With the help of Rate Buckets, you can enhance your Net Revenue per available room. During the installation process, you selected the codes that should be grouped together in a "bucket." In the Rate Bucket Calendar, these buckets can be automatically opened or closed based on the forecast or current occupancy levels. This allows you to prioritize closing rate codes with higher commissions. Currently, Rate Buckets are compatible with the following systems: MEWS, Protel, Guestline, and Siteminder. It is also possible to explore other systems to see if Rate Buckets can be activated. If you are interested in utilizing the Rate Buckets feature but it is not included in your current package, please reach out to our team.
To set up Rate Buckets, you need to create the buckets first. Assign a name to each bucket (e.g., Promotions) and select the rates that should be associated with that bucket. These rates will be retrieved from the Property Management System (PMS).
Next, you will need to fill in the Rate Buckets business rules. In this overview, you can define business rules for each individual bucket. For a rate bucket that is set to open by default, you can specify the desired occupancy percentage at which you want to close the bucket. Conversely, if you want to close a bucket by default, you can enter the target occupancy percentage at which you want to open the bucket. The Default Open slider is used to automatically open or close the bucket based on these rules.
Similar to the rate calendar, there is also a Rate Bucket calendar available. You can access it by selecting the rate calendar tab. This calendar provides an overview of all the buckets that are either open or closed on each day. The buckets are displayed with a green slider if they are open and a red slider if they are closed. If there is a discrepancy between the bucket advice and its status, the bucket name will be highlighted in red. Within the calendar, you have the flexibility to manually open or close a bucket, or you can choose to follow the system's recommendation. By clicking on "apply recommendations," all recommended changes will be implemented. Once you have made the necessary adjustments, click on "save" to transmit the rate restrictions to your property management system.
To simplify the process, you can utilize the Rate Buckets Auto Publish Rules feature. In this interface, you have the option to specify when and how the system should automatically open or close the rate buckets. When the system is set to automatic mode, it will automatically adjust the status of the rate buckets based on the business rules and new data received from the property management system.
There are three different ways to use the rate buckets:
1. The first method is fully manual, as mentioned earlier.
2. The second method is fully automatic for a period of 365 days. By adjusting the auto-publish rules from 0 to 365, the system will handle the opening and closing of the rate buckets automatically throughout the entire year.
3. The third method is a hybrid approach. In this setup, the rate buckets are manually managed for the most dynamic period, such as the upcoming 14 days. From day 15 onwards, the system takes over and applies the auto-publish rules. This configuration can be set up within the Auto Publish Rules section, specifying the range from day 15 to day 365.