Price Differentials allow you to save time when updating prices across your different room types. This article shows a general overview of this feature and its functionalities.
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Benefits
Price Differentials in Cloudbeds PMS allow to:
- Pre-set price differences between your accommodation types, derived from the base room type.
- Update your rates by just hitting enter.
- Manage rates by entering your base room type rate to automatically update other room types rates.
Manage Price Differentials
- Go to the Main menu
- Click on the Availability Matrix
- Click on Settings
- Click on Set Price Differentials
The exclamation point at the top right corner of the Settings button means that no differentials have been set yet.
Things to know before getting started:
- Select your base room type to start adding your differentials. The base accommodation is reflected in the Availability Matrix with a green star next to the room name, and also on the Availability Matrix legend.
- This base accommodation type will be used to calculate the rate for the rest of the accommodations when making manual rate changes in the Availability Matrix table.
- At least one base accommodation needs is required. Multiple base accommodations are allowed.
- Choose if you want to Show Rate Plans or not: This option opens up another section, listing all non-derived Rate Plans, for which differentials can also be added. For details on Rate Plans, see Rate Plans and Packages - Everything you need to know
- Select your Base Accommodation(s) by checking the box in the column Base. You can change it anytime when needed
- Choose to derive rates up (+) or down (-) from the base accommodation.
- Input the amount to increase/decrease.
- Select the format to increase/decrease the rates either (percentage or currency amounts)
- Save. Once the Price Differentials are correctly setup, proceed to Update your rates.
- With Price Differentials correctly set up, whenever a rate change is needed, navigate to the Availability Matrix table, and enter the new price for any of the base accommodation(s). Once you hit Enter, the system will adjust the existing rates for all the linked accommodation types (based on the previously set differentials) for that specific date
- Click Save
Price Differentials feature updates prices in your Availability Matrix only, it does not change prices in your Calendar. This means that they will not apply if the price is entered in the Calendar or changed on the Base Rates page.
- Clicking outside the grids after entering the base accommodation price will not update the price for the rest of the rooms. Users must hit enter, to update existing rates automatically.
- The price changes will not be applied for the dates with 0 prices or dates without rates.
- Go to the Availability Matrix and access the Price Differentials settings.
- Remove the differential values from the corresponding room types. The differential can be left in blank so no values are added to your rates
- At least one base room type needs to be selected to save your changes
- Click Save
- Removing Price Differentials from your room types will not change your previously set-up rates.
- To update/edit your rates, see: How to add or edit base rates
If you have the Price Intelligence Engine feature enabled, click here to learn how Price Differentials work within PIE.
Frequently asked questions
If rate plans are derived off the base rate, and Price Differentials are being used, once the user updates the base accommodations, the rate plans will also be affected.
If rate plans are not derived off the base rate and Price Differential is being used, then those rate plans will not be affected unless Price Differentials are also configured for those in the Settings.
If a user has the Price Differentials activated on the Availability Matrix and only wants to change the price for a specific day for 1 room type and not all room types they can:
- Enter the price for that accommodation in the Availability Matrix table without hitting Enter (i.e. navigate away from the field or hit "tab" button). Only the Enter button triggers recalculation of prices based on the configured differentials.
- Access the Calendar directly, and change price for that particular accommodation.
- Use the Long Term Interval in the Availability Matrix, only select the accommodation and base rate for that particular accommodation type.
No, the Price Differentials option will be only be applied when the user modifies the room rate on the Availability Matrix table directly.
No, Price Differentials only apply to rate changes made in the Availability Matrix table. This will not work if the price is entered in the Calendar or changed on the Base Rate page.
