Price rules step by step

Start with a specific pricing decision

First write an if-then sentence: “If the night falls in July, the calculated category price should rise by 15%.” It states the affected night, condition and effect. Add the category when it should not affect every room type. A name such as “July +15%” explains more than “Rule 4”. The internal name helps checking; it does not make the rule a separate guest-bookable offer.

Then check the right place to maintain it. A permanent normal price belongs to the category; prices for individual dates belong to its calendar. Services come from Settings → Hotel → Services and are selected in the tariff. Sales routes, payment and cancellation also belong in the tariff. A rule suits the same recurring decision on matching nights. Maintain company prices in their agreement. Many similar rules often indicate a decision maintained in the wrong place.

Choose a comparison stay for every new rule. Select a known category and a tariff without its own adjustment so the rule effect is visible first. Note expected nightly prices, then test the same case with the tariff actually sold. This separates differences caused by the rule, tariff or a later adjustment.

Choose rule type by condition

A season rule needs a start stay date; an end is optional. Start is preloaded with today’s hotel date. Empty Valid to means no end date. Set boundaries are included and end cannot precede start. Weekday rules examine each night: Friday applies even if the booking was created on Tuesday. All seven days, Monday to Sunday, are directly selectable. Departure day is not an overnight stay. Date conditions describe the night, not agreement or booking creation.

Early booking uses minimum lead time; Last minute uses maximum lead time until arrival. This day count is checked at the current calculation. An early-booking price may therefore not match a later new request. Occupancy is determined per night for the relevant category from its active rooms and relevant booked room nights. It is neither an estimated guest count nor occupancy manually set in the rule editor.

Conditional fixed price needs at least one specific category and a non-negative nightly amount. Select multiple categories if needed; All categories is not allowed for fixed prices. Use it for a deliberately different price under matching conditions. For ordinary changes choose the appropriate condition-based type. The saved category base price remains. If several fixed prices match, only the first in order counts; later other rule types may still change the result.

Category, price effect and extra conditions

Name and price value are required. Select one or more categories. Except for fixed prices, All categories is available and affects every matching category. Test general rules with cheaper and dearer categories and their limits. Percentage suits a difference that grows with the current price; amount suits equal nightly increases or reductions. Select the unit next to the value; money amounts show hotel currency. Plus raises, minus reduces.

Amounts and percentages allow at most two decimals. Money uses hotel currency, percentages use %. Enter the language’s decimal separator and no words or formulas. Use whole values for nights, days and occupancy. An empty optional minimum or maximum adds no limit; 0 is an actual value. Complete type-specific requirements first and open More settings only for extra restrictions.

Extra conditions apply together. Minimum stay four means a stay totaling at least four nights, not only the fourth night. Selected weekdays restrict matching nights. Sales routes are optional: empty means all, otherwise Website, Channels, Manual or STRYK. Individual connected portals remain blocked because shared price transmission does not yet support such individual rules. Minimum cannot exceed maximum. An unintended condition can entirely exclude an otherwise correct season rule.

Calculate multiple rules in the right order

STRYK processes saved order from top to bottom. Earlier in the list means earlier in calculation; internal priority numbers are not a competition where the highest wins. Clear list filters before reordering. Use handle or move actions, check confirmed saving and recalculate known overlaps. Changed order can produce a new price even when no rule amount changes.

Percentage is calculated on the current intermediate amount. Two percentage increases are therefore not simply their sum. Two reductions can also differ from the expected amount. Order particularly matters when combining amount and percentage. Multiple matching ordinary rules apply; an earlier ordinary rule does not stop calculation. The displayed rule name alone does not show which later component constrains the final price.

Fixed prices are the exception: only the first matching fixed price replaces the intermediate amount; later matching fixed prices are not added. Earlier rules can therefore be replaced; ordinary rules afterwards change the fixed price further. An explicit date price later replaces the category result from rules again. Limits, tariff and channel then follow. Check the whole chain rather than comparing only two rule values.

Test boundaries and overlaps with Check price

Open the calculator icon in the Prices header. Use the same category, guest count, tariff and route for comparison cases. Change only dates first. For a season check the night before, first night, last night and night afterwards. For weekdays select a stay containing selected and unselected days. Check each night and applied rule name, not just the total.

For minimum stay check one night less and exactly the limit. For early booking choose arrival in X−1 and X days; for Last minute in X and X+1 days from today’s hotel date. Observe hotel time at day changes. Check price offers adults, children and their ages, but no freely settable booking day or occupancy. Business-travel exemption needs documented booking evidence. Test occupancy thresholds with actual category occupancy or a controlled test property, not an invented input.

Then test known combinations: season with weekend, season with early booking, fixed price with increase and rule alongside a date price. Also check category minimum/maximum and the actual tariff. Note date, category, tariff, route, expected nightly amount and result. Change only one setting per discrepancy. Otherwise an apparently correct total will not reveal which change helped.

Record category, arrival, departure, people, tariff and sales route when comparing. Use the same inputs on both sides. A changed tariff or another route may explain a different result even when the tested rule is unchanged. Compare the individual night first, then the stay total.

Isolate errors and check saving

A new rule exists only after confirmed creation. Existing rules save valid edits automatically. With an invalid number or missing required condition the draft stays visible and saving is not shown as successful. Check unit, sign, date boundaries and minimum/maximum. A saved name does not prove the rule is commercially sensible or actually matches the stay.

After a save error read its reason and use Retry. For a concurrent edit conflict reload the current record and compare your intended change. Do not blindly overwrite a colleague’s change with an old draft. Repeating creation after an unclear outcome may create a duplicate; check the list and confirmed record first.

When the price looks wrong, check the date price first. Then review activation, category, dates, weekday, stay length, lead time, occupancy and route. Next check order, tariff, channel, discount and price limits. Pause only the suspected rule and repeat the same case. If the price remains wrong, another layer may be responsible. Do not change the whole rule set at once.

Keep a small rule set understandable

Review rules before each new season and after changes to categories, base prices, limits, tariffs or sales strategy. Search names and deliberately filter status or category. Filters help finding records but change none of the rule’s business conditions. Clear filters before changing order so you do not attempt to reorder an incomplete subset.

Look for duplicates: old and new season rules, two weekend rules, an early-booking discount in the tariff plus an identical rule, or a permanent date price. Not every combination is wrong, but it must be intentional. Without a clear purpose, pause the rule and check the reference stay. Renaming a rule does not remove duplicate price effects.

Let a colleague use the rule set: can they explain name, conditions and effect, find season start and calculate the weekend overlap? If not, simplify names and conditions rather than adding internal jargon. Inactive rules appear muted and support deliberate reuse. Do not reactivate them unchecked after changes. Permanent deletion requires confirming the displayed name and changes no historical booking prices. Tell the team which stays are affected and where to check prices.