Discounts and Promotion Codes User Guide for RezOvation GT
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Contents |
Overview
RezOvation GT now includes a feature that allows you to create automatic discounts and promo codes / coupons for phone & walk-in reservations as well as booking engine reservations.
Creating discounts and promotions
Creating a new discount or promotion is done from the Configuration screen.
- Go to the Configuration screen, and select Discounts & Promotions from the Optional Property Settings section.
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- Click the Add button.
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- The Create discount & promotion window will appear.
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- Select a discount type: either Promotion or Auto Discount.
- Promotions require you or your guest to enter a special code before receiving the discount.
- Auto Discounts are applied automatically for booking engine reservations, if the reservation meets the restrictions applied to the discount, and can be applied to any phone or walk-in reservations as well (although they are not applied automatically in this case).
- Enable the discount for the booking engine, if you wish, by checking the Enable for online reservations box.
- Enter a code (if this is a promotion), and enter a discount name and description (description is optional).
- Select your discount amount. You can choose from Fixed, Percent, Free Nights, Free Extra, or Free Package.
- Fixed is a fixed discount amount.
- Percent is a percentage discount amount, which can be calculated on the entire reservation, off of rooms only, or off of extras only.
- Free Nights will give the guest a free night stay. The last night is always the night that is considered free.
- Free Extra will give the guest a free extra item of your choosing.
- Free Package will give the guest a free add-on package of your choosing.
- Click the Restrictions tab to set any restrictions or blackouts for this discount.
- Choose any restrictions that apply to this discount.
- Limit uses restricts the amount of times that the discount can be used.
- Minimum purchase amount will only display the discount if the amount of the reservation (prior to the discount) meets the minimum. e.g. if you have a minimum purchase amount of $500.00, then the total charges for the reservation must be at least $500.00 before the discount is available.
- Maximum discount amount limits the discount amount. e.g. if you do not want the discount to exceed $100.00, then enter 100 as the maximum discount amount.
- Repeat guest only limits the discount to guests that have the specified number of reservations. You should not use this restriction for online bookings as often guests booking online will create a new user account, and so the system will not recognize them as a repeat guest.
- Must book before restricts the discount to reservations booked prior to the selected date. e.g. if your "must book before" date is set to 9/15/2010 then the guest must book their reservation prior to 9/15 in order to receive the discount.
- Must check in between restricts the discount to reservations arriving between the selected dates, regardless of when they are booked.
- Must book within is used for last-minute bookings, and restricts the discount to guests who book within the selected days. e.g. if your must book within restriction is set to 5 days, then the guest must book the reservation 5 days or less before the arrival date.
- Must arrive on restricts the discount to reservations arriving on a specific day of the week.
- Minimum nights restricts the discount to reservations that meet a minimum night stay requirement.
- Maximum nights restricts the discount to reservations that are less than or equal to a certain number of nights.
- Add Bold textBlackouts for this discount, if applicable. Blackouts prevent the discount from being available for certain dates, and can blackout discounts either for all reservations, or just for online reservations.
- Click Add from the Blackouts section to create a new blackout.
- Enter the name and blackout dates, and if this blackout only applies to online bookings (booking engine), check the box for Blackout for online reservations only.
- You can add multiple blackouts if you wish.
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How discounts work on the booking engine
Both automatic discounts (discounts which are automatically applied if the reservation meets the discount restrictions) and promo codes (coupons) can be used on the booking engine.
Automatic discounts
Automatic discounts typically provide an adjusted room rate or free night and appear in the rooms list.
The discount will also appear on the left side of the screen, and in the checkout summary on the last step of the checkout.
Promo codes
Promo codes are applied at the last step of the checkout by entering the code in Promo Code box on the left of the screen.
Once the promo code has been applied, the discount will appear in the checkout summary.
Adding discounts to reservations
In addition to using discounts online, you can also manually add a discount to any reservation.
To add a new discount to a reservation, open the reservation, and click the Add button, then select Add Discount.
Next, either select from any automatic discounts that are available for this reservation, type in a promo code, or enter a manual discount amount. Click Save.
The discount will appear as a line item on the reservation.
To remove the discount, select it and click the Delete button. Note that only one discount can be applied to a reservation.
Tracking discount sales
There are two reports which can be used to track discount sales: the Discount Summary report, and the Discount Detail report.
To access these reports, select the Reports menu and then select Discounts.
Each report can be run for any date range, and can be grouped by Month, Year, Name (discount name), Type (discount type), and Source (booking source).
Important notes about discounts
- Only one discount at a time can be applied to a single reservation.
- A promo code when used on the booking engine will override any automatic discounts that are available.
- If multiple automatic discounts are available for the booking engine, then the newest discount will be applied.
- When a discount is added, it will automatically calculate the discount based on the discount criteria, and show it as a negative amount as a line item in parentheses, e.g. (50.00).
- Free night discounts are applied against the last room night, and include a tax adjustment. e.g. if the normal room rate is $150, and the tax is $10 / night, then the total rate would be $160. The discounted amount would then appear as -$160.00 (-$150 for the room, and -$10 for the tax).
- Discount amounts do not affect deposit calculations based on room rates for booking engine reservations. So, deposit calculations are still based on the standard rate before the discount (e.g. if the deposit is 50% of first night, and the room rate is $100, then the deposit will be $50 regardless of whether or not a discount is applied to the room rate). However, deposit calculations based on total charges ARE affected by discounts.
- Blackouts apply to any reservations that fall during the blackout dates, which includes checkout date.
