Adding a new allocation to a hotel contract

This topic explains how to add a new allocation to a hotel contract.

An allocation can be a limited quantity of rooms given to the travel company by the reserving supplier or service provider to sell to customers, or an unlimited amount if a freesale agreement was negotiated. When a contract has an allocation, the service is displayed with OK status in the Reservation System search results.

An allocation agreement with a hotel includes the following:

1. A quantity of rooms (or unlimited for freesale) allocated to your company (per night or per cruise).

2. The method by which rooms are reported to the supplier, which can be defined in this tab, or done through various automatic or manual processes offered by the system.

3. The terms according to which the unsold rooms in the allocation are released (returned back) to the supplier.

The rooms in your allocation can also be sub-allocated to specific travel agents who you work with on a B2B basis, allowing the travel agents booking the service to receive immediate confirmation for the reservation.

 Allocations can be defined for an entire price list, a specific price level, or a specific price component.

• How

1. In the contract, select the Allocation tab.



2. In the upper-left corner, click Click here to add a new allocation.

The Allocation Definition pane is displayed in edit mode.



The Allocation Definition pane includes two expanders:

• Calendar: Used for adding and viewing allocations

• Release Terms: Used for defining and adding release terms

3. In the Price Level field, select the price levels for which you have an allocation, or All if you have an allocation for all price levels (run of the house).

With multiple price levels, there are several allocation options: Each price level for which you have an allocation has a separate quantity (or unlimited amount) of rooms or cabins from which the user can make reservations. Example: 5 rooms for standard, 2 for superior, and none for deluxe. Some price levels share the same allocation. Reservations for these price levels are all deducted from the same allocation. After selecting these price levels, the Price Level field displays mixed. Example: 10 cabins for luxury room and suite. This allocation is mixed because both price levels share the same allocation.

4. If the allocation only applies to a specific price component, in the Room Type field, select the price component for which you have an allocation.

5. Click Done.

6. At the bottom of the expander, click the Edit Allocation button.

The Edit Allocation dialog box is displayed.



1. In the Date Range section, in the From - To fields, select the date range for which you have an allocation.

2. If the allocation does not apply to specific days in the week, clear the days of the week in which there is no allocation.

3. If the allocation is for package stay, select Package mode, in the Duration field that appears, enter the number of days the allocation is reserved for, and select the day of the week in which the package starts.

Click here for a detailed example. For example, a ski resort demands that reservations be sold as fixed seven night packages that start on Sunday. This package enables the ski resort to better control cycles of arriving and departing guests. With cruises that always have a fixed duration, this option is selected by default and disabled, and in the Duration field enter the number of days for the cruise.

4. With hotels, if reservations require a minimum number of nights, select Minimum nights stay, and enter the minimum required nights.

The Override minimum night allocation restriction permit allows users to override this restriction. If a user has the permit: When searching for hotels for a period that is less than the minimum night stay, the hotel is displayed as Available. When a hotel is reserved for a period that is less than the minimum night stay, the transaction status is initialized at OK, and rooms are deducted from the allocations on the relevant nights. When amending a hotel transaction with a number of nights above the minimum by reducing the number of nights to below the minimum - the transaction status remains OK, and the rooms are returned to the allocation on the nights that were removed. If a user does not have the permit: When searching for hotels for a period that is less than the minimum night stay, the hotel is displayed as Request. When a hotel is reserved for a period that is less than the minimum night stay, the transaction status is initialized at RQ, and rooms are not deducted from the allocations on the relevant nights.

5. In the Add/Reduce Rooms section:

• In the Add field, enter how many rooms or cabins you have an allocation for.

• OR,

• If you have an unlimited number of rooms or cabins, select Free Sale.

6. In the Settings section:

• If you are prevented from selling rooms during the dates you selected previously, in the No Sale field, select On.

This option is usually used after adding the initial allocation, and you are now editing existing dates. This option is not applicable for cruises.

• If you want the system to report the reservation to the supplier immediately when the rooms or cabins are sold, in the Sell & Report field, select On.

Otherwise, the reservation is reported when allocations are released back to the supplier.

• By default, after an allocation is released back to the supplier, if a sold room or cabin is cancelled, the system automatically sends a report to the supplier, and the room or cabin is returned to the supplier.  If you want to the system to keep the rooms or cabins for you to resell, in the Report cancellation after release field, select Off, and users will have the option of trying to continue to sell the room or cabin. If the room or cabin is not sold, the user will need to manually report the cancellation to the supplier.

7. Click OK.

The allocated rooms or cabins are displayed in the calendar.



In the calendar you can view the number of allocated rooms or cabins available you.

The calendar can be displayed for one month, 6 months and a year.

In the Display # of Rooms field, you can choose to view in the calendar, the number of Allocated rooms or cabins, the number of Available rooms or cabins, or the number of Taken rooms or cabins.

To include travel agent/corporate client sub-allocations in the view, select Include agent alloc.

7. In the Release Terms expander, click Click here to add a new release period.

A new release period is added in edit mode.



1. In the From Date and To Date fields, define the date range of check-in dates to which the release terms apply.

2. If the release terms apply to specific days of the week, clear Every Day, and select the week days to which the release terms apply.

3. Define up to three release periods relative to the check-in day.

• In the Days field, enter the number of days prior to the check-in day in which rooms or cabins should be released back to the supplier.

• In the Keep field, enter the number of rooms or cabins to keep.

Click here for a detailed example. You are allocated twenty rooms a night between September 1 and September 30. The release terms are as follows: 14 days before the check-in day, eight unsold rooms will be kept by the travel company 10 days before the check in day, three unsold rooms will be kept by the travel company. 4 days before the check-in day, the remaining three unsold rooms are returned to the supplier This is defined as follows:

4. For each release term period, click Click here to add a new release period, and repeat steps a-c.

8. After defining all release term periods, if you want to cover any missing gaps, click the Add complementary period link.

1. In the From Date and To Date fields, select the release terms date range.

2. Click Add.

   One or more release periods are added for you to edit.

Click here for a detailed example. For example, you have release terms for the following dates: January 1 - February 22 February 26 - March 15 March 19 - March 23 In the next season, click the Add Complementary period link, and select the period of January 1 - March 31, which is the full duration of the allocation. The following release term periods are added. February 23 - February 25 March 16 - March 18 March 24 - March 31

9. If relevant, in the Remark field, enter an internal remark.

10. If you want the system to automatically release the unsold allocations at the appropriate date, and report sold rooms (when Sell & Report is Off), select Automatic Release.

11. Click Done.

12. Click Save and Exit.

You can define in this tab whether the allocations for the individual contract are released automatically (by selecting the Automatic Release option when creating the allocation definition) or you can manage the release of allocations manually through the Release Allocations module, or automatically through the Schedule Automatic Process module.

You can release allocations from within the actual hotel price list by clicking on the Release Allocation button in the Allocation Definition window. This option overrides the release terms altogether and allows the user to determine the release period.

Related links

• Products - Contracts - <Service Type> - Allocation tab

• Adding a sub-allocation to a hotel contract

• Editing a price list for a hotel contract

• Creating and editing a price list for a cruise contract