Advanced Pricing Rules Configuration Guide
This is a complete guide for product managers and developers. It helps you implement dynamic pricing strategies in booking platforms. Learn how to use advanced pricing rules effectively. These rules will help you optimize revenue, reward customer loyalty, and respond to market conditions in real-time.
Understanding Advanced Pricing Rules
Core Concept
Advanced Pricing Rules help you create smart pricing changes. These changes automatically apply to bookings. They depend on many different factors.
Old pricing models are fixed. But these flexible rules let TT Pro react smartly. It can adjust prices based on when someone books, who the customer is, how complex the service is, or where it's located.
TT Pro checks these rules one after another. They follow an order you set by priority. This makes sure your pricing is clear and managed. If a rule matches the booking, TT Pro applies its action. This means many adjustments can layer together for very exact pricing control.
Key Benefits
- Revenue Optimization — TT Pro automatically adjusts pricing based on demand, peak times, or seasonal changes. This helps you earn the most profit.
- Customer Segmentation — Create specific pricing plans for new customers, loyal regulars, or VIP clients. This helps you keep customers and get new ones.
- Operational Efficiency — Account for rush services, travel distance, or property complexity. TT Pro handles these without you needing to do anything manually.
- Market Responsiveness — Launch special promotions for a limited time or set prices for specific locations. This helps TT Pro react to what competitors are doing.
- Transparency — Customers see a clear breakdown of prices. This helps them understand the value they are getting.
Seven Rule Types for Complete Control
Dynamic Pricing
Adjust prices based on time, like day of week, time of day, or seasons. This helps manage prices during busy times, such as weekends or holidays.
Service-Based
Set different prices for specific services. This is useful for specialized services needing unique skills or tools.
Customer Type
Offer special prices for different customer groups: new, regular, or VIPs. Use discounts to get new customers or reward loyal ones with exclusive rates.
Location-Based
Adjust prices based on location, using ZIP codes or distance. This considers travel time, local market rates, or service area limits.
Conditional
Create detailed rules that combine many factors. For example, property details like bedrooms, bathrooms, and size. This handles complex pricing with several conditions.
Time-Based
Add fees for urgent bookings, based on how soon the service is needed. Charge more for same-day or emergency requests.
Package
Offer deals that combine several services. These are managed separately from single service rules, perfect for promotions and value packs.
Five Action Types: How Rules Modify Pricing
Each pricing rule uses one of five action types to change the total cost of a booking. Knowing when to use each action type is key. It helps you create pricing strategies that are clear to customers and meet your business goals.
01
Multiply Price
This action applies a percentage to the current total. For example, a multiplier of 1.5 means a 50% increase. A multiplier of 0.9 means a 10% decrease. Use this for adjustments that should grow or shrink with the base price, like weekend surcharges or off-peak discounts.
02
Add Amount
This adds a set dollar amount to the total cost. It's perfect for flat fees that don't change with the price. Examples include travel surcharges, rush service fees, or admin costs. The added amount stays the same, no matter the base service price.
03
Subtract Amount
This removes a set dollar amount from the total cost. It's good for discounts, referral credits, or loyalty rewards. Use it when you want to give a specific dollar amount off, instead of a percentage discount.
04
Set Fixed Price
This action replaces all previous price calculations with a specific, fixed amount. It completely overrides the calculated total. Please note: This action is not available for service-based rules. Use it for special promotions or fixed-rate offers.
05
Percentage Discount
This applies a percentage reduction to the current total. For example, a 10% discount reduces the price by one-tenth. This is often easier for customers to understand than multipliers when you're promoting discounts. It's ideal for marketing campaigns.
Time-Based Conditions
Temporal Precision
Time-based conditions help you set rules that turn on or off at certain times. They are key for pricing strategies that change with demand. This includes changes based on the week, day, or even the whole year.
Day of Week
You can pick any day or days from Sunday to Saturday. This is great for adding charges on weekends, offering discounts on weekdays, or running special daily deals. You can select several days for one rule.
Time of Day
Set specific time blocks using the 24-hour clock (for example, 14:00–18:00 means 2 PM to 6 PM). Use this for extra charges after hours, morning discounts, or peak-time pricing. These time blocks can even go past midnight for overnight rules.
Date Range
Choose start and end dates for rules. This works well for seasonal offers or promotions that last only a short time. It's essential for holiday pricing, summer or winter rate changes, or specific campaign deals. If you want a rule to continue indefinitely, leave the end date blank.
Service, Customer & Property Conditions
Service Conditions
Service Types: You can target specific services in your catalog. Apply rules to single services or groups of related services. This gives you precise control over pricing.
Service Count: Set how many services are needed, from a minimum to a maximum. This helps create pricing based on how much is booked (volume pricing). Or, you can make rules apply only when certain services are booked together.
Customer Conditions
Customer Type: Divide your customers into groups: new, regular, or VIP. Offer incentives to new customers to attract them. Reward loyal customers with special rates.
Booking Count: Set minimum or maximum limits based on how many times a customer has booked in the past. This allows for discounts that increase over time, or pricing that changes as the customer relationship grows.
Total Spent: Target customers based on how much money they have spent in total. This makes VIP pricing levels or promotions based on total spending possible.
Property Conditions
Bedrooms/Bathrooms: Set minimum or maximum room counts. This includes support for half-bathrooms. Adjust pricing based on the property's size and complexity.
Square Footage: Define ranges for square footage. The maximum value in the range is not included (for example, 1000–1499 for min: 1000, max: 1500). This allows for precise pricing adjustments based on size.
Property Type: Separate pricing for different types of properties. This includes residential, commercial, and other categories. You can create specific pricing strategies for each type.
Location, Booking & Combination Logic
Location Conditions
ZIP Codes: You can use exact ZIP codes for pricing that changes by location. Enter several codes, separated by commas, to set up service areas or special pricing zones.
Distance: Set a minimum and maximum distance (in miles) from your main business location. This allows TT Pro to automatically add travel fees or define the boundaries of your service area.
Booking Conditions
Frequency: You can set rules for one-time, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly bookings. This lets you give special pricing to regular customers (like a subscription) or charge more for single, one-time services.
Lead Time: Set time limits for how many hours before a service a booking can be made. This lets TT Pro add extra rush fees for last-minute bookings or give discounts for bookings made far in advance.
Combination Logic
AND vs OR: When you have several conditions in one rule, you choose how they work together. You can make it so ALL conditions must be true (AND logic), or if just ANY condition is true (OR logic), the rule will apply.
AND logic creates rules that are very specific. OR logic creates broader rules that can be triggered in many ways. Choose the logic that best fits what your business needs.
Advanced Features: Priority, Display & Management
Priority System
Rules run in a specific priority order. Lower numbers mean higher priority (for example, Priority 1 runs before Priority 10). This order is very important. Each rule changes the running total, so the sequence directly affects the final price. Use priority carefully. This ensures discounts apply before extra charges, and base adjustments happen before other changes.
Display Grouping
The "Display As" field lets you name groups for your booking summary. If several rules share the same "Display As" name, TT Pro combines them into one line item. This makes the summary clearer for customers. If you leave this field blank, TT Pro groups them automatically using the rule name. This feature helps you create clear and professional booking summaries.
Rule Management
You can turn rules Active or Inactive without deleting them. This saves your rule settings for later use. TT Pro automatically tracks how many times a rule is used (`timesUsed`) and when it was last used (`lastUsedAt`). This data helps with analytics. You can also set optional start and end dates. This is useful for time-limited campaigns or seasonal rules that TT Pro should activate and deactivate automatically.
How Pricing Rules Work Across Your Platform
Pricing rules work smoothly with all your booking tools and processes. It's important to know how and where these rules are used. This makes sure pricing is always the same and gives customers the best experience, no matter how they book.
Booking Forms
Rules automatically check prices and apply them right away when customers fill out booking forms. Tidy Track Pro's pricing calculator updates after every change a customer makes. This means they see price changes instantly when they pick dates, services, or property details. This clear pricing helps customers trust you and means fewer people leave without finishing their booking.
Manual Bookings
When your staff book for customers, pricing rules can be chosen by hand or applied automatically, depending on how you set them up. This flexibility lets your customer service team give special discounts. It also helps make sure standard pricing is always applied correctly.
Estimates
You can choose for pricing rules to apply when you create estimates. This lets potential customers see accurate prices before they commit to booking. You can set up TT Pro to use all pricing rules for estimates or simpler pricing, based on what your sales process needs.
API Endpoints
All pricing rule tasks are available through API endpoints. This allows other tools, like third-party apps, mobile apps, and custom interfaces, to use your pricing logic. The TT Pro API will give you a detailed list of which rules were used and how each one affected the total price.
Real-World Implementation Examples
Here are practical examples. They show how to set up common pricing situations using TT Pro's rule system. Each example gives you the rule type, its specific conditions, and the action it takes.
Weekend Surcharge
Type: Dynamic Pricing
Conditions: Day of Week = Saturday, Sunday
Action: Multiply by 1.5 (50% increase)
Use Case: Compensate for higher demand and operational costs during weekend bookings
New Customer Discount
Type: Customer Type
Conditions: Customer Type = "new"
Action: 10% percentage discount
Use Case: Incentivize first-time customers to try your service with an introductory offer
Large Property Surcharge
Type: Conditional
Conditions: Bedrooms ≥ 4 AND Square Footage ≥ 3000 (must match ALL)
Action: Add $50
Use Case: Account for additional labor and time required for larger properties
Rush Service Fee
Type: Time-Based
Conditions: Lead Time < 24 hours
Action: Add $25
Use Case: Charge premium for last-minute bookings that require schedule adjustments
Premium Location Pricing
Type: Location-Based
Conditions: ZIP Codes = ["90210", "90211"]
Action: Add $20
Use Case: Adjust pricing for high-cost areas or account for extended travel to specific zones
You can mix and match these examples. This helps you build advanced pricing plans for your business. Start with easy rules. Then, add more complex ones as you see patterns in your booking data.