Setting up multi duration custom rates

Setting up multi duration custom rates in Checkfront allows you to define tailored pricing for multiple booking durations, providing flexible control over how rates adjust based on the length of a guest’s reservation.

Learn about multi duration rates for use with your products through an accommodation use case, as well as how to add, archive, and book with custom rates.

New to custom rates? Read the first article in this series for an introduction to Custom Rates.

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

What industry does this feature apply to?

• ✓ Accommodations | X Activities  | ✓ Tours  | ✓ Rentals  | X Adventures | X Escape Rooms | Learn More
   

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

• Inventory > Custom Rates
   

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin or restricted permissions to View discounts and Manage discounts.
• Duration rates are available for those using All Day, Nightly, and Flex Time only, not Timeslots.
   

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

• Your account must have access to classic products (Inventory > Products), a key feature of our classic products version of Checkfront. This feature is not available for use with classic items (Inventory > Items) in our classic items version. → Learn more about products. 

Learn more about adding duration rates from the Product Builder Duration rates can also be created and added to a product from the Product Builder. Learn more here: Configuring pricing on products

Businesses, such as Rentals, Accommodation, and Tours, all have pricing rates that change as Guests book longer durations.

With a multi-duration rate, the system determines the rate by combining the booking duration with custom rate adjustments to the base rates, product rates, and/or guest rates, where you apply different rates for longer durations. Check out an everyday use case example below.

Do you want to configure a multi duration rate for your products? Start by adding a multi duration rate.

In this case, the Operator has a Queen Deluxe Room available for booking. The Base Rate for the room is $100.00.

Several tiers of rate reductions have been configured based on the number of nights the Guest books. The following are examples of the costs the Guest would incur for their stay as the number of nights increases.

Price Preview	Tier Range	Total
	1 - 2 nights at $100 per night	A Guest staying for 1 night would pay the base rate per night: (1 x $100) = $100 total.
	3 - 6 nights at $90 per night	A Guest staying 3 nights would pay two different rates: (2 x $100) + (1 x $90)= $290 total.
	7+ nights at $80 per night	A Guest staying 7 nights would pay three different rates: (2x $100) + ( 4 x $90) + (1 x $80) =  $640 total.

Start the creation of a multi duration custom rate by clicking on the Add Rate button on the Custom Rates page. This option opens the Duration Rate modal.

The system calculates Duration rates as a single duration by default. Toggle the Apply Multi Duration setting to have the calculation based on multiple rates over the booking duration.

Start your new custom rate by giving it a unique Name, e.g., Long Term Rental Rates - Extended Stay.

Select the date range for the rate schedule. By default, the system sets the start date to today's date, and the end date is empty, indicating that the rate is always available. Optionally, +Add an End Date, but a start date is required.

When entering values, you can type the dates into the provided fields or select them from the calendars. 

Click the X Remove End Date option, where applicable, to ensure the rate always applies.

Configure the duration rates to match your business needs

1. Click +Add Duration to create a second tier. Note that the rates apply as allocated within your product settings, e.g., Per Day, Per Night, or Per Flextime.
2. Toggle the controls (+/-) next to the number fields until you have the range of numbers needed for each tier, e.g., 3 - 6, 7 - Max.  Max represents the top limit configured for your product, for example, a discounted rate for bookings that are 7 days or longer. The max might be 14 days.
3. Specify the rate adjustment for each tier. You can adjust rates by a monetary amount ($) or percentage (%).
4. Repeat the process for every new tier you need.

You can delete a tier by clicking the remove icon (x) at the end of the row. The system adjusts the tier accordingly.

Specifying a price reduction To achieve a price reduction over the duration of the booking, you can enter a negative amount or percentage, e.g., -100 dollars or -10 percent.   Specifying a price increase To achieve a price increase, you can enter a positive amount or percentage, e.g., 100 dollars or 10 percent.

The Price Preview option helps you visualize and understand how you can apply your custom rates to the base rates of a product, depending on the booking duration.

The Price Preview uses a base rate of $100.00, as an example, to help you understand the calculations. You can adjust the quantity to verify that the rates are as expected as the duration increases.

Apply the duration rate to all products or select specific ones.

• Click the Select All button to apply the custom rates to all the listed products.
• Click the Select None button to clear all your selections. Remember, you must apply custom rates to at least one product.
• You can also select products by clicking the check box next to the category or product.

Custom Rates are applied to your base rates throughout the booking process from the Customer Booking Page to the Booking invoice, so that the adjusted amount is displayed. 

Add custom instructions to your website to guide Customers You can draw attention to the reduced rate with custom messaging within your website, booking page, and product descriptions as needed.

Click the Archive button in the left-hand corner of the modal to archive your custom rate.

Archiving preserves the settings of applied products, but the system no longer uses the rate for product pricing.

The system retains any custom rates applied to historical bookings.

You can remove the rate from the archived state by toggling the enabled control.

What if the booking spans two custom rates? If a booking spans two custom rates (where the rates don't overlap), then the price is calculated on the custom rate's start date, not the booking's start date. For example, a 14-day booking might span Spring and Summer rates, so 7 days would be priced at the Spring rate and 7 days at the Summer rate.   How are overlapping rates calculated? If you apply more than one custom rate to a product with the same date span, the rates apply in the order in which they are created. The initial custom rate is applied to the base price, and subsequent custom rates are applied on top of the resulting price. This is true whether they are single or multi duration rates or a combination of both.

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