What is a release period
A release period is the minimum number of days before check-in that a booking needs to be made. Guests must book a certain number of days in advance, for example, at least seven days or one month in advance. A release period is also known as an “advance purchase” restriction or “minimum advance reservation” restriction.
Examples of when you might want to set a release period/minimum advance booking restriction:
You have a discounted rate (such as a non-refundable rate or an early-bird discount) that must be booked a certain number of days in advance, for example, at least 30 days before check-in.
If you don’t accept last minute reservations, you could add a release period of at least 1 day. If you do not allow same day bookings, you could set your release period to 1, or leave unset and manage your same day bookings cut off time directly on the channel’s extranet. For Direct booking rates, you can set a Same day cut-off time in the Direct booking rates’ Direct booking controls.
Set a release period
If you set a release period (minimum advance reservation restriction) on a rate plan, the restriction will apply to all associated room rates and channel rates. To set up or manage a release period on a rate plan:
Go to Rooms and Rates.
Edit or create a rate plan.
Enter a value into the Release period field. You can restrict guests to book at least 1-180 days in advance. For example, enter “7” if you need guests to book this rate plan at least 7 days in advance.
If needed, you can override the release period for a specific room rate or channel rate.
Go to Rooms and Rates.
Find the room rate or channel rate.
Click the lock icon on the Release period field, and enter the new value that will override the rate plan or room rate’s value.
💡 To check if a rate is within the release period and therefore can’t currently be booked (for example, it can’t be booked today or tomorrow because it has a minimum advance booking restriction of “2” applied), check the Inventory grid. The rate’s cell and stop sell will be highlighted orange, like a stop sell, for the dates that the rate cannot be booked.