Policies

Use Policies to set your property’s policies, such as guarantee, cancellation, meal plan, fee, tax, commission, discount, etc. If your property is part of a chain, you will inherit the chain policies; however, these policies can be overridden at the property level. You can also use different rules for one policy so it can cover several scenarios. Refer to Appendix A – Policy Descriptions for policy descriptions and hierarchy.

Polices set here will be available in Preferences to use as default settings. Once set at Preferences, these policies flow down to all levels where polices are used. Policies can also be applied at the Inventory/Rates level that will override those set in Preferences for a specific rate or season.

When creating Cancellation Policies, rules must always be created for cancellations outside of any penalty and one for inside of any penalty. Rules must also be created for your Guarantee/Deposit and Tax policies or any other policy with a specific period of time associated with it (see Add Policies below).

You should avoid changing the rules associated with an established policy, especially if there’s a possibility they may have bookings associated with them. If you need to change your policy (for example, Guaranteed, Cancel), create a new policy and then assign it to the rate/item/calendar. This preserves the policies that may already be used for reservations.

When creating seasonal policies, you must always assign the policy at the rate/item intersection for it to be effective.

Note: The Generate SQL button, which starts a SQL editor, is used for bulk loading of policies.

Add Policies

Required fields (red asterisk) must be completed before you can save the policy. Additional fields can be completed as necessary. Refer to Setup Policies Fields table.

To add a policy:

Click Add New. The Setup Policies screen appears.
Select the policy Type.
In the Name field, enter the name of the policy that will be used in all areas of the Property Maintenance Module, and used in RVNG Internet Booking Engine (IBE) and Call Center.
In the Interface Name field, enter the name going to the GDS/ADS (45 characters maximum including spaces).
In the Interface Code field, do one of the following (this is a required field for Guarantee/Deposit and Cancel policies):

For Guarantee/Deposit policies, select the interface code from the drop-down list.
For Cancel policies, select the applicable radio button and option from the associated drop down list.
For all other policies, this field can be left blank unless you know the approved GDS interface code for the specific policy used.

Note: The interface code is used by the GDS for the messages that are used in the different availability responses. These are used with Guarantee/Deposit, Cancel, Tax and Fee policies. For Tax policies, the interface codes can be selected from a drop-down list when applying policy rules. See Interface Codes in Appendix A for a list of acceptable codes.

In the Policy Text textbox, enter the text used in the RVNG IBE and Call center to describe the policy.
In the Interface Text textbox, enter the text used in the GDS/ADS to describe the policy.
From the Item Group drop-down list, select which item group that this policy applies. You can set up policies that apply only to lodging and policies that apply only to product.
If this is a guarantee policy, select the guarantee method form the GTD Method drop-down list. If you accept Travel Agent guarantees for all rates, set the interface code to Credit Card and select Travel Agency from the drop-down list.

Note: To add a seasonal policy via the calendar (i.e., Begin Date plus End Date) you must also enter a rate value from the Rate drop-down list. Without this, the Guarantee or Cancel policy change will NOT be applied.

If Based on field is used, enter a minus value (for example, -12) for days prior to the based on date or enter a positive value (for example, 15) for days after based on date.
In the remaining fields, enter additional policy information based on the descriptions in the Setup Policies Fields table below.
When finished adding the policy information, click Save Changes to return to the Policies screen (or Cancel to quit without saving).
If creating Guarantee/Deposit, Cancellation or any other policies that have a time deadline, rules must always be created in order for them to work as expected (see Adding Policy Rules below).
Click the property name at the top of the screen to return to the Property Dashboard.

Edit Policies

You can only edit policies you added.

To edit a policy:

Click the Edit link to the right of the policy you want to change.
Enter your changes based on the descriptions in the Setup Policies Fields table.
Click Save Changes (or Cancel to quit without saving).
Click Activate to make a policy active, or click Inactivate to make a policy inactive.
To return to the Property or Chain Dashboard, click the property or chain name.

Add a New Rule

Policy rules are used to enforce the policy when a booking is made. Rules can only be added to the policies that you have created. Each policy should have at least one rule; however. Multiple rules can be added to any policy once it has been saved. See the Setup Policies Fields table.

With policies that have a time deadline (for example, guarantee, cancellation and no show), you have to create two rules in order for them to work as expected. The primary rule defines what happens if you are in the time period of the policy but another rule needs to be applied to address the period of time outside that policy period.

You should avoid changing the rules associated with an established policy, especially if there is a possibility they may have bookings associated with them. If you need to change your policy (for example, Guaranteed, Cancel), create a new policy and then assign it to the rate/item/calendar. This preserves the policies that may already be used for reservations.

For regions with more than one tax, the edit rules are used to enter the different types of tax.

Refer to Policy Rules Required Fields in Appendix A for a description of the fields that should be completed.

As a minimum you should enter the information outlined in the following steps.

To add policy rules:

Click Add New Rule.
In the Name field, enter the name of the policy rule to be used in RVNG Internet Booking Engine and Call Center
If required, enter or select the appropriate interface code.

Tip: If you are adding Tax Policy rules, you can select the applicable interface code from a drop-down list.

From the Item Group drop down list select which item group that this rule applies to. You can set up rules that apply only to lodging and rules that apply only to product.
If this is a guarantee policy rule, select the guarantee method from the GTD Method drop down list.
Select Yes from the Allow Cancel and Allow Changes drop down lists.
Enter other desired rules in appropriate fields.
If this is a Cancel policy rule, you must enter an order number in the Order By field.

Note: The Order By field determines the order that rules are selected. A ‘1’ in the Order By field will be the first policy rule selected.

Click Save Changes.
Click the property name at the top of the screen to return to the Property Dashboard.

Edit Policy Rules

You can only edit policy rules for the policies you added. See the Setup Policies Fields table.

To edit a policy rules:

Click the Edit Rules link to the right of the policy you want to change.
Change the rules as necessary based on the descriptions in the Setup Policies Fields table.
Click Save Changes. The Setup Policies Edit Rules screen appears displaying the new rule.

Tip: You can sort your list of policy rules by any column by clicking the column heading. You can also click Inactivate to make a rule inactive, or click Activate to make a rule active.

Click the property or chain name to return to the Property Dashboard or Chain Dashboard.

Setup Policies Fields

Field	Description
Type	Select the policy type from the drop down list.
Name	Enter the name of the policy used in the RVNG IBE and Call Center.
Interface Name	Enter the name of the policy that will be going to the GDS/ADS.
Interface Code	For Guarantee/Deposit policies, select the interface code from the drop down list. For Cancel polices, select the applicable radio button and option from the associated drop down list. For Tax policies, the interface codes can be selected from a drop down list when applying policy rules. For Meal Plan policies, select the interface code from the drop-down list of meal plan codes. For all other policies, this field can be left blank unless you know the approved GDS interface code for the specific policy used.
Policy Text	Enter the text used in the booking engine and Call Center to describe the policy.
Interface text	Enter the text used in the GDS/ADS to describe the policy.
Message Text	Enter any message text to be displayed with the policy description.
Interface Message	Enter a message to be displayed in the GDS and ADS.
Bookable (not shown)	Select whether this is bookable (required for a rate policy).
Calculation Rule	Select whether this rule is based on a percentage or a flat amount.
Amount for Calculation	Select which calculation amount will be used.
Max # Days (not shown)	For Rate Adjustment Policies – If the calculation rule is set to Percentage and the amount for calculation is set to First (n) Day Amount, this textbox will appear. Enter the number of days the percentage calculation will be applied.
Amount	Enter the percentage or flat amount based on the calculation rule.
Item Group	Select which item group that this policy applies (Lodging will appear by default). You can set up polices that apply only to lodging and then policies that apply only to product.
GTD Method	Select the guarantee method from the GTD Method drop down list (only used for guarantee policies). If you accept Travel Agent guarantees for all rates, set the interface code to Credit Card and select Travel Agency from the drop-down list.
Based on	Select a date in time the policy will be based on. This needs to be set to Arrival Date for current cutoffs to work
Days:	If Based on field is used, enter a minus value (for example, -12) for days prior to the based on date or enter a positive value (for example, 15) for days after based on date. Must be used for time-based policies.
Time of Day	Select the time of day that this policy applies.
VAT (not shown)	Select whether this tax should be added to the sum of the total plus the previous tax (required for tax policies). This should be used when there are multiple tax policy rules to indicate whether it should be used in the tax calculation.
Taxable (not shown)	Select whether this fee is taxable (required for fee policies).
Refundable (not shown)	Select whether this fee is refundable (required for fee policies).
GL Rule	Select any accounting methods that would apply.
Allow cancel	Select Yes to allow the policy to be cancelled.
Allow Changes	Select Yes to allow the policy to be changed.
Exclude from prepayment - only payable at hotel	Select Yes to exclude fee or tax from prepayment value.
Begin Date	If desired, enter a begin date for the policy, or click the calendar icon to select the dates from a drop-down calendar.
End Date	If desired, enter an ending date for the policy, or click the calendar icon to select the dates from a drop-down calendar.
Days	By default, all days of the week are selected (darkened). Click to select any days of the week this policy would not apply.
Filter	If you want this policy to be qualified by a specific filter (Percent Remaining to Sell, Qty Remain to Sell or Length of Stay), select the filter from the Filter drop-down list. Filter Low and Filter High fields will appear below to enter your low and high filter values.
Order By	Enter a number to specify the order the policy is displayed.