How to import daily rates with minimum nights - can this be done?

From reviewing the import rates template (rate-import.xlsx) I think I could set individual dates like this:

Season Name = On Season
Start Date = 11/1/2019
End Date = 11/2/2019
Type = Night
Amount = $299

But I don't see a way to simultaneously set the minimum nights, unless it's in the 'Rate Nights' column perhaps?

I like having daily granular rates in a spreadsheet so I can have a permanent record of the initial (and reduced as dates get closer) rates.

To date I've been manually setting in VRBO, but I'd prefer to have a master spreadsheet which I import to OR and then push to VRBO.

There is a column for min nights. It's the one called Season Min Nights. See pic below.

If you're going to change the rate every day, you should use Spot Rates. They are designed for that and you can set min. nights on those too. I guess you're looking for an Excel import which we don't have, so that might be the sticking point here?

Thanks Paul ...

My period of interest is the upcoming ski season - mid November 2019 until mid April 2020

I want the ability to set each day in that period to it's own rate, and hopefully req'd min nights.
I expect I will revisit rates about every 4-6 weeks, update my spreadsheet and then import to OR and push to VRBO.

I don't use a dynamic pricing service, but in effect that's what I would be doing. My situation might be unique, I have 3 units out of about 200 very similar units in a resort. Many of those units are managed professionally by two major companies. So to compete I need to monitor their pricing and adjust mine to remain consistent. At the resort it's common to price higher than market for months ahead of a date, and then reduce rates based on vacancies.

Am I completely out of luck here? Or can I use Seasonal Rates in a way that they maybe weren't intended?

I would use Seasonal Rates and break up the time periods into weeks or two week or 10 day periods where the rates will go up and down. Then create a "season" for each of those small periods based on where you will set base rates.

I don't know how your base rate will go up or down or if there are any patterns. For any given week, will the week DAY nights be different than the weekend END nights? Give me a real string of rates and I'll know what to recommend for.

Sounds like you want seasonal with base rates and then set spot rates as you watch the calendar. Spot rates override seasonal rates for whatever night there is a spot rate on.

I just emailed the spreadsheet for you to inspect. You'll see that I compare two other rate sets, plus my own (adjusted) from previous year, and then I adjust each day's rate according to whatever seems right.

Think of me as a human dynamic pricing engine who wants the flexibility to set specific dates (using an imported spreadsheet). I give OR a list of rows, I just want it to consume them and overwrite previous rates I've imported.

I see that the new Spot Rates import is available - THANKS !!!!

I did a test of dates from 9/1/19-9/10/19 for my three properties, but the when I went to Settings/Channel Connections and started the Push Rates it appears there are lots of rates already in OR, probably from past efforts using Seasons OR by import from VRBO.

EDIT - Never Mind, I found that I can delete Seasons, Seasonal Rates and Spot Rates using the Settings page.

enhancement? would be easier to find how to delete these if the Push Rates modal included a link to settings. Or at least some verbiage saying how to delete.

OK - apologies in advance to the wonderful OR folks - but I find it much easier to set my rates in VRBO and then import them to OR. It brings in rates, # of days, everything. Then you can push from OR to ABB or wherever. Maybe it's because I used VRBO before using OR, but the Season - Spot thing seems more difficult.

@Rich -- yeah, that could be good, the option to delete seasons during that range that the spot rates cover. The way spot rates work you don't have to delete the seasonal because the spot rates override or "paint on top" of the seasonal rates, but if you're going full on spot rates it makes sense to delete the seasons.

@Lydia -- Don't apologize! We know the list method of managing spot rates is... not very good. That's why we built the import as a stop-gap. We are working on a calendar method like VRBO has, and at that point it'll be just as easy to set the rates right in OwnerRez :-D

Chris - you guys are supportive with so many things. Appreciate all you do.

So now I don't seem to know how to get back to the import I did previously which brought in rates and minimum nights from VRBO. I changed some things in VRBO, did what I thought was the same import I'd done before, and while my rates look correct all the minimum nights have disappeared.

So now I don't seem to know how to get back to the import I did previously which brought in rates from VRBO. I changed some things in VRBO, did what I thought was the same import I'd done before, and while my rates look correct and minimum nights are correct I now don't know where to look to verify that it brought in allowed check-in/out days. Or am I imagining things - was that never part of the import from VRBO?

When you import the spot rates from the channel, there's a checkbox you have to check to also get the min nights.

We don't currently bring in allowed dates, just rate and min nights (if you check that box).