Rates

Rates set your pricing and requirements for bookings. The simplest rate is just a nightly rate with a price per night, but rates can set a minimum number of days and be combined to charge per night with an adult or child charge on top, so there are many possibilities.

Rates can be applied to any units and seasons, so you might have one basic rate most of the year, and then apply different rates in summer for midweek/weekend nights, high/low/bank holiday seasons, and children/adults. Rates can also be combined when guests book, so if a guest wants a stay of 9 days, the system will find the cheapest combination of.

Adding Rates

When adding rates, try to keep it simple. A simpler rate scheme is easier for your customers to understand, easier for you to understand, and makes it less likely you will charge prices you didn't expect. Simpler rate schemes are also quicker to calculate so your guests will see a price quicker if you use less rates.

Naming Rates

Be sure to name your rates clearly so that you can easily reference them from the rates list. The title should have some relation to the connected unit and season. So for example, 'Grass Pitch midweek rate (Low Season)'.

Keep it simple

Research shows customers are far more likely to make a booking if the rates on offer are transparent and easy to understand.

Calculating Prices

The bedful system will automatically consider all possible combinations of rates, and offer the cheapest combination for a given stay to the customer. If no combination is available, or the resulting price would be 0, your site will not be available for that particular search.

The price of a holiday is calculating by choosing the season a holiday falls within (or seasons if it falls across seasons), and choosing the rates for that season which apply to the units the guest is booking. The cheapest available combination of rates for that length of stay will be chosen and rates will be combined to make up the stay (for example 2 nights + 4 nights for a 6 night stay). Rates may also be  layered if you use per person rates over per night or per stay rates.

Testing Rates

Types of rate

There are 3 types of rate you can apply to your accommodation. Each type of rate charges in a slightly different way, and can be combined to create a total price for a holiday.

Per-person rates

Charging on a per person basis means a charge is applied for each individual within the booking party. You can set different per person rates for different age groups, meaning the price per person is determined by the minimum age parameters you set on this rate type. You can also use per person rates in conjunction with per night and per stay rates if you want to charge for additional people not included in a base rate.

The minimum number of nights on per person rates refers to the length of the customers whole booking.

Per-night rates

Charging on a per night basis means a charge is applied for each night of the booking. When a booking is made where a per night rate applies, the system effectively adds the available rates together for each night in the booking. Therefore, per night rates will only work if there are consecutive days ticked under the heading Which days would you like this rate to be available?

The minimum number of nights on per night rates refers to the length of the customers whole booking.

Per stay rates

If you want to restrict the days that your guests can check-in, you should always use per stay rates. If, for example, you want to create a 3-night rate for weekend stays with guests required to check-in on the Friday, set the nights charged for to 3 and select Friday under the heading Which days would like this rate to start on?

Rate Settings

Check-in days

You can restrict the days on which a customer is allowed to start their holiday for a rate to apply by setting Check-in days. A rate can only apply to a booking if the start date of the booking is a check in day covered by the rate.

Note that if you have a number of rates that may be used in sequence, e.g. a Friday-Monday weekend rate, and a Monday-Friday mid-week rate, each rate must allow all possible check-in days. For a customer starting a 7 night holiday on Monday, making use of the mid-week and weekend rates, the weekend rate can only apply if Monday is also set as a check-in day.

Available days

A rate will only be applied if the days that the booking spans are covered by the rates available days. For Per night and Per person rates, this means that every day that a booking takes place on must have the corresponding day selected for the rate to apply.

For per stay rates, available days refer to the day on which the stay period starts. For example, a 3 night weekend per stay rate with Friday and Saturday selected as available days will apply for holidays spanning Friday-Monday and Saturday-Tuesday, but would not apply for Sunday-Wednesday.

Additional one-off charges

You can add an additional one-off charge to your rate, which is a fixed fee regardless of the overall stay duration.

Layering rates

The most common rate combination is per night and per person. For example, your standard rate might be a per night rate. The unit assigned to this rate may have a maximum capacity of 6 people, but includes 4 people in the base rate (see our Rates guide for more details on setting Unit Limits). Therefore, you can create a per person rate to charge for any additional customers over the 4 included in the base rate as standard.

Per night and per stay rates can also be combined to reflect any check-in day restrictions you may have. For example, if your guests can check-in on any day of the week except for Sunday, you should create a per night rate with the Mon-Sat days ticked, then a separate 2-night per stay rate (the charge should be double your nightly rate) with a minimum of 2 nights assigned and just the Saturday ticked. This will allow the system to apply a per stay rate which spans the 2-night period from Saturday to Monday, thereby allowing guests to stay over the Sunday but not check-in on that day.