Table of Content

Notifications

Stay updated

The first option in the Settings area is called Notifications.

First of all, choose if the notification should be an INFO, a WARNING or an ALARM. If an ALARM is set, you will also receive an automatic email together with the notification. 
If you set an INFO or a WARNING, these two will be displayed in the Dashboard. 

Secondly, you have to opt for what the notification will be about: BOOKINGS, REVENUE or ADR. Afterwards, choose higher or lower, the period of the comparison with the same data last year (e.g. 120 days) and the percentage of variation. 

Once you made your choices click on the button SAVE.

All the notifications will be displayed below in the section "List of notifications".
Keep in mind to activate them using the appropriate switch!
They can also be amended or deleted.

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Price levels

Set your strategic price and load it!

Create Price levels

In the feature Settings - Price levels you have the possibility to insert your pricing strategy.
Let's look together how to do that, step by step.

First of all, you go to Settings > Pricelevels > submenu Price Levels. 
To create a new price level, use the button “+ ADD NEW”.
The room types are grouped into categories, as set in: Settings - Inventory. If you want to know more about this feature, you can read the article here.

The next step is to insert a name for the price levels you are creating (e.g.  BAR XXX).
For every room category, the basis price per room is entered in the middle column. RateBoard recommends deducting EUR 20-100 off the base price to set the minimum price and to add EUR 20-100 to set the maximum price. 
The MIN/MAX are security functions. The prices' suggestions will never go over the MAX or under the MIN. 

The basis price is the basis of our algorithm that will oscillate starting from this point.

Once you insert the minimum, basis and maximum price for the primary type (if you need a reminder on what a primary type is click here), all the other typologies will be automatically calculated by indicating the difference between the primary and the typologies connected to it. The result you will always find in the brackets on the left. 
You can choose the difference between a fixed value (e.g. +/- 10€) or a percentage (e.g. +/-10%).

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When all prices are inserted for one level you must SAVE.

To go ahead with the next price level, you can use the button "CLONE"-function (at the bottom right) to copy the whole structure and just have to change the primary price. From this point you could update the price of the primary type and all prices will be updated automatically.

The price levels can also be deleted using the "DELETE"-function at the bottom left.

If you want to create a new price strategy for the next year, you can select the option "+ ADD PRICE CHANGE DATE". 
The system gives you the possibility to enter a date from which our price strategy will be valid.

The old price levels will be available for overwriting, and you will only need to apply the changes you intend to make.

Distribute price levels

Once you are done inserting your price levels you can move to submenu Rates.
The next step will be to apply the price levels to the calendar days to which they correspond.
Open the pencil "Price Levels" choose the right price level and paint the dates. Then, press the apply button that will appear at the bottom of the page.

Next to the pencil "Price Levels" you find the pencil "Apply to all". If this is selected, you are applying the price level to ALL your room categories.
In case you want to apply the price level only to one category, deselect the "Apply to all" pencil, and the price level will apply only for the selected ones in the upper right corner. Look at the picture to better understand.

There are two more Pencil you can select: ”CLOSE" and "DELETE".

The "close" pencil serves as indicator for the closing time of the hotel. To proceed select the pencil and with the mouse, highlight the days of the calendar that correspond to the closure. Finally, press the apply button.

The "delete" pencil serves to clear a period. If you select a price level for one or more days but want to clear them, select this pencil and highlight the days on the calendar.
As usual, press the apply button.

If, after entering the price levels, you find that the calendar days turn red, the calculation behind these days is not yet active. Contact your revenue manager for assistance.

Demand Ranges

In the settings there is the possibility to calculate a demand forecast. Let's take a closer look.

The forecast can be calculated under Settings > Price levels> Demand ranges submenu. To do the calculation, click the button “Calculate Forecast”. This may take a moment due to processing the data. When the forecast has been calculated, don't forget to ✔ SAVE. Now you can see from the dots on which day which occupancy in percentage is forecasted.

The next step is to assess the demand distribution.

Example 1: If no trend can be seen, or the distribution is in a straight line and not curved, contact our support team.

Example 2: If a seasonal trend can be identified from the distribution, the next step is to consider which price level should apply from which percentage of occupancy.

Once you made your plan, the price levels need to be ranked by rate. You will find these on the demand range page right below the Demand Curve. Next to each price level are buttons that can be used to incrementally move the price tiers up or down. The [picture 1] and [picture 2] buttons move the price level either up or down.

Once the price levels are ordered by rate, starting with the lowest, the empty fields to the right of the price levels must be filled in. Here you have to enter the percentage range for which the respective price level is valid. You start with the lowest price level and enter "0" in the first field. In the second field, right next to it, e.g. "35". This number is automatically transferred to the next field, this cannot be changed.

Example:

When all fields are filled in, don't forget to ✔ SAVE

Tip: If you adjust the order in the demand area, the order in the price levels will also change.

To continue to the next step, go to Settings > Price levels > Rates submenu. The "Calculate forecast" button is on the right-hand side of this page. This may take a moment due to processing the data. Based on the input in the demand ranges and the forecast, Rateboard proposes the appropriate price level for each day (up to a maximum of 365 days in advance).

E.g.:

Setting in Settings / Price level calendar / Demand ranges:

Price level B: valid from 35 - 45% occupancy

Demand forecast for 27/9: 43%

Settings / price level calendar / rates

Rateboard proposes for 27/9 Rate B

In the top right-hand corner press the button “compute forecast”. The forecast is automatically calculated for the next 365 days. In order to accept suggestions, press the button “apply forecast” in the top left-hand corner. The suggestions can be accepted by marking the desired period or individual days with the mouse button and the Ctrl key pressed. To do this, click with the mouse on the relevant date. To tag multiple dates with the selected price level, hold down the "Ctrl" key and mark all desired dates. If you want to edit longer periods of time, you can mark the corresponding area by keeping the left mouse button pressed.

Once all the desired data has been selected, they are confirmed and accepted by clicking on "Apply" at the bottom of the page.

Price Rules

Strong weekdays low demand weekends? Push your performance by setting price rules accourdingly!

When you go to Settings > Price Rules > submenu Rules you can set price strategies for certain days of the week. For example, the weekends of the month of August are historically higher than the weekdays. You can set the rule of having your Fridays and Saturdays 15% higher than the base rate. The established price rule will be shown as a Rateboard price suggestion in the rate calendar.

First step - select the period (August)
Second step - give a name to the rule (weekends)
Third step - choose the percentage of increase (15%)
Fourth step - unclick the days that are not afftected by the rule
Fifth step - activate the rule.

When you go to Settings > Price Rules > submenu Rate Rounding you can select an option to round your suggested rate for a number (option 2 and 3) or for a multiple (option 4 and 5).
With the Option 2, the rate will always round to the highest number you selected. For example, if you choose "round up to 9", 121€ will round to 129€.
With Option 3 "round up or down to", with the same example, 121€ will round to 119€ and 126€ to 129€, so to the closest 9.
Option 4 is the same as Option 2, but with multiples numbers (eg. 3) and Option 5 is the same as Option 3 with multiple numbers.
Option 1 is "don't round" which means that the rate is free to oscillate from 0 to 9.

Competitors Settings

Have a look on your comp-set

Where does RateBoard get the data?

The competitor and market data shown in RateBoard are provided by OTA Insight. The data is shopped on the booking.com website. The rate shopping happens daily for the data of the next 90 days. The data for 365-day period is shopped two times a week. You can follow up to 10 competitors.

Creation and maintenance of the competitor set:

New customers provide RateBoard with a list of competitors that the Revenue Manager passes to OTA Insight. Afterwards, the competitors can still be updated if you have, for example, a new competitor you would like to follow.

The first step in the setup process is to choose your property as a reference for your own rates and the market demand. The hotel can be found if you type in the properties name into the “OTA Hotels” field. Afterwards, you have to click the ➕.

Once the data of your own property is set up you continue with the competitor information. Therefore, you just look up your competitor with the “OTA Hotels” field. When your desired hotel pops up in the list you activate it with a click on the plus “+” symbol. If the hotel does not come up in the provided list it is currently not shopped by OTA Insight. In this case please reach out to your Revenue Manager. 

If you want to unfollow a specific competitor just click on the delete symbol next to the competitors name. 

When all competitors are set up you can start mapping the rooms to your according to your needs in the manage tool as well as in the analysis. In general, RateBoard will always indicate the lowest price of one competitor per category. Please do not forget to save your settings. 

Setup of filters for the shopped rates:

You can setup filters to ensure the quality of comparing rates in Manage or in the Analysis tool, entering the submenu Settings. 

The competitor’s rates could be filtered by the following criteria:

• MinLOS: e.g. MinLOS set on max. 2 nights = no MinLOS rates longer than 2 nights will be shown

• Persons: e.g. 1 Person = all available rates will be shown with the price of single occupancy

• Meal type: e.g. breakfast = just rates including breakfast will be shown

• Cancellation: if the filter is set to cancellable no “non-cancellable” rates will be shown

These settings could be used for each room category individually. Once you finished working on your filters do not forget to save them.

Events

There is always something going on

In the menu Settings > Events you can save relevant events for your hotel. Adding events, like school holidays, helps the system to analyse the history and creates a better Forecast.

Events can be added by using the “Event Filter”. For this, choose the relevant Event Class, the Country and the Region.

Example: a hotel in Tyrol always has a lot of guests from Bavaria in the week of Easter.

If every holiday of this region is relevant for the hotel, you can click the “SAVE” button next to the Region.

In the submenu “CUSTOM EVENTS” a hotel can add all locally relevant events.

Let's have a look on how to create them:
Step 1 - click on ADD CUSTOMS EVENTS
Step 2 - choose the event name 
Step 3 - select the dates when is the event is happening for the current and previous years (if available)
Step 3 - save by the ✓ button

After saving the events, they will also show up in other sections of the software. In details, you will see the events you saved in the functions: Manage and Analysis.

Room Pricing Configurations

How much do children cost, what a room with single occupancy? What about four people staying in the suite?

Fix, Percentage, Offset Standard or Offset Person

When setting up the room prices, also the minimum, standard and maximum occupancy of each room type must be set. When there is a variance between minimum and / or maximum occupancy compared to the standard occupancy, the price for less and / or more guests must be calculated. There is the possibility to set a fixed value, a percentage or an amount based on the price per person, or per room. For every additional guest the same amount will be calculated.

When using PERCENTAGE, RateBoard is calculating the price for one person per room and uses this price as base for the percentage (110% in this case would be 10% more as the calculated price for one person, 80% would be 20% less than the calculated price for one person in this room). When using OFFSET PERSON, an amount is deducted or added. With the option FIXED, the price that RateBoard calculated will be replaced by this value. With OFFSET STANDARD and less people than the standard occupancy, an amount will be deducted or added, or with more people in the room an amount and the price for the standard occupancy will be added.

To illustrate this more clearly, we will use an example room type. It has a minimum occupancy of 1, a standard occupancy of 2 and a maximum occupancy of 4. The example rate is 200 € for the standard occupancy.

PERCENTAGE

How much do children cost, what about a room with single occupancy? What about four people staying in the suite?

Fix, Percentage, Offset Standard or Offset Person

When setting up the room prices, also the minimum, standard and maximum occupancy of each room type must be set. When there is a variance between minimum and / or maximum occupancy compared to the standard occupancy, the price for less and / or more guests must be calculated. There is the possibility to set a fixed value, a percentage or an amount based on the price per person, or per room. For every additional guest the same amount will be calculated.

When using PERCENTAGE, RateBoard is calculating the price for one person per room and uses this price as base for the percentage (110% in this case would be 10% more as the calculated price for one person, 80% would be 20% less than the calculated price for one person in this room). When using OFFSET PERSON, an amount is deducted or added. With the option FIXED, the price that RateBoard calculated will be replaced by this value. With OFFSET STANDARD and less people than the standard occupancy, an amount will be deducted or added, or with more people in the room an amount and the price for the standard occupancy will be added.

To illustrate this more clearly, we will use some example room types:

Setting for single use with PERCENTAGE:IMPORTANT: when setting single use (in RB “1 Guest”) RateBoard calculates 1 person = 100%. Therefore, with a standard occupancy of 2, our calculation needs to start at 200% (100%*2)Setting for additional adults with PERCENTAGE:

IMPORTANT: when setting additional adults, RateBoard calculates with the per person price. Also if we have per room prices in RB, RateBoard will calculate the per person price.

EXAMPLE 1

room price = 200€

single use:

1-2-4 (Min / Std / Max) and single use = -20% Offset room price200€ -20% = 180€

1 Guest: set to 180 PERCENTAGE

= % standard occupancy - % Offset room price = 200% -20% = 180% = 180€additional adults:1-2-4 (Min / Std / Max) and additional adult  = 70% Offset per person price

additional adult: set to 70 PERCENTAGE

= Rate standard occupancy / standard occupancy * % = 200€ / 2 * 0,7 = 70€

At a price of 200€ per room / night this room costs 180€ for 1 guest, 200€ for 2 guests, 270€ for 3 guests and 340€ for 4 guests.

EXAMPLE 2

room price = 280€

single use: 1-2-4 (Min / Std / Max) and single use =  +25% Offset per person price280€ / 2 = 140€ * 25% = 35€ → also 140€ + 35€ = 175€

1 Person: set to 125 PERCENTAGE

= Rate standard occupancy / standard occupancy * % = 280€ / 2 * 1,25 = 175€

additional adults: 1-2-4 (Min / Std / Max) and additional adult  = 80% Offset per person price

additional adult: set to 80 PERCENTAGE

= Rate standard occupancy / standard occupancy * % = 280€ / 2 * 0,8 = 112€

At a price of 280€ per room / night this room costs 175€ for 1 guest, 280€ for 2 guests, 392€ for 3 guests and 504€ for 4 guests.

EXAMPLE 3

room price = 350€

single use and occupancies below standard occupancy of 4 adults:1-4-6 (Min / Std / Max)  =  -10% Offset per person of the room price3 Guests: 350€ -10% = 315€ 2 Guests: 350€ -20% = 280€1 Guest: 350€ -30% = 245€

3 Guests: set to 360 PERCENTAGE

= % standard occupancy - % Offset room price (10%*4) = 400% -40% = 360% = 315€2 Guests: set to 320 PERCENTAGE

= % standard occupancy - % Offset room price (20%*4) = 400% -80% = 320% = 280€1 Guest: set to 280 PERCENTAGE

= % standard occupancy - % Offset room price (30%*4) = 400% -120% = 280% = 245€

additional adult:1-4-6 (Min / Std / Max) and additional adult  = 60% Offset per person price

additional adult: set to 60 PERCENTAGE

= Rate standard occupancy / standard occupany * % = 350€ / 4 * 0,6 = 53€

At a price of 350€ per room / night this room costs 245€ for 1 guest, 280€ for 2 guests, 315€ for 3 guests, 350€ for the standard occupancy of 4 guests, 403€ for 5 guests and 456€ for 6 guests.

FIXED

X is always the price for this guest

When one person is to have a fixed value of 80 € and 3 or 4 people 50 € more, each, then the standard room:

1 Person: Set to 80 FIXED = Price for one person = 80 €

1. and 4. Person: Set to 50 FIXED = Price for every additional guest= 50 €

OFFSET STANDARD

Addition or deduction from X from the total room rate for standard occupancy.

When the price for a single room shall be 30 € bellow the price of the room at standard occupancy and the price for an additional person 50 € less:

1 Person: Set to – 30 OFFSET STANDARD = Rate at standard occupancy – 30 € = 170 €

1. und 4. Person: Set to – 50 € OFFSET STANDARD = Rate at standard occupancy – 50 € = 150 €

Therefore, using OFFSET STANDARD makes most sense for less people sleeping in a room, then standard occupancy.

OFFSET PERSON

Addition or deduction from X calculated from the price of one person in standard occupancy

When a room is to cost 30 € more for single use, as the price per person for double occupancy and the 3. and 4. person 50 € less than the price in double occupancy:

1 Person: Set to 30 OFFSET PERSON = rate standard occupancy / standard occupancy + 30 € = 200 € / 2 + 30 € = 130 €

1. and 4. Person: Set to – 50 OFFSET PERSON = rate standard occupancy / standard occupancy – 50 € = 200 € / 2 – 50 € = 50 €

At the second setting age categories, the various age groups for kids can be set.

Budget Settings

Set your own goals

Setup of your own budget in RateBoard

In the Budget settings you can set up your own goals to compare in the Budget analysis. 

For an easier comparison you should use the values depending on your PMS either as net or gross. The value for occupancy needs to be put in percentage.

The values put into the fields will be automatically broken down into daily values. However, if you have a budget based on daily values you could enter them as well. Therefore you click on the button “Daily”. 

Creation of hotel groups (Bundles)

If your account includes several hotels connected to RateBoard you can create your own bundles. These bundles can then be displayed in the “Budget” analysis tool.

To create a bundle, you first click on “Hotel Groups” in the upper right corner, next to “Planned Budget”. Afterwards this window opens:

Here you give your group a name and also name your bundles. In our example we created a group of countries with all hotels in a specific country being bundled together for the analysis in the Budget tool. To select a hotel to your bundle you just tick the box next to it.

For further information about the analysis tool “Budget” visit the article.

Inventory

Configure your “Manage” layout

The various room types are sent from the PMS system. For a better overview and a good comparison, the rooms are categorized in STANDARD, SUPERIOR, SUITE, BUDGET, SINGLE, FAMILY or APARTMENT. Room types can also be excluded and archived.
The typologies excluded will be not part of the counts in the analysis tool Pick-up and Budget.

In addition, a primary type must be defined for each category. The primary type will be displayed directly under "Manage" in the calendar and the other categories on the right side. These settings are therefore a pure representation and has nothing to do with the calculation. 

In the submenu Capacity you can specify the actual number of your rooms divided by typologies.

In this section you can also manage situation like a change in the number of the inventory. If you close some of your rooms, for example, for renovation, you can add here the new total number of room.
First click on the button ADD and insert the date from when the change will start. After that, a new rooms count will appear and will be able to insert the correct number of your inventory.
Please, also remember to add the date from when the count will be back to be normal, repeating the procedure ADD...

Rate Plans

Creating and sending of multiple rate plans (Protel, Kognitiv, Simple-Booking and DIRS21)

Multiple Rate Plans

RateBoard supports the creation and distribution of several rates (for example, early booking rate, non-ref, half board etc.) for some systems. Whether or not your system supports the creation and sending is indicated by the fact that the menu item "Rate Plans" is displayed in the "Settings" area. When in doubt, your Revenue Manager will be happy to help you.

Set up Multiple Rate Plans

In the "Settings" you will find the menu item "Rate Plans". If you have selected this, you can create a new rate in the upper left corner under "+ ADD ...".

Afterwards, a window opens in which the rate is created. First, you must enter the name here and determine from which rate the new rate plan should be derived. This is usually the "base" rate, which is the default rate / daily rate set in RateBoard.

Secondly, you have to choose the derivation type between UNIT (base occupancy) or PERSON.
For axample, if you create a rate plan HALF BOARD, and the rule is that, each guest pays 50€ more on the base rate (breakfast rate), then you can select the option per person. 
If you create an EARLY BOOKING rate plan and the discount is 10% on the daily rate per room, you can select the option per unit.

The next step is to set how the new rate should behave at the old rate (in this case base rate). In the example above, the early booking rate has a discount of 10% on the daily rate. Each time a rate update is sent by RateBoard, the early booker rate of -10% will be sent based on the daily rate.

Enable Multiple Rate Plans

Once the rate plans have been set up as desired, they must be activated under "Settings"> "Interface configuration".

For this purpose, the established rate plan of the PMS or the Channel Manager for the new rate must be set up. Only in this way, the rates will also be allocated correctly in the corresponding system.

Multiple RatePlans in the implementation

The operative operation of the Rate Plan is done via the "Manage". For this, the overview of the "Rate Plans" is selected on the right side.
For further information on the function "Manage" read the article here.

Here, the rate can be opened or closed via the door icon. In addition, the up or downs can be adjusted individually for each day (for example, changing the discount to -5%). If the changes have been made, they must be saved and released.

Restrictions

And how to manage them

Settings > Restrictions

You can select between the following options depending on your interface:

• MinLOS = Minimum length of stay

• MaxLOS = Maximum length of stay

• CTA = Closed to arrival

• CTD = Closed to departure

After choosing the preferred tool, you can paint the dates with the restriction you wish. Select the corresponding pencil in the left corner, and with the mouse highlight the day or series of days, for which you intend to apply that restriction.

Once it is set, it will be send via "Manage" to your PMS or/and Channel Manager directly.

Booking Status

Decide what to include in the pick-up of RateBoard

The feature "Booking Status" helps the hoteliers with special procedure that use a lot of options, to set them as fixed.
In this section, you can select which reservations status include in your analysis tool.
For default settings, only the reservations with the BOOKED and CONFIRMED status are included.

In case it's important for you to include in your pick-up also the optional bookings, you can select them from the list, by activating the switch next to the OPTION status, as in the picture behind.

After that, you can choose if you display them from the confirmation or creation date.

The creation date corresponds with the day the reservation gets in.
The confirmation date corresponds with the day the status of reservation is changed from option to booked or confirmed.
Especially the groups reservation could be affected from this difference. 

Also the voices NO-SHOW and OPTION - NO DEDUCTION can be selected from the list.