You can set restrictions for all of your channel rates from the inventory grid .
Restrictions give you control over how and when your inventory is sold across your connected channels.
Restrictions can be set day by day, or for multiple dates/channel rates at once. Additionally, restrictions can be updated for multiple dates at once using the bulk update too.
If your channel manager is integrated with the Property Management System (PMS), please check with your PMS provider to confirm which updates are being sent across as the PMS might be able to override your restrictions.
Restriction Types
The channel manager supports the following restriction types:
Stop Sell - Stop the sale of a room rate on that day.
Min Stay - 'Minimum Stay', this is the minimum number of nights a guest must book to make a reservation for a given room rate when checking in on the day with a MinStay.
Max Stay - 'Maximum Stay', this is the maximum number of nights a guest can book when making a reservation for a given room rate when checking in on the day with a MaxStay.
CTA - 'Closed to Arrival', meaning no check-ins are allowed on that day
CTD - 'Closed to Departure', meaning no check-outs are allowed on that day
Please note: Some channel rates do not support some restriction types.
For information on Expedia's Max Stay, please see the corresponding section in Channel Manager - Expedia connection and mapping guide
Min/Max Stay on Arrival and Min/Max Stay Through
Channels typically support two types of Min/Max stay restrictions: Stay on Arrival and Stay Through.
Min/Max Stay on Arrival: the restriction applies to reservations checking in on that day.
Min/Max Stay Through: the restriction applies to reservations that are booked across that day.
➕ Example: you have a Min Stay restriction of ‘3’ set for the 2nd June. A guest wants to book a two-night reservation arriving on the 1st June. Will they be able to book?
If it is Min Stay on Arrival: yes, because no min stay restriction is set for the 1st June. They will be able to book.
If it is Min Stay Through: no, because the min stay restriction of ‘3’ applies to one of the nights the guest wants to book. They will be unable to book.
Some channels only support receiving one type of restriction. Other channels offer a choice of whether the restrictions in the channel manager are sent as Stay on Arrival or Stay Through. If this setting is changed via the channel settings, previously sent Min/Max Stay restrictions will become unmanaged by the channel manager and must be updated via the channel’s extranet.
Viewing restrictions and colour coding
When you open the Channel Manager inventory, for each room rate you will see the rate values corresponding to each day, but you won't be able to see the restrictions.
To view the restrictions you will need to:
Click on CHANNELS to the right of the name of the room rate. This will show the individual channel-mapped room rates.
Click on RATES to the right of the name of the channel-mapped room rate. This will open a drop-down menu, where you can select a restriction to view.
Click on the restriction you want to view.
If you selected Stop Sell, CTA or CTD, the restriction is active and blocking reservations if it has a blue tick.
If you selected MinStay or MaxStay, if there is a number, then that is the number of days limitation.
Before you open the restrictions for viewing, the colour coding gives you an idea of the room rates that have Stop Sells on them. When you open the Channel Manager Inventory initially, the cells can appear in various colours, here is what they mean:
White cells indicate that there are no Stop Sells active in any of the channel-mapped room rates for that room rate.
Light peach cells are equivalent to white cells, but this colour is to make weekend days easier to identify (the default is Saturday and Sunday, but it can be changed in the Property Settings).
Light orange cells indicate that some of the channel-mapped room rates for that room rate have a Stop Sell active, but not all of the channel-mapped room rates have an active Stop Sell.
Orange cells indicate that all of the channel-mapped room rates for that room rate have a Stop Sell active.
Please note : active Stop Sells can come from normally applied Stop Sells, but also from Release Period settings or Automatic Closure yield rules.
After you click on CHANNELS to the right of the name of the room rate, and you view the STOP SELL information, the individual channel-mapped room rates will also have colour coding:
White cells indicate that there is no Stop Sell or Release Period active for the channel-mapped room rate.
Light peach cells are equivalent to white cells, but this colour is to make weekend days easier to identify.
Light orange cells cannot appear for individual channel-mapped room rates.
Orange cells with a blue tick indicate that there is a Stop Sell active for the channel-mapped room rate and that it was applied normally.
Orange cells with an unticked white square indicate that there is a Stop Sell caused by a Release Period or by an Automatic Closure yield rule.
Set up Restrictions
To set up restrictions for channel rates:
Click on INVENTORY to view the inventory grid
Click on the CHANNELS drop-down for the room rate you want to manage
Click on the RATES drop-down
Select the restriction you wish to apply from the restrictions drop-down for the channel
Click in a cell to set the restriction:
If STOP SELL , CTA or CTD , check the boxes that correspond to the applicable channel rate and date
If MIN STAY or MAX STAY , enter the number of days you wish to set for each channel rate and date
Click Save in the upper right of the screen
The updated restrictions will be sent to your connected channels.
Please note: When you are updating the inventory manually , you can use the " reset " button in the upper right of the screen to reverse any changes that haven't been saved yet. The " reset " button will not reverse changes after you have clicked Save.
Manage restrictions using Bulk Update
The bulk update tool can be used to make extensive updates to your inventory restrictions.
To update restrictions using the bulk update tool:
Click INVENTORY
Click Bulk Update in the upper right of the screen
Select the restriction from the Set drop-down menu, and apply restrictions as follows:
Stop Sell - On will apply Stop Sell, Off will remove any stop sells currently applied
CTA - On will close the room to arrivals, Off will remove this restriction if it 's currently applied
CTD - On will close the room to departures, Off will remove this restriction if it 's currently applied
Min Stay - Enter the minimum length of stay
Max Stay - Enter the maximum length of stay
Select a date period:
Set the From Date and To Date
Select or deselect weekdays as required (all days are selected by default)
Add another date range (if applicable)
Select the room rates you want to update
Specify the channels you want to update
Click Save in the bottom-right of the screen
The inventory on your connected channels will be updated accordingly.
You can view the updated restrictions in your inventory grid as on video below: