Why is daily rate management important?
Travellers nowadays have a plethora of accommodations to choose from and comparing prices is easier than ever thanks to large OTAs. This has led to a highly competitive market for hoteliers to operate in. Displaying the right price at the right time is therefore more important than ever. Respond to fluctuations in demand with dynamic pricing, so you can maintain a steady occupancy rate and maximise revenue.
Create a set of rate plans that performs well
What are rate plans?
In short, a hotel’s rate plans are the different options a traveller sees during the booking process. It’s important to create a well-thought-out set of rate plans with specific restrictions in order to maximise your bookings and revenue. A few common examples are:
- BAR (Best Available Rate)
- Flexible vs. non-refundable rate
- Rate with breakfast included
- Early-bird vs. last-minute rate
- Rate for companies
- Temporary promotional rate plans
- …
How do you set up different rate plans?
Setting up different rate plans is very easy to do in Cubilis. Each rate plan starts from your standard rate (the Best Available Rate or BAR), based on which you can calculate your other rate plans (for example by subtracting or adding a percentage or a fixed amount). That way, when you raise or lower your default rates in response to changes in the market, your derived rate plans will follow suit! There are a couple of factors to consider when determining the right price for your rate plans:
- Seasons (high, low & mid season)
- Other special periods/holidays
- Events nearby
- The competition in your area
- Historical data and reports
- Trends and forecasts
Once your rate plans are finalised, you can make them bookable on your website’s Booking Engine and activate them on your other booking channels. Be careful not to overwhelm potential clients with too many options. Showing 4 to 6 rates at once typically works best. By monitoring how many reservations and how much revenue they produce, you can continue to fine-tune your rate plan structure.
How to manage your rates and booking channels efficiently?
Being present on a good variety of OTAs and metasearch websites is essential to achieve a good occupancy rate. To offset the commissions charged by these parties, you also need a well-converting website of your own. Always try to offer the lowest prices on your personal website to stimulate direct bookings.
Managing multiple distribution channels surely is more complicated, but definitely worth the effort. In order to efficiently manage your prices & availabilities on all these channels, having a reliable Channel Manager is an absolute must. It ensures that price changes and room availabilities are immediately synchronised everywhere.
By connecting your OTAs directly to your Channel Manager, you eliminate a lot of manual work. Instead of creating a specific rate plan for each channel individually, Cubilis lets you create presets to which an automatic supplement is added per OTA (e.g. +15% for Booking.com).
There are many more advantages of connecting your OTAs directly to Cubilis:
- You get a clear overview of all reservations in Cubilis.
- Cubilis receives the accommodation types and rate plans you have already created in Booking.com. All that's left to do is to connect the corresponding accommodation types and rate plans of the two systems.
- Import all future OTA reservations into Cubilis with one button.
- You don't need to add availability, prices or restrictions to your booking channels anymore. Cubilis automatically synchronises this information.
- Promotions can also be managed from Cubilis. It's easy to launch a last-minute promotion or to create one for corporate clients, for example.
- No more overbookings, because Cubilis is constantly checking your OTAs for new reservations.
Easy dynamic pricing with a Revenue Management System
The fastest and easiest way to respond to changes in the market is by connecting your Channel Manager to a Revenue Management System (RMS) like RevControl or RoomPriceGenie. It analyses the necessary data to propose optimal room prices multiple times a day in order to maximise your RevPAR (revenue per available room). Thanks to the integration with Cubilis, you can choose to automatically upload these prices to your booking channels. This way, dynamic pricing becomes possible for every accommodation owner!
Ready to make your rate management more efficient with Cubilis?
Feel free to contact us through the form below for more information. We’re happy to help you optimise your rate management!
