Topics: Creating volume contracts | Contract periods | Sending a proposal or contract | Entering pickup

Volume contracts

The Volume Contract page provides you with a central location to enter and manage all aspects of a negotiated rate contract. For example, Pinkerton International's corporate office is only a few blocks from your property and they regularly stay with you. They want to renew their annual contract for their individual business travelers. You have met with them and they have emailed asking for a contract.

You've discussed with them a minimum of 700 room nights per year at a special discounted corporate rate that includes complimentary access to the business center, early check-in, and late check-out.

Unlike a group booking, you will not be blocking rooms on a specific date. Instead, you can forecast rooms by month, quarter, or year and then monitor pickup so you can evaluate the benefits of the agreement.

Creating volume contracts

The easiest way to create a volume contract is to open the account or contact, point to the Volume Contracts related list, and then click the New button.

On the Volume Contract page, enter the general information about the agreement, and then click Save. Most of the fields on the New Volume Contract page are self-explanatory, but a few require a bit more clarification:

• Anticipated periods - Allows you to divide a contract into smaller, more manageable time periods. Your options include Yearly, Monthly, Season, or Quarterly.
• Status - Allows you to indicate where the business is in the booking cycle.
• Rate Information - Description field for information about the rate or discount details.

Contract periods

You can break the contract up into smaller time periods to help you evaluate its benefits. For example, an annual contract of 700 rooms per year can be broken down into quarters with 175 rooms forecasted per quarter. As you enter pickup, the guestrooms are automatically applied to the appropriate period, making it easy for you to identify seasonal/quarterly pickup trends. When did the client pick up most of their guestrooms? What was your property's best available rate on those nights versus the contracted rate?

The easiest way to create contract periods is by clicking the Auto Create Volume Contract Period button at the top of the Volume Contracts page. Then enter the forecasted rooms and rate for each per period.

Contract periods are created automatically based on the time period selected in the Anticipated Periods picklist at the top of the page. Seasonal periods are manually defined.

Sending a proposal or contract

After you finish detailing your volume contract, you can create a contract document for the client, by clicking the Merge button. The information you entered in for the agreement will be automatically pasted into your contract—there's no need to re-enter the account or contact details, the forecasted rooms and periods, or the rate information.

Entering pickup

If your property does not have a front office interface you will need to manually enter pickup—don't worry, it's easy. Just click the Enter Pickup button at the top of the page which opens the Volume Contract Pickup tab. Enter the pickup date and then click into the grid to enter the picked up number of rooms and rate. When you're done, click the Save button.

Quiz time

1. You just entered a volume contract and are ready to create the contract to send to the client. What should you do?
   
   • Click the Merge button at the top of the Volume Contract page.
   • Open Microsoft Word, type the contract, and attach the contract to the volume contract record.
   • Open the account and click the Merge button at the top of the page.

   To create a contract or proposal, click the Merge button at the top of the Volume Contract page.

Summary

To make it easier for you to gauge pickup, divide the contract into smaller time periods. During the contract term, if guestroom pickup is much lower than projected, you might try to renegotiate for higher rates. Of course, if pickup is higher than expected, the customer might try to renegotiate a lower rate for the current year! If you do not track guestroom pickup, you can still benefit from using the volume contract record as a "home" for managing all client communication and for merging the contract.

If you handle only transient / individual business travel, you have completed your online training. Thank you so much. As you’re working, remember we're just a click away in the Amadeus Training & Help tab if you have questions.

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