Australian technology company Levart has introduced anAutomatic Rate Management (ARM) feature that not only saves teams time on manual rate management but can also help properties increase revenue.

Suitable for any size of accommodation, the customisable ARM tool automatically adjusts the property’s daily rates based on future occupancy of the property or room type and lead time.

Rates are updated every 30 minutes for direct website bookings as well as Online Travel Agents.

“Traditional revenue management systems update irregularly or during the day when the Revenue Manager is at work, hence many opportunities to increase rates are missed over weekends or during the evening,” said Levart’s Managing Director, Ian Simmonds.

“Rate management is a 24 hours-a-day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year task, if revenue is to be maximised.”

Dreamtime Resorts introduced Levart’s Auto Rate Management Tool to assist with automatically increasing rates as occupancy levels rise.

Dreamtime Resorts Revenue Manager, Jaimee Wood, said the system has saved the team a lot of time.

“Rates are automatically updated every 30 minutes which has saved us many hours of work each week manually adjusting rates,” she said.

“It is so easy to use and there are many ways to customise it to suit the needs of the property. Our properties have seen a great increase in revenue since using the tool and I highly recommend it along with the Levart booking engine and channel manager.”

Broome Time Resort in Western Australia has traditionally had strong rates, but Levart’sAutomatic Rate Management feature has taken revenue to another level.

“Broome is a Bucket List town in Australia – our rates have always been good,” said Broom Time Resort General Manager, Dean Cooper.

“However, since Broome Time Resort switched to Levart’s Auto Rate Tool, we have seen the rate gains bigger than ever anticipated. The web-based tool is easy to use and their phone support when you do need assistance is nothing but brilliant.”

Icon Resort Apartments just recently started using Levart’s Auto Rate Management functionality, but Director of Sales and Marketing, Steve Brewster, says he can already see how it will support the team to increase revenue.

“Our reservations team are very busy with many tasks throughout the day and understandably are normally more focussed on the next 30 – 60 days in terms of rates; this is because the clock is ticking to either price those rooms to sell, or if already busy, to price those rooms to achieve optimum rates,” he said.

“Often an event or period in the future may suddenly sell many rooms and if this happens quickly, certain room types can become heavily booked without being noticed immediately. The Auto Rate Management solves this by automatically detecting such busy periods and, based on the parameters we set, automatically adjusts our rates to suit the demand and therefore generates more income for the same booking.”

Since enabling this functionality, Icon has already received bookings with a higher rate than initially priced due to the automated function. It also makes loading rates a much easier task, particularly if when there are multiple rate plans per room, Brewster explained.

“Because we have multiple rate types – both flexible and non-refundable – for each room type, we now load one rate, and the system automatically calculates the other rates and loads them saving huge amounts of time normally required for rate loading,” he said.

“You can also easily see, for as long as you have rates loaded, what dates the system has adjusted the rates and what extra revenue you have earned by using this system.”

Brewster believes the system more than pays for itself.

“Very quickly, we were able to determine that only one booking per month would easily cover the cost of this functionality,” he said.

“A no-brainer investment indeed.”

For more information on Levart’s Automatic Rate Management tool visit levart.com.au