How can I block/unblock receiving reservations on certain periods for PMS, API, Manual?

 

Have you noticed that your property's availability is closed on the sales channel website with no reason? Or may there be periods when you intentionally do not want to accept any reservations in some of your apartments? In this article, you can read about a few possibilities that you can use to close your property's availability (intentionally and accidentally).

Preparation Time Before Arrival

One of the reasons why your guests cannot book a stay with you is because there is too short time between the booking time and the actual check-in day. The setting that is responsible for this behaviour is Preparation Time Before Arrival.

PTBA stands for Preparation Time Before Arrival. It is a general keyword to describe the minimum time a booking has to be made in advance in order to be accepted by the PM. The dates restricted by PTBA are normally set as not available already in the calendar. Hence, the PTBA data is already applied in availability and sent to the channel within the ARI data.

The PTBA in Rentals United blocks the availability x hours from 23:59 PM of the day of arrival on the property's local timezone. For example if the PTBA is set to 6 hours, bookings will be accepted until 6:00 PM of the day of arrival, after 6:00 PM the calendar will be closed. If the PTBA is set to 24 hours, bookings will be accepted until 23:59 PM before the day of arrival, after that the calendar will be closed.

PTBA = 0

The PTBA value indicates that the availability gets blocked 0 hours before the arrival day (midnight) in a given timezone. It means that for properties with PTBA = 0, the availability is not blocked.

Example: Today is Thursday, 2 PM (local time) and PTBA = 0. Hence, it is possible to book a stay for tonight.

PTBA > 0

The PTBA value indicates that the availability gets blocked more than 0 hours before the arrival.

Example: Today is Thursday, 2 PM (UTC-02) and PTBA = 8. Hence, it is possible to book a stay for tonight until 4 PM (UTC-02), yet no later.

 

Recommendation: Set the PTBA to any value to increase the time before the check-in when the reservation cannot be made - the listing will not show as available at a certain time according to your settings. On the other hand, set PTBA to 0 if you want to allow last-minute bookings.

 

  • PMS: If you are a PMS user, contact your PMS Support in order to learn how to change the PTBA settings.

    Preparation Time Before Arrival is not synchronised from some PMSs (you can check this in PMS Integrations > Select your PMS > Data synchronization > Step 5: Price and availability). In case you want to set up PTBA for your properties, you should update this information directly in Rentals United.

  • UI: How to set up PTBA

  • API: Set Push_PutProperty_RQ/Property/PreparationTimeBeforeArrivalInHours via Push_PutProperty_RQ

 

Changeover restrictions

Another reason that prevents your guests from booking a stay with you is setting strict changeover restrictions.

Changeover restrictions specify whether check-in or check-out is allowed for a given day. This is a great option if you need the guests checking in and out to fit your schedule and it will help you avoid unexpected guests. If some days are restricted from changeovers, then your guests will simply not be able to select such a stay if the start or end day falls on a changeover-restricted day.

 

Recommendation: If you do not want to allow reservation to come in on certain weekdays, set up changeover restrictions on the selected days. On the other hand, if changeover restrictions make it hard for your guests to book your property - consider removing them.

 

You should also make sure that the synchronisation of changeovers is enabled in your PMS Settings - see here.

  • PMS: If you are a PMS user, contact your PMS Support in order to learn how to change the changeover settings.

    Changeover restrictions are not synchronised from some PMSs (you can check this in PMS Integrations > Select your PMS > Data synchronization > Step 5: Price and availability). In case changeovers are not synchronised and you want to set them up for your properties can update this information directly in Rentals United.

  • UI: How to set up changeovers

  • API: Set Push_PutAvbUnits_RQ/Calendar/C via Push_PutAvbUnits_RQ

 

Closed availability

Whenever a new reservation comes in, it blocks your property's availability automatically. Upon reservation cancellation, the property's availability gets released. However, some reservation cancellations may not get synchronised properly. It may be due:

  • sales channels not synchronising reservation cancellations with Rentals United (see Channel Integrations)

  • Rentals United not synchronising reservation cancellations with your PMS (see PMS Integrations)

  • synchronisation delay or error

 

Recommendation: If your property should be open for reservations, make sure an unwanted reservation is cancelled at all levels - in the sales channel, in Rentals United and in your PMS.

 

Another reason for closed availability may be a manual availability block on your property's calendar. You may block the availability intentionally to prevent bookings (for example, due to an ongoing emergency at your apartment). You may as well accidentally close it. Here is how to change it.

 

 

Manual options

Manual options is a Rentals United feature where you can manipulate some of the property details for a single sales channel. If you notice that your property is permanently unavailable for reservations, you may have a look at the settings in manual options - availability and minimum stay in particular.

 

Recommendation: Make sure that manual options do not overwrite your property data in an unwanted way. You can find detailed instruction here.

 

Deactivated rates (PUSH channels)

If you have deactivated some rates for a PUSH sales channel (e.g. Booking.com, Expedia etc.) and expected not to receive any more reservations from it, note that it in most cases will not close your property's availability. Rates deactivation has different consequences, depending on how many rates get deactivated.

Note: Deactivating rates

  • If there are multiple rates in a group and you deactivate one - you stop sending availability and prices to Sales Channel, leaving the property open to new reservations on the Sales Channel channel. This means that new reservations can be made through Sales Channel, but the channel will not receive the updates in availability and pricing from Rentals United.

  • If there is only one rate in the group or you deactivate the last rate, you need to choose if you want to either stop sending availability and prices to Sales Channel, leaving the property open to new reservations on the Sales Channel channel, or to close the availability. If you close the availability, it means you will not receive reservations from Sales Channel any more.

Availability can be always re-opened by clicking the Activate button next to the rate.

See the exemplary instructions for Booking.com here.

 

Recommendation: If you want to use rates deactivation for availability closing, make sure that you deactivate all the rates in Rentals United. You should also make sure that there are no additional rates active in the sales channel dashboard. On the other hand, if you notice that all your rates are not activated, it may be the reason for no reservations coming from the selected sales channel. You can always activate a rate back.

 

Disconnected properties (PULL channels)

Contrary to deactivating rates, disconnecting a property from a PULL sales channel closes the availability in this channel. See the exemplary instructions for Hopper / Capital One here.

 

Recommendation: You may disconnect your property from the channel in order to close the availability. On the other hand, if you notice that your property is disconnected from a PULL sales channel, it may be the reason for no reservations coming from the selected sales channel. You can always connect your property back.

 

Archived properties

When the property gets archived in Rentals United, we will send closed availability to all sales channels. The connection will still exist, and the listing will still be visible in the channels.

  • PMS: You need to contact your PMS Support to obtain specific instructions on how to archive the property.

  • UI: How to archive the property

  • API: The client can block receiving reservations, by archiving property on Rentals United by using API method Push_SetPropertiesStatus_RQ.

     

    There are two flags affecting a property status in Rentals United and connected Sales Channels: isActive and isArchived. If the client wants to remove the property, then mentioned parameters should be set to: isActive = 0 and isArchived = 1. Then, the property in Rentals United will get archived and hidden in Rentals United UI.

     

    You should remember to move all confirmed reservations with the check-in date in the future to another active property before they set a property as archived.

     

    Consequences for PUSH Sales Channels

    • Connection between Rentals United property and Sales Channel listing remains intact;

    • Property availability is closed, which means no reservations can be made;

    • If there is only one property in a group, room is not available in the Sales Channel;

    • If there are multiple properties in a group, room availability is lower.

    • Given the property becomes active in Rentals United again, the property gets un-archived and sales in Booking.com start again.

    Consequences for PULL Sales Channels:

    • Sales channel will no longer have access to your property data, nor will it be able to accept bookings for this property. When the property is activated in Rentals United again, updates will be resumed automatically.