The following steps review how to setup an Online Booking Promotion that offers free, or discounted Guest Services.
Step 1: Select/Create the Promotional Rate Plan
Guest Service Related Promotions are tied to Rate Plans that are available on eRes. If a special Rate Plan needs to be created for a Guest Service related Online Promotion, proceed to create the applicable Rate Plan in the Rate Wizard. Otherwise, the Guest Service related Online Promotion may be attached to a pre-existing eRes Rate Plan.
For more information on creating a rate plan, please refer to the article How to create a Rate Plan using the Rate Wizard in the Rates manual.
Step 2: Attach Rate to Client Type
Attach the Promotional Rate Plan to the Online Booking (Web) Client Type.
For more information on attaching rates to Client Types, please see the article How to attach a Rate to a Client Type in the Rates manual.
Step 3: Ensure Guest Services are attached to selected Rate Plan
Ensure that the Guest Services being offered are attached to the selected Rate Plan from Step 1. For more information on adding Guest Services to an eRes Rate Plan, please see the article Attaching a Guest Service to a Rate Plan for eRes Mobile Online Booking Engine, in the Guest Service chapter of the System Configuration manual.
Step 4: Creating the Online Booking Promotion
Proceed to System Configuration > Online Booking Promotions. Click Add New, and fill in the following information:
- Promo Name – the name of the Promotion
- Active – check this box to make the Promotion active
- Is Amount – check this box if the Promotion being offered is a discount based on a dollar amount. If the Promotion is based on a percentage, leave this box unchecked
- Discount – enter the amount or percentage of the discount. NOTE: The discount entered here does not actually affect the Promotional Rate itself; the discount should have already been applied in the Rate Wizard when the Promotional Rate was created. The discount entered here simply allows eRes to display the discounted amount online. So if your Promotional Rate is set to $180.00, the PMS will calculate $200 - 10% = $180, so it will show the original rate (the one below with the strikethrough) as $200.00.
- Date From/Date To – the date the promotion begins & ends
- Start Time/End Time – if the promotion is only meant to run during certain times of the day, then set a Start & End time. If the promotion is meant to run 24hrs a day during the selected date range, then leave this area blank
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Cutoff Days - By setting a Cutoff Day, you are telling eRes that this Rate is not available 'X' Days before booking and Is Valid:
- Inside the days prior to arrival date – If Cutoff Days are set to 30, the Promotion will become available for booking 30 days prior to the arrival date
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Outside the days prior to the arrival date – If Cutoff Days are set to 30, the Promotion will start immediately, and only be available until 30 days prior to arrival, at which point it will no longer be available
- NOTE: If the Cutoff Days are set to 0, this means that the Promotion is only available TODAY. If the Cutoff Days are left blank, this means no Cutoff Day restrictions are in place
- Description – A short description of the Promotion. This will appear just below the Book Now button on eRes
- Abandonment – If this promotion is meant to only be viewable when someone tries to abandon a reservation and quit the page, check this box. For more information on this feature, please see the article How to Create an Abandonment Online Promotion in the eRes Booking Engine manual
- Require Coupon/Coupon Code – if this Promotion is only available to guests that enter a specific Coupon Code, check the Require Coupon box, and enter the Coupon Code to be used. If a Coupon Code is set up, guests must enter the Coupon Code into the Do you have a coupon? area of eRes, in order for the promotion to appear. If a Coupon Code is not set up, the Promotion will display and be bookable for everyone during the dates of the Promotion
Click OK to save.
Step 5: Attach the Guest Service to the Promotion
This example deals with offering a discounted Guest Service online, however it does not necessarily have to apply to a discounted Rate Plan. It could be attached to any Rate Plan on eRes, such as the Best Available Rate. For this reason, skip over the Discounted Rates tab and proceed directly to the Guest Services tab.
Within the Guest Services Tab there are two tabs:
- Guest Services Tab – Add Promotional Guest Services
- Attached Rates Tab – Select the Rate Plans to attach the Promotional Guest Services to
Guest Services
To add a Promotional Guest Service, click the '+' sign at the bottom
Click the drop down box under Name, and choose the applicable Guest Service from the list. NOTE: All existing guest services should appear in this list. If the required Guest Service does not appear, it may need to be created under System Configuration > Guest Services.
Fill in the following fields:
- Is Free – check this box if the Guest Service is free
- Repeating – if this Guest Service is to occur more then once during a stay, this box must be checked
- Number – the number of items to be included in this discount (ie: if the discount consisted of 2 adult bike rides, this number would be 2)
- Discount – enter the discount amount for this Guest Service (if it is not free)
- Is Amount – check this box if the discount is a $ amount, leave it unchecked if it is a %
- Description – enter a description of the Guest Service being offered, this will appear in the Add-Ons drop down screen during the booking process.
Click Update to update the Promotion.
Proceed to the Attached Rates tab, and check the boxes next to the Rate Plans and Room Types that the promotion applies to. When done, click Update to save.
Step 5: Confirm the Promotion is Working
After setting up a promotion, it is recommended that it be checked online to ensure it is working properly. Proceed to the eRes Mobile Booking Engine, and test the promotion. If a Coupon Code was used, enter it in to view the promotion.
Below the Book Now button, the description of the promotion should be displayed.
When Book Now is clicked, the Add-on(s) box will drop down, and the correlating Guest Service will be pre-selected, displaying the discount.
Once the booking has been completed, the reservation will appear in the PMS with the Guest Service(s) attached, at the discounted rate.
Final Notes on Promotions
As a rule, when a Promotional rate is running on eRes, no other Rates will display except for the Online Promotion Rate. For other rates (ie: Best Available Rate, AAA, etc..) to continue to display at the same time as the Online Promotion Rate, the Special Rate feature must be enabled on each of the other individual Rates. When enabled on a rate plan, the Special Rate feature exempts the selected rate from the rule surrounding Promotional Rates. Special Rate should NOT be checked on the Promotional Rate itself.
Conversely, when a Promotional Rate is being run with a Coupon Code (set on the promotion in the Online Booking Promotions module), the Promotion will only show when the code is entered. Once the code is entered however, it will be the only rate the booker will see.
To enable Special Rate:
- Go to System Configuration > Rate Wizard and select the desired Rate Plan (ie. Best Available Rate, AAA, AARP etc...)
- Click the Edit Rate button
- Check the box next to Special Rate to allow this rate to show on eRes in conjunction with the Promotional Rate
- Click Update to save
Repeat these steps for all rates that are to be displayed in conjunction with the Online Booking Promotion.
