Rate Multipliers and Filtering

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(This is a continuation of the Edit Rate Definition Dialog documentation -- see that topic for more information.)

This is the most important part of the setup, especially for auto-rates, but also affects Select Rates.

The rest of the dialog entries are used to "qualify" a rate. This determines whether the rate definition applies to any given reservation, so it's important to get this set up properly. Otherwise, the rate may not appear in the Select Rates list, or too many rates will show up that don't all really apply to the reservation. Likewise, it's essential that the correct filtering is used for auto-rates, so the program can automatically figure out which rate to apply to each reservation.

The filtering is most important to Rental Rate and Add-On rate types, but it is used for other types as well (for example, you can filter a Merchandise rate so it only shows up for a particular Reservation Type).

If the rate is for any kind of merchandise or other item that may have more than one quantity other than periods or sites, make sure that Ask for other quantity is checked. That way a Qty entry field will appear when you select this rate. But you should not check this option for Rental Rates in most cases.

Rate is per... and Multiply-by options

To have a rate multiplied by the number of days, weeks, etc. in the reservation, fill in the Rate is per field and select a period from the (# of) drop-down list (Days, Weeks, Months, or Years). Also be sure to check the Multiply by # of periods check box for any per-period type of rate.

Note that if you've set up any "schedules" for intra-day reservations, for instance hourly reservations, those schedule names will be added to the Rate is per list. If the rate is for one of those scheduled sites, select the appropriate schedule name instead of Day, etc. When a schedule is selected, an additional Periods button and field will be shown where you can select specific periods that the rate will apply to.

For most rental rates you will also want to check the box for Multiply by the # of sites. This is important when using linked reservations (e.g. if they reserve more than one site for the same time period).

Applies for a maximum of ... periods

For rates that are multiplied by the # of periods, you can also specify that the rate applies for a maximum # of periods. Enter a number in that box to limit the # of periods (e.g. # of days) that this rate should apply for (if the reservation is longer, it will only use this rate for that number of periods, and look for other rates to fill the rest of the time). For instance if you accept Passport America discounts for only 2 days, set up the P.A. discount rate to apply for a maximum of 2 days. The rest of their stay will then be charged at the normal rate (using the next applicable rate in the list). This should not be set for most rates -- leave it blank unless it's a special limited-period rate!

"Applies only to..." Filtering

This is the most important part of the setup.

The rest of the dialog entries are used to "qualify" a rate. This determines whether the rate applies to any given reservation, so it's important to get this set up properly.

Resv Types

You will need to select one or more Reservation Types for which the rate applies. Click the Resv Types button to open a list of reservation types, and select any that are applicable. For instance, you may have different rates for Monthly reservations than your Normal reservations. Typically you may not have any rates that apply to Free Stay types, except perhaps utility (meter) rates. Guest reservations might have rates defined that are essentially an extra vehicle charge, and Day Pass reservations may have a day-use rate defined.

Site Types, Site Classes, or Sites

If this rate only applies to certain Site Types, click the Site Types button and select the applicable types from the list that appears. If no site type is selected, the rate will show up for reservations of any site type (assuming other filters don't exclude it). If you select one or more site types here, then that rate will only show up when a reservation is for one of those site types (or has a synchronized reservation of that type).

Likewise, you can have a rate apply to specific Site Classes, using the Site Classes button, or even one or more specific sites using the Sites button. However you don't need to set all three (types, classes, and sites) -- usually only one of these selections is enough to sufficiently qualify the rate. For instance if you select "Normal RV" for the Site Type, there's no need to select "RV's" for the site class because it's redundant -- all "Normal RV" sites will have an "RV's" class anyway, so there's no need to make the rate check this too.

Discounts

If you offer discounts, such as Senior discounts or Good Sam membership discounts, then you will need to set up multiple rate definitions -- one "normal" rate that applies to no discounts, and a separate rate definition for each discount category (or at least one for each different discount amount). Filter each rate definition for the appropriate discount by either selecting one or more discounts from the Discounts list, or by checking the Only applies if no discount used check box. As with Site Type, this will determine whether the rate will appear in the rate selection list for a given reservation.

Note that if a rate applies to more than one discount, you may need to set it up so that the appropriate discount shows in the charges after the rates is applied. To do this, blank out the Description for any Discount transaction entries. It will then be filled in with the current discount selected on the Transactions dialog.

Ask for other quantity

The Ask for other quantity check box can be checked for any rate, which will allow a separate quantity entry field to appear when the rate is selected. Generally this is not used for rental rates, but it can be used for Add-On rates like extra people or vehicles, and for any other kind of rate.

Exclude from auto-rates

If you're using the auto-rates functionality, all Rental Rates and Add-On rates will be used in the auto-calculations unless individually excluded (other Rate Types are never used for auto-calculation, so this field wouldn't affect them). To exclude a rate from auto-rates calculations (e.g. for a manually added charge), check the Exclude from auto-rates calculations option.

Meter Reading Rates

The Ask for meter reading check box should be selected for any meter-reading rates where it will be multiplied by the metered amount (e.g. kwh for electric meters.) This is used as a flag for the special meter-entry dialog. If this option is selected, a Meter Allowance field will also appear. If your rental rates include a certain amount of electricity, water, or gas and then you charge for excess, then enter the allowance here. This will adjust meter charges accordingly -- the actual meter readings will show on the receipt, but the charge will only include units above the allowance.

For any of the Meter rate types, you can also enter values for Applies if >= units and Applies if <= units. This allows different meter rates to be used for different amounts of usage, such as for tiered meter rates.

Applies if ... days

You can set up the rate to apply only if the reservation is longer or shorter than a given number of days, by setting the Applies if >= days and Applies if <= days fields. For instance, there's no reason to show monthly rates if the reservation is less than 20 days or so. In this case, you would want to base the days on how many days it would take for the monthly rate to be more economical than the weekly rate, for instance. This could also be used for "3-day special" rates, etc., to show the rate only if they are staying more than 3 days.

Be careful about setting the maximum days, however. It may seem appropriate to set the daily rate to only show if they're staying less than 7 days, but then if they stay 10 days you would not be able to apply the daily rate to the remaining days. This should only be done in special circumstances, for instance if you have 2 different daily rates -- one for short-term stays and another for pro-rating long-term residents.

Applies if reservation field...

The Applies if reservation field... selection permits a great deal of control over when a rate is used. This specifies that the rate applies to a particular "preference" setting in the reservation or one of the "# of" or value fields such as number of adults, extra vehicles, or rig length. This option is most often used for add-on rates, such as for adding $1.00 per extra person, but can also be used to indicate a special rate if they need 50A service, for instance.

To use this option, select a reservation field from the list. Some numeric fields are also available in additive combinations also, primarily to allow "# Adults + # Children" to be selected if you charge per person regardless of age.

If the field is an attribute/preference field, such as "50A", then you can specify whether the rate will apply only if that preference is "true" (set to "Must Have") for the reservation, or whether it's "False" (not set or set to "Must Not Have" are both considered false in this case). Therefore you can set up two separate rates that are mutually exclusive, one for the True case and one for the False case of the preference field.

If the field is a numeric value, additional settings will appear that need to be entered. You will first enter a value for "is >=" to indicate when the rate applies. For instance, if you charge for any adults above 2, then set this value to 3. Next you can specify that the rate is "Per each more than", which means that it will be multiplied by the value minus some number. For instance, set this value to 2 in the previous example to charge for every adult above 2 adults. Another example would be a charge for all extra vehicles -- set "is >=" to 1, and "Per each more than" to 0.

Adding new fields -- If you need add your own fields for use in rates like this, then note that they must be tagged as "Attrib" fields in order to be selectable from this list. See the special note about Attribute Fields under the Adding New Fields section of the Data Field Definitions topic.

Advanced Condition Expression...

If the rate can't be properly qualified using the other Applies-if conditions, date selections, etc, then you can use Expressions to create a condition as complex as needed. Note that this involves the Advanced Customizations functionality and is only recommended for very technical users, so refer to that section for more detailed information.

If a Condition Expression is entered here, it must be satisfied (result in True) in addition to all other conditions in the rate definition in order for the rate to be used. Thus you can use the other Applies-if conditions to handle the simple stuff, and use the expression to only do the filtering that can't be otherwise handled by the rate definition.

While it's possible to use a condition for any type of rate whether it's for a reservation or not, e.g. for merchandise, it will not have any context to work with unless it's for a reservation. When the rate is for a reservation, it will have ThisResv( ) context which will the specific reservation being calculated (e.g. if there are 5 synchronize reservations being calculated, this expression will be executed for each reservation individually). In addition, ThisFromDate( ) and ThisToDate( ) will indicate the date range being qualified (as well as ThisFromPeriod( ) and ThisToPeriod( ) if it's an hourly/scheduled reservation). Note that this will be the entire date/period range of the reservation when qualifying the rate for Select Rates, but when actually auto-calculating rates it will be a single day (or period), as the rate is checked for applying to each day or period individually.