OwnerRez offers a robust, flexible, dynamic rates system using Seasons and Seasonal Rates, discussed in the Rates & Seasons Overview. However, because of its flexibility, it's also pretty complex and requires a lot of time and testing to get everything right.
To get around this complexity, we offer another way to set rates: Spot Rates. It's a simple calendar, where you can type in rates for each individual night, or even a range, for each property. Users can simply "paint over" their seasonal rates with the rates they wish to charge on an ad hoc basis.
OwnerRez users should always remember the following.
- Seasons rules override property rules, such as minimum/maximum number of nights and changeover days.
- Rates Calendar rule changes override seasons rules.
Even if you use seasonal rates, users will probably still look at the Rates Calendar to review overall nightly rates. This allows users to instantly select some gaps in between and price those days with spot rates so that you can quickly increase/decrease the rates and minimum/maximum nightly rules to attract a larger market and maximize profits. If no spot rates are set, the seasonal level rates and rules will be displayed and applied. If no spot rates or seasonal rates apply to dates, the Rates calendar shows that at-a-glance.
- Rates Calendar
- Navigating the Rates Calendar
- Calendar/Seasonal/Spot Rates Tabs
- Set Rates
- Set Rules
- FAQs
Rates Calendar
The OwnerRez Rates Calendar is the area where users can view and set nightly rates and rules for each of their properties. There are two ways to navigate to this section.
1. Navigate to Settings > Rates as shown below.
2. Or select Rates Calendar from the Tools drop-down list.
There are so many features available for navigating the Rates Calendar section that we've broken it down into sections.
- Batch Copy Rates
- Property Selector
- Month Selector
- Selection Mode
- Advanced Select
- Legend
- Heat Map Shading & Cell Layout
- Hover Cards
Batch Copy Rates
The Batch Copy Rates tool allows users to copy all rates from one property to one or more other properties. At the top of the Rates Calendar, users can click on the Batch Copy Rates button to accomplish this operation as shown below.
Below we will batch copy rates from the Beach Barn (Source) property to our Beach Hut, Sissy's Hideaway and Heaven On The River (Destination) properties.
After users have selected the Source and Destination property/properties, they can choose what rates to copy and how to apply those rates.
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What do you want to copy? Users can choose to select either or both Seasonal Rates and Spot Rates. Rates copied will only apply to future rates. Historical rates won't be copied.
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Other Destination Rates Users can choose either to Remove (overwrite) or Leave alone future rates that are NOT in the Source Property.
In the image below, we chose to copy both Seasonal and Spot Rates but Leave alone any future rates in the destination properties that we've already set. Be sure to click on Copy.
If the Batch Copy process is successful, a green banner will appear at the bottom of the page with a link to View updated properties as shown below.
Back to the Calendar tab, users can change the property monthly views by selecting a specific property from the Property Selector drop-down list as shown below.
Month Selector
Similarly, users can change the month view by either scrolling down or using the Month Selector drop-down list as shown below.
Selection Mode
Users can select nights by using the Selection mode drop-down list on the right side of the Calendar tab as shown below.
- The Toggle mode allows users to click/tap dates to select individual or multiple nights.
- The Range mode allows users to click and drag to select individual or multiple nights.
- The Columns mode allows users to click and drag to select individual or multiple columns, which is super handy for selecting weekends only.
Note how the individual Hover Cards appear when selecting each day.
Similarly, users can select seasons by using the Selection mode drop-down list on the right side of the Seasonal Rates tab as shown below.
- The Toggle mode allows users to click/tap and select individual seasons for one or more properties.
- The Drag mode allows users to click and drag rates to select one or more seasons for one or more properties.
Advanced Select
In the Calendar tab, users can select a range of dates and days of the week. To choose that range, click on Advanced Select as shown below.
A modal will open and users can choose a range of dates and days of the week as shown below. In this example, we have chosen all Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights between March 11th and April 1st. Click on Select.
The selected dates will be highlighted in blue and users can now Set Rates and Set Rules that apply to all the selected nights as shown below.
Users can also choose to Clear Selection and start over.
Legend
Clicking on the Legend link above the calendar on the upper right-hand side will display a handy legend tooltip detailing some calendar icons as shown below.
Heat Map Shading & Cell Layout
In the Calendar tab, the nightly rate is centered in the middle of each day. Seasonal rates (March 2023 Sundays - Tuesdays) are non-bold and spot rates (March 2023 Wednesdays - Thursdays) are in bold. More expensive rates are shaded in darker green than less expensive rates.
Each day has a different shade of green based on where the rate falls relative to the property's pricing overall. This gives you a heat map feeling as you look at the calendar and causes your eyes to instantly pick up where there are high or low-priced days. Darker shades of green are higher-priced days and lighter shades of green are cheaper-priced days.
As you select and change rates, the coloring will instantly change as you do your work to reflect a new heat map of colors. If you set higher rates on certain days, the lower-priced days around those days will instantly change shades and vice-versa. The heat map coloring works no matter if your rates are spot rates or seasonal as shown below.
Within each calendar day, the day of the month number is located in the top left corner of each day and the minimum number night rule is displayed with the moon icon on the upper right side of the calendar day. Spot rates are displayed in bold, while seasonal rates are displayed in a regular font as shown below.
The same bold format is applied to the minimum nights rule if the minimum night rule is custom set as a spot rule.
And note the lower left icon on Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th denoting a channel block.
Days that have no nightly rate set will be very clear to users with a large bold 0 displayed along with an alert icon.
The monthly view of a calendar that has no nightly rate set should be very clear to users by the large bold 0 displayed along with an alert icon on each calendar day.
Hover Cards
On the Calendar tab, users can hover over each day to view the following information so full details of each day are very clear. You don't have to click on the day; a simple hover over that day will do the trick.
The hover card, shown above, gives you 8 categories of information:
- Season - the primary season that the day falls into. If multiple seasons exist, it will show the primary one that OwnerRez is using given our season selection rules (specific date over recurring, priority status, etc)
- Rates - the rate amount for that day and where it comes from (seasonal or a custom spot rates)
- Minimum Nights - the required number of nights for that day and where it comes from (seasonal or custom spot rates). If no reason is given, then it's the default rule for the current property.
- Maximum Nights - the required number of maximum nights for that day and where it comes from (seasonal or custom spot rates). If no reason is given, then it's the default rule for the current property.
- Availability - whether the property can be booked or blocked and a warning about guests arriving/departing.
- Arrival - whether there are any guest arrival restrictions and why. Gap rules and arrival/departure restrictions, set on the season or property, are the most common reasons.
- Departure - whether there are any guest departure restrictions and why. Gap rules and arrival/departure restrictions, set on the season or property, are the most common reasons.
- Channel Blackouts - indicates whether the property has a channel specific blackout for this date. In the example above, the user has set a Vrbo channel blackout for this night at this property.
The hover card works on mobile devices too even if a mouse isn't present by long-pressing on the day cell and the hover card will appear.
Calendar/Seasonal/Spot Rates Tabs
Moving down the page, users will see three individual tabs. The Calendar tab is the default option as shown below.
Calendar Tab
The primary and default interface is the Rates Calendar. It offers a calendar-style display showing existing rates for a property, or 0 if there aren't any rates applied. The Calendar tab displays the rates calendar in a monthly view as shown below. Users will make most, if not all, of their Spot Rates changes in this tab.
Bookings/Blocks will appear on your Rates Calendar with a red line inserted through the middle of the day, denoting that the period is booked or blocked, but it won't impact the rates and rules for that night or the nights around it, as shown below. The red line only appears for true bookings or blocks, not other virtual blocks like gap rules or change-over restrictions. So any guest trying to book your property on your website or on a channel like Vrbo might see that a day is unavailable due to other rules in place, such as a forced gap or arrival/departure rules, adjacent to a booking/block.
Rule restrictions, such as gap rules or arrival/departure restrictions, use a gray line to distinguish them from true blocks and bookings. Here's an example of a booking with a forced gap rule of "1 night between bookings".
Users can select nights by using the Selection mode drop-down list on the right side of the Calendar tab as shown below.
- The Toggle mode allows users to click/tap dates to select individual or multiple nights.
- The Range mode allows users to click and drag to select individual or multiple nights.
- The Columns mode allows users to click and drag to select individual or multiple columns, which is super handy for selecting weekends only.
Before users clear their Spot Rates, they should be sure that their Seasonal Rates are already configured.
To start, users select the Spot Rates they want to clear by navigating to Tools > Rate Calendar > the Calendar tab > Advanced Select.
On the Advanced Select Dates pop-up modal, enter the Spot Rates dates and nights that you wish to clear and click on Select.
The selected nights will now appear in blue in the Calendar tab. Be careful not to click on the calendar, as doing so will "unselect" those previously selected nights. Click on the green Set Rates button.
On the Set Rates pop-up modal, select Use the default seasonal rates for these dates and click Update. This will remove/clear the spot rates from your Spot Rates tab and use your seasonal rates instead.
Users will need to repeat this process for each property that they want to have rates already controlled by seasons.
Seasonal Rates Tab
The Seasonal Rates tab defines a period of time based on a date range or Season. Note that users can create Seasons or Special Events both in the Seasonal Rates tab and the Spot Rates tab.
All properties will be listed in an abbreviated format grid pattern. Hovering over the Abbreviated Properties will display the property name as shown below, in this case, the Beach Hut.
Using the upper right Selection mode, users can Toggle or Drag to select seasons for one or more properties. The selected seasons will be highlighted in green as shown below.
- The Toggle mode allows users to click/tap and select individual seasons for one or more properties.
- The Drag mode allows users to click and drag rates to select one or more seasons for one or more properties.
When users click on Set Rates, a modal will pop up allowing them to set both Night and Weekend Night Rates. In the example below, we are setting our Night and Weekend Night Rates to $150 and $200 respectively. Because this season did not have any rates set for this season, the options to Increase Rates by percentage or amount are crossed or striked out. Click on Update.
And you can see our new Seasonal Rates.
Spot Rates Tab
Users have a lot of flexibility in the Spot Rates tab. Note that users can create Seasons or Special Events both in the Seasonal Rates tab and the Spot Rates tab.
The Spot Rates tab displays users' rates in a table view as shown below. The columns (with a green header) include the Property column with additional columns detailing the Date, rate Amount, Minimum Nights rule, Maximum Nights rule, Arrival and Departure and Gap rule information for each property in a table view in alphabetical order.
Users can toggle the top of each column to display the information in ascending or descending order.
Users can also Clear Rates, Import, Export and Import from Channel their rates on this tab as shown below.
Additionally, users can batch copy their rates by selecting Batch Copy Rates at the top of the page.
Set Rates
Spot Rates complement Seasonal Rates by "painting on top" of the seasonal rates to override the nightly rate and optionally minimum nights rule for the applicable nights.
Spot Rates are only used for the specific dates they apply to. Any surrounding seasonal rates for dates not covered by Spot Rates will be used normally.
You can still set seasonal rules like minimum nights, days of week, second payment days etc. for any time covered by Spot Rates (and even seasonal rates for dates not covered by Spot Rates). Any taxes or surcharges like guest fees or cleaning fees will apply based on season as well.
Dynamic pricing integrations like PriceLabs use Spot Rates to set rates based on their demand-based pricing rules.
To set Spot Rates, navigate to the Calendar Tab and select one or more nights. Then click Set Rates as shown below.
In the modal that pops up, users can choose the desired nightly rate. In the example below, we are setting the rates for the 11 selected nights to $175.00. Click on Update.
Here are the Set Rates options available:
- Use the default seasonal rates for these dates - this will change the rates back to the seasonal rates that you have set for this property.
- Set nights to exact amount - this is the same as what we used to offer before. Every night in your selection will be overwritten to the exact amount you enter.
- Increase nights by percentage - this is a 0-100% selector that will bump up the current rate of each night, relative to whatever that night's rate is, by the percent you select.
- Decrease nights by percentage - same as above, but each night will decrease instead of increase.
- Increase nights by amount - this is a flat amount that you can enter which will bump up the current rate of each night, relative to whatever that night's rate is, by the flat amount you enter.
- Decrease nights by amount - same as above, but each night will decrease instead of increase.
Below is an example of setting rates for 9 dates to be increased by 14%. Click on Update.
There is no need to set a custom rate for a night unless you choose to as the seasonal rates (if set) will always apply.
The new Spot Rates will display in a bold blue color until the saving process is complete as shown below.
After the saving process is complete, the new Spot Rates will be displayed in bold font as shown below.
Set Rules
Users can add specific rules to each day directly on the Calendar Tab. Those rules may include Minimum or Maximum Nights Rules, specific Arrival or Departure Rules, or Gap Management. Probably the most common use for these types of rules is controlling bookings over holidays or special events. It would probably be very difficult to find a cleaner willing to do a turnaround cleaning (both a check-out and check-in on the same day) on a holiday. These rules can be specific to your properties and location.
Minimum and Maximum Nights Rules
Similarly, users can set Minimum/Maximum nights and Arrival/Departure Rules for selected dates. In the example below, we have selected 3 nights and are going to change the Minimum nights rule by clicking on the Set Rules drop-down list.
In the modal that pops up, users will see the current Minimum Nights Rule (currently set to 4 nights) and can choose to either Use the default rule from season or property or to Set a custom rule for these nights. In the example below, we are changing the minimum nights rule to 5 minimum nights. Click on Update.
Users will note in the example below that the calendar now displays that the 3 nights now have a 5-night minimum.
Virtual blocks will show for any rule where the day cannot be booked because of your property settings. The most common example of these is:
- Arrival or Departure Restriction - occurs when you have a day of the week set so that guests cannot arrive, depart, or both.
- Gap Restrictions - occur when you force a certain number of days between bookings. You might not allow back-to-back bookings because it's too hard on your cleaners to prepare the property between bookings.
There is no need to set a custom rule for a night unless you choose to. If the minimum night rule isn't set, the season or property rules will always apply. And similarly to Spot Rates changes, any Rule Changes will appear in bold font on the calendar.
Arrival and Departure Rules
Users can set also specific Arrival and Departure rules directly from the Calendar tab by clicking on the Set Rates drop-down list and selecting Changeover.
The Changeover modal pop-up includes the following options.
- Use the default rule for season or property
- Arrival and departure are both allowed
- Stay is allowed (no arrival or departure)
- Gap required (no same-day changeover)
- It's complicated, which allows users to choose a variety of Arrival and Departure options.
See the Changeover Rules in action below. Note how the gray line denoting Arrival or Departure rules is added after each Arrival and Departure Rule is applied.
FAQs
Where's the Delete button?!
The Rates Calendar Delete Button was removed! Referring to it as "delete" was inaccurate because deleting is not what was happening when you used "Delete." Instead, you were removing any override set on that date, whether rates or rules, and reverting to the default rates/rules from the season or property. Now that the additional set rule options were added, it's clearer to set to "use the default..." under each individual rates/rules setting.
My Rates Calendar is displaying errors. How do I fix that?
Days that have no nightly rate set will be very clear to users with a large bold 0 displayed along with an alert icon.
The monthly view of a calendar that has no nightly rate set should be very clear to users by the large bold 0 displayed along with an alert icon on each calendar day.
OwnerRez users can fix this by adding Seasonal Base Rates or Spot Rates to nights that display rate errors with the alert icon.