Set Up a Discount Code (Cloud) 🎥
Path: Management > Rates > Discounts > Setup (icon on the right side).
Is your code for local use or for online use?
If your code is for online use, you have first to make sure that it exists on your Channel Manager (Channel Management/Vertical Booking, BW 2Way, Synxis, Siteminder, Innlink, etc).
Only after that, it can be created within Visual Matrix.
If your code is for local use only and will not be available for online bookings, follow the instructions below.
The Discount Code screen
The screen can be divided into 4 sections.
First section (1)
The first section has three tabs - General, Guarantee, and Rate Levels: You will have to go through each of them to create the discount code.
Second section (2)
The second section is called Fixed/Exception Rates Validation: This will apply to all your rates settings and Excp/Fixed Discount Codes. If you enter a rate that is higher than the Max, lower than the Min, or that differs more than the Delta or the current rate, a warning will show. You can always change those amounts.
Third section (3)
The third section is where we will start to create the new discount code.
Fourth section (4)
The fourth section is Global Blackout Date: If you want to close all the discount codes at once for a specific day, just enter it here. Click on add, choose the date and save. This will ONLY close LOCALLY, not online.
Create a new Discount Code
General tab
1- Click Add New Discount Code. That will create a new empty line in the first row. Start entering the information as explained below:
2- Disc Code: Enter the Discount Code. The field is limited to 4 characters.
3- Description: Enter the description of the Code.
4- Disc Type: Choose if it is a percentage discount, a flat discount, or an excep/fixed.
- % Disc: the specific percentage will be discounted from the current rate applicable.
- Flat Amt: the specific dollar amount will be discounted from the current rate applicable.
- Excp/Fixed: this will override and apply a specific rate to the reservation. The setup of this rate has to be done outside of the setup window. See below.
5- Disc %: Enter the % that will be discounted when using this Discount Code.
6- Flat Amt: Enter the dollar amount that will be discounted when using this Discount Code.
7- Wk Day: Can this code be applicable during weekdays?
8- Wk End: Can this code be applicable during weekends?
9- Tier Level: If you are working with Tier Rates, do you want this Discount Code to not be applicable over a certain Tier level.
10- Account Code: The amount discounted needs to be reconciled under an accounting code. RD is the code that is used for this. Some codes may use another accounting code, like the Comp code.
11- Post Sep: If you wish the discount to show on the guest folio. If you choose Yes, the folio will show one line with the full room rate and one line with the discount code. If you choose No, the folio will only show one line with the room rate already discounted.
12- Show Avail: Choose Yes if the code is to be used locally and needs to show in the Discount Code dropdown in the reservation. Choose No if the code is only for online bookings. This will avoid having too many codes to scroll over when trying to find a discount code while creating a reservation.
13- Order: If you want all the Show Avail codes to show in a certain order in the dropdown, you can sort them using this column.
14- Rate Private: If the rate is meant to be Private, choose Yes.
Reminder: Private means that the rate will not show on the Reg Card but it will still show on the Folio. Any client who prepaid their reservation online through a third party like Expedia should not be given a folio. Their folio will come from who they booked through, Expedia in our example.
If a hotel folio is given to them, they will see a rate that is lower than what they paid on Expedia as the OTA has a commission.
Guarantee tab
1- Show Mapped Discount: Check the box to only show local discount codes.
2- WD Confirm/WE Confirm: In this section, you can decide to apply a different Guarantee policy based on the discount code used.
3- WD CXL/WE CXL: In this section, you can decide to apply a different Cancellation policy based on the discount code used.
The information in this section is only for LOCAL applications. Any modification WILL NOT be sent to your Channel Manager.
Online discount code Guarantee and Cancellation policies have to be updated from the Channel Manager interface.
Rate Levels tab (Best Western)
1- Rate Level Enabled: If you are a Best Western Hotel, the box should be checked.
2- Rate Level: Check every level that you are using. You can find the information on your Member Web. Checking boxes that you are not using will not do anything.
3- Rate codes list: Apply the correct Level to each rate code. You can find the information on your Member Web.
We advise reviewing this list once or twice a year to make sure the data is accurate.
Complete the Setup of an Excp/Fixed Discount Code
If you are in the Discount Setup screen, click on Close at the bottom. Otherwise, go to Management > Rates > Discounts.
Once the discount code is created with Excp/Fixed as the Discount (Disc) Type, you need to apply the rate for the discount code in the discount screen.
Highlight a Season and a Room type, check the Active box in front of the Discount code and enter the applicable rates up to the max number of people allowed in the room, even if it is the same rate. This has to be completed for weekdays and weekends. In the last column, you can also choose to allow this Discount Code only to be applicable if a minimum of nights is booked.
Populate the Discount Codes to the Room Type
To populate a discount code means to Activate it for specific room types.
If the discount code is for online use, the discount code will automatically populate to every room type in every season during the mapping process with the Channel Manager.
If the discount code is for local use, you will need to check the Active check box in front of the Discount code for every room type in every season you want the discount code to be Active for.
If you proceeded to an update of a discount, you can contact Visual Matrix Client Experience to populate the modification to all room type and all seasons.
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