Occupancy based pricing (OBP) lets you charge different rates depending on how many guests are staying in a room. Instead of a flat rate, you can set specific pricing for each occupancy level.
How to enable occupancy based pricing (OBP) for your property
OBP Inventory can currently only be enabled by our support team. Please contact our support to enable OBP Inventory for your property.
Exception: Booking.com and Expedia.
OBP requirements
To use occupancy based pricing (OBP):
Channels you're connected to must support OBP functionality
Not all channels support complete OBP functionality, some only handle basic occupancy variations
If you are connected to a PMS/RMS, your system must support OBP inventory
Your channel extranet settings (pricing model) and setup must match your platform room rate configuration (included occupancy, maximum occupancy, etc.) ⚠️ Rates will not sync correctly until both the channel and your platform are updated with matching pricing models
Occupancy based pricing also works as follows:
When your PMS doesn't send complete data, the platform backfills lower occupancy levels with higher rates and forward fills higher levels by adding extra adult charges
The platform supports up to five occupants in the inventory grid — for rooms with higher maximum occupancy, pricing is calculated by adding extra adult charges to the five-occupant rate
If no included occupancy is set, the platform defaults to two occupants
How do I switch my pricing model between OBP and PDP?
Your pricing model (PDP or OBP) in the channel extranet must match your SiteMinder platform setting. To change your pricing model to PDP or OBP:
Change the pricing model on the channel side first
To update the pricing model (PDP/OBP) on the channel, contact your Market Manager or the channel’s support team.
Exception for Booking.com: Change your pricing model on Booking.com directly or contact our support team who can coordinate the change with Booking.com on your behalf.
Update your SiteMinder configuration
For most channels, contact our support team to update your SiteMinder configuration to match the channel pricing model.
For Booking.com and Expedia:
If the pricing model changes on Booking.com or Expedia, your SiteMinder platform automatically detects the change and updates your SiteMinder pricing model to match. You do not need to contact our support team for Booking.com and Expedia to update the change from PDP to OBP, or from OBP to PDP.
Your SiteMinder platform checks for the pricing model update automatically when you go to Distribution > Channels > Channel settings or Room rates mapping page.
Updating your rate configuration after changing pricing model
After the pricing model changes, your existing rate setup fields are updated to reflect the new model, but you must manually configure and review the channel rate configuration. For example, if changing to OBP, add Included occupancy and Extra adult rate, Max occupancy, Extra adult rates, Single guest discount
The channel rate configuration must match what is set up in the channel extranet. If there are configuration conflicts, the rate may become automatically disabled. These settings will all inherited from the room rate where values exist
Setting up OBP for your room rates
Before enabling OBP
Before enabling OBP on a room rate, ensure:
OBP must be enabled for your property - to change pricing model settings please contact our support team. (Exception: Booking.com and Expedia)
Room rate configuration is set to "Manually input daily rates" (not derived)
Included Occupancy is set for the room rate
Maximum Occupancy is set for the room rate
💡 If you need to set included occupancy, maximum occupancy, extra adult rate, or extra child rate across multiple room rates at once, you can use bulk edit. Go to Rooms and rates > Rate plans and turn on Bulk edit mode.
Enable OBP for a room rate
To enable OBP for a room rate:
Ensure our support team has configured your pricing model setting to OBP.
Go to Rooms and Rates > Rate plans
Click the room rate name and select Edit
Set Included Occupancy and Maximum Occupancy values
Ensure room rate config is set to "Manually input daily rates"
Check Enable Occupancy Based Pricing
Save changes
Go to Distribution > Inventory, click the ellipsis button (three dots) for the channel, and select Edit room rates mapping.
Click the mapped channel rate and select Configure to check occupancy settings.
Enable or disable OBP for multiple room rates at once
Go to Rooms and rates > Rate plans.
Click the toggle Bulk edit mode.
Select the room rates to update. You can select all rates, all rates associated with a rate plan, or individual room rates.
Click the ellipsis button (three dots) and select Edit [number] room rates.
For the OBP field, select Enable all or Disable all.
Click Save changes.
⚠️ After making changes: After making any OBP configuration changes in your platform, you must also update the matching settings on each channel's extranet and re-save your channel mappings. Settings must match exactly between your platform and channel extranet. After making changes, go to Distribution > Channels > [Channel] > Edit room rates mapping and re-save each affected channel rate configuration. Allow 15-30 minutes for changes to sync.
Setting up OBP with a PMS/RMS system
You will need to set up your rooms and rates for OBP directly in the channel's extranet, to match your platform setup. The pricing model settings (PDP/OBP) for the channel must match your platform setup.
⚠️ Trigger a resynchronisation (manual push) from your PMS of room rate data for all dates to ensure correct rates are synced:
After enabling OBP for a room rate
After modifying the included occupancy value of an OBP-enabled room rate
Extra person charges and age categories
Extra person charges: Some channels require you to configure extra person charges directly on their channel extranet - check directly with each channel and set them up in the channel extranet if required, to ensure correct rate calculations.
Age categories: Set up infant, child, and adult age ranges (minimum age for each category) directly with the channel - check the channel extranet or contact the channel’s support team.
How do I view OBP rates in the inventory grid?
To view OBP rates in the inventory grid:
Go to Distribution > Inventory
Look for the OBP pill indicator next to room rates
Click the OBP indicator to expand and view rates for all occupancy levels
Red boxes indicate missing rate data from your PMS - this is normal and not an error