A rate plan is a structured pricing package offered to guests, outlining the cost and conditions associated with booking a reservation.
A rate plan always includes a cancellation policy and a cancellation fee, defining the penalty a guest will have to pay for canceling their reservation within a specified time before check-in. You can add meal plans, price adjustments, and availability restrictions to the rate plan.
For example, you can offer a 10% price reduction for a guest booking 30 days or more before their check-in date, with free cancellation up to one day before check-in, and a breakfast included. Cancellations after that will impose a penalty of 50% of the total reservation price. This rate plan will only be visible to a guest searching for listings with a check-in date 30 or more days into the future.
Combine rate plans with other pricing and availability tools
Learn how rate plans interact with other pricing tools and availability tools.
Choose a rate plan or a cancellation policy
Depending on the booking channel, you can have a rate plan or a standalone cancellation policy for your listing. A standalone cancellation policy includes only cancellation terms and fees, without meals, price adjustments, or booking restrictions.
Some channels - such as Airbnb and Vrbo - only use cancellation policies, while others work with either rate plans or cancellation policies.
You can choose between a rate plan and a standalone cancellation policy for listings connected to the following booking channels:
- Booking.com
- Expedia
- Direct integration sources (including Guesty Booking Engine) & Google Vacation Rentals
- Manual reservations
In the case of Expedia and Booking.com, a listing must have a rate plan. If you set a standalone cancellation policy for a listing connected to these channels, Guesty will automatically generate a "basic" rate plan and push it to the channels. This rate plan will only include the cancellation terms and fees you determined on the cancellation policy setup.
Trip.com requires a rate plan to connect a listing. For additional booking channels, you can only set a standalone cancellation policy.
Consider the following when deciding between a rate plan and a standalone cancellation policy:
- While you can apply multiple rate plans for each listing, a listing can have only one standalone cancellation policy.
- Rate plans can be updated in bulk, while cancellation policies can only be updated for each listing individually.
You can have distinctive rate plans and cancellation policies configured for each channel. For example, you can have a strict cancellation policy for Airbnb, a rate plan for Booking.com, and a moderate cancellation policy for Vrbo.
Not setting a rate plan or a cancellation policy
Whether a cancellation policy is part of a rate plan or a standalone, a listing must have a cancellation policy. It is required to make the listing sellable and bookable in a booking channel.
If you didn't set a cancellation policy or a rate plan for a listing, a fully refundable policy will automatically be applied for direct bookings (only). This policy does not include a penalty fee or a minimum notice period before check-in. If using this automatic setup to apply a different cancellation policy (not configured in Guesty), let your guests know your cancellation terms. If a guest does cancel a reservation, you’ll need to manually add your cancellation fee to their guest folio (invoice).
Switch between a cancellation policy and a rate plan
There is no option to switch from a rate plan to a cancellation policy in the Guesty dashboard, and this should not be attempted. Stop selling a rate plan will make the listing unsellable under the settings configured in the rate plan, and adding a cancellation policy won't make the listing sellable again.
Instead, you can create a basic rate plan without price adjustments or availability restrictions (similar to a cancellation policy).
You can switch, however, from a cancellation policy to a rate plan. To do so, create a new rate plan or edit an existing one, and assign the listing to it. Once the listing is assigned, the rate plan will automatically replace the cancellation policy.
How rate plans work
Rate plans work as an additional layer, applied "on top" of a listing's calendar rates and availability settings. They allow you to adjust the listing's price per night and minimum nights per stay. You can also control the rate plan's availability by setting an availability range, advance notice period, or booking window. If there’s a conflict between the rate plan and calendar settings, the rate plan will be prioritized for the overlapping factor. For instance, if the rate plan and the calendar settings have advance notice, the rate plan’s advance notice will apply. When there’s no overlap, the calendar settings will be used.
For example: You created one rate plan for your Booking.com listings without restrictions and another rate plan with a 5% price increase per night. If a guest selects the former rate plan, the price per night and minimum nights will be according to the calendar rates and minimum nights. However, if they choose the latter rate plan, the price per night for that reservation will be adjusted by multiplying the calendar rate by 1.05 (X*1.05). The calendar rates and minimum nights remain unchanged, as different reservations can be booked with different rate plans.
As indicated, rate plan adjustments do not reflect on the calendar, as they are applied to the specific eligible reservation. When multiple rate plans are set for the same listing, guests can choose their preferred combination of rates, meals, and cancellation terms.
For example: For the same room, dates, and number of guests, the guest can select between a non-refundable cancellation policy with lower rates and a free cancellation (for a specified time) and higher rates.
If you set a single rate plan, it will be activated by default to a reservation that meets its availability restrictions (if set), for the specific channel it applies to. When you configure several rate plans for the listing, guests can choose to book with their preferred plan, as long as the reservation meets the different plan's restrictions. In the case of a manual reservation, select which rate plan to apply during the reservation creation.
Reservations that don't meet the requirements of any rate plans cannot be booked. A rate plan will only be visible to the guest if the entire reservation's dates are within the availability period of the rate plan. To ensure your listing is always sellable, we recommend having at least one "default" rate plan without any availability settings, allowing guests to book on dates without additional rate plans.
For example: If the listing’s default minimum nights is 3 and the listing has only one rate plan with a minimum of 10 nights, the listing will only be sellable for a reservation of 10 nights or more. But, if you add an additional rate plan without booking restrictions, reservations for 3 nights or more will be possible.
Configure unique booking offerings
Create a clear and logical offering for your guests, by following these guidelines:
- Ensure there are reasonable differences in pricing or terms between different rate plans when they appear together. For example, the more expensive rate plan should typically include meals or a more flexible cancellation policy than the other.
- Add availability restrictions to similar rate plans so they won't appear together for the same reservation. I.e., add a maximum number of nights of X to one plan and a minimum number of nights of X+1 to the other.
For example:
A listing's base price is 100$. You created a rate plan with a "flexible" cancellation policy and a 10% price increase, allowing free cancellation up to 5 days before check-in, with no refund for cancellations 4 days or less before check-in. You also created a second "non-refundable" rate plan, available always, without a price increase.
If a guest books a reservation 5 days or more before check-in, both plans will appear with a reasonable price difference (e.g., $110 with free cancellation vs. $100 non-refundable). However, if the guest is booking 4 days or less before the check-in date, both rate plans will offer a non-refundable yet different price, which can seem illogical.
To prevent these plans from appearing together for the same reservation, add an advance notice period of 5 days to either one. If the advance notice is set to the flexible plan, a guest booking 4 nights or less before the check-in date will see a lower non-refundable price (100$). Conversely, if adding the advance notice to the non-refundable plan, a guest booking 4 nights or less will see the more expensive plan (110$).
Where to set up a rate plan
Booking.com, Expedia, & Trip.com
Assign a rate plan to a listing while connecting it to either of these channels. Alternatively, create a rate plan first, using the instructions below, and assign it to the relevant listing. The rate plan will sync to the booking channel once you connect the listing to it.
The Booking.com rate plans tab may show 'no minimum nights' even though the rate plans were synced successfully. To confirm that the minimum night requirement is applied correctly, check the Extranet calendar on Booking.com, where the rate plans are accurately displayed.
Direct integration sources
Create and assign a rate plan to listings before adding them to the Booking Engine (Booking Website for Lite users) or the Booking Engine API.
Manual reservations
Create a rate plan first. If more than one rate plan is assigned to the listing, select the desired one while creating the reservation. If only one rate plan is set, it will be applied automatically.
Follow the instructions below to create a rate plan, temporarily stop or return selling a rate plan, or permanently archive it.
Create a rate plan
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the top navigation bar, click the mode selector and select Growth mode.
- Click Revenue management and select Rate plan.
- In the top-right corner, click New rate plan.
- Fill in the information in each section:
- The rate plan name
- Cancellation policy and cancellation fee
- Include a meal plan (optional)
- Price adjustment (optional).
Rate plans are configured in USD, even if your listing is set with a different currency.
- Availability settings (optional):
- Booking window: Define how far into the future the rate plan can be used. For example: A rate plan can be used for any reservation with a check-in date in the next 6 months.
- Advance notice: Define how many days before check-in the rate plan can be used. For example: A rate plan can only be used if the reservation was made at least 3 days before check-in.
- Minimum/maximum nights: Define the minimum and maximum nights a guest needs to book to be able to select this rate plan.
- Availability range: Choose whether to restrict the plan to a limited date range or for specific days of the week, or to apply it without a time limit. You can exclude specific dates on both options (up to 30 days).
- Assign listings
Once a rate plan is assigned to a listing, you won’t be able to manage the cancellation policy as a standalone.
- Select booking channels
- Click Activate rate plan.
Edit a rate plan
You can edit an existing rate plan to assign new listings or update the meal plan, for example. Follow the instructions below.
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the top navigation bar, click the mode selector and select Growth mode.
- Click Revenue management and select Rate plan.
- Find the rate plan you want to edit and click
at the right end of the row. - Select Edit rate plan.
Make the relevant changes. You can skip to the section you want to edit by clicking the relevant pencil icon.
- In the top-right corner, click Save changes, and then click it again in the pop-up.
Stop-sell, start-sell, or archive a rate plan
Stop selling a rate plan if it is not relevant right now but you intend to use it in the future, or start selling a stopped rate plan. If the rate plan is no longer relevant, and you do not intend to use it in the future, archive it.
Archiving a rate plan cannot be undone. Ensure you have another rate plan to cover the availability settings of the plan you’re archiving. Otherwise, the listings will stop being sellable in these settings.
Step by step:
- Follow steps 1-3 above.
- Find the rate plan you want to update and click at the right end of the row.
- Select Stop-sell rate plan, Start-sell rate plan, or Archive rate plan.
- In the pop-up, read the information and click Yes, stop-sell, Yes, start selling, or Archive rate plan.
The rate plan will become bookable or unbookable on your booking channels.