Allotment - Set different availability to your channels

Lorena Pamplona

Updated January 18, 2024 19:26

In the Allotment page you can:

Choose how far out you would like to sell your accommodations through channels (OTAs)
Allocate different availability inventory for your OTAs than what you have in Cloudbeds PMS/Booking Engine so you sell a limited number of rooms to OTAs

Check below how it works and how to configure your allotment to set different availability to channels.

It is not currently possible to set different allotments for different channels.
Allotment set on this page affects only the availability for channels connected, not availability for direct sources (Cloudbeds Booking Engine, phone, walk-ins, etc.).

Update the availability through the year(s)

1 - Select how far out you will sell rooms in the OTAs

Access the Distribution page,

Open the Allotment tab
Select how far you would like to send your availability to the connected OTAs (1 to 4 years), assuming the rates you entered extend that far out.

If you do not have your rate intervals set that long, this section will only send out rates till the last interval set within Cloudbeds PMS.
Most channels accept inventory only up to two years in the future.
Example: If today is June 1st, 2022, most of the channels would only allow you to sell your accommodations through June 1st, 2024, even if you selected to sell your accommodations 3 years ahead.
If you set only 1 year ahead, set a reminder to extend the year on Allotment page, otherwise you risk not to send the availability and rates to channels connected for the next year.

2 - Select the allotment type

With the allotment option you may control how many accommodations of specific room type you would like to sell on your connected channels.

In the Allotment page, select your Allotment Type below:

1. Last Room Available (Recommended)

All available inventory will be distributed across all Active channels (the availability you have on the Cloudbeds PMS calendar will be sent to channels connected). As soon as inventory is sold on one channel, the inventory is decremented on other channels.

2. Custom Property Allotment

This option will allow you to send fewer rooms to specific channels. You can specify a designated amount of inventory to be pushed to all active channels for each room type.

Set the Quantity to Sell in the Distribution Allotment section:

Accommodation Type - the name of each one of your unit types.
Total Available - the number of room units existed for each accommodation type.
Quantity to Sell - indicates the quantity of rooms you want to distribute to your connected channels.

To find out the number of rooms that will be sent to channels for each room type, use the following equation:

Amount allotted for sale - [Total available - Quantity to sell]

Example:

Actual allotment for the room (amount allotted for sale): 3
Total Available: 8
Quantity to sell: 6
Amount sent to channels: 3 - (8-6) = 1

Amount allotted for sale = Number of rooms that can be sold for that room type for a specific date, regardless the remaining inventory. See the Availability Matrix.

If the Quantity to sell is higher than the Total Available of accommodations, the following alert will be shown: