Early Departure Policies

Stay allows users to charge an Early Departure Fee for reservations that depart prior to their scheduled departure date. The early departure fee is calculated based on the Early Departure Policy associated with the rate plan, package, or group.

Feature Setting

Name: Early Departure Fee
Value: Must be enabled
Comments: License is not required

Permission

Stay_ManageEarlyDeparturePolicy: Users with this permission can add or modify the early departure policies. By default, this permission is assigned to users with access to the following roles:
- System Administrator
- Stay Hotel Manager
- Department Manager
- Stay Hotel Supervisor
- Stay Accounting
Stay_OverrideEarlyDepartuePolicy: Users with this permission can override and change the early departure policy that associated with a reservation. By default, this permission is assigned to users with access to the following roles:
- System Administrator
- Stay Hotel Manager
- Department Manager
- Stay Front Desk
- Stay Hotel Supervisor
- GSA Supervisor
- Stay Accounting

Early Departure Policies Section

When the Early Departure Fee feature setting is enabled, users can view and mange the early departure policies from Early Departure Policies section in the Policies and Codes screen (Settings à All Settings à Policies and Codes). All the active policies created by the users are displayed in this section.

The Early Departure Policies section displays the following details:

Field	Description
Name	Displays the policy name as a hyperlink. When clicked, users can edit the policy details. This column can be sorted. Users can search for a record using the policy name.
Code	Displays the policy code. This column can be sorted. Users can search for a record using the policy code.
Description	Displays a description for the policy.
Status	Displays the status of the policy.

By default, only active policies are displayed. Users can view the inactive policies by enabling the Show Inactive checkbox. Users can set a default early departure policy by clicking on the Set Default Departure Policy hyperlink. When clicked, the Default Early Departure Policy pop-up screen appears that allows users to select the default policy from the list of policies displayed in the Early Departure Policy drop-down list.

Create New Early Departure Policy

Users can create a new early departure policy by clicking on the Add button in the Early Departure Policies section. This button is displayed only to users with Stay_ManageEarlyDeparturePolicy permission. When clicked, the New Early Departure Policy screen appears that displays the following fields:

Field

Description

Active Checkbox

Allows users to activate or inactivate a policy.
It is enabled by default.

Name

This is a mandatory field that allows users to enter a name for the policy.
Users can enter a maximum of 50 characters.

Code

This is a mandatory field that allows users to enter a code for the policy.
Users can enter a maximum of 10 characters.

Description

This is a mandatory field that allows users to enter a description for the policy.
Users can enter a maximum of 200 characters.

Post Charge As

This is a mandatory single-select drop-down list that allows users to select the transaction item to be used to post the early departure fee to the reservations.
All the active transaction items in the property are displayed in the drop-down list.

Loyalty Program Exceptions

This is a multi-select drop-down list that allows users to select the loyalty programs for which the property wants to give exceptions in the early departure fee.
All the loyalty programs added to the property are displayed along with its tier/level. For example, Bonvoy - Silver.

VIP Exceptions

This is a multi-select drop-down list that allows users to select the VIP statuses for which the property wants to give exceptions in the early departure fee.
All the VIP statuses configured by the property are displayed in the drop-down list.

Policy Application

This field allows users to choose when the policy must be applied to a reservation. Users can choose from the following options:

Immediately After Booking: When selected, the early departure fee is applied to all reservations for which the departure date is preponed after the reservation is booked.
After Check-In: When selected, the early departure fee is applied to all reservations for which the departure date is preponed or checked-out early after the reservation is checked-in.

Departure Fee

This is a mandatory field that allows users to configure an early departure fee for the reservations. Users can choose from the following options:

Flat Fee: When selected, users can set a flat amount as the early departure fee.
Days/Nights: When selected, the early departure fee is calculated based on the number of nights selected. Users can from the following two sub-options:

Field	Description
Custom Nights	This option can be selected when a fixed number of nights must be added as an early departure fee. Any numeric value greater than 0 can be entered in the text box that appears when this option is selected.
Charge Based on Min LOS	When selected, the early departure fee is applied based on the minimum length of stay restriction with which the reservation was booked. The remaining nights required to satisfy the Min LOS is calculated, and the nights are applied as an early departure fee. For example, if a reservation is booked with the restriction of MinLOS as five nights and when the guest checks out on 3rd day of stay, then the remaining three nights will be applied as an early departure fee.
Max Nights to Charge	This option is enabled for selection when the Charge Based on Min LOS option is selected. Users can use this option to set an upper limit for the maximum number of nights to be charged as the early departure fee. The number of nights configured in this field is applied as the early departure fee, irrespective of the number of nights remaining to satisfy the Min LOS.

Include Auto Recurring Fees

Users can use this option to include the auto-recurring fee charges to be applied to the reservations along with the nightly room rate when calculating the early departure fee for the reservations.
When selected, following auto recurring fees: default, single-condition, and multi-condition are added to the early departure fee.

Include Estimated Tax

Users can use this option to include the tax amount along with the nightly room rate when calculating the early departure fee for the reservations.
When disabled, nightly room rate excluding tax is calculated as the early departure fee.

Once values are entered for the required fields, users can click the Save button to save the policy. The policy details can be edited by clicking on the policy name hyperlink. When clicked, the Edit Early Departure Policy screen appears that allows users to edit the following details:

Name
Code
Description
Post charge as
Loyalty Program Exceptions
VIP Exceptions
Departure fee

Users can inactive a policy by disabling the Active checkbox. When disabled, the following message is displayed in the Estimated Charges section of the reservation for which the inactive policy is mapped: The Early Departure Policy is No longer active. Please select another policy.