be made to the Group Dates at this time. In order to proceed the Reservations would need to be adjusted to fit the assigned block. So, in the example below, I would need to change on of my Reservations back down to 1 night in order to only have 4 nights picked up on May 20th.
Below are just a few basic examples of how each Step of the Group Logic would work in different scenarios
A few visual examples of basic Block Logic updating .
EXAMPLE 1: reflects when a night is added to the end and the beginning of a Group Block with no Pre/Post Nights.
EXAMPLE 2: reflects the adding of Pre and Post Nights on a Group where Pre & Post Nights already existed.
A few visual examples of Rate Logic updating.
EXAMPLE 1: In the scenario below, we are changing a Group to NEW Dates + ADDING Group Date. Our Group Details are as follows:
- Group Rate = $100 per night in April, increases to $300 per night in June
- Rate Override in place for Group Dates of $75.00
- Additional Rate Override scenarios below
Note the following => Guest C’s group dates were overridden to $50.00. When this override was applied to the group dates (April 2–3), the pre- and post-night rate stayed at $100.00 instead of increasing to $300.
This happens because once any part of a rate is overridden, the entire rate is treated as overridden. As a result, the $100.00 pre/post-night rates became part of the overridden rate and do not automatically update when the group date rate changes.
If the pre- and post-nights should be $300.00, it must be manually overridden to that amount.
EXAMPLE 2: Another example, where we are changing a Group to NEW Dates + Adding a Post Night. Our Group Details are as follows:
- Group Rate = $100 per night in April, increases to $300 per night in June
- Rate Override in place for Group Dates of $75.00
- Additional Rate Override scenarios below
Note the following => Guest C’s group dates were overridden to $50.00. When this override was applied to the group dates (April 2–3), the pre- and post-night rate stayed at $100.00 instead of increasing to $300.
This happens because once any part of a rate is overridden, the entire rate is treated as overridden. As a result, the $100.00 pre/post-night rates became part of the overridden rate and do not automatically update when the group date rate changes.
If the pre- and post-nights should be $300.00, it must be manually overridden to that amount.
IMPORTANT: The Logic RoomKeyPMS follows to update Group Reservations may NOT be how the Group wants their Reservations to be updated. For this reason, it is EXTREMELY important that ALL Reservations are reviewed and updated according to the Group Contract either in the Group Update screen BEFORE apply the Date Changes or in the Rooming List Tab AFTER applying the Date Changes.
It is the Clerks responsibility to ensure ALL Group Block, Rate & Reservations have updated correctly after Date Changes have been applied.
A few visual examples of Reservation Logic updating.
EXAMPLE 1: In this example, we have a 3 Night Group (Nov 28th - Dec 1st) who has decided to shortened their stay to 2 Nights Group (Nov 29th - Dec 1st). So they will be arriving on Nov 29th now instead of Nov 28th. So, our reservations will update as follows:
- Guest A was originally booked for all 3 nights of the Group. Nov 28th is no longer available, therefore the guest has been moved to the new Arrival Date of Nov 29th for 2 nights.
- Guest B was originally booked for 2 nights of the Group - arriving Nov 28th. The 28th is no longer available, so the guest has been moved to arrive on Nov 29th now. Remains a 2 night stay.
- Guest C was originally booked for 1 night of the Group - arriving Nov 28th. The 28th is no longer available, so the guest has been moved to arrive on Nov 29th now. Remains a 1 night stay.
- Guest D was originally booked to arrive on Nov 29th for 2 nights, there will be no changes to this Reservation as all the dates of their original booking are still available.
- Guest E was originally booked to arrive on Nov 29th for 1 night. The 29th was the 2nd night of the Group, therefore the reservation has been moved to arrive on Nov 30th, which is now the 2nd night of the Group. Remains a 1 night stay.
- Guest F was originally booked to arrive on Nov 30th for 1 night, there will be no changes to this Reservation as all the dates of their original booking are still available.
EXAMPLE 2: In this example we include Pre & Post Nights. We have a 2 Night Group (Nov 28-30) with 1 Pre Night (Nov 27) and 1 Post Night (Nov 30). The Group wishes to change their Group Dates to Dec 16-18 and add another Pre Night. This means their new Group Dates will be as follows:
- Pre Nights - Dec 14 & Dec 15 (2 nights)
- Group Nights - Dec 16, 17 & 18 (3 nights)
- Post Night - Dec 19 (1 night
The only reservations that will be automatically updated to include the new Pre Night are the Reservations that were in for ALL the original Group Dates (which includes the Pre/Post Night).
Based on this information, our reservations would update as follows:
- Guest A was originally booked for all nights of the Group including Pre & Post Nights. The reservation will now be updated to the new Arrival Date of Dec 14th (the 1st Pre Night) and Nights will be increased to 5. Where the guest was originally booked for ALL nights of the Group, we will update their reservation to include ALL nights of the Group.
- Guest B was booked for a Pre Night + 2 Group Nights - no Post Night. Guest moved to arrive Dec 15th (2nd Pre Night) and nights remain at 3
- Guest C was booked for a Pre Night + 1 Group Night - no Post Night. Guest moved to arrive Dec 15th (2nd Pre Night) and nights remain at 2
- Guest D was booked for 2 Group Nights + Post Night - no Pre Night. Guest moved to arrive Dec 16th (new Group Arrival Night) and nights remain at 3
- Guest E was booked for 2 Group Nights - no Pre/Post Night. Guest moved to arrive Dec 16th (new Group Arrival Night) and nights remain at 2
- Guest F was booked for 1 Group Night (1st night of Group Dates) - no Pre/Post Night. Guest moved to arrive Dec 16th (new Group Arrival Night) and nights remain at 1
- Guest G was booked for 1 Group Night (2nd night of Group Dates) + Post Night - no Pre Night. Guest moved to arrive Dec 17th (2nd night of new Group Dates) and nights remain at 2
- Guest H was booked for 1 Group Night (2nd night of Group Dates) - no Pre/Post Night. Guest moved to arrive Dec 17th (2nd night of new Group Dates) and nights remain at 1
Some Group Update scenarios may not exist in the database because groups and reservations can be configured in many different ways. Should you attempt an update that is not in the database, the Arrival and Nights fields will appear blank (highlighted in orange) for all reservations. At this point, you must manually select these values for each reservation in order to apply the Date Changes.
How you can avoid the same scenario in the future:
- Apply updates in smaller steps - If you are making multiple changes at once (e.g., moving a group from November to December, adding a night, and removing a post-night), try updating the group one step at a time instead of all at once. Breaking updates into stages improves the chance that reservations will update correctly.
- Notify RoomKeyPMS Support - If you frequently performs this type of update, please email Support ([email protected]) with the details of how you are updating your group so we can then add the scenario to the database for future updates. Note: You will still need to manually adjust Arrival and Nights for now, as the scenario will need to be added and tested before being deployed.
