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Booking window for rate availability

Set a Window of Time (Booking Period) during which a Rate will be available for sale.

 

Overview

A Booking Window refers to the specific time period during which a rate is available for sale.
It applies to the reservation creation date, not the reservation stay dates.

The Booking Window applies to reservations made in RMS as well as to bookings made through the RMS Booking Engine and connected Online Travel Agents (OTAs).

Please Note! RMS is highly configurable. Some Terminology, User Access & Permissions, Images, Labels, and Functions used in these articles may differ from your setup. CLICK HERE to find out more.

 

 

Example

If the Booking Window is set from 1–30 November, reservations can only be made within that date range. The stay dates can be for any time, but the booking itself must occur during the window.

Booking Windows can be configured:

Tip! Select the Star icon used to mark a restriction type as a favourite so it appears at the top of the restriction type list. icon to set a Restriction Type as a favourite and have it displayed at the top of the list.

 

Reservations Made in RMS

RMS applies the Booking Window to reservations created or changed in RMS, not only to bookings made through the RMS Booking Engine and Online Travel Agents (OTAs). A Rate Type whose Booking Window does not include today is restricted for your staff as well as online.

When today falls outside the Booking Window, Quick Quote does not list the restricted Rate Type, so you cannot select it for a new reservation.

If a reservation already uses that Rate Type and you change the reservation dates or the Rate Type, RMS asks you to confirm when you save. The confirmation reads Rate Is Outside of the Booking Window. followed by Restricted Rate Selected. Would you like to proceed? with Yes and No options. Selecting Yes saves the reservation on the restricted Rate Type. Selecting No returns you to the reservation without saving.

The first word of the message follows your property's Rate or Tariff label, so the message reads Tariff Is Outside of the Booking Window. where that label is in use.

 

RMS Booking Engine & Online Travel Agents (OTAs)

Booking Window is supported for OTA / online rate structures and is reflected both on your RMS Booking Engine and on connected OTAs via Channel Manager.

When RMS sends information online, it sends three key pieces of data together:

  • Availability – how many rooms/sites are available to sell

  • Rates – the prices for each rate/room type

  • Inventory (dates/room types) – which dates and room types can be booked

Together, these are often referred to as Availability, Rates & Inventory (ARI).

  1. RMS also applies the Booking Window to the RMS Booking Engine and OTAs.
    When you use Booking Window on OTA rate structures or on rate types used by the RMS Booking Engine, it is included in the Availability, Rates & Inventory (ARI) data that RMS sends to:

    • your RMS Booking Engine, and

    • Channel Manager, which then updates your connected OTAs (for example, Booking.com and Expedia).

If today is outside the Booking Window, those rates will not be bookable online. If today is inside the Booking Window, normal availability is sent.
 

  1.  When Booking Window changes are sent online:

    • When you make a change
      If you create or edit a Booking Window restriction (via the Control Panel, Rate Type or Property Rate Rules), RMS creates Online Channel Update (OCU) records. These tell the RMS Booking Engine and Channel Manager to refresh Availability, Rates & Inventory (ARI) for the affected dates.

    • Nightly (around property midnight)
      Just after midnight, background tasks run to “roll” the Booking Window forward. These jobs:

      • Recalculate which dates should be open or closed based on the Booking Window.

      • Create OCU records and send updated Availability, Rates & Inventory (ARI) to the RMS Booking Engine and OTAs.

      • When a Booking Window ends, RMS sends stop sells for future stay dates (within the supported range) so those rates are correctly closed online.

 

Booking Window via Control Panel

In the side menu of RMS, go to Charts > Rate Manager.

  1. Select 'Control Panel'.
    Screenshot of the Rate Manager screen in RMS highlighting the Control Panel option used to open the restriction management view, including Booking Window restrictions.
     
  2. Select 'Add'.
    Screenshot of the Control Panel in RMS showing the list of existing restrictions and the option to add a new restriction for the Booking Window.
     

  3. Select the Restriction Type of 'Booking Window'.
    Screenshot of the New Restriction screen in RMS with Booking Window selected as the restriction type to control how far in advance bookings can be made.
     

  4. Select a 'Property'.

  5. Select a 'Date Range'.
    Select + to add multiple date ranges (Optional).
    Enter an Occupancy Level (Optional).

Please Note! Occupancy-based restrictions use your existing occupancy configuration. For more details, see Occupancy Calculation Rule.

  1. Select the 'Channel'.

  2. Select 'Next'.
    Screenshot of the Booking Window setup in RMS showing fields to select the effective date range and the number of days before arrival that reservations are allowed. 

  3. Select the 'Categories'.

  4. Select 'Next'.
    Screenshot of the Booking Window restriction setup in RMS showing category selection options to choose which room or site categories the restriction applies to.
     

  5. Select the 'Rate Types'.
  6. Select 'Save/Exit'.
    Screenshot of the Booking Window restriction configuration in RMS highlighting the Save/Exit button used to apply the new booking window settings to the Control Panel

 

Please Note! Once saved, a Booking Window restriction will display under the Inactive section of the Control Panel. This is the expected display behaviour - the restriction remains in effect for the configured Date Range, Channels, Categories and Rate Types.

 

Booking Window on Rate Type

A Booking Window can also be set on Rate Types and Derived Rate Types that are setup as an OTA Rate Structure.

For Enterprise databases, the Booking Window can also be set in the Property Rate Rules on the Rate Types.

Screenshot of the Property Rate Rules section on a Rate Type in RMS highlighting the Booking Window columns where minimum and maximum booking lead times are configured.

 

 

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