Rates & Seasonal Pricing
Use this page to set what a stay costs: nightly, weekend, weekly and monthly rates, seasonal prices and blackout dates.
Quick steps
To set your everyday prices:
- Click Lodging, open the Site Types tab and click Edit on a type.
- Enter the Base Nightly Rate ($). Under Rate Tiers, add a Weekend Rate, Weekly Rate or Monthly Rate if you use them.
- Save. Prices are entered before tax.
To add a seasonal price or close dates:
- Open the Seasonal Rates tab and click New Rate.
- Pick the Site Type, type a Name (for example "Summer Peak Season") and set the Start Date and End Date.
- Enter the Nightly Rate ($), and any Minimum Nights. To block bookings on those dates instead, tick Blackout (block all bookings) and leave the rate blank.
- Click Create.
Changing a rate only affects new bookings. Existing bookings keep their price unless you change their dates.
Common questions
The price is higher than I expected. A seasonal rate covering those dates replaces the base and weekend rates — where two overlap, the higher one wins. Also check the guest count against Base Occupancy.
A long stay didn't get the weekly price. The weekly rate is only used when it's cheaper than pricing night by night.
Bookings are refused for dates that should be open. Look for an active blackout, a Minimum Nights on a seasonal rate covering the arrival date, or ticked days under Nights we take bookings for on the type.
I don't see the Seasonal Rates tab. It's switched off. Turn it on under Settings → Edit Settings → Operations → Lodging Features.
More detail: where prices are set and how a stay is priced
Every booking is priced from its site type. You set a base nightly rate, and can add a weekend rate, weekly and monthly rates for long stays, and seasonal rates for particular dates. Brother POS works out the price of each stay for you — the same way at the front desk, on the register and online.
Prices are entered before tax.
Where Prices Are Set
| Price | Where |
|---|---|
| Base Nightly Rate | On the site type, under Site Type Details. |
| Weekend Rate, Weekly Rate, Monthly Rate | On the site type, under Rate Tiers. |
| Date-range prices and blackout periods | Lodging → Seasonal Rates. |
| Extra guests, pets, vehicles, metered electricity | On the site type, under Extra Charges. |
| Deposits | On the site type, under Policies. |
| Fixed-length packages | On the site type's Rental packages page. |
See Site Types & Sites for the site type form.
How a Night Is Priced
Each night of a stay is priced on its own. For every night, Brother POS uses the first of these that applies:
- A seasonal rate for that type covering that date. If two seasonal rates overlap, the higher one wins.
- The weekend rate, if the night starts on a Friday or a Saturday and the type has one.
- The base nightly rate.
So a three-night stay from Thursday to Sunday on a type with a $40 base rate and a $55 weekend rate costs $40 + $55 + $55 = $150.
Long Stays
For longer stays, Brother POS also works out the price with your long-stay rates and charges the guest whichever comes out cheapest:
| Rate | Used from | How it is worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly Rate | 7 nights | Each full week at the weekly rate, plus each extra night at one seventh of it. |
| Monthly Rate | 28 nights | Each full calendar month at the monthly rate, plus the extra days as a share of the monthly rate. |
| Night-by-night | Always | As above. |
For example, a type with a $40 base rate and a $210 weekly rate: a 9-night stay is one week at $210 plus 2 nights at $30, so $270 — cheaper than 9 nights at $40 ($360), so $270 is charged.
Changing a rate changes future bookings only. Existing bookings keep the price they were made at. If you change the dates on an existing booking, its nightly rate is worked out again for the new dates.
More detail: seasonal rates and blackout periods
Seasonal Rates
Seasonal rates set a different nightly price between two dates — a summer peak, a holiday weekend, a quiet shoulder season. Open Lodging → Seasonal Rates.
The page lists your rates grouped by site type, with the Name, Date Range, Nightly Rate and Min Nights. A rate that has been switched off shows Inactive next to its name, and one whose end date has passed shows Ended.
Seasonal Rates can be switched off in Settings → Edit Settings → Operations → Lodging Features. While it is off, your saved seasonal rates, blackout periods and minimum stays stop applying to prices and bookings. They are kept, and apply again if you switch it back on. See Lodging Settings.
Adding a seasonal rate
Click New Rate (or Add Rate on a site type's page):
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Site Type | Yes | The type it applies to. For several types, add a rate for each. |
| Name | Yes | For example "Summer Peak Season". |
| Start Date / End Date | Yes | The end date must be after the start date. Both dates are included. |
| Nightly Rate ($) | Yes, except for a blackout | Must be more than zero. Leave it blank on a blackout. |
| Minimum Nights | No | The shortest stay you accept when the stay starts inside these dates. Shorter stays are refused with "Minimum 3-night stay required for the selected dates". |
| Active | — | Untick to switch the rate off — it stops changing prices and its Minimum Nights no longer applies. |
| Blackout (block all bookings) | — | See below. |
Click Create. Edit and Delete are on every row.
Blackout periods
Tick Blackout (block all bookings) to close a site type for the dates — for a private event, a spring flood, the off-season. No booking for that type can include any night in a blackout period. The admin form, the register and your website all refuse it with "This unit type is unavailable for the selected dates (blackout period: [name])".
In the list, a blackout shows Blackout — no bookings instead of a price.
A blackout has no price, so leave its Nightly Rate blank.
Only an Active blackout blocks bookings. Bookings made before you added the blackout are not touched, and changing the dates on an existing booking does not check for blackouts.
More detail: extra charges, deposits and package prices
Extra Charges
These are added on top of the nightly price:
| Charge | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Extra Guest ($/night) | For each guest above Base Occupancy, per night. A type with Base Occupancy 4 and $15 per extra guest charges $30 a night for a party of 6. |
| Electric | On metered campground sites, at check-out: the kWh used, minus Free kWh per Night for each night stayed, times Rate per kWh. |
| Pets | The type's pet fee for each pet: Per Night times the nights, or the Flat fee once. |
| Extra vehicles | The first vehicle is included; each extra one is charged the Extra Vehicle Fee once. A party with 3 vehicles and a $10 fee pays $20. |
| Add-ons | Whatever extras the guest chose. See Add-Ons. |
Only the admin booking form asks how many pets and vehicles are coming — its Pets and Vehicles boxes appear when a site type charges for them. The register and your online booking page do not ask, so for those bookings open the booking in the admin, click Edit and fill them in. The fees are worked out again whenever the dates, guests, pets or vehicles change.
Deposits
A site type can ask for a deposit — Deposit (%) of the total, or Or Flat Deposit ($). The deposit is worked out when the booking is made and shown on the reservation.
- Online, the guest pays the deposit by card when they book (or can choose to pay in full). See Online Booking.
- At the front desk, nothing is charged when the booking is made. On the admin booking form you can type a different deposit in Deposit ($). The reservation shows the deposit that is due, and the Balance Due stays at the full total until a payment is recorded — through the register's Room button or Mark paid in full.
A type with no deposit set takes no money when booked online — unless your store lets online guests choose to pay in full. See Online Booking.
Rental Package Prices
A site type with rental packages is priced by the package, not by the night. The package's Price is charged — or its Peak-season price, when the start date falls inside an active seasonal rate for that type. A package with no price set costs the base nightly rate times its nights.
Staff can also book such a type without a package — on the admin form (Rental package left on None — charge the nightly rate) or on the register — and it is then priced by the night like any other type.
More detail: troubleshooting and best practices
Troubleshooting
The price is higher than I expected. Check Lodging → Seasonal Rates for a rate covering those dates — it replaces both the base and the weekend rate, and where two overlap the higher one wins. Check also the guest count against Base Occupancy.
A long stay didn't get the weekly price. The weekly rate is only used when it is cheaper than night-by-night pricing. With seasonal rates lower than the base rate, night-by-night can come out cheaper.
Bookings are refused for dates that should be open. Look for an Active blackout period on the type, a Minimum Nights on an active seasonal rate covering the arrival date, or ticked days under Nights we take bookings for on the type.
Best Practices
- Set the base rate to your normal off-peak price and use seasonal rates for the busy dates.
- Keep seasonal rates from overlapping unless you mean the higher one to win.
- Add next year's seasons early. Guests book months ahead, and a missing seasonal rate means peak dates are sold at the base rate.
- Delete old blackout periods rather than leaving them — a forgotten one quietly blocks bookings.
What's Next?
- Site Types & Sites — the site type form in full.
- Reservations — what the guest is charged and how you collect it.
- Online Booking — deposits and paying online.