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Defining Government Sleeping Room Pricing Rules

The administrator can set up sleeping room pricing types and rates that meet government room rate requirements for the government market segment. These mandated rates requirements are regularly published by the U.S. government for each room type.

The prices are date-range specific and are routinely added to the system for any given property. Government pricing can be turned on and off depending on the government rate availability. While the government rate exists in the system at all times, it may or may not be available depending on the hotel's occupancy. When government pricing is not available, regular pricing is used.

The government rate cannot be offered to a group unless the government rate is open for every day that the group is resident at the property. That is, if the government rate is not available for a single day of the room block, then the whole room block cannot be offered at the government rate.

The property administrator must define the available (open) dates, and on which dates special rates for the government segment should not be applied. Government rates can vary by the arrival day of the event. For example, current government rates can be specified for a particular date range, and rates that are applicable for the next three years can also be defined.

Exceptions to sleeping room rates for the government sector usually involve defining rates for dates in the future. For example, in October, the government might release prices that are applicable beginning in January of the following year.

This task is performed as part of Sleeping Room Administration, and is a step in Sleeping Room Pricing Administration.

Setting Up Default Government Rates

The following procedure details how to set up the default government sleeping room rates.

To set up government rates

1. Navigate to the Property Pricing Admin screen > Properties list.
2. In the Properties list, select the required property.
3. In the property record, click the link in the Property Name field.
4. Click the Government Pricing view tab.
5. In the Government Rate list, create records for each sleeping room type, and complete the fields. For more information about these fields, see To create default sleeping room pricing rules.
6. Save the record, and click Apply.
7. Scroll down to the Government Open list, and create a new record for each sleeping room type that defines the dates on which the government rates are available.

   The following table describes some of the fields.

   Field	Comments
   Sleeping Room	Sleeping room for which available dates are to be defined.
   Start Date	The date on which the government rates become available. This date should be the same as the date defined for the sleeping room in the Government Rate list.
   Start Day	This field is automatically populated when the Start Date field is completed.
   End Date	The date on which the government rates are no longer available. This date should be the same as the date defined for the sleeping room in the Government Rate list. There is some validation on the Start and End Dates as follows: End Date >= Start Date + 365 This means that a function space pricing rule can only run for one year at the most.
   End Day	This field is automatically populated when the End Date field is completed.
   Monday - Sunday	Click the check box for each day of the week on which the government rates are available. For example, government rates may not be available at the weekend on Saturday and Sunday nights. If the pricing rule runs for less than one week, then it will only be possible to edit the fields for the relevant days.
   Comments	Comments on the rule.

8. Save the record, and click Apply. The Government Sleeping Room Pricing list displays the government rates and indicates the dates and days on which these rates apply.

Creating Exceptions to Default Government Rates

The administrator can define exception rates for each rule type after the rule has been created, and also define available dates for this exception. An administrator can define an exception by creating a new rule that has effective start and end dates. The newly created rule will take precedence over the existing rule when the quote price is calculated.

To create exceptions to the default government sleeping room pricing rules

1. In the Government Rate list, create a new record with similar values to the rule for which you wish to create an exception.
2. Set the Start Date and End Date fields, and the rental price from Monday to Sunday as appropriate. Click Apply.
3. In the Government Open list, create a new record that indicates the dates and days on which this exception is valid. Click Apply.
4. In the Government Sleeping Room Pricing list, the exception is applied to the specified dates and days.