What are rate plans?

Rate plans are a way to sell room types with different restrictions and pricing to attract more travellers to your property and increase potential reservations.

Rate plans allow you to sell the same room type in different ways by varying pricing and restrictions.

The more rate plans you have, and the more channels they are mapped to, the greater the chances of increasing reservations.

Types of rate plans

Rate plans are used to create different rates for each room type based on multiple factors. You can derive a rate plan’s daily rates from another rate plan by subtracting or adding an amount or percentage.

Common rate plans include:

Standard: Usually the base rate
Non-refundable: Usually cheaper than the standard and doesn’t allow refunds
Breakfast included: With breakfast included and usually more expensive than the standard
Minimum length of stay: Usually cheaper than the standard, with a minimum night restriction applied

Other popular rate plans include:

Day-of-week specials: Different pricing for weekdays versus weekends
Seasonal promotions: Special rates for holidays or local events
Early bird/last-minute deals: Time-sensitive offers with appropriate restrictions
Length-of-stay discounts: Incremental discounts for longer stays

How rate plans work

The process flows through these steps:

Create a rate plan in Little Hotelier
Assign it to a room type to create a room rate
Configure pricing and restrictions for the room rate
Map the room rate to your distribution channels

To show discounted prices alongside the standard rate, you can create derived rate plans that automatically adjust based on your standard rate (using fixed amounts or percentages). When you update the base rate, all derived rates adjust automatically.

Creating a rate plan

To create a new rate plan:

Navigate to Rooms and rates > Rate plans.
Click Add a rate plan.
Fill in your rate plan details.
Click Save.

When creating your rate plan, configure these settings:

Field	Description
Rate plan name	A clear name to identify your rate plan in your platform (not visible to guests)
Rate plan description	Additional details about your rate plan for your reference (not visible to guests)
Minimum length of stay	Set the minimum number of nights guests must book
Maximum length of stay	Set the maximum number of nights guests can book
Release period	Days in advance a booking must be made (also known as "advance purchase" restriction)
Inclusions	Meals included in your rate (sent to supported channels like Booking.com)
Minimum rate	Lowest price allowed for this rate plan
Direct booking controls	Date filters and discounts for your direct booking rates (Direct Booking)
Rate setup for manual input	Manually input daily rates in your inventory
Rate setup for derived rates	Automatically calculate rates based on another rate plan by an amount or percentage. Note derived rates cannot be manually modified in the Inventory grid

After creating your rate plan, assign it to a room type, entering the base rate, included occupancy, and extra person charges to complete the room rate configuration. Once assigned, you can edit the room rate to configure any extra settings, such as overrides.

Editing rate plans

To modify an existing rate plan:

Navigate to Rooms and rates > Rate plans
Click on the rate plan you wish to update
Open the Rate plan actions menu and choose Edit
Make your changes and click Save

When you edit certain rate plan settings, the changes only apply to new inventory calendar dates. To update existing dates, you must manually update them in your Inventory grid in Distribution > Inventory.

Settings that require manual inventory updates after updating the rate plan: