Track booking sources and enforce minimum stays and stop-sale closeouts.
Overview
Revenue managers need to know where bookings come from and control when rooms can be sold. Distribution channels label each booking’s source (website, walk-in, OTA). Booking restrictions enforce rules like minimum length of stay or complete stop-sale for date ranges – optionally limited to one room type.
Configure channels under Hotel → Distribution → Channel / OTA setup and restrictions under Hotel → Distribution → Restrictions.
How It Works
On every booking, set Source channel to the appropriate channel record. Channel mix reports group revenue and room-nights by this field – see Reports & Analytics.
Restrictions are checked automatically when you save or confirm a booking. If a rule overlaps the stay dates:
- Stop sale – no new bookings allowed; save/confirm fails with an error.
- Minimum stay (nights) – bookings shorter than the required nights are rejected.
Leave room type empty on a restriction to apply the rule to every room type at the property, or pick a specific type for targeted rules (e.g. suites only during a festival).
Step-by-Step Guide
Channels
- Open Hotel → Distribution → Channel / OTA setup.
- Click New and enter channel name and code (e.g. “Booking.com”, code BDC).
- Optionally limit the channel to one property or leave property empty for company-wide use.
- Add mapping notes if you use external channel manager IDs.
- On each booking, select the channel in Source channel.
Restrictions
- Open Hotel → Distribution → Restrictions and click New.
- Enter a description, property, from/to dates, and optional room type.
- Set minimum stay nights and/or enable stop sale.
- Save – the rule is active immediately for overlapping bookings.
- To lift a closeout, uncheck Active or adjust the date range.
Fields Table
| Field Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
Channel |
Display name of the source |
Expedia |
Code |
Short unique channel code |
EXP |
Channel – Property |
Optional hotel scope; empty = all properties |
Grand Plaza Hotel |
Mapping notes |
Internal notes about channel manager setup |
Hotel ID 88421 on channel manager |
Source channel (on booking) |
Channel selected on a reservation |
Walk-in |
Restriction – Description |
Label explaining the rule |
New Year 2-night minimum |
Restriction – Property |
Hotel the rule applies to |
Grand Plaza Hotel |
Room type (restriction) |
Optional – empty means all types |
Deluxe King |
From / To |
Date window the rule covers |
31 Dec – 2 Jan |
Minimum stay (nights) |
Shortest allowed stay during the window |
2 |
Stop sale |
Blocks all new overlapping bookings in scope |
Checked |
Active (restriction) |
Whether the rule is enforced |
Checked |
Field Explanations
Channel
How staff recognize the source – match names to your OTAs and direct channels.
Code
Required short code for exports and integrations. Keep codes unique within the company.
Channel – Property
When set, the channel is mainly for that hotel. Leave empty for shared channels like “Corporate portal”.
Mapping notes
Free text for revenue staff – parity rules, commission notes, external system IDs.
Source channel (on booking)
Drives channel mix reporting. Train reservations to set this on every booking for accurate analysis.
Restriction – Description
Appears in error messages when a booking violates the rule – make it clear for agents.
Restriction – Property
Rules are property-specific. Multi-hotel databases need separate rules per hotel.
Room type (restriction)
If blank, the rule applies to all room types on the property. If set, only bookings including that type are checked.
From / To
Calendar window. A booking overlapping any part of this range triggers the rule.
Minimum stay (nights)
0 means no minimum. If 3, a 2-night booking during the window is rejected.
Stop sale
When enabled, no new bookings may overlap the window for the scoped room types – full closeout.
Active (restriction)
Inactive rules are ignored. Use this to temporarily disable without deleting history.
Tips
- Create a “Walk-in” and “Phone” channel even if you have few OTAs – channel mix is only useful when every booking is tagged.
- Use stop sale for sold-out dates instead of deleting rate plan lines – restrictions give a clear error to agents.
- Combine minimum stay with BAR pricing on peak nights to protect length-of-stay strategy.
Common Mistakes
- Missing source channel on bookings Untagged bookings appear blank on channel mix reports and distort revenue attribution.
- Overlapping stop-sale and live bookings Existing confirmed bookings are not auto-cancelled – stop sale only blocks new/changed reservations.
- Wrong date range on restriction Remember To must be on or after From; an inverted range is rejected on save.