Load a Whole Year of Hotel Rates in Minutes

Open Rate Calendar, press Bulk Edit, choose Copy visible rates forward and pick a date up to 500 days ahead. Each weekday's visible price repeats until then. You press Publish once. Restrictions are not copied, and nothing reaches channels until you publish.

By the Frontdesko team · Last updated: November 9, 2026

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Can one morning load a year of rates? A guesthouse example

Illustrative scenario. A 12-room guesthouse with three room types and one rate plan, connected to its channels, is a made-up property used to show the screens in order. It is not a customer story, and no figures here are real results.

Screen names are as they appear in the Frontdesko staff app. Times are made up to show the order of the work.

Time	Where	What happens
Mon 09:05	Rate Calendar	The owner opens the Rate Calendar. It shows 14 days of prices for the guesthouse's three room types. She types higher Friday and Saturday prices into the cells for this week. Cells typed but not yet published count as visible.
09:10	Bulk Edit	She presses Bulk Edit. It opens in Copy visible rates forward mode; the other choice is Set a rate for dates. The room types menu has all three types ticked.
09:11	Copy until	She presses the Max (500 days) chip. The preview reads that the copy runs from the day after the grid to 500 days ahead of today, and that nothing is pushed until she presses Publish.
09:12	Copy rates	She presses Copy rates. A message says the visible rates were copied to the end date and to press Publish to save and sync. Monday to Thursday share one price and Friday to Sunday another, so each room type becomes two staged ranges, six in all.
09:13	Publish	She presses Publish. The button shows Publishing… with progress while the rates are saved and sent to the connected channels. She waits instead of pressing it again.
09:25	Bulk Edit, Set a rate for dates	Christmas week needs a higher rate. She opens Bulk Edit again, picks Set a rate for dates, enters the dates, a fixed rate and a minimum stay of three nights, and publishes after the year copy so it is not overwritten.
09:40	Booking page	A guest who searches two nights over Christmas week is told those dates need a minimum stay instead of a bare “no rooms” message. The check-out picker itself starts at the minimum set on her public rate plans.

The slow part used to be typing the same weekday pattern across hundreds of dates. The copy step turns two weeks of prices into the whole horizon, and one Publish saves it. How to choose those prices in the first place is in how to set hotel room rates.

What exactly does Copy visible rates forward copy?

It repeats the 14 days on screen weekday by weekday. The grid shows two of every weekday, and each weekday copies its later visible price, the one you most recently looked at or typed. Prices for different numbers of guests are copied as well. Weekdays that share an identical price are merged, so a flat-priced room type becomes a single staged change.

The copy starts the day after the last day shown and ends on the date you pick.
Only the room types you tick and the rate plan you are viewing are copied.
Restrictions are not copied. Minimum stay and closed-to-arrival rules are set separately.

What are the limits of copying rates forward?

Know these before you rely on it:

500 days from today at most. The channel manager stores prices 500 days ahead by default, and the Copy until date cannot go past it. The screen says dates beyond are not stored.
Nothing is sent until you press Publish. You can stage several passes and publish them together.
One weekly pattern. The copy cannot vary by month. Every Friday in the window gets the same Friday price.
It needs prices on screen. If no rates are loaded for the ticked room types in the 14 visible days, the screen says there is nothing to copy.
Channel limits apply. If a channel rate-limits the update, part of it can stay pending and you press Publish again shortly. Publishing can take a while when a channel is slow, so wait for it to finish.

A flat weekly pattern is a starting point, not a pricing strategy. Seasons, holidays and events are exceptions you stage on top, using the second Bulk Edit option. For the thinking behind the numbers, see rack rate vs BAR.

How does Set a rate for dates handle a season or holiday?

The second Bulk Edit option is for one rate over one stretch. You choose a date range, the room types, optional days of the week, and either a fixed rate or an adjustment by amount or percentage. You can add rates per number of guests and set restrictions in the same pass: minimum stay, maximum stay, closed to arrival and closed to departure. A date range here has no length cap of its own, so a whole season goes in one pass.

Publish the year-long copy first and the exceptions after it. That is our recommendation rather than a rule on screen, but it keeps the special dates from being overwritten.

Does the booking engine show the minimum stay?

Yes. The booking widget now works out the smallest stay a guest can book online and its check-out picker starts there. Guests pick a check-out date rather than a number of nights, see a line reading Minimum stay is N nights, and moving the arrival date keeps the length of stay they chose.

The minimum comes from the minimum stay set on your public rate plans. A lower date-specific minimum also lowers it.
If any public rate plan has no minimum, the picker allows one night, because the search would accept that stay.
The longest stay offered is 30 nights unless the property sets another maximum.
A property with a three-night minimum no longer sees guests choose one or two nights and then be told there is no room.

See also the booking engine and channel manager pages.

What does it cost?

The PMS, Rate Calendar and direct booking engine are free with unlimited rooms. The channel manager that sends rates to Booking.com and other channels is paid: $35 a month for 0 to 10 rooms, $42 for 11 to 30 and $54 for 31 to 50. Details on pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far ahead can I load hotel rates in the Frontdesko rate calendar?

Up to 500 days from today. The Copy visible rates forward option stops at today plus 499 days, which is how far ahead the channel manager stores prices by default. Dates beyond that cannot be picked in the Copy until field.

What does Copy visible rates forward actually copy?

It repeats the prices on screen weekday by weekday: every Monday gets the visible Monday rate, every Saturday the visible Saturday rate, and so on. Prices per number of guests are copied too. Restrictions such as minimum stay are not copied.

Does copying push rates to Booking.com and other channels straight away?

No. Copying only stages the change. Nothing is saved or sent to channels until you press Publish, which saves everything in one batch and syncs it to your connected channels.

Can I copy rates for only some room types?

Yes. The Copy visible rates forward screen has a room types menu where you tick the room types to include, and the copy is made for the rate plan you are viewing.

How do I set a different rate for Christmas or a festival week?

Use the second Bulk Edit option, Set a rate for dates. Choose the dates, the days of the week and a fixed rate or an adjustment, then publish. We suggest publishing the year-long copy first and the exceptions after it, so the special dates are not overwritten.

Does the booking engine respect my minimum stay?

Yes. The booking widget shows the smallest stay guests can book online and its check-out date picker only offers dates from that minimum, with a line reading Minimum stay is N nights. If any public rate plan has no minimum, the picker allows one night, because that plan would accept it.

What happens if the channel manager is slow or rate limiting?

Publishing can take from a few seconds to a while when a channel is slow. If the channel limits requests, you see a message such as Saved N date(s) and the rest stay pending, and you press Publish again shortly. Avoid pressing Publish repeatedly while one publish is still running.

Does the rate calendar cost extra?

No. The PMS, rate calendar and booking engine are free with unlimited rooms. Only the channel manager that sends rates to Booking.com and other channels is paid, at $35, $42 or $54 a month by room band.

Load next year's rates this afternoon

Free PMS and booking engine with unlimited rooms. Add the channel manager when you are ready to publish to channels.