Important to know:
To create, edit, or delete a room type, go to Rooms and rates > Room types.
Introduction to room types
Room types represent the category of accommodation you are selling.
You can create room types for your unique accommodation options: hotel rooms, apartments, caravans, cottages, cabins, villas, camping sites, beds, and even houseboats!
Different room types have unique room features such as views, bedding configuration and the occupancy allowed. For example, if some of your rooms have an ocean view, you could sell them separately, using the view as an asset with a higher price.
Availability — also known as inventory — is set for each room type and will apply to all of the room type’s room rates.
This is the same for the room type details (such as room amenities) and some settings (such as occupancy) — the settings will apply to all of the associated room rates.
Your availability could be received from your connected property management system, PMS; revenue management system, RMS; or central reservations system, CRS — if you have one. Your availability will also sync with all your connected channels.
Create a room type
You will need to create your room types separately in each connected channel (some channels are exceptions to this), and property management system (PMS), revenue management system (RMS), or central reservations system (CRS) to match the room types you have created in your platform.
To create a room type, go to Rooms and rates > Room types > Add room type and configure the following settings.
General information
The standardised room type name is automatically translated into the core languages on your booking engine, allowing you to reach more guests in their local language. It will be sent to specific channels, such as the channels you connect to on Channels Plus.
Room category — select a room category from the drop-down. This will not be shown to guests.
Room type name — select the name of the room type from the drop-down. The available options will depend on the room category selected. The room type name will be automatically translated on your booking engine, and will be sent to the channels you connect to on Channels Plus
Internal room type name — if you want to use an acronym, code, or alternative name to help you identify your room types internally, you can add this in the Internal room type name.
For example, if your Room type name is “Superior Chalet", you could set the Internal room type name as “SC1” if this will help you identify the room type internally.
Description for guest — add a description of the room type that will be used for your booking engine and will be sent to the channels you connect to on Channels Plus. We recommend the description to be at least 75 characters long.
Custom room type name — add a custom name of the room type that will be used for your booking engine. Leave this blank if you would rather use the Room type name selected in the drop-down menu.
Occupancy
Maximum occupancy — the maximum number of people allowed to stay in this room type.
Maximum adults — the maximum number of adults allowed to stay in this room type.
Maximum children — the maximum number of children allowed to stay in this room type.
Maximum infants — the maximum number of infants allowed to stay in this room type (does not count towards the maximum number of occupants).
Note:
You may be able to set the maximum infant age and maximum child age directly with your connected channels.
To set the maximum ages for your booking engine, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Guest display options > Occupancy age settings.
Occupancy details are also sent to the channels you connect to on Channels Plus.
Features
The room type’s features will be synced to your booking engine, and sent to the channels you connect to on Channels Plus. Add as many details about the room type as possible.
Room size — the size of your room.
Bathroom — the number of bathrooms the room type has (choose from 1-10).
Smoking policy — the room type’s smoking policy. If you have set Non-smoking rooms in your Property settings, then these options will be greyed-out (Non-smoking will be applied for all room types).
Room view — select any views your room type has, such as beach view, city view, or pool view.
Amenities and facilities — the room type’s amenities such as TV, microwave, balcony, or air conditioning. On your booking engine, the first five will be displayed under the room type name, and the others will be shown after clicking the More info button.
Bed type configuration — the bed type your room type has such as a single, king, or sofa bed (you can add more than one type).
Add bedroom — if you have more than one bedroom, add the bed types per bedroom to help your guests understand how beds are arranged in the room type.
On your booking engine, the room type’s features are displayed as icons, enhancing the user experience and helping potential guests to make their decision to book a certain room type at your property.
Media
Images can help highlight your room’s unique features and amenities and can attract and influence potential guests to book.
Upload high quality images for each room type to attract potential guests and give them a clear expectation of what to expect. Make sure to assign images to each room type.
Your images will be synced to your booking engine, and sent to the channels you connect to on Channels Plus.
If you are connected to a channel that receives media from your platform, keep in mind that if you delete an image from our platform, the image will also be permanently removed from the channel.
Set up a room type to sell by the bed (for hostels)
If your property is a hostel or dormitory and you sell by the bed, we recommend setting up room types as beds as it will enable you to sell the beds individually on your booking engine and on your connected channels.
For example, if you have ten rooms in your property and five have six beds each while the other five have four beds each, you would need to set up two room types like this:
One bed in a six-bed dorm
One bed in a four-bed dorm
Once set up, there would be 30 beds available across all of the six-bed dorms, and 20 beds available across all of the four-bed dorms, meaning that your property would have a combined total availability of 50 beds.
If you are creating a room type to sell by the bed, you should set the following:
When naming your room type, make sure it is clear for the guest that they are booking one bed in a dormitory room, for example name the room type, ‘Bed in 4-Bed Male Dorm’.
When setting the room type’s occupancy, set both the Maximum occupancy and Maximum adults to 1.
For the Room category, select ‘Bed’. Remember the number of beds in this field is always ‘1’ as it represents the availability of the bed, not the total within the shared dorm room.
Set the Bed type configuration to ‘Single’, ‘Dormitory bed’ or ‘Bunk bed’.
When managing the inventory, remember to input the number of available beds, not the number of available rooms; the availability must reflect that of the beds you want to sell.
Edit or delete a room type
To edit or delete a room type, follow the steps below:
Go to Rooms and rates > Room types.
Click on the ellipsis button (...) of the room type you want to modify or delete.
In the Actions menu, select Edit room type to edit it, or select Delete room type to delete it.
Confirm / save the changes.
Deleting a room type:
Is permanent and cannot be undone.
Will delete all of the room type’s associated room rates and mapped channel rates. No more updates will be sent from your platform to those rates.
Will not delete the equivalent room type and its room rates on your channels and connected PMS, RMS or CRS. You will need to directly remove any room type and room rates you no longer wish to sell on their side. Contact their support team if you are unsure about how to do this.