Due to Bulgaria’s upcoming transition to euro, properties in Bulgaria will face a number of important changes that will affect how Booking.com and your Exely system operate.
The key change is that Booking.com will automatically switch the currency of all properties in Bulgaria to euro during the night of November 20–21.
To ensure uninterrupted operation and correct price display after this date, several steps must be completed. Exely is doing everything possible to automate this process, but some actions will require your attention.
What will happen and what you need to know
Automatic creation of euro rate plans in Exely
Between November 13 and 18 (inclusive), Exely will automatically create copies of all your active rate plans in Bulgarian lev, converting them to euro.
What will be copied:
All active rate plans with the currency “Bulgarian lev”.
Together with the base rate plan in levs, all its active derived rate plans will be copied (even if they were already in another currency, the euro copies will still be created).
Inactive base rate plans, if they have active derived rate plans in levs.
Active dynamic rate plans and all rate plans they consist of.
What will NOT be copied:
Rate Mix.
Inactive derived rate plans.
Inactive base rate plans if there are no active derived rate plans in levs.
Note. Exely will later provide a tool for manually copying these rate plans, if needed.
The copying process may take from several minutes to several hours. While a specific rate plan is being copied, you will temporarily be unable to edit it (only for a few minutes).
Once copying is completed, you will receive a notification in the Exely extranet.
If you edited rate plans during the copying process, please ensure that the changes were also applied to the rate plan copies in euros.
Prices for extra services that were originally in levs will automatically appear in euro versions as well.
Key characteristics of the new euro rate plans in Exely
Prices in copied rate plans will be converted according to the Bulgarian National Bank exchange rate, with rounding rules preserved. For the rest, they will be identical to the rate plans in levs.
Rate plans in levs and their euro copies are not synchronized. Any changes must be applied separately.
Temporarily, rate plans in levs and euro cannot be deleted — but can be deactivated or edited.
For derived rate plans, please review and adjust extended formulas, if necessary.
All copied rate plans will be created as inactive and will have '[EUR]' appended to their names.
Currency switch on Booking.com (night of November 20–21)
During the night from November 20 (23:00 CET) to November 21 (06:00 CET), Booking.com will close sales for your property and switch your property’s currency to euro.
Following this, you must review the prices in the euro rate plans, activate them, and map the Exely euro rate plans with your Booking.com rates. Failure to do so will result in new bookings and modifications to existing bookings from Booking.com not being delivered to Exely, and consequently, to your PMS, after the currency change.
Your action plan: step-by-step
Before November 20 (inclusive)
1. Configure check-in/late check-out rules and transfers in Exely. Ensure there are prices in euros set for early check-in/late check-out rules and transfers, otherwise they will not be shown starting November 21.
2. Create euro rate plan copies in your PMS. Create the euro versions of your rate plans in your PMS.
Pay attention. Mappings for old rate plans in levs should remain unchanged in Exely, because existing bookings from the Exely Booking Engine rely on them.
3. Set up mappings between Exely and your PMS. From the moment Exely creates the euro rate plans until November 20 (inclusive), map the PMS euro rate plans to the euro rate plans created in Exely.
From November 21 onward
1. Actions Required for Booking.com:
On November 21, Booking.com will officially switch your property's currency to euro.
You must then map your Booking.com rates in Exely Channel Manager to the newly created euro rate plans in Exely.
2. Bookings made earlier in Exely Booking Engine in levs will continue using lev rate plans:
Vouchers and emails will show lev alongside euro.
Payments in the booking engine will still be processed in levs (if configured that way).
3. After the transition, you may gradually convert other connected channels to euro.
Important recommendations and warnings
1. Keep lev rate plans in your PMS until all guests who booked at rate plans in levs have departed — this will prevent overbooking and missing booking modifications.
2. Some PMS can convert currencies instead of creating copies, but this carries the following risks:
Loosing booking modifications: Modifications for old bookings made in Exely Booking Engine in levs will not be delivered to your PMS, if rate plans in the PMS are only in euros.
Issues with bookings delivery: If you decide to convert rate plans in your PMS, you should do it as close as possible to the moment when the currency switch happens on Booking.com (November 20, 23:00 CET). After you convert the currency in the PMS and until Booking.com switches the currency on their side, bookings from Booking.com will not be delivered to the PMS due to the currency mismatch.
PMS compatibility: Not all PMS can correctly accept bookings when the currency is changed. You need to confirm this information with your PMS vendor.
3. To minimize risks and avoid overbooking, we strongly recommend keeping both lev and euro rate plans in the PMS. After all guests that booked at rate plans in levs have checked out, you will be able to fully switch to using rate plans in euros.
4. The euro currency will be automatically added to all extra services so that they are sold correctly together with the rate plans in euro in Exely Booking Engine.
5. You have the option to create your own euro rate plans instead of using the automatically generated copies. Deletion of both copied and original rate plans is available upon request to technical support.
What’s next?
In December, we will release a tool to help quickly create euro copies of:
Rate Mix;
early check-in / late check-out rules;
transfers;
inactive rate plans in levs.
