Definition:
Upsell (or upgrading) involves putting a customer into a more expensive class of car than was originally reserved. If the reason for the change is due to some error or problem on your part, the customer is not charged for the increased price (this is called a forced upgrade). But, if the upgrade is due to a change in the customer's needs or preferences, an upsell has occurred and the customer is charged a higher price.
Therefore, an upsell can only occur if:
1. The customer has a reservation. Upsells cannot occur on walk-up rentals.
2. The change is prompted by the customer's decision and not due to your inability to meet the reserved needs.
METHODS OF DOING AN UPSELL
CARS+ offers different methods of entering an upsell:
1. An upsell can be done by simply changing the reserved Rate Class to the Class of the vehicle rented. When this method is used, the upsell charge is not calculated separately. The renter is simply charged the rate for the class being rented. For reporting purposes (Employee Performance Report and Extra Revenue Report) the upsell is calculated as the difference between the reserved and rented rates.
2. An upsell can be charged through the use of an upsell optional charge. Using this method, the increased charge;
a. is calculated separately from the reserved rate.
b. may not be equal to the incremental difference between the two rates.
c. can be manually increased by the rental agent if he feels the customer is willing to pay more than the management set minimum.
Upsells of this type are made through either:
a. The manual addition of an upsell option to the contract.
b. The use of the "U" Subwindow on the RA Open screen and Upsell records created by the Edit Upsell Rules/Rates program (referred to as an "Upsell Matrix").
Using the Upsell Matrix logic requires that the following records be set up:
The following material covers the steps used to define an upsell matrix using the Edit Upsell Rules/Rates program. See the other chapters listed for the remaining steps to implement the Upsell logic.
I. CREATING A MATRIX RULES RECORD
To access the Edit Upsell Rates program, type EDITUPSL (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate number on the Rates Control Files Menu. The screen will then display:
| OPTION: __ EDIT UPSELL RULES/RATES 1 Rate set 2 Product 3 Date 4 Time 5 Comment 1SAVE 2NEXT REC 3ERASE 4PREV REC 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8NEXT PAGE |
Enter data as follows:
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1. RATE SET |
Enter up to 2 single alphanumeric character to indicate the rate set to which this Upsell Matrix applies. EXAMPLE: Type A (RET) User tip: Every RA has a Time & Mileage rate that comes from a Rate Set. The Rate Set is either the one defined in the record for the opening
Location, or when a location belongs to a Rate Group, the Rate Set may
be from a Rate Group record. Rate sets for Rate records, the Location, and Rate Groups can be up to 6 characters. NOTE, however, that rate sets for the Upsell Matrix are limited to 2 characters. Therefore, only the first two characters entered in the Location's Rate Set field will be used to look up Upsell rates. If Rate Set codes are more than 2 characters, this logic must be kept in mind. When an upsell is added to a RA using the U subwindow (Upsell Matrix), CARS+ starts an examination of the Upsell rates using the following hierarchy: 1. CARS+ first attempts to find an Upsell Matrix record using the same Rate Set that was used to find the T&M rates on the RA. Only the first 2 characters of the Rate Set are used. 2. If that fails, CARS+ will try to find an Upsell Matrix record using the Rate Set for the opening location. Only the first 2 characters of the Rate Set are used. This guarantees that the upsell rates are appropriate for the Time and Mileage rate on the rental. |
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2. PRODUCT |
The Product Code MUST be the word "up" in lower case letters. |
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3. DATE |
Using your selected date format, enter the date this Upsell Matrix becomes effective. EXAMPLE: Type 050208 |
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4. TIME |
Using your selected time format, enter the exact time that this Upsell Matrix goes into effect. EXAMPLE: Type 0000 (RET) |
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5. COMMENT |
Enter up to 50 alphanumeric characters to describe the upsell record. EXAMPLE: Type FROM ECAR (RET) |
II. CREATING UPSELL RATE RECORDS
After completing these fields, return to the OPTION Field and press the F8 Function key to advance. The following prompt will then appear at the bottom of the screen:
Enter F)rom or T)o/Class:
This prompt requests two pieces of data as a response, either "F" or "T" plus a Rate Class. Enter:
F/Class - Entering "F/(Rate Class)" (From Class) means that page 2 will display all Rate Classes with a higher hierarchy level than the class entered. These are the classes that reservations with the indicated Rate Class can be upsold to.
This is the option that MUST be used when first defining an Upsell Matrix.
EXAMPLE: To enter the rates that will apply for upsells from a ECAR class to all other more expensive classes, Type F/ECAR (RET).
T/Class - Entering "T/(Rate Class)" (To Class) means that Page 2 will display all Rate Classes with a lower hierarchy level than the class entered. These are the classes that can be upsold to the Rate Class entered.
This option can be used to edit established Upsell Matrix records.
Upon pressing (RET), the following message will display:
NO RATES FOUND; LOAD ALL CLASSES INTO PAGE 2?
As in setting up rental rates, replying "N"
means a blank screen without classes is displayed. If the response is "Y", all of the vehicle classes
with a higher hierarchy number will be appear on the screen. In the example below, the classes have
been loaded (response is "Y".)
The screen will scroll to Page 2.
Page 2 will then display:
| OPTION: __ EDIT RENTAL RULES/RATES Ln Class Day Free Mi Mile City UPSELL FROM: ECAR 001 CCAR 002 MCAR 003 SCAR 004 FCAR 005 PCAR 006 XFAR 007 MVAR 008 FVAR 009 FKAR 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 1SAVE 2NEXT REC 3ERASE 4PREV REC 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8NEXT PAGE |
Cursor movements on this screen are the same as that of normal rate entry. Arrow Keys and Return Key can be used.
The following rules relate to data entry on this screen:
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COLUMN |
Enter the minimum daily rate to upsell from the class displayed at the top of the screen to the class appearing on this particular line. EXAMPLE: Type 5.00 (RET) |
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COLUMN |
The next three columns are used to set a daily free mileage or km allotment for upgrades that may be different from the allotment on the rental rate. See the discussion below on how these fields interact with the comparable fields on the Rate Record. EXAMPLE: Type 100 (RET) |
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COLUMN |
Use this column to set a rate for chargeable miles on upgrades if it is different from the rate on the rental rate. See the discussion below on how these fields interact with the comparable fields on the Rate Record. EXAMPLE: Type .15 (RET) |
|
COLUMN |
Use this column to set a rate for chargeable intercity miles for upgrades if it is different from the intercity mileage/km rate on the rental rate. See the discussion below on how these fields interact with the comparable fields on the Rate Record. EXAMPLE: Type .20 (RET) |
MILEAGE RATES AND FREE MILES ON UPSELLS
It should be understood, that the Rules associated with the rental rate on the rental contract controls the Upsell rates as well as the main rental rates. For example, if the Rate on the contract is an unlimited mileage rate then the free miles and the upsell mileage rates on the Upsell Record will be ignored (this default behavior can be changed via a setting in the "Use Upsell Mileage?" field in Edit Misc Control Fields. On the other hand, if the rental rate has chargeable miles, the free miles and rates on this record will override the rates on the Rental Rate. See the following:
Rental Rate LEASURE1 with 100 free miles per day
| Class | Daily Rate | Rate per Mile |
| ECMN | 25.95 | 0.00 |
| ECAR | 29.95 | 0.00 |
| CCAR | 34.95 | 0.10 |
| FCAR | 40.95 | 0.15 |
Upsell Rates from an ECMN
| to Class | Upsell Rate | Free Miles | Mileage Rate |
| ECAR | 3.00 |
75 |
0.10 |
| CCAR | 5.00 | 75 |
0.15 |
| FCAR | 10.00 | --- |
0.00 |
1. When upselling from an ECMN to an ECAR, there is no mileage charge because the the Rental Rate says that an ECAR has unlimited miles. Therefore the mileage rate on the Upsell record is ignored.
2. When upselling from an ECMN to a CCAR, there will be a mileage charge and it will be at the upsell mileage rate of $.15/mile but with only 75 free miles per day.
3. When upselling from an ECMN to a FCAR, there will be a mileage charge because the rental rate says that there is one. The zero rate on the Upsell record does not mean there is no charge, it means that the mileage rate on the Rate Record will NOT be replaced, in this case it is $.15/mile with 100 free miles/day.
4. Note that this default logic can be overridden by a configuration field in Edit Miscellaneous Controls. Under this alternate configuration, the upsell from ECMN to ECAR will have a mileage charge of $.10/mile and 75 free miles per day.
An example of a completed screen is shown below:
| OPTION: __ EDIT RENTAL RULES/RATES Ln Class Day Free Mi Mile City UPSELL FROM: ECAR 001 CCAR 5.00 1.50 100 .15 .20 002 MCAR 6.00 2.00 003 FCAR 7.00 2.50 004 LCAR 8.00 3.00 005 PCAR 10.00 4.00 006 EVAR 15.00 5.00 007 FVAR 20.00 7.00 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 1SAVE 2NEXT REC 3ERASE 4PREV REC 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8NEXT PAGE |
Return the cursor to the "OPTION" field and press the F1 Function Key to save the records.
This process on page two must be repeated for every "From" Class you have in your fleet. That is, you must return to Page One and press the F8 key in order to be prompted for the next "From" class.
III. MAINTAINING UPSELL RATE RECORDS
Changing the upsell rates:
Unlike other rate records, upsell matrixes cannot be copied by using the F8 key. (The use of the F8 key is not as straight forward as it is when accessing normal rates.) To change the upsell rates, there are two options:
A. Change the rates on the existing matrix record; or
B. Manually set up new matrix records with a more recent effective date.
C. Use Clone Upsell Rules/Rates to:
- Clone upsell matrix records from one rate set to another rate set.
- Clone upsell matrix records from one date to another date.
Refer to the chapter Clone Upsell Rules/Rates for more information.
Removing a Class from an existing Upsell Matrix
To remove a Class, go to the rates on page 2. Use the space bar to blank out the rate for that class. When saved, classes with no rates are dropped from the upsell matrix record.
Terminating the Upsell Matrix:
The terminating logic does not apply to upsell matrixes. To turn off the upsell matrix entirely, enter an expiration date for the Upsell Option in Edit Optional Rates program.