Capacity controlled rates allow a limit to be imposed on the number of reservations/rentals can be booked per day for a given period under a particular rate code in total or by car class.
Rate Availability monitors the number of reservations by rate code. It can also monitor and limit reservations by rate code and vehicle class.
For example, assume a special was offered as a "loss leader", as a result the number of transactions with that rate should be limited. This program provides the ability to create a record that imposes such a limitation (capacity control) on a rate code. Once the limit is reached for any date, the rate is no longer available for reservations or walk-ups that span that date. Rates can be capacity controlled according to the total fleet or by individual vehicle class.
This logic was cloned from the Fleet Planning logic, so many of the underlining concepts are the same. This chapter assumes that the reader is familiar with the concepts behind Fleet Planning. Only those features that are unique to Rate Capacity will be explained here.
All open rental agreements and existing unfilled reservations that fall within the range of dates being controlled are queried when doing rate capacity checking.
If any time period of a potential reservation overlaps enough existing transactions with the same Rate Code so that the new reservation would cause the capacity for that date and time period to exceed the maximum limit, the use of the rate will be rejected with the message:
RATE XXXXX IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR THESE DATES; SELECT ANOTHER.
For example assume that the limit is set for just 2 transactions for Rate Code "SPL" and there is already an open RA for the dates February 15th through the 20th and a reservation for the 18th though the 23rd, the transactions will look as follows:
2/14 2/15 2/16 2/17 2/18 2/19 2/20 2/21 2/22 2/23 2/24 2/25
|----------- Open RA ---------|
|-------- Reservation --------|
During the period 2/18 through 2/20 the Rate Code "SPL" is blacked out as it has hit the two transaction limit (even though the reservation is still in the future and is just a potential transaction). As a result no additional reservation can be made nor can walk-up RAs be opened that will use that rate for any period that overlaps this blacked out period.
Like Fleet Planning, Rate Capacity DOES NOT apply to reservations that are interfaced from an outside reservation center. For them, all Rates are on Free Sale.
This feature can also be used to blackout a rate for a period of dates (by entering zero in Field 6) and then using the exception date fields to open the rate up for use during a smaller range of dates within the larger date range.
To access the Edit program, type EDITRAV (RET) at any menu "OPTION:"field or the appropriate line number on the Planning Menu. The screen will then display:
| OPTION: __ EDIT RATE AVAILABILITY 1 Location 2 Rate Product 3 Rate Class 4 Effective Date 5 End Date 6 Maximum 7 Block Web-Res Only 8 Block Departures Only 9 Block New Res Only 10 Exception by P)ick-up Date,/R)eturn Date B)oth Dates 11 Exception Start Date 12 Exception End Date 13 Blackout Reason 1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4DELETE 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8 |
Enter data as follows:
|
1. LOCATION |
Enter up to 6 alphanumeric characters to indicate the Customers Pick-Up Location. If the location is part of a metroplex group, enter the Group Name code that is used for the location's metroplex group. User tip: See the note about Metroplexes at the end of this chapter. EXAMPLE: Type TUS (RET) In RV Mode: This field can accept any Location Group, not just metroplex groups. |
|
2. RATE PRODUCT |
Enter up to 12 characters representing the Rate Product on which the capacity control is to be placed. EXAMPLE: Type SPCL. |
|
3. RATE CLASS |
If the capacity control is to be class specific, enter the vehicle class here. Or this field may be left blank in which case the capacity control applies to all rentals booked under the rate regardless of vehicle class. EXAMPLE: Type SCAR (RET). |
|
4. EFFECTIVE DATE |
Enter the date on which the control takes effect. EXAMPLE: Type 010112 (RET) User tip: It is important to understand how effective dates work in capacity controlled rates. Refer to the discussion regarding effective dates in the Rate Planning section of the chapter titled Introduction to Planning. |
|
5. END DATE |
Enter the date on which the control ends. EXAMPLE: Type 041512 (RET) |
|
6. MAXIMUM |
Enter the maximum number of vehicles (or vehicles within the class of vehicles if this record is class specific) that can be reserved and rented under this rate for the date range entered in Fields 4 and 5 above. Enter zero to black out the rate entirely. EXAMPLE: Type 2 (RET) |
| 7.BLOCK WEB-RES ONLY |
Capacity control can be made to apply to just reservations booked through a CARS+ WebRES site or it can be made to apply to reservations created both through the CARS+ Reservation program and Webres and to walkup rentals.Y = Check for capacity restrictions only on reservations that are made through WebRes. Note: Reservations that are created outside of Webres, still affect the capacity tracking and may result in a Rate not being available even on the very first Webres reservation that attempts to use a capacity controlled rate.EXAMPLE: Press N (RET) Reminder: Reservations from an outside reservation center are never checked for Rate Capacity, they are on Free Sale. |
| 8. BLOCK DEPARTURES ONLY |
This field further defines the Effective Date in Field 4.Y = Only check for capacity controls if a reservation's pickup date falls within the date range defined by Fields 4 and 5. If a reservation has a pickup date before the Effective Date but has a return date after the Effective Date (that is part of the rental will occur within the controlled dates) it still will NOT be checked even if the dates within the controlled period cause the capacity to exceed the limit during some or all Time Periods.EXAMPLE: Press Y (RET) |
| 9. BLOCK NEW RES ONLY |
This field defines if existing reservations will be re-checked for capacity control restrictions when their pickup and return dates/times are edited. Y = Capacity checks will only be done when initially booking a new reservation.EXAMPLE: Press N (RET) Warning: If capacity is checked only on new reservations (this field is set to 'Y'), it does open up the possibility that capacity controlled rates may be subject to abuses. For example, a reservation for 5 days which is denied due to being over rate capacity on the last day could be booked as a 4 day reservation and saved. Then it could be brought up on the Reservation screen a second time and extended. |
| The next three fields allow for a single exception period within the date range defined in Fields 4 and 5 that is exempt from the controls of this record. |
|
| 10. EXCEPTION BY |
Enter:P = if the exception is based on the pick-up dateEXAMPLE: Type P (RET) |
| 11. EXCEPTION START DATE |
Enter the date on which the exception period begins. EXAMPLE: Type 020112 (RET) |
| 12. EXCEPTION END DATE |
Enter the date on which the exception period ends. EXAMPLE: Type 021512 (RET) Explanation: According to Fields 1 - 6, at the Location "TUS" during the first three and a half months of 2012, only 2 over lapping transactions can use Rate Product SPL on class SCAR. But fields 11 and 12 indicate that for the period 2/1/12 through 2/15/12 this limit is lifted and there is no capacity control on this rate and class for pick-up dates during this exception period. |
| 13. BLACKOUT REASON |
Enter up to 12 characters to describe the reason why this entire record was created. EXAMPLE: Type NASCAR CLOSED (RET) |
The screen will then display:
| OPTION: __ EDIT RATE AVAILABILITY 1 Location TUS 2 Rate Product SPCL 3 Rate Class SCAR 4 Effective Date 01-01-12 5 End Date 04-15-12 6 Maximum 2 7 Block Web-Res Only N 8 Block Departures Only Y 9 Block New Res Only N 10 Exception by P P)ick-up Date,R)eturn Date B)oth Dates 11 Exception Start Date 02-01-12 12 Exception End Date 02-15-12 13 Blackout Reason NASCAR CLOSED 1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4DELETE 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8 |
PRESS "F1" AT "OPTION" TO SAVE.
EDITING AND DELETING RECORDS:
Rate Availability records can be edited or deleted by bringing the record to the screen using one of the following methods:
A. Enter the data in Field 1- 4 exactly as it was saved. Or
B. Press "F2" to scroll through the existing records one at a time.
Make the needed changes and press F1 to save the change.
To delete a record, press F4.
NOTES ABOUT CAPACITY CONTROLLED RATES:
Length of rental: Rates that are capacity controlled cannot be used on rentals longer than 99 days in length.
Walk -up rentals: Walk-up rentals are subject to capacity controlled rates, and a check of rate availability will be made. (No check is made when opening a RA that is based on a reservation.)
Rental extensions: No check is made on the availability of a rate when an existing rental agreement is extended beyond its original return date.
Converting an existing rate to a capacity controlled rate:
New rates can be capacity controlled immediately. To convert an existing rate to capacity control requires that the rate planning calendar be initialized and set up once again.
For example, Rate ABC may have been set up previously and was not capacity controlled. Now it needs to be capacity controlled for the summer months. If there are already reservations booked under that rate, they will not be considered unless the rate planning calendar is rebuilt. If it is not rebuilt, the existing reservations will be ignored and the capacity control feature will be applied only to the new reservations. Contact Thermeon's Customer Support Dept. to have the rate planning calendar initialized. After the file is initialized, the program Set Rate Availability must be run.
NOTES ABOUT METROPLEXES
Instead of a single location, metroplex codes can be used for capacity controlled records. This subjects all locations within the metroplex to the metroplex’s total. If there is also a capacity record for a particular location, the two records will affect each other. The following example illustrates this:
Assume that location TUS is part of the +SOCAL metroplex.
A capacity record is set up where metroplex +SOCAL is limited to 10 transactions (reservations/rentals).
Another capacity record is set up limiting TUS to 4 transactions.
The 4 allocated to TUS are part of the 10 allocated to +SOCAL. However, the order in which the transactions are booked affect what happens.
If 4 transactions are booked for TUS first, the rest of the locations in the +SOCAL metroplex can have only 6 more (total of 10 for the metroplex).
However, if the other locations in the +SOCAL metroplex reach the limit of 10, TUS will still get 4. (The location with the individual record is always allowed their limit.) Thus the max for +SOCAL is actually 14 in this case.
NOTE: Rate Capacity does NOT support the use of multi-level metroplexes that can be used in the Fleet Planning Calendar (Edit Locations, Page 4 fields 38 though 41).