In Firefly, you can set up standard and special rates. These are broken down by stay length: daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonal. Below provides descriptions and use cases for the various types of rates you can set up in Firefly.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Rate Types

Firefly supports 4 types of rates: daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal rates. Daily rates apply to reservations less than 7 nights long, weekly rates apply to reservations 7 nights to less than 1 month long, monthly rates apply to reservations 1 month or longer, and seasonal rates apply to the nights in stay specified in the rate. Seasonal rates will be evaluated first regardless of how long the reservation is. If no seasonal rate is found to match the reservation criteria, the daily/weekly/monthly rates will be evaluated based on how long the reservation is.

If the reservation qualifies for monthly rates and no monthly rates are found or if no monthly rate is available for any part of the reservation, Firefly will automatically fall back to use weekly rates. If no weekly rate is found or available, daily rates will be used.

Each rate type may have standard rates and special rates.

What is the difference between Standard Rates and Special Rates?

Standard rates are the unit's regular default rate. Special rates allow for dynamic rate application with more customization. Examples of special rate use are peak seasons or holiday weekends when demand will be higher, guest affiliation discounts, and dynamic pricing based on occupancy or length of stay.

Standard Rates

Standard rates are the unit's default rate. A unit must have a standard rate with date coverage extending at least 6 months. Multiple standard rates are allowed, but they cannot overlap. When setting up rates, you might want to set one to two years at a time as parks typically allow bookings for the current year as well as the upcoming year. For example, in 2024 you might choose to set a 2024 rate and a 2025 rate to allow bookings a year in advance.

If you have multiple standard rates, for multiple seasons or multiple years, be sure there are no date gaps in between them.

You can also set up rates so you don't have to worry about them for a long while or until you have a change. You can set a standard rate that expires several years into the future, like 2030. or have a standard rate without an end date. We call standard rates with no end date a forever rate as the end date simply shows forever. With either of these options, you just enter an end date on the rate's effective date range when it is time to set a new rate.

Daily Rates

Firefly looks for a standard daily rate one year in advance. You will see a warning message if no standard daily rate is available for the next 365 days. This does not mean a rate must be entered to allow bookings, it is simply a message of caution.

CAUTION: Not entering a standard daily rate will not prohibit reservations. If your reservation portal settings allow reservations for dates with no rates, guests will be able to complete a reservation for all allowed dates - even those without rates. Dates with rates will be charged appropriately and dates without rates will book at $0.

To manage when guests are able to book on the reservation portal, see the Reservations Tab section here: Property Settings.

Weekly Rates

Weekly rates apply to any stay booked in increments of 7 nights. Weekly rates will override all daily rates, even special daily rates. If you do not want a standard weekly rate to apply during a daily rate's special rate, you must enter a special weekly rate to override the standard weekly rate.

Monthly Rates

Monthly rates apply from date to date - from the date of arrival to the same date in the following month. The Prorate calculation method will apply the per night prorated monthly rate to the full stay if the reservation is at least one month long. The Waterfall calculation method applies the monthly rate to the entire stay only if the date of the month for departure is the same as the date of the month for arrival. For example, with an April 15 arrival the guest must depart on June 15. This will apply a charge for two full monthly rates. However, if the guest departs on June 14, then the rate calculations will show one monthly rate and weekly or daily rates for the portion of the second month.

Seasonal Rates

A seasonal rate is optional and is used to apply a flat fee to a length of stay in a specified period of time. Seasonal rates are typically used for full season stays or special events. For example, you can set up a seasonal rate for a jamboree week with a flat rate of $600 regardless if a guest stays 2 nights or 5 nights. A seasonal rate is also appropriate for a flat rate weekend, a months-long special, and a traditional months-long seasonal stay.

The important thing to remember with seasonal rates is reservation stay dates must fall within the dates set in the rate and must also be within the minimum and maximum number of nights set in the rate.

Special Rates

Special rates make it easy to increase prices for peak seasons or holiday weekends without altering your standard rates. They also allow you to provide discounts using rate qualifiers.

You must have a standard rate for daily, weekly, and monthly rates in order to create a special rate in the respective time frame. You can have as many special rates as you want, or none at all since they are NOT required.

Special rates will always override the standard rate if both rates are available for a given date. If multiple special rates are available for the same date, carefully choose the priority of your special rates as the topmost rate will apply. You can rearrange special rates into your desired order by clicking and dragging on the 3 stacked dots icon on the left of the rate's name.

Special rates should be ordered in the following manner:

rate qualifiers
holidays or special events (shorter date ranges)
seasonal increases (longer date ranges)

Let's look at a few examples using the list of special rates shown above that may help you decide the priority order of your special rates...

If a guest reserves a unit for May 7-10, Firefly would apply the "Summer rate" even though it is third in the list. This is because the stay dates do not fall during the date range of the July 4 Holiday Rate and the "Senior Citizen Rate" rate qualifier was not chosen. However, if a guest selects the Senior Citizen rate qualifier then they get the "Senior Citizen Rate" even if booking during the July 4th holiday. If you do not want guests to receive a rate qualifier discount during holidays or special events, you must put holiday rates above rate qualifiers.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Create a New Rate

Rates are created and managed on the Rates tab in a unit's settings.

Go to Settings > Units > click on a unit to open it > go to the Rates tab.
Here you see 4 tabs, one for each length of stay type: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Seasonal.
Click one of the blue buttons to add a New rate.
A Daily rate is not required but you will see warnings on the rate tab and the grid if a daily rate is not available.

TIP: You may find it easiest to duplicate an existing rate when creating an additional, mostly similar rate. Clicking on 3 dots > Duplicate will allow you to create a copy of the existing rate so all you have to do is adjust changing details.

For example, if creating a Peak season and Off Peak Season standard daily rate, simply duplicate the Peak Season rate and change the name, effective dates, and pricing. This saves time by skipping the occupant details which are required when creating a new rate.

Duplicating rates is especially helpful when creating multiple holiday rates.

Rate Options

Name identifies rate for you and your guests, if reservation unit info is shared on guest invoices.

Rate fields are the price guests are charged for the rate period. Daily is for each day, weekly is every 7 days, monthly is from date to date (May 1-June 1 or Aug 15-Sept 15), and seasonal is the number of nights specified in the seasonal rate. For daily rates, you can customize each day of the week individually.

💡 TIP: This is where you can set your weekday rates to be different from your weekend rates!

Rate Begins On is the first day a rate may apply.

Rate Ends On is the last day a rate may apply. You can create a "forever" rate by not entering an end date. A forever rate will stay in place until the rate is updated with an end date.

Charge Extra for Additional Occupants identifies the maximum number of each occupant type included in the rate. If max adults is 4 then the rate includes pricing for 4 adults. If a reservation includes more occupants than the rate's max, the extra pricing will be added to the rate per the rate charge pattern.

For example, in the rate below, a guest reserving 1 weeknight for 6 adults would be charged $60. This is calculated by the weekday daily rate of $50 for 4 adults plus $10 for the 2 extra adults, charged $5 each. A guest would not be allowed to book 7 adults or 4 adults and 3 children if the unit's max capacity is 6. For more on charging additional occupants, visit: How do I set rates for additional occupants?

NOTE: A rate's max occupant settings will not override a unit's max capacity and occupants. The rate's maximums simply tell Firefly when to start charging the extra occupant fees. To manage a unit's max occupancy, the total number allowed on the unit, see the unit's General tab (Add or Edit Units).

Financial Account will assign all payments for reservations using this rate to the linked account.

Advanced Rates Options (special rates only)

Firefly offers dynamic pricing to make your rates more profitable or competitive based on property occupancy. You can change the rate applied to a reservation based on how full your property is, and you can even consider how many days are in the stay. When editing a special rate, click Show advanced rate options to view the advanced settings.

Simply enter a value in the minimum and/or maximum fields for Nights in stay and Property Occupancy sections.

Caution: A special rate's Nights in stay minimum and maximum do not require a minimum stay or prohibit a maximum stay. These settings only apply the special rate to a reservation meeting these criteria.

To set a minimum or maximum night requirement on the unit, use the unit's Min/Max Nights tab.

In the example below, special rates change the daily rate depending on how full your property is. So when your property is at 50% or less occupancy, the daily rate is $35. When occupancy is between 51%-90%, the daily rate is $50 per day. And if the property occupancy is at 91% or higher, the daily rate will be $65.

CS-Firefly-KB-Unit-Special-occupancy-rates

_____________________________________________________________________________

How Rates are Calculated

You can read more about how rates are calculated here: Rate Calculation Modes.

How do I see which rate a reservation is pulling?

Firefly provides visibility for the rates applied to a reservation in two locations: during the process of a new reservation search and on the Units tab of a reservation.

When completing a new reservation search, go the the List view and hover over the displayed price. You will see the rate pulled for each night in the stay.

On a reservation's Units tab, click on the unit's price. This displays the rate calculation screen which shows the rate pulled for each date in the stay.

If the rate calculation shows Charge Amount Overridden, as seen below, this means the charge price was manually edited.

As the example below shows, you can go to the reservation's History tab to see the change made to the charge price.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Rate Changes

In only a few clicks, you can easily update your rates for a new season, new year, or pricing change.

Edit Existing Rate

Simply click 3 dots > Edit for a change to dates, prices, or additional occupant charges. After making the change, remember to Save!

Update Rates for a New Season

You have two options when needing to update rates for a future year or season: edit the existing rate or create a new rate to preserve the existing rate.

Option 1: edit existing rate

If your park is seasonal and only receives guests during a specified time each year, once your season has ended you may choose to edit your current rates for the next year. When you are no longer accepting new reservations for the current rates, you can simply edit the dates, prices, or any other necessary changes. Coming into a new season, many parks update the title as well.

Option 2: create a new rate

If guests are currently able to book reservations using your existing rate, you will need to leave your existing rate as-is and create a new rate. Follow the directions above to create a new rate.

TIP: When creating a new rate, you may use the Duplicate feature to clone a copy. On an existing rate, click the 3 dots > Duplicate then edit the name and any other details that need changing. Once you click Save, you have efficiently created a new rate.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Copy Rate Settings from One Unit to Another

The Import/Export tool lets you copy rates from one unit to any other units with the same rates.

WARNING: Exporting rates will copy all rate settings and not just the recent changes.

🙋‍♀️ Still need help? Email: support@fireflyreservations.com and one of our technicians can help answer your questions.

💭 We would love to know if this article was helpful in addressing your issue. If you could answer the question below it will notify our team. Thank you!