Managing your rate plans is key to optimizing pricing and maximizing revenue. Through YCS, you can create and adjust rate plans to fit your needs. Remember, having a Rate Plan is mandatory for gaining bookings. This article will guide you through managing your rate plans effectively.
What are rate plans?
A rate plan is a structured pricing strategy that can include a mix of factors such as booking flexibility and included benefits. You can create rate plans in YCS that are designed to appeal to the diverse needs of travelers while allowing you to manage your revenue with flexibility. This article will walk you through the steps to create basic rate plans that can improve your property’s success.
Once your rate plan is created, you can find it in the rate plan list by searching for its name. Remember to add prices and availability in the Availability Center or Calendar so your rooms are visible and bookable by potential guests.
How do I create a basic rate plan?
Basic rate plans are also referred to as Agoda Saver, or room-only rate plans. Agoda Saver rate plans do not offer any additional benefits, such as breakfast or flexible cancellation policies, to guests. These rate plans are favored by guests for their simplicity and transparency, while also offering significant benefits to the property. These plans can serve as a reference point for room pricing, allowing you to seamlessly link other rate plans to them. This linking capability streamlines the process of setting and adjusting prices across multiple rate plans simultaneously, ensuring consistency and ease of management.
Before you begin setting up your rate plan, consider whether you would like to include additional details, such as dates, rooms, or customer segments. If you intend to include these in your basic rate plan, be sure to toggle on the Advanced setup option in the top section of the page.
- Basic setup: Internal name, Cancellation policy, Use prices from, and Popular benefits
- Advanced setup: Rate plan type, Internal name, External Code ID, Cancellation policy, Auto-extend rates, Use price from, Rate type, Book dates, Arrival dates, Day use, Popular benefits, Restrictions, Customer segments, Child rates, and Rooms.
The instructions below will guide you through the Basic setup:
- Navigate to YCS >> Rates and availability >> Rate plans
- Click on the blue + Create button on the top right of the page.
- Name the rate plan with a custom Internal name for your own reference.
- Select a cancellation policy from the menu and click Confirm. To easily find the specific policy you would like to use, search for specific Cancellation policy names or keywords.
- The Use prices from allows you to link this rate plan with the pricing of an existing rate plan. If you choose not to link it, you can set your own prices on the Calendar or Availability Center to make the rate plan visible to travelers.
- Select the benefits that you would like to include in this rate plan.
- Please note that Agoda Saver rate plans do not include any benefits.
- Please note that Agoda Saver rate plans do not include any benefits.
- Click Save.
How do I add meals to my rate plans?
Meal-inclusive rate plans, or meal plans, not only offer guests convenience, value, and an elevated experience but also present revenue opportunities and operational benefits for properties. By crafting rate plans inclusive of breakfast, lunch, or dinner, your property can gain a competitive edge and entice guests to extend their stay. This approach appeals to travelers who value the assurance of a reliable meal, encouraging longer and more enjoyable stays.
Meals can be added to a rate plan in the basic rate plan setup, as outlined above.
- In step 6, where you can select popular benefits to include in your rate plan, tick Breakfast, Lunch included, and/or Dinner included to include that meal for all guests in this rate plan.
- Click Show more to access additional meal options. Tick desired options from the categories of Breakfast, Dinner, and Food & Beverage and then click Confirm.
- Review your rate plan settings and click Save.
How do I add free cancellation to my rate plans?
Free cancellation rate plans allow a guest to cancel their booking without penalty. These plans are instant draws for the many travelers that require flexibility and peace of mind to make a reservation. You can create a free cancellation rate plan that is flexible to your property as well by only allowing a guest to cancel up to one day before check-in.
Free cancellation can be added to a rate plan in the basic rate plan setup, as outlined above.
- In step 4, where you can select a cancellation policy, click Select a cancellation policy and type free into the search box and select your desired policy based on the period before check-in:
- Cancellation is free any time before check-in time, No Show, the first night charge
- Any cancellation received will be free of charge
- Free Cancellation (Pre-Sale)
- Cancellation is free any time before check-in time, No Show 100% charge
- Cancel 1 day prior to arrival date is free of charge, No Show 100% charge
- Cancel 1 day prior to arrival date is free of charge, No Show, the first night charge
- Cancellation is free any time before check-in date. If you do not check in or cancel by then, no refund will be given by property.
- With your free cancellation policy selected, click Confirm.
- Review your rate plan settings and click Save.
Check out How do I set up a cancellation policy? for more information on cancellation policies.
How do I add a non-refundable policy to my rate plans?
Non-refundable rate plans typically offer lower rates for guests who are willing to forfeit their payment upon cancellation or no show. These guests are generally committed to their stay, securing revenue for your property while reducing the likelihood of rooms being left vacant due to last-minute cancellations.
A non-refundable policy can be added to a rate plan in the basic rate plan setup, as outlined above.
- In step 4, where you can select a cancellation policy, click Select a cancellation policy and type non refundable into the search box and select your desired policy.
- With your non-refundable policy selected, click Confirm.
- Review your rate plan settings and click Save.
Rate plan field glossary
Lite rate plan setup
| Internal name: | The name of your rate plan (this is for your internal use only). |
| Cancellation policy: | Cancellation policy that will be applied to the rate plan. |
| Use prices from: | Allows you to use an existing rate plan’s prices. |
| Popular benefits: | The benefits guests will receive with this rate plan. Make sure that the benefits are consistent with the selected Offer Type and Rate Plan name. |
Advanced rate plan setup
Basics
| Internal name: | The name of your rate plan (this is for your internal use only). |
| External Code ID | This field is for channel manager purposes (leave it blank if not in use). |
| Cancellation policy: | Cancellation policy that will be applied to the rate plan. |
| Auto-extend rates: | Automatically updates the rates for future dates based on the settings. |
| Use prices from: | Allows you to use an existing rate plan’s prices. |
| Rate Type: | This determines how prices are being calculated on the Rates & Allotment page. |
| Book Dates: | The dates that determine when this rate plan is available on Agoda. |
| Arrival Dates: | The dates when guests can stay at your property under this rate plan. |
| Day Use: | Use rate plan for day use |
| Mark as promotion: | Select this option to have this rate plan appear as a promotion on agoda.com |
| Children fee: | Apply a fee for added children |
Benefits
| Benefits | The benefits guests will receive with this rate plan. Make sure that the benefits are consistent with the selected Offer Type and Rate Plan name. |
Restrictions
| Sell limit per day: | Maximum number of bookings under this rate plan per day. |
| Min Days in Advance | The minimum number of booking days in advance required to qualify for the rates. For example, if you set it as 2, guests can purchase this rate only for a stay starting the day after tomorrow. Leave this blank if the rate can be booked at any time. |
| Max Days in Advance | The maximum number of booking days in advance allowed to qualify for the rates. For example, if you set it as 5, guests can purchase this rate only until 5 days in advance. |
| Min Length of Stay | The minimum number of stay nights required to book this rate plan. Guests are allowed to book this rate if the number of nights is equal to or higher than the min LOS. |
| Max Length of Stay | The maximum number of stay nights required to book this rate plan. Guests are not allowed to stay more than the max LOS. |
| Minimum stay when including Restricted Day | Minimum number of nights which must be booked if the stay includes the marked day. |
| Channels* | Channel discounts, if any. |
| Customer segments | Customer segmentation restrictions, if any |
Rooms
| Room types: | Room type that will be sold on the rate plan. |
FAQs
Absolutely, you can set different rate plans to offer different benefits, time periods, room types etc.
If a rate plan is no longer needed, you can deactivate it. Alternatively, if this rate plan is set to be active on specific dates, you can edit the settings in YCS and the rate plan will be automatically deactivated according to the new settings.
Contact us
Still looking for a solution? Contact us via the YCS Need Help button or other methods.
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