Advanced Packages | Front Office Use

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Advanced packages is an add-on function that needs to be activated by the protel Cloud Support team, or your local protel partner. If you would like to use advanced packages in your business, feel free to contact us or your local protel partner. You can reach the protel Cloud Support team at: cloudsupport@protel.net.

Advanced Packages allow you to grant allowances for using package elements and enable you to keep exact track of consumption. The actual consumption of the package elements is either posted manually or automatically by an external interface (e.g., a POS) and is then offset against a consumption allowance amount. If the posted amount exceeds the package allowance, the overage is posted directly to the guest invoice. You can also determine the profit or losses for each package. A profit occurs when a guest does not consume or only partially consumes a package element. If the posted amount exceeds the price of the package, but remains below the allowance amount, the difference between the package price and the guest consumption amount is the package loss. (You can find more examples of this further down in this text).

Consequently, the advanced packages enable you to execute a detailed bookkeeping, as well as the ability to scrutinize the profitability of an offered package.

In this help, you will find out more about the following points:

Posting Advanced Packages

An advanced package is posted by a guest booking a reservation for a certain rate code which has been configured as an advanced package (see "Configuring advanced packages"). In doing so, the rate code is allotted as usual - see following illustration:

The posted package in the Room tab located in the reservation dialog box is no different to a usual rate code.

Package overview tab in the reservation dialog box

[Reservation dialog box > Package overview]

Advanced packages contain special information that is displayed in the Package overview tab - see following illustration:

This tab is only visible if advanced packages have been activated in protel Air as an additional function!

The Package overview tab shows you the individual elements as well as their prices and allowances. Here you can see wether a guest has consumed a package element, and what the amount of that consumption is. Furthermore, the profits and losses are also visible here, as well as possible overages that might have been posted to the guest account.

Elements of the Package overview tab

Column

Description

Date

Date of accommodation

Invoice text

Posting text for the item that has been saved as a package item. The actual consumption for the invoice item is booked by means of this item.

Booking frequency

Shows the frequency in which the package item is posted, e.g., once a day.

Posting per

Displays if the package items are to be booked per room, per guest, or for a certain age-group.

Consumption date

Shows the date on which the  package item is actually consumed. Example: A breakfast is usually consumed on the following day.

Price

This is the actual price of the package item (offer price).

Allowance

The amount of the package item which the guest is allowed to consume (e.g., breakfast) without being charged extra for it.

Posted Amount

This is the amount that was actually posted for the package item.

If a package item was not used, protel Air enters a zero (0.00) here.

Overage Amount

If the amount that has been posted  for the package item exceeds the allowance, the result is a so-called overage (difference between the posted amount and allowance).

If there is now overage, protel Air enters a zero (0.00) here.

Profit

A profit occurs if the posted amount is less than the offered item price.

The Profit column is only updated after the End of Day routine. If no loss has occured, protel Air enters a zero (0.00).

Loss

A loss occurs if the guest consumes a higher amount than the item price but below the allowance amount.

The Loss column is only updated after the End of Day routine. If there wasn't a profit, protel Air enters a zero (0.00).

The numbers in the various columns update themselves with each posting (exception being the profit and loss columns which are updated after the End of Day routine).

The sum line has the sum of all of the amounts entered for the entire reservation - see the following figure:

Example

The package in the illustrated example contains breakfast with each night of stay. The actual price of the breakfast is 25 Euros (= allowance). However, only 15 Euros are calculated (= price) because the guest is spending the night at the hotel. The consumption date diverges from the date because the breakfast is only consumed on the following day.

 

 1 

The guest did not have breakfast. That is why the full package price is posted as a profit (= 15 Euros).

 2 

The guest consumed breakfast at a value of 10 Euros. That is why a profit of 5.00 Euros is credited (15 Euros - 10 Euros).

 3 

The guest consumed breakfast at a value of 20 Euros. That is 5 Euros more than the offered package price. That is why there is an estimated loss of 5 Euros.

 4 

The guest consumed breakfast at a value of 30 Euros. That is 5 Euros more than the allowance amount. That is why there is an estimated overage of 5 Euros. The 5 Euros will be posted to the guest's invoice (see below: Package overages on the guest invoice).

 5 

The guest consumed breakfast at a value of 15 Euros. Because this corresponds to the amount stated in the package price, there is neither profit, nor loss.

Postings covered by the allowance do not appear on the guest's invoice. Occurred overages appear on the invoice as separate invoice items.

Package overages on the guest invoice

If a package allowance exists and an amount is posted which exceeds the package allowance, the overage is posted to the guest invoice - see next figure.

Overages are always marked with the icon, so that it can be immediately identified.

Debit amount for a package item manually

Usually, advanced packages are used for POS transactions (e.g., dinner or breakfast) where a charge can be expected back to the guest account. In this case, the amounts posted against the reservation automatically come in through the POS interface.

The consumption of a package item can also be charged manually by posting the items contained in the package to the guest's room - see following illustration:

Invoice dialog box > Post charges button > Use item search to select item

When manually posting charges to an item which is included in a package assigned to the guest, a notice appears asking you wether or not you wish to apply the charge to the package allowance. If you click on [Yes], the charge is posted against the package allowance. If you click on [No], the charge is posted to the guest invoice as a normal invoice item and is not credited with the allowance.

Evaluate package profit and loss

For the individual reservations, the package profit and package loss can be found directly in the reservation summary dialog box, located in the Package overview tab (see above: Elements of the Package Overview Tab).

For reporting, it is possible to evaluate the package profits and package losses for all reservations or several reservations. protel Air provides two different reports for this.

Journal by date

The journal by date lists the posted items for a freely selectable period of time based on date. Amongst other things, you can also view the package profit / package loss items.

Hint: If you select the "Only Consumption" filter, only postings which have been posted against a package allowance and have been "absorbed" by the allowance amount will be displayed. Example: The price of an item is 10 Euros and the allowance is 15 Euros. Each posting up to 15 Euros is absorbed.

 

Balance and Revenue Management

If you have activated advanced packages as an add-on function in protel Air, the 3 internal postings section appears in the Balance and Revenue Management report.

Under "Profit", you can see the sum of the amounts which have been posted as a package profit.

Under "Loss", you can see the sum of the amounts which have been posted as a package loss.

Related topics

Advanced Packages | Introduction

Advanced Packages | Configuration

Advanced Packages | Switch to Advanced Packages