Guest Categories and Policies

Guest age categories and hotel policies decide who counts toward a room's capacity, how extras are priced, and what guests are told about cancellations and rules. Getting these right keeps quotes accurate and prevents awkward corrections later.

Guest categories and age bands

Define the guest categories your hotel prices by and give each one an age range. Typical categories are:

• Adults — always enabled; open-ended at the top.
• Children — set the age range to match your pricing.
• Infants — often stay free or use a crib.
• Teenagers / young adults — optional, for hotels that price teens separately.
• Pets — no age range; enable if you accept pets.

The age ranges are yours to set, with one rule: they must connect without gaps, so every age from newborn to adult falls into exactly one category. When a guest says "two adults and a 10-year-old", your ranges decide which category the child belongs to — and therefore how the quote is priced.

How categories affect quotes

• Occupancy: each room type has separate limits per category (for example, up to 2 adults and 2 children), so set them to reflect what each room can really hold.
• Pricing of extras: products can apply to specific categories — breakfast might be paid for adults but free for infants. Category ranges therefore change the quote total.

If you change an age range, review your per-category product prices and room occupancy limits at the same time, so all three stay consistent. Quotes built from these settings are covered in Creating and Sending Quotes.

Cancellation and other policies

Each hotel maintains its own set of policies, and each option in a quote carries a cancellation policy. For every policy, provide:

1. A clear name guests will recognize (for example, "Flexible" or "Non-refundable").
2. A plain-language description of the terms — deadlines, charges, exceptions. This text is what guests see when they ask "Can I cancel for free?".
3. Payment schedule — what is charged, when and by whom, for example "A 30% deposit is due at booking. The balance is paid at the hotel." If your hotel has a connected PMS, this text comes from your PMS and refreshes whenever its payment terms change.
4. How to pay the hotel — your own text for guests who pay you directly, such as bank details or a phone number for giving a card. Guests see it once the quote is Awaiting Guarantee. This text is always yours: your PMS never writes it, and it is required when the policy is set to Per the payment instructions — the hotel collects.
5. What the guest must do to book — Nothing — no payment or card needed, Per the payment instructions — the hotel collects, Card as a guarantee (nothing charged now), Deposit at booking or Full payment at booking. Deposit, full payment and card guarantee send the guest a secure link once your hotel has a payment gateway (Stripe or Apaleo Pay) connected and selected under Payments; see Ask Guests to Pay or Leave a Card at Booking.

In the policy form these appear in three sections: Cancellation terms, What the guest must do to book and Payment. If your hotel has a connected PMS, the cancellation terms, the choice of what the guest must do to book, any deposit, the free-cancellation window and the payment schedule are synced from your PMS and marked Synced from PMS; change them in your PMS. How to pay the hotel and whether the policy is active stay editable in Brixa — and so does the choice of what the guest must do to book while a synced policy shows Per the payment instructions (see Ask Guests to Pay or Leave a Card at Booking). See What Guests Are Told About Your Cancellation Policy for how this reads to guests.

Guests are shown the policy attached to the option they are considering, so keep descriptions and payment instructions honest and unambiguous — vague wording leads to disputes.

Rate descriptions

Each rate your PMS offers (for example, "Room Only" or "Bed and Breakfast") carries its own description of what is included, and that description becomes part of what guests are told about the option — so write it the way you would want a guest to read it, covering meals, packages, and any conditions, not as internal shorthand. An empty or vague description means guests get a vague answer; an inaccurate one means guests get told something that is not true, so keep it complete and correct — if it says breakfast is included, guests will be told so.

Staying in sync with your PMS

If your hotel has a connected PMS, it is the source of truth. The synced parts of a policy — the terms, the choice of what the guest must do to book, any deposit, the free-cancellation window and the payment schedule — update in Brixa after each sync, so make those changes in your PMS and then run a sync or wait for the next one. Keep the parts that stay in Brixa aligned yourself: the How to pay the hotel text, whether a policy is active, and the rate descriptions and guest categories you maintain in Brixa. A mismatch — for example, a rate description that no longer matches what the rate includes — means guests get told one thing and charged another. After changes, send a test question about the policy or rate to confirm the answer matches what your PMS enforces.

Related setup

Categories interact directly with room occupancy and product pricing — see Rooms, Products, and Amenities — and with the core details in Setting Up Your Hotel Profile.