Table of Contents
We always follow some basic steps while reading contract offers or other related files.
While reading a file, we all should use a highlighter to highlight checkpoints.
Follow the below points for contract reading:
Mandatory Checkpoints: #
If any of the below points are missing from the file, we will be contacting our clients.
- Validity: A period between a contract, travel, booking, and season is applicable.
- Market: Buyer’s nationality
- Room rates based on: rates are either based on per room per night or per person per night
- Base Meal Plan/Rate plan/Board basis: There are 5 main meal plans namely:
- RO: Room Only/European Plan: When there is no meal included in room rates
- BB: Bed & Breakfast/Continental Plan: When room rates are inclusive of breakfast
- HB: Half Board/Moderate American plan: When room rates are inclusive of breakfast and lunch or dinner
- FB: Full Board/American Plan: When room rates are inclusive of breakfast, lunch and dinner
- AI/AL: All-Inclusive: When room rates are inclusive of breakfast, lunch dinner, selective beverages, services
- Taxes: All we have to take care about taxes is whether all the mandatory taxes of a country is included in the rates or not. If they are not included then we have calculated accordingly.
- NET & Non-Commissionable Rates: All hoteliers share negotiable and non-commissionable rates with their distributors (DMC, Wholesalers, TO, OTA). We do not upload Gross rates, retail rates, or rack rates on our system
- Currency: Always check which currency rates are given in the contract before uploading rates on the system
- Base Occupancy/Base rates: General idea behind this checkpoint is to understand how many person rates are given in the rates grid. For example, Rates are given on Single and Double then the base occupancy/base rates are on Double
- Policies:
- Child Policy: This policy describes the age of Children, the number of maximum children in a room, and their charges for using an existing bed or extra bed
- Cancellation Policy: In case of any cancellation of any booking, a penalty on cancellation is considered from this section
- Extra Bed/Extra Person Policy: This section deals with the charges for an extra person occupying the room
- Room Occupancy: This section deals with the number of people occupying a room
- Maximum Occupancy: Maximum limit of occupants in a room
- Minimum Occupancy: It is always 1 Adult
- Standard Occupancy/Base Occupancy: It depends on the rates – based on how many person.
Optional Checkpoints: #
If the below points are given in the file then we have to upload them all. If they are missing from the file there is no need to send a query to the client.
- Supplement: Extra charges applicable on base rates:
- Meal Supplement: When guests want to buy meals on top of/her booked meal. Such supplements are known as Meal supplements. They are always based on per person per night basis. Only Gala Dinner Meal supplements are mandatory supplements.
- Festive/Event/Exhibition Supplement: These supplements are applicable during any festive, event or exhibition period such as Eid Al Adha, New Year, Christmas, F1, and so on. These supplements are always mandatory supplements. They are based on per room per night basis.
- Room Supplement: When there is a supplement given for the next room category. For example, we have rates for Deluxe rooms of 500 USD but if someone wants to stay in Deluxe Sea View then they have to pay 100USD on top of Deluxe room rates then 100 USD is a room supplement for Deluxe Sea View room type.
- Restrictions: Hotels sometimes apply restrictions during high/peak season. Below are two main restrictions from hotels:
- Minimum Length of Stay (MLOS): A restriction on the stay in the hotel
- No Check-in or No Check-out: This restriction is generally applied during the new year. The hotel restricts accepting any stay during that period by blocking check-in/check-out on a particular date.
- Allotment: This section tells us about how many units a wholesaler/DMC/TO have to sell on a per-day basis. In short availability of rooms for an entire year.
- Inventory/Allocation: When the hotel sends a limited number of room inventory to sell on a daily basis for a particular period of time.
- Free Sales: When hotels allow its distributor to sell an unlimited number of rooms on a daily basis. This situation happens during low season or for low category room type of hotel.
- Cut Off Days/Release Days: It describes hotels having block room inventory for a few days before releasing it to their distributor. For example, the Deluxe room is on a 2-room inventory with 3 days cutoff for November month. If a guest wants to travel on 5th November then he or she books the room before 3 days to their arrival.
- Transfers: This service is given to its client on an optional basis (city hotels) and sometimes mandatory for island properties. Under this service, hotels give the option to the guest, to use any vehicle to travel from one place to another before their arrival for a smooth travelling experience.
For transfers, all we have to take care about the route(one way or return), vehicle type, luggage space, and whether rates are per person basis or per unit