Create a Genie Strategy (Old)

Using the powerful tools and data in Rategenie, you have complete control of your nightly rates for any date. While that might be the idea situation for some, there will be users who desire a more hands-off rates management experience. Now, you can get perfect pricing every day, while letting Rategenie do all the work for you.


Create a new Genie Strategy

  • Navigate to Strategies.

 

Here you can create, edit and duplicate rate strategies. You can also search for specific strategies by both strategy name and rental name. Moving your mouse over the different active rules for each strategy will reveal details about each rule’s settings.

 

  • Click the Add Strategy button.

Then select Genie strategy (old).

  • Genie Strategy (old) - This option allows you to complete the Genie Strategy wizard to create a new rate strategy. RateGenie will do all the hard work and decide what rates are best for your rental. This strategy contains numerous pricing considerations based on data pulled from multiple external and internal sources. The Genie Strategy differs from the other strategy types in that it is created using a multi-step wizard.
  • Other Strategy - This option allows you to use the other five strategy types available. Nightly rates can be based on the historical rate for similar rentals in your geographic region, change based on the occupancy of your rental, remain constant over time , custom occupancy and change based on custom feed. You can then adjust the nightly rate further using rules.

When selecting the Genie Strategy (old) option, you can not choose any of the other five strategy types, until after the strategy has been saved. Then you may make the change during an edit. Likewise, when selecting the Other Strategy option, you can not choose the Genie Strategy until after the strategy has been saved.

For instructions in using the Other Strategy option, see the Create a New Rate Strategy helpdoc.

  1. Click Genie Strategy

    This example will demonstrate how to create a rate strategy that Rategenie will manage for you. On the Create Genie Strategy modal, fill in the required base, minimum, and maximum rate settings. These are overridden by values set in the rental rates settings. Click the Create button to save the rate strategy, and advance to the next step in the wizard.
  2. Enter settings for a Gap Night Adjustment Rule.
    -If you do not want to add the Gap Night Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, click the Skip button to continue to the next step in the wizard.-If you do not want to add anymore rules to your Genie Strategy, click the Done button to exit the wizard and return to the strategies page.-If you want to add the Gap Night Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, then fill in the requested information and click the Next button to advance to the next step in the wizard.
    • Adjust fee - This is the the positive or negative absolute adjustment made to the nightly rates.
    • Adjust percent - This is the the positive or negative percent adjustment made to the nightly rates.
    • Gap nights up to - This is the maximum number of nights between two bookings that will be considered a gap in your strategy. In the example below, the value entered is 5. This means that the discount will be applied to gap sizes of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 nights.
    • Minimum nights - This is the minimum night stay that will be applied to the nightly rates in a gap. In the example below, the minimum night value is Length of gap - 2. This means that is the gap is 4 nights long, the minimum night  stay that would be applied to those 4 nights is a value of 2.
  3. Enter settings for a Last Minute Adjustment Rule.-If you do not want to add the Last Minute Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, click the Skip button to continue to the next step in the wizard.
    -If you do not want to add anymore rules to your Genie Strategy, click the Done button to exit the wizard and return to the strategies page.
    -If you want to add the Last Minute Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, then fill in the requested information and click the Next button to advance to the next step in the wizard.
    • Nights - This is the number of nights starting from the current date, that will have the discount applied. In the example below, the first field has a value of 3. This means that the discount will be applied tonight, tomorrow night, and the next night after that.
    • Adjust percent - This is the the positive or negative percent adjustment made to the nightly rates.
    • Minimum nights - This is the minimum night stay that will be applied to the nightly rates identified as last dates.
  4. Enter settings for an Advanced Booking Adjustment Rule.
    -If you do not want to add the Advanced Booking Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, click the Skip button to continue to the next step in the wizard.
    -If you do not want to add anymore rules to your Genie Strategy, click the Done button to exit the wizard and return to the strategies page.
    -If you want to add the Advanced Booking Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, then fill in the requested information and click the Next button to advance to the next step in the wizard.
    • Nights - This is the number of nights in the future, when the discount will be applied. In the example below, the first field has a value of 180. This means that the discount will be applied on nights 180, 181, 182, and so on.
    • Adjust percent - This is the the positive or negative percent adjustment made to the nightly rates.
    • Minimum nights - This is the minimum night stay that will be applied to the nightly rates identified as advanced booking dates.
  5. Enter settings for a Channel Adjustment Rule.
    -If you do not want to add the Channel Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, click the Skip button to continue to the next step in the wizard.
    -If you do not want to add anymore rules to your Genie Strategy, click the Done button to exit the wizard and return to the strategies page.
    -If you want to add the Channel Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, then fill in the requested information and click the Next button to advance to the next step in the wizard.
    • Channel - This is the rental channel that will have nighty rates adjusted.
    • Adjust fee - This is the the positive or negative absolute adjustment made to the nightly rates.
    • Adjust percent -This is the the positive or negative percent adjustment made to the nightly rates.
  6. Enter settings for an Event Driven Rule.
    -If you do not want to add the Gap Night Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, click the Skip button to continue to the next step in the wizard.
    -If you do not want to add anymore rules to your Genie Strategy, click the Done button to exit the wizard and return to the strategies page.
    -If you want to add the Gap Night Adjustment Rule to your Genie Strategy, then fill in the requested information and click the Next button to advance to the next step in the wizard.
    • Distance (km) - This is the maximum distance, in kilo meters, that the event can be from the rental location in order to adjust nightly rates.
    • Impact - This determines how strongly an event will adjust the nightly rates for event dates.
    • Category - This determines which kinds of events will be allowed to adjust nightly rates.
  7. Assign rentals to your Genie Strategy.
    -If you do not want to add rentals to your Genie Strategy, click the Skip or Done buttons to exit the wizard and return to the strategies page.
    -If you want to assign rentals to your Genie Strategy, then click the checkbox next to any rentals you wish to assign to the rate strategy, and click the Complete button to finish the wizard and return to the strategies page.


Adding rules to the Genie Strategy

Now that that the Genie Strategy is completed and saved, you have the option of further customizing the strategy by adding some additional rules.

  • From the strategies overlay, click the New button.

This opens the Create Strategy Rule modal. Here you can select a rule from the dropdown list, and customize the settings of the rule to fit perfectly into your pricing strategy for your rental. Each strategy rule covers a different booking scenario, and the effect of all the rules applied on a given calendar date are cumulative.

  • Additional Guest Rule - Do you often have extra guests on a booking? Set the price or percent increase you charge for extra guests booking your rental. Settings in this rule are overridden by values set in the rental rates settings.
  • Advanced Booking Adjustment Rule - Do you want to increase your occupancy for months or years from now? Set a percent adjustment and change the minimum night stay requirement for guests booking dates far into the future.
  • Channel Adjustment Rule - Do you charge different prices on different channels? Set a percent or absolute adjustment for each channel that rates are pushed to.
  • Date Specific Adjustment Rule - Do you have certain dates on the calendar that require specific rates? Set a fixed rate or an adjustment to the rate for any set of dates on the calendar.
  • Event Driven Rule - Do you have many entertainment or social events near your rental? Set how far away you want to look for certain events and how strongly you want the pricing to change as a result.
  • Gap Night Adjustment Rule - Do you want to convert more orphan days into booked nights? Set the price and minimum night stay adjustments for booking gaps up to the number of nights you specify.
  • Last Minute Adjustment Rule - Do you want to maximize your booking opportunities through the current day? Set the number of nights from today that you want to adjust your nightly price up or down. The minimum night stay for those nights can also be adjusted in order to further increase appeal.
  • Minimum Nights Rule - Do you have a different minimum night stay requirement on the weekends than during the week? Set the minimum night stay you want to apply to each day of the week.
  • Month Adjustment Rule - Do you have a few months that are extremely busy or extremely slow? Set an absolute or percent adjustment for any month of the calendar year.

  • For this example, select Additional Guest Rule from the dropdown list, to edit the additional guest fee settings for your strategy..

For most rules, there will be a selection of adjustment types, along with other settings that let you tailor the rule perfectly to your rate strategy. This example will set the additional guest fee for the rate strategy, in order to allow occupancy-based pricing to be pushed to channels connected to any assigned rentals. Once this rule is added to a strategy, assigned rentals can have their additional guest fee customized further by updating the matching fields in the rental rate settings.

  • Additional Fee - This represents the amount that is added to the nightly rate for each extra guest, up to the maximum guest count set on the channel for your listing. This is overridden by values set in the rental rates settings.
  • Additional Percent - This represents the percent increase made to the nightly rate for each extra guest, up to the maximum guest count set on the channel for your listing. This is overridden by values set in the rental rates settings.
  • Guest Threshold - This represents the number of guests that can be booked without being charged the additional guest fee. This is overridden by values set in the rental rates settings.

  • Click the Save button to save the rule to your strategy.

Once again, you have the option of saving your strategy now, and using your strategy as currently composed, or you may continue adding more rules, and fine-tuning other settings in the strategy details. Be sure to review your details and rules settings before clicking the Save button to save the strategy. This will result in new rates being generated for the rental. NOTE: Please allow up to a few minutes for the rates to be updated, and the new rates to be reflected on the calendar.


Adding rentals to the rate strategy

After saving your rate strategy, you might want to assign more rentals to your rate strategy, so that Rategenie knows which calendars to generate rates for.

  • From the strategies detail page, click the Rentals tab.

Here you can add or remove rentals from the strategy. If a rental is added to the strategy, and rates are set in the rental rate settings, then the values set in the rental will override the values in the strategy details. If there are no rental rates set, then the values set in the strategy details will be used to generate nightly prices in the calendar.

  • A strategy set as default will be used for any rentals that do not have a strategy assigned to them. To set a strategy as default, toggle the Default switch at the top of the overlay.

  • Click the Add Rentals button to open the rental selector.

  • Select a rental from the list and click the Save button to add the rental to the strategy.

Now that you have added rentals to your strategy, it is ready to start generating rates for the rates calendar. Click the Save button to save the strategy. This will result in new rates being generated for the rental.

Please allow up to a few minutes for the rates to be updated, and the new rates to be reflected on the calendar.


Reviewing changes to the rate strategy

As time passes by, or if your property management team is large, you will want to check the activity logs for your strategies to keep up-to-date on any changes that have been made to the strategy details, rules settings, or assigned rentals. This will make it easy to correct any unwanted changes that might have been made.

  • From the strategies overlay, click the Activity Logs tab

  • The activity logs will show an audit trail of the most recent updates made to your rate strategy.


As always, please contact us with questions any time. We're happy to help.


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