Important to know:
To update the inventory grid, go to My Apps > Channel Manager > Inventory.
If you have a connected and mapped PMS (property management system), CRS (central reservations system), or an RMS (revenue management system), your channel manager may receive inventory updates from it. Always check with your PMS/CRS/RMS provider before making an inventory update, as it may override your updates.
Some channels have longer update periods than others. Check their update period on My apps > Channel manager > Channels.
Introduction to the inventory grid
An essential part of your channel management, the inventory grid is where you can view and manage your property’s day-to-day availability, pricing, and restrictions across your connected channels.
To update your rates, availability and restrictions, go to My Apps > Channel Manager > Inventory. Find below all the updates you can make via your inventory grid.
Availability — the number of room types currently available to be booked at your property.
Rates — the price for each room rate, direct booking rate, and channel rate sent to your booking channels
Stop sell — the restriction that closes a channel rate or direct booking rate for a certain period of time.
Close to arrivals — the rule that prevents check-ins on certain days.
Close to departures — the rule that prevents check-outs on certain days.
Min. length of stay — the restriction that sets the minimum number of days a guest can stay.
Max. length of stay — the restriction that sets the maximum number of days a guest can stay.
Note:
If you have a connected and mapped PMS (property management system), CRS (central reservations system), or an RMS (revenue management system), your channel manager may receive inventory updates from it. Always check with your PMS/CRS/RMS provider before making an inventory update, as it may override your updates.
To view your applied restrictions, click on your room rates ‘ down arrow to see its channel rates or use the Channels view filter.
View and filter your rooms and rates
Scroll through the calendar (14 days at a time) using the following buttons located at the top left of your inventory grid:
Date picker — allows you to choose a custom date in the future to view
Circular arrow button — goes to today’s date in the calendar
(rewind) button — goes back two weeks
(less than) button — goes back one week
> (greater than) button — goes forward one week
>> (forward) button — goes forward two weeks
You can only check present and future dates, not past dates.
Easily filter by room type, rate plan, or room rate, or use the All rates and availability filter to select the following views:
All rates and availability — shows all room types, their room rates, availability, and prices. This is the default view, unless you have set another one as your favourite.
Editable rates and availability — shows all room types, their manual room rates, availability, and prices. Derived rates won’t show in this view.
Availability only — shows all available room types and their availability.
Channels view — shows or hides rates and restrictions per channel rates. Select any channel to see its rates and restrictions, then use the buttons below the calendar dates to select what inventory values to show or hide.
Click on the star of All rates and availability, Editable rates and availability, or Availability only to set any of the filters as your favourite.
View your applied restrictions in the inventory grid
You can see your availability and rates at one glance on the Inventory grid; however, to view your applied restrictions for a specific room rate, you need to follow the instructions below:
Go to My Apps > Channel Manager > Inventory.
Under the room type, find the room rate and click on the down arrow to see its channel rates
Click on Rates down-arrow to the right of the channel rate name to open a drop-down menu
Select a restriction to check. If you select Stop sell, Close to arrivals, or Close to departures, the restriction will show a blue tick if it is active (an empty tick box means that no closure is applied). If you select Min. length of stay or Max. length of stay, the limitation period will be displayed.
Note:
Use the Channels view filter to see many channel rates’ restrictions at once.
If there is a stop sell applied, the cell will be orange with a blue tick. If there is no blue tick but the cell is still orange, it means there is a release period applied to the rate plan or room rate levels. A release period is a minimum number of days in advance a guest must book a room rate, restricting last-minute reservations.
If you have a minimum length of stay set to ‘1’ it is the same as not having any.
If you see a dash (—) on the inventory for a rate or restriction, it can mean two things: the channel may not support that setting for that specific channel rate; or they simply don’t support that restriction for any of their channel rates.
Learn about icons and symbols on the inventory grid
Find below all icons and symbols found on the Inventory grid.
Channel doesn’t support setting — a dash (—) shows instead of an inventory value when the channel doesn’t support that setting. (Sometimes channels can block certain inventory values for their channel rates, due to its configuration. This can happen with rates being blocked for derived rates on the channel side).
Valid update — a cell turns green when there has been a manual change that needs saving in the inventory grid.
Invalid update — a cell turns red if an invalid value has been added to the inventory grid. The fields only accept numeric values, so no currency symbols ($, £, €), letters, or punctuation marks are accepted. This can also happen if you enter a rate value lower than your property's Minimum rate. The Minimum rate helps you avoid sending rates that are too low to your channels. Only enter rates in the inventory grid that are higher than the Minimum rate. The Minimum rate setting is located in your property name > Property settings > General.
All channel rates have "stop sell" enabled — a bright orange box appears on the room rate and all of its channel rates if it has a stop sell or release period.
Some channel rates have "stop sell" enabled — a pale orange box appears on the room rate and some of its channel rates if it has a stop sell or release period.
No availability — a bright orange box with a 0 (zero) in the middle appears on the room type or room rate if there is no availability.
Derived rate — the chain icon shows that a rate is derived from another.
Currency conversion — a calculator icon shows if the channel or the rate has currency conversion enabled.
Rate multiplier enabled — a crossed arrows icon shows that a rate has a rate multiplier applied on the channel settings.
Channel rate disabled — an alert icon shows that a channel rate is disabled, and the channel is not receiving updates from your channel manager for that room rate. Click on the alert to find out more.