Linking Negotiated Rates to Accounts in your PMS (BETA)

Linking Negotiated Rates to Accounts in your PMS (BETA)

Learning Objectives:
  1. What is a Negotiated Rate and Default Corporate Rate
  2. Understand how this New Feature works
  3. Understand how to re-send Negotiated Rate / Default Corporate Rate changes to your PMS
  4. Understanding when a Negotiated Rate / Default Corporate Rate has been sent successfully or has failed to your PMS
  5. Best Practices


Overview on the feature 

We're excited to introduce a powerful new feature that enables users to directly link both Negotiated Rates and Default Corporate Rates to Accounts in your PMS. This enhancement simplifies the management of Negotiated Rates across multiple properties by allowing direct connections between Rate Plans and Accounts for relevant properties.

On both the Multi-Property Negotiated Rate and Negotiated Rate levels in Thynk, a new 'Link Rates' button is available. This feature facilitates the seamless linking of a Negotiated Rates contract Start-End dates and Rate Plans to the defined Account within your PMS.

Currently, this feature is exclusively available for properties using the Opera OXI Integration as of October 2024. If you are interested in using this feature with another PMS integration, please reach out to us on the Thynking Together Community.



What is the difference between Negotiated Rates and Default Corporate Rates?

  1. Negotiated Rates are a single record linked to a single property based on defined Rate Plan and Start-End dates. They can only be sent to the PMS once they’ve reached the required Negotiated "Won" status. The Negotiated Rate "Won" status is pre-defined by the admin, however as a standard it's Closed-Won. 

  2. Default Corporate Rates, on the other hand, are set at the Multi-Property Negotiated Rate (MPNR) level and are applied to the respective properties. Unlike Negotiated Rates, they don’t require a specific status to be sent and are based on the Default Corporate Rate Plan defined on each property. When sending a Default Corporate Rate, the start-end dates are based on the dates on the Multi-Property Negotiated Rate Level. 
For both Negotiated Rates and Default Corporate Rates, a PMS Account must exist.


How does this feature work?

From the Multi-Property Negotiated Rate

At this level you have the ability to create a PMS Account, Link / Update Negotiated Rates and Link / Update Default Corporate Rates. 
  1. Ensure your Multi-Property Negotiated Rate has the following details filled or created accordingly:
    1. Multi-Property Negotiated Rate:
      1. Start - End date 
      2. Account 
      3. Properties 

    2. Related Negotiated Rate(s):
      1. Start - End date 
      2. Rate Plan (Required that this exists in your PMS)
      3. Account 
      4. Property (required to only have 1 Negotiated Rate record per Property on the Multi-Property Negotiated Rate)
      5. Status = Closed - Won (or the won status defined by your admin)

    3. Property Level
      1. Default Corporate Rate Plan (defined by admins)

  2. Once everything is set up accordingly, click the 'Link Rates' button. The component will open accordingly.


  3. Here you can see the:
    1. Account Name
    2. 2 Toggle switches ('Send Negotiated Rate' and 'Send Default Corporate Rate')
    3. PMS Databases grouped by Properties related to your Multi-Property Negotiated Rate


  4. Before clicking the Toggles (Send Negotiated Rate and Send Default Corporate Rate) you must create PMS Account(s). It is required to have a PMS Account created successfully to be able to send a Negotiated or Default Corporate Rates.

    You can see which PMS Databases have been created (grayed out) and not created yet (clickable). By selecting those not created yet, then clicking the button 'Create PMS Accounts' you have started the process of it's creation. Note it can take up to 30 minutes for the PMS Account to be created. 



  5. If you click the Toggle switches (Send Negotiated Rate and / or Send Default Corporate Rate), you can see which PMS Accounts are still in-progress for creation, which are not able to be used as the PMS Account hasn't been created yet, and which PMS Accounts are able to be linked to Rates. 




  6. Once you select the PMS Accounts to have Rates linked in your PMS, click the button 'Link Rates'
    1. If your Negotiated Rate is missing Start / End dates, Rate Plan and / or is not in the 'Won Status' the process will result in an error message. f this occurs, review your Negotiated Rate records and ensure all details have been added, then try again.
    2. If your Default Corporate Rate is not defined on the Property level by your admin, or your Multi-Property Negotiated Rate is missing start-end dates it will result in an error message. If this occurs, review your Property and Multi-Property Negotiated Rate record and ensure all details have been added, then try again.



From the Negotiated Rate

At this level you have the ability to create a PMS Account and Link / Update Negotiated Rates. 
  1. Ensure your Negotiated Rate has the following details filled or created accordingly:
    1. Start - End date 
    2. Rate Plan  (Required that this exists in your PMS)
    3. Account 
    4. Property
    5. Status = Closed - Won (or the won status defined by your admin)

  2. Once everything is set up accordingly, click the 'Link Rates' button. The component will open accordingly.



  3. Here you can see the:
    1. Account Name
    2. 1 Toggle switch (Send Negotiated Rate)
    3. PMS Databases and the defined single Property

  4. Before clicking the Toggle ('Send Negotiated Rate') you must create your PMS Account (if not already created). It is required to have an existing PMS Account created successfully to be able to send a Negotiated Rates.

    You can see if your PMS Account is already created (grayed out) or not created yet (clickable). By selecting the PMS Account that is not created yet, then clicking the button 'Create PMS Account' you have started the process of its creation. Note it can take up to 30 minutes for the PMS Account to be created. 

  5. If you were to click the Toggles (Send Negotiated Rate), you would clearly see which PMS Accounts are still in-progress for creation, which are not able to be used as the PMS Account hasn't been created yet, and which PMS Accounts are able to be linked to Rates. 

  6. Once you Select the PMS Account to have your Negotiated Rates linked to in your PMS, click the button 'Link Rates'
    1. If your Negotiated Rate is missing start-end dates, the Rate Plan and / or is not in the "Won Status" it will result in an error message. If this occurs, review your Negotiated Rate and ensure all details have been added, then try again.





What to do if I make changes in Thynk and need re-send to my PMS?

If you need to make changes to the Negotiated Rate / Default Corporate Rate details after already sending it to your PMS you must consider and do the following:
  1. Change of Negotiated Rate Status: You'll need to manually remove the Negotiated Rate record from the PMS.

    For example: You've successful sent to your PMS a Negotiated Rate, however the Account has requested a change in the agreement. This requires that you change the status on your Negotiated Rate. Here you would need to go into your PMS and remove the original Negotiated Rate Record for that account.


  2. Changing the Negotiated Rate's Rate Plan: You can resend the Negotiated Rate, which will create a new record in the PMS. However, you'll need to manually delete the original Rate Plan from the PMS.

    For example: Your Rate Plan defined is BAR10, however after sending to your PMS, you realize the Rate Plan was supposed to be BAR15. You would update the Rate Plan in Thynk BAR15. Use the Link Rates feature, select 'Send Negotiated Rates' toggle, select the PMS Accounts and click 'Link Rates'. Once successfully synced, you would need to go into your PMS and remove the original Negotiated Rate Record for that account that is using the Rate Plan BAR10. 


  3. Admin has changed the property's Default Corporate Rate Plan: You can resend the Default Corporate Rate, which will create a new record in the PMS. However, you'll need to manually delete the original Default Corporate Rate Plan record from the PMS.

    For example: Your admin has defined on the Property your Default Corporate Rate Plan as CORP2023, however after sending to your PMS, your admin changes the Default Corporate Rate plan to CORP2024, and requests that you update the record for the Account to use this Rate Plan instead.  Here you would use the Link Rates feature, select 'Send Default Corporate Rates' toggle, select the PMS Accounts and click 'Link Rates'. Once successfully synced, you would need to go into your PMS and remove the original Default Corporate Rate Record for that account that is using the Rate Plan CORP2023. 


  4. Change the Account: You can resend the Negotiated Rate / Default Corporate Rate, this will link the Rates to the new Account, but you'll also need to manually delete the record associated with the original account in the PMS.

    For example: Your Negotiated Rate has the Account 'AMEX INTERNATIONAL'  defined however after sending to your PMS, you realize the Account was supposed to be 'AMEX LOCAL'  . You would update the Account to ''AMEX  LOCAL' , use the Link Rates feature, select 'Send Negotiated Rates'  and / or 'Send Default Corporate Rate' toggle, select the PMS Accounts and click 'Link Rates'. Once successfully synced, you would need to go into your PMS and remove the original Negotiated Rate / Default Corporate Record for the 'AMEX INTERNATIONAL'  account. 


  5. Changed the Negotiated Rates / Multi-Property Negotiated Rates Start/End Dates: The process depends on the overlap with the original dates:
    1. If the new dates overlap with the original ones, the system will automatically delete the old record and create a new one with the updated dates.
    2. If the new dates do not overlap, you'll need to manually remove the original rate plan in the PMS after sending the updated record.

      For example: Your original Negotiated Rate / Default Corporate Rate was sent with dates from January 1st - June 30th,
      1. If you change it to March 1st - September 30th, and re-send it to your PMS, the original record will be automatically removed, and the new one will replace it.
      2. If you change it to July 1st - December 31st, and re-send it to your PMS, a new record will be created and you’ll need to manually remove the original January-to-June record in your PMS.


Understanding when your Negotiated Rate has been sent successfully or not to your PMS

On the Negotiated Rate Level, you can see a field called 'Send to PMS Status' field which will auto-populate to the following statuses: 
  1. Not Started
  2. Pending
  3. In progress
  4. Success
  5. Error

If you encounter an error, it may be caused by the following issues within your PMS:
  1. Account Profile Issues:
    1. Account Not Active: If the account is not set to "active" status, you may encounter errors when trying to link the negotiated rate to the account.
    2. Missing or Incomplete Profile Data: If required fields in the account profile (such as address, tax ID, or contact information) are incomplete.

  2. Rate Plan Restrictions
    1. Date Restrictions: If the negotiated rate dates are outside the valid period of the underlying rate plan, it may cause errors when trying to link it to the account.
    2. Rate Plan Inactive: If the rate plan linked is inactive or expired, it may block the rate from being added to the account.
    3. Rate Plan doesn't exist: It is required to have a Rate Plan that exists in your PMS for the feature to work

Be sure to speak with your admin about any errors encountered. If the above likely scenarios are ruled out, please reach out to our Thynk support team. 




Best Practices

  • Reach out to your Manager to follow your internal SOPs on how to use Negotiated Rates and Default Corporate Rates.

  • If you want to use Default Corporate Rate Plans, make sure to create a Multi-Property Negotiated Rate.

  • When using Multi-Property Negotiated Rates ensure you have created all related Negotiated Rates for each property, otherwise the feature will not work.

  • When Linking Rates to your PMS Accounts (for each property), ensure all required fields have been defined.




Resources


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