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Articles on:Rates & Availability
Pricing management | Restrictions | Yield | Channel management

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  • How To Use Yield Management
    How to use Yield Management RoomRaccoon offers the possibility to let prices fluctuate based on availability and lead time. For example, you can set up a last-minute deal for bookings that are made 3 days before arrival to have a discount or increase in price. You can set yield rules by clicking on the rates & availability overview on the left hand side of the screen and by opening the yield tab. How to set up a Yield rule Open the yield tab in the rates & availability overview. ![]Very popular
  • OTA and GDS, what is this?
    An OTA stands for Online Travel Agency. Usually, any booking channels is being referred to as an OTA. Think about Booking.com, AirBnB, Expedia etc.  You might also have heard about the term GDS. A GDS (Global Distribution System) is a little bit different in comparison to an OTA. It is a travel agency that works on behalve of large companies. These services are hired to book entire trips for their customers which also includes for example flights. The difference is thus that a GDS is BVery popular
  • How To Manage Rates
    How to Manage Rates You can adjust your rates based on events, seasons or weekends in various ways via the Rates and Availability screen. Update a single rate for a specific day. Update multiple rates for a room category. Here we explain the different ways of using this tool to get the most out of your rate options. How to update a singular rate for a singular day Click on the Rates and Availability Icon. ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/61587d0079e73Very popular
  • RaccoonRev: Revenue management system
    RaccoonRev: Revenue Management System The RaccoonRev revenue management system is designed to help you optimise your rates by being ahead of the competition and ensuring the best rates at the right time. RaccoonRev lets you know how your competition is doing and how your rates are in comparison to them. The idea is to give you more data so that you are able to make more informed decisions and maintain a competitive advantage. Competitor Set Hoteliers must provide 3 competitors thatVery popular
  • How To Update Rates & Availability For The Next Year
    How To Update Rates & Availability For The Next Year On RoomRaccoon you can easily configure your rates and availability for the next year since sometimes guests book more than a year in advance. RoomRaccoon recommends that you create rates and restrictions up until the next year, these should also be communicated to your external channels. How to update rates for the next year Go to your Rates and Availability overview [![](https://image.crisp.chat/process/original/?url=https%3A%2Very popular
  • How To Create Your Own ICal Link
    How To Create Your Own ICal Link An ICal link can be used to link your RoomRaccoon agenda to an external booking channel when there is no direct connection available. It can be described as a calendar synchronisation in which the availability of your hotel is communicated between the two systems. When you want to set up a synchronisation with your own system or agenda, you can use iCal. The RoomRaccoon iCal feed simply displays data in a calendar program in Windows, Apple or Google. ConVery popular
  • Adding an iCal Connection
    Adding an iCal Connection An iCal connection is a basic connection where we send availability. The purpose of this link is to exchange calendar and scheduling information between different connections. To set this up, see below Click on the gear icon at the bottom left of the screen. Click on the **Connectivity Tab ** On Available Connections, click on “Bookingchannel” On iCal connectVery popular
  • What is an iCal connection?
    What is an iCal connection? iCal is the industrial standard to connect different calendar applications with each other. What You Need To Know About iCal It only communicates availability. You need to manage your rates & restrictions in the extranet of the channel. New reservations will be imported to your RoomRaccoon agenda, yet we only receive a date and the name of the guest. You will have to match the actual booked rate as well as the number of guests manually. Has TVery popular
  • How To Set Up Restrictions
    How To Set Up Restrictions A restriction can be a minimum or maximum stay with the option for the check-in or check-out to be closed on certain days. For example, if you want to differentiate your OTA prices from your own website prices, you can choose to force people who book via an online travel agency to stay for at least 2 nights. You can also choose to close rates on certain channels in certain seasons to direct more traffic to your own website. How to set up restrictions Go to yourVery popular
  • How To Set Up Separate Rate Types For OTAs
    Creating Separate Rate Types For OTAs In a number of cases you want to use a different room rate per booking channel. For example, you can use an alternative price for Expedia, Hotel Specials or Booking.com. but you can also set an alternative price for non-refundable bookings. Creating different rate types for your booking channels is the best way to compensate for the commission costs, allowing you to increase the room rate when a booking is made via an online travel agency (OTA). WithinVery popular
  • HRS-DS Connection
    HRS-DS Connection Type of interface RoomRaccoon transmits prices, availability and booking restrictions to HRS-DS. All other data or settings such as cancellation conditions, payment conditions, additional services or content must still be managed in the extranet of HRS-DS. The following booking data, if available, will be transferred from HRS-DS to RoomRaccoon: Number of persons Booker name Guest name Address Length of stay Price Additional services Prepare interfVery popular
  • Adding a new channel
    How to add a new channel Adding new channels is a great way to increase market share and improve on global visibility. With RoomRaccoon you may link with other booking channels via two links, the iCal and the XML. When you set up an iCal link with RoomRaccoon it will add all reservations from other channels like Airbnb and Booking.com If the individual iCals of these channels are also imported, you have a chance that your reservations will be in a so-called 'loop'. If one channel updaVery popular
  • Why would I use Yield Management?
    With Yield management you can ask the right price for your rooms according to your availability. And it's all automatic! Our tips on which Yield rules you can set up Tip: Busy week - Do your bookings suddenly increase a few weeks before today? Add a surcharge to increase your room rate Tip: Early Bird - Reward the booker with an early bird discount to someone who has been booking in advance for six months. Tip: Last minute - Do you have a few rooms left? Sell them with a lastVery popular
  • Channel Question (Form)
    A channel manager is here to make daily jobs a lot easier. You want to fully rely on it and you should be able to do so! Sometimes, rates or availability are not communicated well and this can have several reasons but all easy to track. Are you having troubles and you don't know why the rates or availability are not updating, please fill in the following forms and we will investigate the problem for you.  [Channel Question](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13WXnQfyFTdQLxjBKr68JQxmhLygyA3oZyNn8vVery popular
  • How To Set Up Default Restrictions
    How to set up default restrictions You can set default restrictions for minimum stays or for check-in/out closed. For example, if your accommodation always has a minimum 2 nights stay, you can set it as a default restriction. Click on the room type icon at the top left of the screen. Click on the name of the rate type you wish to set the restriction for or click on new rate if you want to create a new rateVery popular
  • Midweek, weekend and week rates. How does this work?
    How do weekend rates work? A weekend rate is a rate that you set for Friday to Sunday and a weekly rate is a rate you set from Sunday to Thursday. Due to high occupancy during the weekend, you might want to increase the rate on weekend bookings. You can do this by creating a bulk action on your rates. How to set up weekend rates Access rates and availability Click on the pencil icon on all rooms (alternatively each room type also has a pencil if you want the change to apply tPopular
  • How to resolve channel manager errors
    How to resolve channel manager errors RoomRaccoon continuously monitors functionality so that potential problems can be identified and resolved immediately. However, there are also some error messages that require action by the hotelier. Here are a few error messages you may receive. Channel Manager errors occur when RoomRaccoon sends or pushes availability for bookings to external channels and the push is unsuccessful. When this happens it’s best that you contact the Booking Channel directlPopular
  • The difference between closing a room and closing the check-in/check-out
    The difference between closing a room and closing the check-in/check-out On RoomRacccoon you are able to close or block rooms in the reservations manager and close checkout or check-in in rates and availability. This is however not the same thing as each action will give you a different outcome. To close a room prevents the room from being booked and essentially this works as a full block of the room. This is a great feature if you want to block your room for bookings during maintenance orPopular
  • Getting a higher ranking in Booking.com
    Many people have a real hate - love relationship with external booking channels. You often don't want it, but you can't do without them! There are easy ways to get high in the ranking at Booking for example, without using discounts. How you do that, we explain! Booking is often used as the 'Google of the Hotel world'. When people search for a room in a certain location, Booking is of course super convenient to use to search. then people often go to their own website to complete their resePopular
  • How To Create A Rate Type
    Adding A Rate Type Once you have completed your onboarding and you have your categories and add-ons setup you will want to start setting up your rate types. To set up a new rate follow the steps below. Click on the Property Set-Up where you will find your Categories Tab. Select the category you would like to create a rate for and click on + New Rate ![](https://storage.crisp.chFew readers
  • RaccoonRev: Setting Yield Rules
    Competitor Pricing AdjustmentFew readers
  • Making Rates Visible On Your Booking Engine
    Visibility Of Room Prices In The Booking Engine. Keep your booking engine rates neat, clear and organized by only displaying the ones necessary to your guests. Otherwise, the rates specifically for Booking.com or Expedia can show up as between the normal prices in the booking engine and that can be confusing for potential guests. Your OTA rates should always take into consideration the commission costs charged by the external channel. Within RoomRaccoon you can easily check in the systemFew readers
  • How to use Bulk Sync
    How to Use Bulk Sync A bulk synchronization is one way RoomRaccoon allows you to automate a number of actions in your rates and availability. You can increase or decrease rates for given periods with parameters on price value/percentage with different restrictions. Example: you would like to increase rates by 10% every Friday between 17 January 2022 and 17 January 2023 on bookings with a minimum 2 nights stay. How to set up and synchronize a bulk action In your rates and availabilFew readers
  • Failure of instantEFT with Peach Payment - but payment went through
    Failure of instant EFT with Peach Payment - when the payment was successful When a guest makes a payment via the booking engine, they can get an error that the payment hasn’t been validated without any reason. The instant EFT payments take 48 hours to clear out meaning the reason that this error may occur can be hard to establish. This however could be due to a few reasons Interference with Internet or connection while making the payment. Unstable weather conditions. Load SheddinFew readers
  • Mobile/Promotional rates on Booking.com
    Mobile/Promotional Rates on Booking.com A Mobile Rate is a special discounted rate that’s only visible when someone uses our app or accesses our site from a mobile browser. You can use Mobile Rates to increase bookings from mobile devices by up to 28%. Booking.com states that the majority of reservations on their platform are made on mobile devices, so offering a Mobile Rate helps you tap into this large group of potential guests. Mobile Rates can also help you target millennials, who make uFew readers
  • How to implement a Stop-Sell using Yield
    How to Implement a Stop-Sell Using Yield The Stop-Sell rule allows you to close certain rates at specific times. One way to utilize this is with non-refundable rates that you can set to be booked within a specific period or a special package that you will have to deactivate if you reach a certain quota. For example: if you don't want to sell the 4 bedroom family room rate for bookings made less than 15 days in advance, you can configure it as follows: In the Rates and Availability sectFew readers
  • How to easily adjust rates in the channel manager
    How to easily adjust rates in the channel manager You can easily adjust your rates on the channel manager by accessing rates and availability where you can set the rates of your choice. How to manage rates in the channel manager Click on Rates and Availability See which room type you would like to manage. Click on the pencil icon next to the room type. ![](Few readers
  • How to close check-in or check-out on a rate
    How to close check-in or check-out on a rate Closing check-in or check-out is a rate restriction in which you determine on which days you cannot arrive or depart for selected rate. This is not the same as closing the room because guests can book in advance over a specific period. How to close check-in and check-out Access your rates and availability Find the rate type which you wantFew readers
  • How to change the minimum bookable time
    How to change the minimum bookable time You may want to set a minimum bookable time so that you always have enough time to know and prepare for guests' arrival at your property. This can be set on rates and availability on the yield tab where you can add a rule on maximum and minimum bookable times. How to configure the minimum bookable time Access the rates and availability tab. Click on the yield settings at the top. ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/615Few readers
  • How to view occupancy rate per day
    How to view Occupancy Rate per day On your RoomRaccoon rates and availability, you are able to see daily occupancy rates in the “occupancy in%” tab. You can use this view to see on which days you also have overbookings, bookings and total bookings. All you have to do is hover your mouse over the day you want to view. ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/61587d0079e73400/occupancy1Few readers
  • How to manage restrictions
    How to Manage Restrictions Restrictions are limits that you put into your rates such as the maximum and minimum stay or closing check-in and check-out on specific days. You can set this up for all categories or select a certain room type restriction. In your rates and availability overview click on the pencil icon next to the selection for All categories: Enter the perioFew readers
  • Why checkout is impossible with an OTA booking
    Why checkout is impossible with an OTA booking When you are trying to checkout a guest who booked through an OTA and the “checkout” option is not there this is usually due to the reservation not having a rate type. You can check-in without a rate type however you are not able to check them out due to the fact that when you checkout a tax invoice is automatically generated. What should you do? ChFew readers
  • What happens when a rate is not linked to RoomRaccoon
    What happens when I have a rate which is not linked to RoomRaccoon Our customers at RoomRaccoon send us their rates and we will map these rates with the Online Travel Agency (OTA). In some instances when customers agree on rates with OTA’s this is not communicated with RoomRaccoon and creates inconsistencies because the rates need to correspond on both systems. Please Note: A common reason why a rate may not be linked is if the rate is from an iCal. We do not map rates to iCal connectionsFew readers
  • Tips for using Yield Manager
    Tips for using Yield Manager With Yield management you can ask for the right price for your rooms according to your availability. This process is automated in RoomRaccoon Tips on which Yield rules you can set up Busy week - Do your bookings suddenly increase a few weeks before today? Add a surcharge to increase your room rate Early Bird - Reward the booker with an early bird discount to someone who has been booking in advance for six months. Last-minute - Do you have a few rooms leFew readers
  • Base Price
    Base Price The base price is the rate that you set before making changes in your channel manager. Whenever availability becomes open this is the rate that will be booked as well as the rate that is shown on your booking engine. When you make changes to your base price on your channel manager it will automatically make changes to your derived rates. Good to know It is recommended that you haveFew readers
  • How to delete a rate plan
    How to delete a rate plan On RoomRacccoon It is not possible to delete a fare on your own but you can follow the steps below to request the deletion: Enter the "Settings" section from the first icon Click on the rate you want to delete In the name of the rate type "Delete" and Save Now [open a tiFew readers
  • How to deactivate yield rules
    How to deactivate yield rules Once you’ve set up your yield rule and have activated it, you might want to deactivate it and not necessarily delete it. To do this access the yield rule and deactivate it by unchecking the activated box. How to deactivate a yield rule Access your rates and availability. Access your Yield tab Navigate and click on the yield rule you want to deactivate ![]Few readers
  • Yield Management Frequently Asked Questions
    Yield Management Frequently Asked Questions **Have you created and activated Yield rules but cannot see them yet? ** Yield will only adjust after there has been a change in availability. You can manipulate this by creating your own reservation in the calendar and cancelling it. **I want to adjust the rates for a specific day or period but I don't want Yield to adjust the rates again afterwards. Is this possible? ** Yes, you can. Perform a bulk action over the whole accommodation to adjustFew readers
  • How to change the order of rates within room category
    How to change the order of rates within a room category On RoomRaccoon you can change the order of rates within the room category to your preference. You might want to see your rates by direct rates first and OTA rates last or have your non-refundable rates in between. This can be configured in the rates of each room type. How to change the order of rates in my room type Access your Room Types (key icon) Navigate to the chosen room type and click in “manage room type”. ![](httpsFew readers
  • RaccoonRev: Percentages and Colors
    RaccoonRev: Percentages and Colors The percentages represent the variance between the Hotel’s rate on that particular day and the average rate over the next 30 days : In the example above , on the 17th of November the competition's average price is - 27% less than their average price over the next 30 days ( R2934). On the 18th of November, Hotel B is pricing +3% more expensive than the average of theFew readers
  • RaccoonRev: Minimum, Maximum prices and Average prices
    With RaccoonRev you can hover on each competitor to see the different rates they are charging at a given time. Simply hover on the competitor on rates and availability and you can see their minimum, maximum and average daily rate. Further, you can also see their occupancy/availability for the day. Min - Minimum price in double occupancy per room type per day Max - Maximum price in double occupancyFew readers
  • RaccoonRev: Setting up yield management based on competitors
    RaccoonRev: Setting up yield management based on competitors With the info provided in competitors' analysis, clients can set yield rules that automatically adjust their prices based on what the competitor's trends are. To set up a yield rule based on your competitor Access rates and availability Navigate to the Yield Tab ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/61587d0079e7Few readers
  • RaccoonRev: Calendar icons
    RaccoonRev: Calendar icons On RaccoonRev, the calendar has different icons to let you know what each status means. This depends on the status of your competitors occupancy. “X” = All competitors sold out. “+” = 2 competitors sold out. “ - “ = 1 competitor sold out. Good to know On the overview the lighter the color represents the more availability and the darker the color, the lessFew readers
  • How to Set Up an STO Rate
    How to Set up an STO Rate What is an STO Rate? In the hospitality industry, hoteliers provide quotes to travel agents and tour operators at a discounted rate (below the rack rate). We call this rate an STO rate, which stands for Sell To Operators. To create a new STO rate Navigate to Room Types Create a new rate type with the same rates you push to your other platforms. Specify that it is an SFew readers

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