Extras - Extra Charge Items, Future Charges, and Including Extras in Rate Packages
Quick Answer: This article covers Extras in GuestPoint.
Extras are charges with a pre-set amount that you can attach to a reservation as a Future Charge or to quickly manually add as a charge item.
They can also attached to a rate plan as an inclusive charge item to enable the rate plan to function as a packaged rate that includes Accommodation and perhaps Meal(s).
Extras are charges with a pre-set amount that you can attach to a reservation as a Future Charge or to quickly manually add as a charge item.
They can also attached to a rate plan as an inclusive charge item to enable the rate plan to function as a packaged rate that includes Accommodation and perhaps Meal(s).
What are Extras?
Extras are a list of charge items that
can be charged to guests, all with pre-set charge amounts.
These could be items like a nightly Pet Fee, an extra Late Check Out fee, Cooked Hot Breakfasts, Continental Breakfasts, Airport Drop Offs, 2 Course Dinner packages, or Breakfast & Dinner Meal Packages.
Extras are also very popular for Conference/Function items like Room Hire Fee, Whiteboard, Tea & Coffee Catering, etc.
You would not use an Extra for Dinner at your restaurant if it is Ala-Carte style as the charge value would always be different.
However, if you have a Buffet Dinner or a 2-Course/3-Course Dinner option, these are perfect items to set-up as an Extra.
When should I use an Extra?
Extras can be used in 3 main scenarios on GuestPoint:
1. On a reservation's Room Account, the Extra can be quickly manually added as a charge item.
2. Can be set up in advance as a Future Charge within a reservation that will post the item(s) on selected dates of stay (the Roll Over would post these Future Charges)
1. On a reservation's Room Account, the Extra can be quickly manually added as a charge item.
2. Can be set up in advance as a Future Charge within a reservation that will post the item(s) on selected dates of stay (the Roll Over would post these Future Charges)
3. Inclusive as part of a Standard Rate Plan for packages like Room & Breakfast Packages.
See below relevant 3 scenarios that help you determine if using Extras may benefit you.
SCENARIO 1 - Repeatedly & Frequently Adding a Charge Item, but having to change Description & Amount each time
A basic way to determine if you should use Extras is if you find yourself manually & repeatedly adding a charge item to bookings on a frequent basis.
Perhaps your scenario is that you have a Drinks Fridge at Reception that sells multiple different drinks with different prices.
Perhaps your scenario is that you have a Drinks Fridge at Reception that sells multiple different drinks with different prices.
Each time a guest purchases a drink item, you have to manually add the charge, change the description to the drink type, and input the correct price belonging to that drink.
If above scenario applies to you, it is recommended to look into setting up some Extras so that you can simply select the correct drink from the Extras list instead.
SCENARIO 2 - Future Charges: You need a way to add a Charge item in advance to a Reservation
This scenario applies to a variety of Extras like Cooked Breakfast, Late Check Outs, Multi-Course Dinners, Conference/Function Items (e.g. Whiteboard, tea and coffee catering, conference hire)
Any item that requires prior internal awareness and preparation belongs in this scenario.
ADVANCED ACCOUNTING TIP - Future Charges are also the only way for Extras to generate revenue during the stay dates.
A common practice is manually adding an Extra to a Future Booking's Room Account. What this does it generates the revenue of the Extra when you add it to the Room Account instead of generating the revenue during their stay dates. If your accounting practices require you to generate revenue on the GuestPoint system during the actual stay dates of a booking, you should look into using Extras as Future Charges.
SCENARIO 3 - Your Extra Item is inclusive of a packaged rate you have organised with an entity that books regularly
Scenario 3 applies commonly in situations where you have a repeat guest/company that you have organised a set room & meal package price for them. Most common with Bus Coach Groups and Mining Companies.
For example, you may be currently manually applying a Breakfast extra as a Future Charge to every single booking that comes from Greyhound Bus Group.
The nightly rate is exactly the same for a year along with the Breakfast price, but you find yourself manually changing the nightly rate of Accommodation all the time.
In addition, you are finding it takes too much time to continually add this Breakfast extra as a Future Charge to each booking from Greyhound Bus Group.
If above scenario applies to you, it is recommended you look into using Inclusive Extras as part of a rate plan package.
If above scenario applies to you, it is recommended you look into using Inclusive Extras as part of a rate plan package.
ADVANCED ACCOUNTING TIP - Inclusive Extras in Rate Plan Packages function exactly like Future Charges. This is also the only way for Inclusive Extras to generate revenue during the stay dates.
A common practice is inputting a total nightly rate equal to the package components (Accommodation & Meal). This common method will not allow you to separate the Accommodation and Meal revenue items for you to keep proper track of your revenue breakdown. You should look into Inclusive Extras if this accounting requirement applies to you.
Where to Set Up and Manage Extras
The set up section for Extras is located in Management > Setup > Standard Rates, Extras & Promotions > Extras tab
How an Extra can be added to a Reservation
Extras can be added to a reservation with 5 different methods:
1. Manually added to a Reservation's Room Account
1. Manually added to a Reservation's Room Account
In the Room Account tab in a Reservation, you can manually add Extras with the New Extra Entry option and selecting from the dropdown your Extra.
This is the most common usage of Extras.
This is the most common usage of Extras.
2. As a Future Charge in the Future Charges tab of the Reservation screen
If Extras are attached to a booking as a Future Charge, they will be posted to the Room Account on the selected stay date(s) after the Roll Over process is done on those dates.
Future Charges are perfect if you offer options like 2-Course Dinners, Breakfast, Late Check Outs, etc.
Future Charges are perfect if you offer options like 2-Course Dinners, Breakfast, Late Check Outs, etc.
Future Charges can be added while the booking has yet to arrive or even during their stay.
3. Inclusive in a rate plan as part of a package (like Room & Breakfast & Dinner)
3. Inclusive in a rate plan as part of a package (like Room & Breakfast & Dinner)
The extra(s) will be an inclusive amount of the total nightly rate and financially separate itself from the Accommodation component.
The inclusive Extra will post at the same time as nightly rates usually post (from Check In process or daily Roll Over process).
Extras can be set to be inclusive of a rate plan in Management > Setup > Standard Rates, Extras & Promotions > Open up your rate plan > Scroll down to Room Rate Includes section > Tick applicable Extras to include > Save
We recommend you also manually list what the inclusions are in the Inclusion box. Guests can see this in any booking confirmations sent from GuestPoint itself.
We recommend you also manually list what the inclusions are in the Inclusion box. Guests can see this in any booking confirmations sent from GuestPoint itself.
ADVANCED INVOICING TIP - Inclusive Extras will post as multiple transaction lines in a Room Account, but they will amalgamate into one singular line on a Room Account Invoice or a Debtor Invoice.
If you find your Extras are producing too many transaction lines within an Invoice, you can also look into using Inclusive Extras instead.
4. For any Checked In bookings, Extras can be entered in bulk via Enter Bulk Charges feature in Management > Daily Tasks tab
Select Extra Entry checkbox, select your Extra, and add the applicable Checked In rooms to post to.
5. As an optional add-on on our GuestPoint Booking Engine
If you are using our free GuestPoint booking engine, Extras can be enabled as an additional add-on option when the guest is booking their room on our booking engine.
Within the setup for Extras in Management > Setup > Standard Rates, Extras & Promotions > Extras tab, tick the Show on Web tickbox, tick the applicable rate plans that it would be available for (use whichever rate plans you have mapped to our Booking Engine), and fill out the Web Description & Web Details section.
The Web Description is simply the header title that guests see when they are booking, and the Web Details is the sub-header text.
Example of the 2 Course Dinner on our booking engine on the Guest Details page.
Setting Up Extras
Before you can start using Extras, you will need to first set the Extra up in Management > Setup > Standard Rates, Extras & Promotions > Extras tab
In this section, click into the New Extra button
You will see below Extra set-up screen. The only mandatory fields are Name, Type, and Transaction A/C but for a proper set-up, please fully review what each field/checkbox relates to further below.
Name - The name of the Extra and what you see internally when you use it, and what your guest sees as a charge item on any Room Accounts or Invoices (unless the Extra is included as part of a rate plan, then the Extra is amalgamated into one line).
Type - There are two types:
1. Per Room - This extra type isn't dependent on the number of guests.
Suitable for something like a Late Check Out, Airport Drop Off, Newspaper, and Pet Fees.
2. Per Person - This will be charged based on the number of guests.
Suitable for items like Breakfast and Dinner.
Charged - This option is related to the Future Charges method and the inclusive as part of a rate plan package method.
There are two charge frequency options:
1. On Check In - The Extra posts only one time upon checking the booking in.
Suitable for items like Late Check Out.
2. Per Night - The extra is charged on a per night/morning frequency (posted by roll-over).
Suitable for items like Pet Fees, Breakfast, and Dinner
Morning Charge Checkbox - Related to the Charged field, this option allows you to set up charges that should be on a morning basis.
The perfect example is Breakfast items, Late Check Out, Newspaper options.
It is very important this is ticked for Breakfast or Late Check Out options or it will not allow you to add the Extra as a Future Charge on the day of check-out.
This option also removes the Extra as an attachable Future Charge option on the day of check in, as it is unlikely you are having Breakfast or a Late Check Out on the day of check in.
Enter Quantity Checkbox - If your Extra item can be counted as a quantity, this should always be ticked just in case as it allows you more flexibility.
The only time this shouldn't be ticked is for things like Late Check Out.
When this is not ticked, the default quantity is simply locked to 1
Amount - Input the charge amount for the Extra dependent on the Type and Charged selection
For example, if 2 Course Dinner is $50 per night per person, input $50 into Amount and select Per Person and Per Night
Child Amount - Only applicable when the Type is on a Per Person setting and your adult/children price is different. Copy the value from Amount field if it is not different.
Transaction A/C - This is the revenue transaction account the Extra is attached to.
You should attach it to a general revenue account for the extra type.
This field is important for proper accounting of your Extra items on GuestPoint.
For example, if you have a 2 Course Dinner and 3 Course Dinner option, you should attach both options to a Dinner transaction account. You should not make two separate transaction accounts just for these two options.
If you do not have an appropriate transaction account to use, you can create new revenue transaction accounts in Management > Setup > Transaction Accounts > Revenue Accounts Section
Show on Web Checkbox - Applicable only if you use our GuestPoint booking engine. Tick this option in addition to enable this to show on our booking engine for the selected rate plan(s) in Web Rates section
Web Rates - Tick this option along with Show on Web checkbox for all applicable room types/rate plans that the extra will show as an available add on for on our GuestPoint booking engine.
Web Description - This is the header title of what the add on is called on our booking engine.
Web Details - This is the sub-header description of details related to the Extra on our booking engine.
Please be sure to Save Changes in the bottom right corner of the Extras set up screen at all times.This is a section where it is very common to forget to save after creating/editing a lot of Extras at once.
Reporting on Extras/Future Charges
To produce a list of Extras that been added to bookings, proceed to the Extras Report in Management > Daily Tasks tab > Extras Report
This report is often used prior to a date range to determine how many Extras (as Future Charges or as Inclusive Extras) you need to prepare for the selected date(s)
It can also be used for historical stay date ranges to determine how many Extras were generated on the system on your selected historical dates.
This report is often used prior to a date range to determine how many Extras (as Future Charges or as Inclusive Extras) you need to prepare for the selected date(s)
It can also be used for historical stay date ranges to determine how many Extras were generated on the system on your selected historical dates.
You will see a new Extras Report screen with date filter options, what Extras to include in the report, what notes to include in the report, and any optional internal notes.
Date Range Options - Today, Tomorrow, 1 Specific Date, and a Date Range
Extras to include - Select the appropriate extra(s) to include in your report.
Notes to include - You can choose to include certain notes that come from the Notes section of a booking's Reservation screen.
Notes are handy in scenarios where an guest may have allergy or any other scenario where the person delivering/actioning the Extra needs to be aware of on a daily basis.
Perhaps you may be preparing Cooked Hot Breakfast for a guest every morning but you need a way internally note that the guest is allergic to certain food types.
Optional Notes - This section can be used for internal procedures or reference, as these optional notes do not produce on the report, and this section saves the last used message.
Example Report for Pet Fee with all notes options ticked and what Notes section they belong to on a booking's Reservation Screen
What You CANNOT do with Extras & Common Issues
Below is a list of common frequently asked questions & scenarios on what is possible with our Extras feature.
1. Assuming that an Inclusive Extras Rate Plan will carry over to OTAs when mapped through a channel manager
Your inclusive extra rate plan will not be pushed to an OTA when you map this rate plan.
However, you can still map an inclusive extra rate plan if you require revenue separation (Accommodation & Extras splitting into appropriate revenue types).
The revenue separation still works when the booking comes to GuestPoint from the channel manager.
2. Being able to set yearly/seasonal periodic pricing with Extras or Inclusive Extras Rate Plans
Unfortunately Extras only have one real-time pricing at all times and our system does not support periodic pricing for Extras, only real-time pricing or manual pricing
Unfortunately Extras only have one real-time pricing at all times and our system does not support periodic pricing for Extras, only real-time pricing or manual pricing
3. Assuming that the prices of any Future Charges or Inclusive Extra Rate Plans will update when you update the pricing of the Extra
If you attach an Extra as a Future Charge or as an Inclusive Extra to a Rate Plan and update the price of the Extra, it will not overwrite the currently attached Future Charge price nor will it update the currently attached Inclusive Extra pricing.
Please be sure to double-check your Inclusive Extras pricing of your Rate Plans after updating the pricing of an Extra.
Please be sure to double-check your Inclusive Extras pricing of your Rate Plans after updating the pricing of an Extra.
4. The Inclusive Extra pricing of existing Future Bookings does not change even after updating the Extra amount within the Rate Plan
If you have any existing Future Bookings already booked and using your inclusive extra rate plan, the inclusive extra amount will not update even after you update the inclusive extra amount of the Rate Plan.
If you have any existing Future Bookings already booked and using your inclusive extra rate plan, the inclusive extra amount will not update even after you update the inclusive extra amount of the Rate Plan.
This may be intended as part of a price change. If not intended and you need the correct inclusive extra pricing for the booking, follow below method to force the booking's rate plan to update to your new inclusive extra pricing.
Re-assigning the Rate Plan
- Navigate to the booking's Reservation Screen and to where you select the Rate Plan of a Booking
- Change the rate plan to another rate plan
- There will be a prompt asking you if you would like to recalculate the rate - click No
- Flick to the Future Charges tab (this acts as a Save function instead of Saving the booking and re-opening it again)
- Flick back to the Reservation tab
- Re-assign your Inclusive Extra Rate Plan
- Flick back to the Future Charges tab
- Confirm that the new Inclusive Extra amount is showing
- Save the booking.
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