Stayntouch PMS 
Rate Strategy
Stayntouch PMS now offers Rate Strategy as an add-on to the PMS. Rate Strategy will automatically update rate price or availability based on occupancy. Rate Strategy cannot be used in conjunction with any of the Revenue Management Systems (RMS) that integrate with Stayntouch PMS. This is meant to be a small RMS directly in Stayntouch PMS.
This functionality needs to be enabled by Stayntouch Admin, so please contact Customer Support if you are interested in using this functionality.
For further reference, you can also view this video.
Items to Note:
- This tool is not a replacement for a Revenue Management System (RMS) and is not intended for hotels with an existing RMS to avoid pricing conflicts.
- While useful for catching unforeseen events or demand surges, if your hotel already makes frequent rate adjustments via Revenue Management > Rate Manager, you may find the tool requires setting up, adjusting, and removing set Rate Strategies as demands change.
Once Rate Strategy is activated by Stayntouch Admin, any user that has the Update rate price permission assigned to the user role from Settings > Hotel & Staff > Permissions will see a new menu item under Revenue Management called Rate Strategy.
Once you click into the Rate Strategy section, Rate Strategy is divided into two separate areas—CONFIGURE and APPLY. When configuring a Rate Strategy, you choose a number of thresholds (maximum of 10) in which you want to make changes to a given rate. Once that is complete, you can apply it to rates over a certain date range by toggling from CONFIGURE to APPLY.
Back on the CONFIGURE screen, you’ll see the different Rate Strategies show the following:
- NAME
- PARAMETER(S): The OCCUPANCY, which will be ALL at this point in time.
- THRESHOLD(S): The number of thresholds set on a given Rate Strategy.
- ACTIVE: Whether or not the Rate Strategy is active. When a Rate Strategy is deactivated, any rates associated with that Rate Strategy will revert to their configured rate in Settings > Rates > Rates.
When you create a new Rate Strategy by clicking + NEW CONFIGURATION or click into an existing Rate Strategy, you’ll see the NAME and TYPE. Please note, the NAME and TYPE need to be entered, as this is the name of the Rate Strategy, and without this information, you cannot save it.
There are two different types of Rate Strategies—percentage or currency. For hotels that utilize Multi Currency, we currently only support the main currency of the hotel.
Please note, when the type is set to a currency, and one of the parameters requires the system to decrease the rate by a certain amount, if the amount is less than the configured amount, it will default to zero.
From this screen you’ll also see the following areas:
- PARAMETER: Currently, occupancy is the only parameter supported.
- THRESHOLD: This is the threshold at which you wish to implement a rate update. This can be greater than or less than a certain occupancy percentage.
- OCCUPANCY PERCENTAGE: This is the percent occupancy of the hotel at which you wish to implement a rate update.
- ACTION: This is the action you wish to perform on the rate. You can increase, decrease, or close the rate.
- AMOUNT: This is always based on the configured rate and is reflective of the TYPE selected (percentage or currency).
- RED X: This allows you to delete a threshold.
Once you’ve finished everything in the CONFIGURE section, which comprises the thresholds that you want to implement, you can move into the APPLY section to actually implement the thresholds. From this section, you’ll see the names of the Rate Strategies, the date ranges, and the rates associated with the Rate Strategies. You can also sort by the following:
- DATE RANGE: A date starting from the current business date all the way up to three years in the future.
- APPLIED TO: Select which individual rates the Rate Strategies apply to, or select All Rates.
- PARAMETER(S): Right now, Occupancy is the only parameter that can be selected.
Please note, rates cannot be part of more than one Rate Strategy over the same date range. Moreover, rates available for selection will only be those for which the rate type is set to PUBLIC in your rate configuration. Rates with a CORPORATE and GROUP rate type cannot be selected. Moreover, any child rates that you have will not be applicable, as whenever a parent rate is updated, the child rates will be updated, as well.
To apply a Rate Strategy, click + APPLY STRATEGY, at which point you can then select a START DATE and END DATE for the Rate Strategy.
You will then see a list of all of your Rate Strategies, and you can click one to proceed.
After selecting a Rate Strategy, you’ll see a list of rates to which you can apply the Rate Strategy. Please note, as mentioned earlier, any rates associated with a Rate Strategy for the same date range will not display on the list of rates to which you can apply the Rate Strategy. Once you select the rates to apply to this Rate Strategy, click APPLY RATE STRATEGY to continue.
You can then go ahead and expand the new Rate Strategy to see what the parameters are going to be without having to navigate into the CONFIGURE screen.
If you want to check on the Rate Strategy changes, all changes will be reflected in Revenue Management > Rate Manager. From here, you can select the date range as well as the rates applied to the Rate Strategy, and then click SHOW SELECTED RATES.
You’ll then see the rates selected for the date range, and if you click into a rate, you’ll see that there has been a change to the rate.
Whereas other integrated Rate Strategy solutions require you to complete counter conversions, the Stayntouch Rate Strategy solution does not require that. Any time a Rate Strategy is no longer relevant, it will no longer be applied to the selected rates.
All changes to a rate as part of a Rate Strategy will be reflected in the Activity Log for the rate from Settings > Rates > Rates > Select Rate > Rate Details > ACTIVITY LOG.
