Setting up hotel rates in an extranet is more than entering one price per room. Prices depend on the season, the room type, the meal plan, how many adults and children stay, and any supplements or offers. If the structure is wrong, searches return wrong prices, and margins suffer. This guide explains how to organise hotel rate plans so the extranet calculates every price correctly.
Building blocks of a rate plan
- Room types: standard, deluxe, suite and so on, each with maximum occupancy.
- Seasons: date ranges with their own prices, such as low, shoulder, high and peak.
- Meal plans: room only, bed and breakfast, half board, full board or all inclusive.
- Occupancy: prices for single, double and triple use, and extra beds.
- Child policy: age bands, free children and child supplements.
Per room or per person?
Hotels price in different ways. Some quote per room per night, others per person per night with occupancy rules. The extranet should support both, and convert them to a total price for the stay so travellers and agents see one clear number.
Seasons and date ranges
Define seasons once and reuse them across room types. Watch for overlaps and gaps: a missing date range means no price, while an overlap creates confusion about which price applies. A calendar view that shows the price for each date makes errors easy to spot.
Supplements and mandatory charges
- Meal plan supplements when upgrading from bed and breakfast to half board.
- Compulsory gala dinners on festive dates.
- Weekend supplements in city hotels.
- Extra bed charges for adults or children.
These should be added automatically when they apply, so nobody forgets them during a busy season.
Offers and discounts
- Early booking: discounts for bookings made a set number of days in advance.
- Long stay: for example, stay seven nights and pay for six.
- Last minute: lower prices close to arrival to fill rooms.
- Combinability: rules for whether offers can be combined.
Markups by channel
Contracted net rates need markups before selling. Set different markups for B2C customers, agents and API partners, and protect margins with minimum markup rules. The extranet should show the net cost, markup and selling price side by side.
In practice: one resort, one season
A resort contract has three room types, four seasons and two meal plans, with free stay for one child under six and a compulsory gala dinner on 31 December. In the extranet, the contracting team defines the seasons once, enters prices for each room and meal plan, sets the child policy and adds the gala dinner as a mandatory supplement for that date. When an agent searches for a family of two adults and one child over New Year, the extranet combines the right season price, the child rule and the gala dinner into one total. The agent sees a correct price instantly, with no manual calculation.
Checking rates before publishing
Before a contract goes live, run test searches for typical stays: a couple for three nights in high season, a family with two children over a holiday weekend, and a long stay that should trigger an offer. Compare the extranet's totals with the contract by hand. This short check catches most data-entry errors, such as a missing season or a supplement on the wrong date, before an agent or guest sees them.
Keeping contracts up to date
Contracts change during the year: new offers, extended seasons, revised child policies. Keep a change log for each hotel so the team knows what changed, when and why. When a hotel sends an update, apply it in the extranet the same day, and re-run the test searches for the affected dates.
Common mistakes
- Gaps or overlaps between season dates.
- Forgetting mandatory supplements on festive dates.
- Allowing offers to combine when the contract does not allow it.
Frequently asked questions
Can rates be uploaded in bulk?
Many extranets support spreadsheet upload for contracts, which saves time for large portfolios.
Can different agents see different rates?
Yes. Markups and visibility rules can differ by agent group or market.
Key takeaways
- Structure rates by room type, season, meal plan, occupancy and child policy.
- Automate supplements and offers to avoid manual errors.
- Use channel markups and margin protection when selling.
Set up complex hotel contracts easily with our hotel extranet software.
