Auto-Rates

If properly configured, auto-rate calculation can take rate selection even further than Selecting Rates, by making it a 1-click or even a no-click operation.

Depending on the Auto-Rates Options (Maintenance / Program Option), you may or may not see an Auto-calculate Rate Charges button on the Transaction and Select Rates dialogs.  Auto-rates are disabled by default, because the rates must be set up very carefully for it to work properly.  (See the Auto-Rates Setup section for details.)

If auto-rates are enabled, then they can also be set to automatically be added when a reservation is created or checked in.  In either of these cases, charges become fully automatic and the Select Rates dialog may never be needed except for special cases.

If it's not set up to be fully automatic, then you can still click the Auto-calculate Rate Charges button on the Transactions dialog to instantly add the appropriate rate charges.  This eliminates the need to go into Select Rates, pick the rates that apply, and so on.  They will be added directly in the Transactions dialog as new charges.

Recalculating auto-rates

When changes are made to a reservation such as extending the stay, the charges usually need to be adjusted.

You can set the option to automatically recalculate rates whenever there is a change, but that could result in a lot of rate adjustments and re-adjustments when "tinkering" with a reservation (this may depend on how many different add-ons affect your rates).  It may be better in some cases to leave the re-calculation disabled, and make sure the staff is trained to use the "Auto-calculate Rate Charges" function on the Transactions dialog whenever changes are made.  If the Auto-calculate function is used and the rates are already correct then it won't change anything, so it never hurts to double-check it.  (Note: This assumes that the "Credit & add only charges that have changed" option is used for recalculating rates -- other options can result in a lot of redundant adding & removing of charges.)

If it's recalculating when you don't want it to for a particular reservation, e.g. due to a special circumstance, then you can stop the recalculations by checking the "Disable automatic rate recalculations" option in the Reservation Details.

Note that once a reservation is checked out, it will no longer recalculate automatically.  This prevents later rate changes from affecting old reservations accidentally.

Linked Reservations

As with the manual Select Rates function, rates are automatically calculated for linked reservations if they are synchronized or sub-members.  Likewise, you need to be aware that if the reservations are made non-synchronized later, then the rates need to be recalculated for both the original master reservation and the non-synchronized reservation.  The charges for the linked reservation will be removed from the master, and added to the non-synchronized reservation.  If necessary, you can transfer part of the payment from the original master reservation to the non-synchronized reservation so that the master still balances out, and then a payment or refund can be added to the non-synchronized reservation to make up the difference due to the changes.

One way to avoid some of the issues above is to avoid using non-synchronized whenever possible.  For instance if a reservation that's synchronized needs to be checked out early, change it to a sub-member instead of non-synchronized.  That way the billing is still combined, and only affects the master reservation.

Deleting Auto-Rate Charges

To prevent "rate tampering", auto-rate charges cannot be deleted without a Manager operator access level once the reservation is checked in.  If a mistake is made requiring that the rates be removed (e.g. the reservation is checked in by mistake, or a mistake is made that will look too confusing if an auto-recalculation is done), then you must undo the check-in to make the reservation Pending.  This can be done from Reservation Details by unchecking the "Checked In" box.  Then you can delete the auto-rate charges (which will be in blue).  They will be re-added appropriately when the check-in is done again (assuming that's the auto-rate option you're using), or if the Auto-calculate Rates function is used again.