What are promotion codes?
Promotion codes (promo codes) are discount codes that guests enter in your booking engine to receive a special rate. Guests can use these codes to book rooms at a reduced price during the dates you specify.
Common uses for promotion codes
Share in advertisements to offer exclusive pricing
Include in pre-arrival or post-departure emails to encourage repeat bookings
Promote on social media to grow your following
Use in newsletters to attract subscribers
Create temporary seasonal offers (e.g., "WINTER20" for winter bookings)
Important notes:
No usage limits: Promotion codes do not have a limit on how many times they can be used. Once a guest has a code, they can continue using it as long as the promotion is active.
Cannot restrict to new guests only: The booking engine cannot identify whether a guest has previously booked with your property. You cannot create promotion codes that only work for first-time guests.
Best practice: Change your promotion codes periodically to prevent guests from repeatedly using the same code. Tie codes to specific time periods and communicate the expiration date when sharing the code.
Create a promotion code
To create a promotion code please follow these steps:
Go to My Apps > Direct booking
Click on the Setup tab
Click on the Promotion Codes tile
Click Create and enter information in the Details tab
Click Create at the bottom of the page again
Under the Promo Code tab, enter the details of the promotion:
Code: Enter the code guests will use (e.g., WINTER20, SUMMERSALE). No spaces are allowed
Description: Enter a description. On the New Booking Engine, guests will see this description
Default rate discount: Select Rate Discount(%) or Rate Discount($) and enter the discount amount
Available From/To: Date range when discounted rates can be sold
Applicable From/To: Date range when guests can stay at your property using this code
Hide Promo Code in reservation summary: Tick this checkbox if you want to hide the promo code from displaying in the guest's reservation summary
Check the box/es to apply the promotion to specific room rates
Select Rate Discount(%) or Rate Discount($) from the drop-down list and enter a numeric value to specify the discount
Click Save
You can set specific discount for each room rate to override the default discount.
When guests enter the promotion code with their search criteria in the booking engine, they will see the linked rooms at the discounted rate.
Please note: you will also have access to the additional tab "Photos" for each promotion code if your booking engine is still set to the old Booking Engine version known as "Modern". You can check your booking engine version in the section Display Preferences under Setup. This feature used to let you add a banner image to a promotion code, but has been discontinued.
Control which room rates display when guests use a promo code
Default behaviour: When a guest enters a valid promo code, only the promotional room rates appear. Other room rates are hidden.
To show all rates alongside promotional rates:
Go to Setup > Properties
Click the Customisation tab
Deselect "Hide public rates when a Promo Code is applied"
When this setting is deselected:
Promotional rates display with a "Promo Applied" tag
The original price appears crossed out next to the discounted price (New Booking Engine only)
Promotional rates are not automatically listed first—guests must scroll to find them
All public rates remain visible for booking
Note: The "Add Promo Code" field only appears on your booking engine if you have at least one active promo code created. If no promo codes exist, this field remains hidden.
How to add minimum stay restrictions to promotion codes
Promotion codes do not have built-in restrictions. To add minimum stay requirements to a promo code, use this workaround:
Example: Create a promo code valid only for 2+ night stays
Create a new room rate (e.g., "Long Stay Special")
Apply a minimum stay restriction to this room rate:
Go to Setup > Rooms & Rates
Edit the room rate
Set minimum stay of 2 nights for the entire calendar
Create your promotion code (e.g., "LongStaySpecial")
Link the promotion code to the "Long Stay Special" room rate
To hide this rate from guests without the code:
Go to the room rate's Promotions tab
Select "Show only when a linked promotional code is entered"
This ensures the special rate only displays when guests enter the correct promo code, and the minimum stay restriction applies automatically.
Use promotion codes to show only specific room types
You can use promotion codes to create custom booking engine views that display only certain room types or rate categories.
Example: Create separate links for each room type
Create a promotion code for each room type (or room group) with 0% discount
Link each code to all rates for that specific room type
Ensure "Hide public rates when a Promo Code is applied" is selected (Setup > Properties > Customisation)
Create custom URLs using this format:
https://direct-book.com/properties/yourhotel?promocode=YourCodeHere
Example:
Your booking engine URL:
https://direct-book.com/properties/examplehotelPromotion code:
DoubleRoomCustom URL:
https://direct-book.com/properties/examplehotel?promocode=DoubleRoom
When guests click this link, only your double room rates will appear in the booking engine.
Other use cases:
Group all refundable rates under one code
Create separate links for suite categories
Organise rates by package type (breakfast included, spa packages, etc.)
How to hide the promo code from reservation summary
By default, the promo code appears in the guest's reservation summary after booking. You can disable the display of this discount code field so guests cannot see the code in their booking confirmation.
When creating or editing a promo code, tick the "Hide Promo Code in reservation summary" checkbox.