Setting up flexible children rates

This article will help you set up flexible children rates. If you want to set up standard children rates, read this article. Setting up children rates lets families see all of the important details and prices for a particular room or unit on your property page.

What’s in this article:

Setting up policies to allow children

You can choose whether your property accepts children of all ages, only accepts children above a certain age or doesn’t allow children at all. Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in to the extranet
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Edit
4. Choose Yes or No to select whether you allow children under 18 years old
5. If you want, you can select a minimum age for children you allow to stay at your property
6. Click on Save

Choosing your children rates and age groups

Choosing your children rates options

Once you’ve allowed children at your property, you can choose between two different children rates products: standard children rates and flexible children rates.

A standard children rate is right for you if you need:

• One set of rates for your entire property
• Free or fixed rates

A flexible children rate is right for you if you need:

• Different sets of rates per room or unit type and rate plan
• Free, fixed or percentage-based rates
• Different rates per child within each of your age groups

Before setting up flexible children rates, you need to do the following:

• Have at least one room or unit type and one rate plan set up for your property
• Set availability for the room rate on your Calendar
• Indicate that you allow children at your property

Choosing which age groups your rates apply to

Your children age groups apply to your entire property and determine how you set children rates. You must create between one to three age groups to start setting flexible children rates. You can set up your age groups by doing the following:

1. Log in to the extranet.
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies.
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Edit.
4. In the Children rates section, under the Flexible option, click on the Set up button.
5. Click on Set up children age groups for your entire property. Your children age groups apply to your entire property and determine how you set children rates. You must create between one to three age groups to start setting flexible children rates.
6. To view or edit your age groups, click on Change age groups. After that, you’re ready to select a room or unit and a rate.  

If you’ve already set up standard children rates, your existing age groups appear in the Children age groups section.

Setting up children occupancy and rates for each room

To set different occupancy and rate configurations for adults and children in each room, do the following: 

1. Log in to the extranet
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Set up or Edit
4. In the Occupancy and children rate distribution section, you can set up the occupancy and rate configuration
5. Click on Save when you’re happy with the configuration

For every room, there are four parameters you can set: 

• Max. total guests: maximum number of guests (adult and children) that can fit in the room, which can be greater than the maximum number of adults.
• Max. adults: maximum number of adults that can fit in the room.
• Max. children: maximum number of children that can fit in the room. Keep in mind that the children need to be accompanied by at least one adult. The maximum number of children for any room or unit can be the maximum number of guests minus one. 
• Max. that pay children rate: maximum number of children that are eligible for children rate. All other children are charged with the adult price.

Here are some examples of how you can set up the children rates in case the rooms can accommodate children: 

Extending room occupancy with cots and/or extra beds

The occupancy you set is for guests staying in existing beds. Occupancy for guests staying in cots and extra beds isn’t included. 

Cots are an essential need for many families with infants and adding cots into your rooms will increase your chances of getting more family bookings. 

Here’s how you can add and set prices for cots and extra beds:

1. Log in to the extranet.
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies.
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Extra bed and cot options section and click on Edit.
4. Add how many cots and/or extra beds you can provide per room or unit.
5. Set your prices and age restrictions for cots and extra beds. Free cots will be displayed to guests in the search results. 
6. Preview your policies and click on Save. 

Selecting your preferred room or unit type and rate

You can set up flexible children rates at the room or unit and rate level by following these steps:

1. Log in to the extranet.
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies.
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Set up/View or edit in the Flexible children rates section. 
4. In the panel, you’ll see a list of rooms with occupancy set for at least one child, which makes them eligible for a flexible children rate.
5. Select a room or unit type to display the details of that rate plan.
6. You’ll see a summary of the occupancy and the last available room rate for the room type you’ve selected. You’ll also see the age groups that you’ve set up for your property. You can enter the details of how these age groups are priced.

Setting up prices per age group, duplicating a children rate setup and setting up different rates for specific dates

Setting up prices per age group

For each age group, you can choose whether all children are charged the same or if some children are charged differently. To choose your setup, do the following:

1. Log in to the extranet
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Edit
4. In the Children rates section, under the Flexible option, click on the Set up or View or edit button
5. Select the relevant room and rate plan
6. Under Default children rate setup, click on Edit
7. For each age range, choose whether all children are priced the same or differently

If all children in an age group are charged the same, you can choose from these options:

• Free: there is no cost for children per age group.
• Fixed: there is a fixed cost for children per age group.
• Percentage: children are charged a percentage of the total room rate. The availability of the percentage pricing in the extranet depends on the pricing model used by the property (it excludes OBP & LOS pricing models).
• Full adult price: children are charged the same rate as adults aged 18 years and over.

If children in this age group are charged differently you can set a Price for first child, Price for second child and Price for every extra child per age group. To learn more about how per-child pricing works, take a look at this article.

After you’ve finished filling in all of the information for your age groups, you’ll see a preview of your pricing setup. Click on Save changes once you’re satisfied with the setup.

The pricing shown may not be exact, as it may not cover taxes, fees, promotions or other additional charges. Still, the provided details can help you better understand how your flexible children rates have been set up. 

Duplicating the children rate setup of one room rate to another 

A duplicate feature is now available. This feature can help you save time in setting up your children rates by letting you copy the children rate setup of one room rate to another. Here’s how to duplicate a room rate:

1. Log in to the extranet
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Edit
4. In the Children rates section, under the Flexible option, click on the Set up or View or edit button
5. Select the relevant room and rate plan
6. Under Default children rate setup, click on Duplicate
7. A list of room rates for which you can duplicate the original children rate setup appears. Select the relevant room rates and click on Continue
8. Check your choice and when you’re happy with it, click on Apply changes

Setting different children rates for specific dates

If your pricing policy includes different children rates for some specific periods such as peak or low season, you can set up different children rates for specific dates.

1. Log in to the extranet
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Edit
4. In the Children rates section, under the Flexible option, click on the View or edit or Set up button
5. Select the relevant room and rate plan
6. In the Set different rates for specific dates section, click on Create new rate
7. Choose your settings and click on Save changes

Checking if your price setup is active

To check that your children rate setup is active, do the following:

1. Log in to the extranet.
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies.
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Edit.
4. In the Children rates section, under the Flexible option, click on the View or edit button.
5. In the panel, click on the relevant room or unit and choose a rate plan.
6. You’ll see a new Default Children rate setup section which displays an overview of the settings per age group. The Active mention indicates that these children rates are now bookable by guests.
7. In the panel, you’ll now see the Setup active mention under rates that you’ve set up. You can also see which rate plans don’t have a children rate set up yet.

Keep in mind that there may be a delay of up to two hours between setting up your children rates and seeing them reflected on your property listing page.

If you need to make changes to these rates in the future, you can access them from the Children policies and occupancy page or directly through the Flexible children rates page.

No longer working with a Connectivity partner

When you send children rates through your Connectivity provider, the Flexible Children Rates page in the extranet will be read-only and will be locked for editing. 

If you no longer work with a Connectivity provider or you’re changing to a new one, this page won’t automatically be editable. You need to reactivate the flexible children rates set up by following the steps below:

1. Log in to the extranet
2. Click on Property and then click on Policies
3. Under Children & extra beds, go to the Children policies section and click on Edit
4. In the Children rates section, under the Flexible option, click on the View or edit button
5. Click on the information button
6. Click on Activate edit mode for flexible children rates

With this change, you can start setting up new rates or edit the existing ones. If you changed provider, this setting will be valid until the information is pushed through to the new provider.