CSS: Opening Windows^® with Inntegrity™, Part 4
Rate the CSS Rate Techniques

You operate a resort.  It’s 400 units located on a beach, in a large city.  The property is full service: F&B Outlets, Beach Activities, Meeting/Function space facilities.

Your current property management system no longer meets your needs and has to be replaced.  Of course there’s much to be considered.  For starters, you wonder what PMS vendor can properly handle your rate requirements: multiple seasonal rates, weekend/weekday split rates, group rates, package plan rates, rate agreements for tour operators, corporate accounts, wholesalers and rates to address different market types.  Where do you begin?  Here’s a good start - call CSS Hotel Systems 972-548-9721.

The Inntegrity™ System is not our first go ‘round here at CSS.  After 27 years, and continual enhancements to our character based system, we have extensive experience with rate techniques.  We included all the functionality and enhancements written over the years and applied them to the initial development of Inntegrity™.  Then we increased the rate functionality and improved the flexibility and ease of setup.   

Let us give you some idea how it works by entering a new rate set. Management accesses the Utility Menu; this takes an additional password.  Click on the Maintain Room Rate module and the screen has four fields: Location, Room Type, Market, Plan, plus a chart with columns matching the fields. 

You begin by entering the necessary data, at least a Room Type and Market Code.  A Location Code would be necessary if you wanted to differentiate rates for individual locations at your property, rates in the tower versus the villas, for example.  A Plan Code is entered if the rate applies to a package plan.

Next is Room Rate Entry.  Here you enter a date range these rates will remain in effect, days of the week the rates will apply and the actual rates for 1 through 4 Adults, Additional Adult and Children.  That’s all you need, however, additional steps here can incorporate the use of the CSS Dynamic Rate Tiering Yield Management for this set of rates.  For details on the CSS Dynamic Rate Tiering Yield Management, see the Pipeline in Hospitality Upgrade, Spring 2001 

The new rates for this Room Type and Market Code are now displayed on screen and grouped by their effective dates.  There’s no limit to the number of date sets, so effective dates can be as short as a few days, Spring Break for example, or enter rates for several years in the future.  The number of Market Codes and Room Types have no limitations either.  Any stay that spans across sets of dates or weekday/weekend causing a split rate is handled properly by the System changing to the revised rate during night audit.  The rate can even be averaged in the Rate Analysis Screen at reservation time to offer the guest one rate throughout the stay 

Relax.  Even though the System can contain a multitude of rates, your reservationist doesn’t have to choose.  Enter the Dates, Room Type and Market Code in the Reservations Screen and the System displays the applicable rate.  Inntegrity™ works with a Rate Search Hierarchy.  This  is a calculation based on data entered to determine the rate the Inntegrity™ System will select.  As the reservationist enters further information: Group/Corporate/Wholesaler Code, Plan Code, etc. it will further clarify the correct rate that applies to the particular guests’ criteria.

Good things come to those who wait; better things are available to those who didn’t.