By creating rate periods for a property, you can ensure that any negotiated rate proposals and contracts sent to your customers include the property's applicable seasons. 

Important: if your sales team wants to flag blackout dates for their group business (not negotiated rate business) and they would like to see it appear in their function diary and combined availability, you would not use this Rate Period feature but instead, create these dates using the SP Events feature for Special Dates.  Click on the link to see the Knowledge Base article. 

Creating Blackout Dates

Blackout dates are high demand dates where you know the hotel will sell out, such as holidays, special events, citywide trade shows etc. It’s important to flag those dates in Thynk so no discounts or promotions are offered to customers who have special negotiated rates, without constantly checking  with Revenue Management or other leadership. 

To define blackout dates,  

1. Go to the  App Launcher and type in ‘Rate Period’ to find it, click on it, which opens it up as a new Tab on your Home Page.

2. You will be taken to the Rate Period window which lists out all the ‘Recently Viewed’ Rate Period, you can click on ‘All’ to see them all before creating a new one. (Note you don’t have to view ‘All’ if you know there isn’t anything there!)  Click on New to create a new rate period.

3. In this New Rate Period window, type in the name of the Rate Period into the Name field, select the Property from the drop down list, enter the Start Date, the End Date, and click on Save.  In my example I added Blackout  in the Name but you can enter in anything more relevant. For instance, if there is a city wide trade show and you want to highlight it as a blackout date, you can add the name of the Trade Show in the Name field. 
   

Creating High or Low Season Rate Periods

Other rate periods besides blackout dates can be high and low season dates. When you are creating a high or low season, you will need to complete some additional fields:

1. Go to the App Launcher and search for Rate Periods, click on it.

2. Click on New.

3. In the New Rate Period window, add in the name of the rate period so it looks good on documents into the Name field, in the Type field, select Rate Period (instead of Blackout date). When you select Rate Period, you see a field called Season - select from the drop down list. 

4. Enter the Start Date and End Date of this rate period and Save. 

5. You’ll be taken to the rate period you just created to complete additional fields. Scroll down to the Rate Overview section.

6. Here complete the following: 

Rate Plan = Start typing the rate plan and the drop down list will show you a list of the rate plans by property. Select the correct one. 

Minimum # of Room Nights = if this rate plan has a minimum requirement of number of room nights for the year (the negotiated rate period) enter it here. 

Maximum  # of Room Nights = if this rate plan has a max requirement of number of room nights enter it here.

Min LOS & Max LOS fields  - If there is a minimum (or maximum) length of stay requirement enter those in the fields here. 

Breakfast Incl = if breakfast is included in this rate plan, click into the checkbox. This checkbox is informational only (it will not calculate anything) and can be pulled into negotiated rate documents if they are configured to show it.  

City Tax Incl = do you want the city tax to be included? Check the box.  This checkbox is informational only (it will not calculate anything) and can be pulled into negotiated rate documents if they are configured to show it.  

Fees Waived = if you are waiving fees, check the box.  This checkbox is informational only (it will not calculate anything) and can be pulled into negotiated rate documents if they are configured to show it.  

Cancellation Policy = enter anything here. 

Child Policy = enter anything here.

7. Scroll down to the Rate Details section, where you can enter the room rate details for up to five room types. 

Room Type 1 = click on the pencil to edit the fields. Start typing a room type and select it from the drop down list. 

Single Rate Room Type 1 = Enter the rate that applies for this room type for this high season. 

Supplement Rate Room Type 1 = Enter any additional supplement, maybe you want to charge an extra £50 for this room type during the high season.

Rate with Supplement Room Type 1 = this totals the rate + supplement when you complete other rates and Save. 

8. Repeat the steps for any other room types if needed and Save when done. 

Note:  If you are Live on Thynk and have been handed over to support, if rate periods are not currently included in your standard documents, please contact Thynk Support.  If you are still in the Project phase of a new implementation, your Thynk Project Manager will set this up. 

Best Practices

• Only the Thynk Admin can create rate periods 

• Remember Rate Periods apply to negotiated rates documents (offers, contracts, etc.)

Resources

1. Overview on Rate Periods - Knowledge Base article 

2. Overview on Negotiated Rates - Knowledge Base article 

3. SP Events and SP Resources for Group Business - Knowledge Base article