Enter the following information:

• Rate Category – enter the name of your Rate Category
• Description – enter a brief description of any terms or conditions for this rate to be valid while booking on the eRes Online Booking Engine (if this rate will not be displayed on eRes or you do not use eRes this field may remain blank)
• Sort Order – a number entered here tells the PMS in which order you wish for this Rate Plan to display on your eRes Online Booking Engine. (if this rate will not be displayed on eRes or you do not use eRes this field may remain blank)

When done, select Ok to save the Rate Category.

Fill in the following information:

• Category – use the drop down menu to select the Rate Category for this Rate
• Rate Name – type in the name of the Rate
• Rate Code - the rate code is a required field, length: 3-9 characters, only letters and numbers (no special characters) and must be unique across Rate Plans. This Code will be used to map rates if connected to a GDS Channel
• Direct Hotel – check this box if you want this Rate to be available for booking internally within the PMS
• Hotel Website – check this box if you want this Rate to be available for booking via your eRes Online Booking Engine
• CRS – check this box if you use and wish for this Rate to be available for booking via the PMS' proprietary CRS product (NOTE: CRS is not the same as GDS – the CRS is a product offered to Multi-Property operations so that reservations can be created for several properties within one system)
• GDS – check this box if you use and wish for this Rate to be available for booking via your GDS Interface

• More Details – this button allows you to streamline which Room Types you wish to make available under each Rate Type (ie: Hotel Direct, Hotel Website, GDS and CRS). You may decide you do not want to attach a Room Type to a Rate – in this case, you would uncheck the box beside the Room Type. OR, you may decide you do not want a GDS Rate created for a specific Room Type – in this case you would hit the + sign next to the Room Type in question and then uncheck the box beside “GDS”. Once all the desired changes are made, select the “Apply” button below to save all your changes.

NOTE: YOU CAN MODIFY THIS AREA LATER IF YOU WISH TO ADD OR REMOVE (IE: MAKE INACTIVE) CERTAIN RATE PLANS FROM SPECIFIC ROOM TYPES OR RATE TYPE

• Lock off (using for online booking) – check this box if the Rate Plan you are creating is for a Lock Off Room. To learn more about creating rates for Lock Off Room Types please consult RoomKey Smart Support located under your RoomKey Help Menu
• Special Rate - During a Promotion no other Rates will display on eRes except for your Online Promotion Rate. If you wish for this Rate to display at the same time as your Online Promotion Rate, then you must check the “Special Rate” checkbox in order for it to appear at the same time as your Online Promotions.
• Non Commissionable – check this box if Travel Agent Commissions do not apply to this particular rate if it is booked by a Travel Agent.
• Hide Rate – check this box if you would like to hide the rate on following Print Outs – Reservation Form, Confirmation Form, and Registration Card
• Sort Order (Hotel Web Site) - if your property uses the eRes Online Booking Engine and this rate is set to appear on online, you may select in which order you wish this rate to appear by assigning a Sort Order number to the Rate Plan.
• Cutoff Days –By setting a Cutoff Day, you are telling RoomKey that this Rate is not available X Days before booking. For example: We want to encourage guests to book in advance, therefore we are offering a 30 Day Advance Rate which provides the guest with a 20% discount on the Room Rate if they book more then 30 days in advance. Therefore, we set the “Cutoff Days” to 30 on the 30 Day Advance Rate Plan. To learn more about Cutoff Days please consult RoomKey Smart Support.
• Number to Sell – for eRes Online Booking Engine ONLY – allows you to dictate how many of this particular Rate Plan do you wish to sell online Per Room Type Per Day.

• Min Persons/Max Persons - The “Min Persons” indicates the minimum amount of adults that can stay in this Room Type and the “Max Persons” indicates the maximum amount of adults that can stay in this Room Type. NOTE: If the Max Persons is set higher then the “Sleeps (max)” found on the Room Type, the “Sleeps (max)” will define the maximum number of adults allowed for this rate plan.
• Min Stay Default/Max Stay Default nights - All rates must have at least a 1 Min Stay Default, so the guest must stay at least 1 night for this rate to apply. For Weekly Rates and Monthly Rates the Min Stay Default where the “Period” is set to week or month, the Min Stay Default can be left blank. Because the period is set to “week”, this rate will only appear when the Weekly Room Charge Code is selected. When the Weekly Room Charge Code is selected, it automatically defaults to 1 week which is a minimum of 7 nights. The same rules apply for monthly stays.
• Period – select if this will be a Daily, Weekly or Monthly rate (IMPORTANT NOTE: If this is a Weekly or Monthly rate ensure that you have a Weekly or Monthly Room Charge Transaction Code setup under System Configuration -> Transactions Code or else this rate will not be available for booking. For more information on Transaction Codes please see the Transaction Codes Module Training Document located on Smart Support.) If the Period selected is Weekly or Monthly, a default Daily Rate must also be selected. The purpose of a default Daily Rate is for situations where a guest plans on staying for 33 days (so not for 1 month or not for 4 weeks exactly). For the first 30 days the Monthly Rate would apply and then for the remaining 3 days selected, the Daily Rate would apply.
• Market Segment - A Market Segment may also be entered into the Rate Plan to identify in which Market Segment this particular Rate Plan belongs. This field is not mandatory
• Base Rates – leave this area blank. Base Rates will be discussed later in this document.
• Description – enter pertinent booking information regarding the rate into this area. This description will appear on your eRes Online Booking Engine, CRS and internally in RoomKey when you right click on a Rate Plan while creating a new Reservation.

Select “Create” to create your Rate.

Once the Rate is created it will appear in the Rate Wizard list. From this list you can quickly see the following:

• What Rate Types it is setup on
• If it is a Lock-off Rate or not
• If Tiering is Enabled
• If it is a Daily/Weekly/Monthly Rate

Proceed to the Client Types tab. A list of the different Distribution Channels (ie: Hotel Direct, CRS, Hotel Website, GDS) you selected for this rate will appear.

You must now associate each Rate for the various Rate Types to the appropriate Client Type. To view a list of available Client Types, select the + sign next to the Rate Type name.

In the example below, I have attached my *Best Available Rate Rate to my Leisure Client Type under the Hotel Direct Channel.

And here I have selected for my *Best Available Rate “Hotel Website” to attach to my Online Booking Client Type.

NOTE: FOR CORPORATE & GROUP CLIENT TYPES YOU MAY CHOOSE NOT TO ATTACH THE RATE TO THE SPECIFIC CLIENT TYPE BUT INSTEAD ATTACH IT TO THE APPLICABLE CORPORATE ACCOUNT OR GROUP USING THE CORRESPONDING CORPORATE AND GROUP TABS.

Once you have selected all your applicable Client Types for each of your Rate Types, click on the Update button below to attach the Rates to your Client Types.

If you are creating a Rate that you wish to attach directly to a Corporate Account, proceed to the Corporates tab.

Again, a list of all the various Rate Types will appear. Hit the + sign next to the Rate Type whose Rate you wish to attach in order to view a list of your Corporate Accounts. NOTE: If you are creating a Corporate Promotion for your eRes Online Booking Engine, make sure you attach the “Hotel Website” Rate to you Corporate Account.

Place a checkmark next to the Corporate Account(s) where you wish to attach the Rate and then select the “Update” button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen once finished.

The same process can be used for Groups as well via the "Groups" tab. The group must be created in the Group Module before you can attach a Rate Plan to a specific Group. For more information on how to attach a Rate Plan to a Group within the Group Module, please consult RoomKey Smart Support located under your RoomKey Help Menu (keyphase: How to Create a Group).

Ensure the rate you are working on is highlighted in blue, then select the “Next” button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

You now have an opportunity to input the different rate structure for each of your Room Types. Uncheck the “Lock the Grid” checkbox located to the right of the screen. Unchecking this box allows you to work within the Rate Grid above.

At this point what you want to do is define the rate difference between your Room Types. So, in the example below:

• My SQQ is my lowest-priced room type. Therefore, the SQQ is left at $0.00 for the Single and Double columns so when I enter my rate of $100.00, my SQQ will be $100.00.
  • There is a $10.00 per-day fee for each additional adult occupant over double-occupancy. Therefore $10.00 and $20.00 are entered into the Triple and Quad columns, respectively. $10.00 is also entered into the Extra column to account for any occupancy above 4-Adults. In this example, there is no charge for Child occupancy, therefore the value in the Child column is always $0.00.
• My SK Room Type is $10.00 higher than my base rate and therefore I input my template rate as $10/$10/$20/$30 and $10.00 for Extra and $0.00 for Child.
• My DQQ Room Type is $25.00 higher than my base rate, and therefore I input my template rate as $25/$25/$35/$45 and $10.00 for Extra and $0.00 for Child.
• My DK Room Type is $35.00 higher than my base rate, and therefore I input my rate as $35/$35/$45/$55 and $10.00 for Extra and $0.00 for Child
• My EKS Room Type is $235.00 higher than my base rate, and therefore I input my template rate as $235/$235/$245/$255 and $10.00 for Extra and $0.00 for Child.

By doing this you are telling RoomKeyPMS that no matter what my base rate is, my SK will always be +$10.00, my DQQ will always be +$25.00, my DK will always be +$35.00, and so on down the list.

NOTE: THESE DIFFERENCES CAN BE ADJUSTED AT ANY TIME BY SIMPLY ADJUSTING YOUR TEMPLATE – OTHERWISE, ROOMKEY WILL DEFAULT TO THESE DIFFERENCES.

Once you have your template set select the "Update Rate Template" button (1) to save the template. The "Lock the Grid" checkbox (2) can be re-checked at this time.

Now notice that if you were to change the Single/Double/Triple/Quad rates above in the Base Rate line, the rest of your Room Types would fluctuate along with your rates based on the template you have set.

To set Rates on specific dates, first, enter the Base Rate for the dates you wish to enter and then select the desired Date Range below.

NOTE: IF THESE RATES ONLY APPLY FOR EXAMPLE, ON SUN – THURS, THEN YOU WOULD UNCHECK THE CHECKBOXES FOR FRI & SAT SO THAT THE RATES DO NOT APPLY FOR ANY FRI/SAT FOR THE DATE RANGE SELECTED.

Now you must select what you wish to do for this Date Range. There are 5 options:

• Update Rate Amount
• Close To Arrival (includes Close to Arrival / Clear Close to Arrival)
• Close (includes Close / Open Closed Rate)
• Length of Stay Restrictions (LOS)
• Number to Sell Restriction (NTS)

In this situation we wish to Update Rate Amount and therefore we check the box that says "Update Rate Amounts" and select SAVE to update the rate.

Next, select the “Save” button located in the bottom right hand corner.

A message will appear confirming the area(s) that are being updated (below we see Rate Amounts appears in black while the other options appear in gray). Select OK

You can now proceed to the bottom of the screen to review the Rate Calendar to verify that the rate amounts have updated.

Your rates are now available for booking. NOTE: For new GDS Rates ensure you email [email protected] with the proper linking information.

Skip the General Tab and proceed directly to the “Rate Tiering” tab.

NOTE: A RATE PLAN WITH A WEEKLY PERIOD CAN ONLY BE TIERED OFF A RATE PLAN WITH A WEEKLY PERIOD. A RATE PLAN WITH A MONTHLY PERIOD CAN ONLY BE TIERED OFF A RATE PLAN WITH A MONTHLY PERIOD.

On the Rate Tiering tab, fill in the following information:

• Enable Rate Tiering – check this box to allow tiering

• Apply for (at least one of these boxes must be checked):

   o Rate – check this box if you wish for the Rate to update through tiering   

   o Closed/Closed to Arrival – check this box if you wish for Closed/Closed to Arrival to update through tiering

   o LOS Restrictions – check this box if you wish for Min & Max Length of Stay Restrictions to update through tiering

   o Number to Sell - check this box if you wish for Number to Sell to update through tiering

• Rate Tiered Off – Select the Rate that this rate will be tiered off of. NOTE: A RATE PLAN WITH A WEEKLY PERIOD CAN ONLY BE TIERED OFF A RATE PLAN WITH A WEEKLY PERIOD. A RATE PLAN WITH A MONTHLY PERIOD CAN ONLY BE TIERED OFF A RATE PLAN WITH A MONTHLY PERIOD.

• Calculation Formula – enter the amount/percentage of the difference into the blank box and then select the dial next to $(Amount) if the is an amount or the dial next to % (Percentage) if it reflects a percentage. Next, use the < arrow to tell RoomKey if the formula should calculate as Less Then (<) or Greater Then (>) the Rate it is tiered off of.

• Rounding Type – if your Calculation Formula is based on a percentage, you can choose to round your rate to the nearest penny (0.01), dollar (1.00) or five dollars (5.00)

The “Apply Changes Now” (1) checkbox should be checked and then proceed to select “Save” (2) to setup this rate as a tiered rate.

After your tiering has been saved, proceed back to the General Tab, and select a Room Type & Rate Type to ensure that your Rates have updated correctly.

Your rates are now available for booking. NOTE: For new GDS Rates ensure you email [email protected] with the proper linking information.