Why are my Meal Plans not distributing at End of Day in Apex and how do I fix this?

Why are my Meal Plans not distributing at End of Day in Apex and how do I fix this?

The main reason for Meal Plans such as Breakfast and Dinner not distributing during the End of Day, is usually due to the Rate Season expiring or that it does not exist. Please see the below steps in order to extend or add a Rate Season.
1. Rate Seasons Details
Rate schedules determine the rate amounts and inclusive amounts, which will be discussed further in the FAQ section. The Rate Season determines rate validity/period and when a Rate code is selected in the reservation process it will be from the code created in this menu under the details tab.
Please note
Should your Rate Season already exist please skip this section and focus on point 2 to determine if the Rate Season is indeed valid. 

To create a Rate Season navigate to Administration-> Reservation Codes-> Rates->  Rate Seasons Assignment. Click on the "Add" button to add the details as follows:
  1. Code: Enter a 4 character code of your choice.
  1. Description: Type the Rate Assignment description for example Rack, STO etc.
  1. CRS Code: Enter the eRes Rate Code should this code be used on the Central Reservation System.
  1. Use as CRS Default: Should the OTA_PMS Interface be used only ONE rate code needs to be flagged as the default when making reservations on eRes. Should a reservation be made using a rate code that does not exist on the PMS the default code will be used.
  1. Market Category: Select the Rate Category applicable.
  1. Default Deposit: Used when the same deposits always apply when using this rate.
  1. Default Meal Plan: When it's selected as default, it will pull through every time the rate is used in a reservation.
  1. Min Night Stay: This is a restriction to only activate the rate when the reservation is booked over a specified amount of nights.
  1. Must Start on Day: A restriction that will only activate this rate when the arrival is on the specified day of the week. This is usually used for special weekend rates.
When the fields under "Settings" are ticked it will specify how the rate should be utilised:
  1. Should the user select the Confidential field, then rate will not display on the guest's confirmation letter but "Negotiated" will print on the confirmation and registration forms. Should the guest not be allowed to see the rate on the invoice make sure charges are routed to a second folio/house account, for example STO Rates should be activated as confidential rates.
  1. Complimentary: When activated it will display on the Occupancy Report. Remember to check if the bed levy should be raised for complimentary rooms.
  1. House Use:  These rates will appear on the Daily Occupancy Report, remember to select the "No Room Tax" field as well.
  1. No Commission: When the fields are ticked, the system will not allow commission and room tax to be posted.
  1. No Discount: When this field is ticked, Debtor Master/ AR Discounts created will not be used.
2. Rate Assignment/Validity
Rate Assignment is used when creating new Rate Seasons as well as extending a rate seasons. This is where the rate season validity is added.
  1. Currency: Usually the default currency the rate should charge on the guest's invoice. Please note that all charges are converted and posted in Local currency.
  1. From Date: Start Date activating the rate for the period.
  1. To Date: End Date of the rate for the period. Please note that should the periods overlap, that Apex will choose the last created rate periods.
  1. Days of the Week: Different rates schedules can be applied for the different days of the week.
To create a new Rate Season click on the "Add Season" button enter all the above fields and click on the "Save Season" button to save the new season in the system.
To extend an existing Rate Season click on the "Change Season" button and select the "Save Season" button.
Once the above has been added going forward the Meal Plans will distribute and transactions can be seen on the distribution account. 
3. Inclusive Amounts
To check whether the Inclusive amounts do indeed exist and have been configured correctly, please see the below article on how to add inclusive amounts to Rates in Apex:


4. Distribution Account
The last step in the process would be to fix the Distribution should it not have taken place. 
  1. In order to accomplish this navigate to the reservations that did not distribute meal plans and confirm the Rate codes used on the reservation for example: Rack Rate.
  1. Next navigate to Administration -> Reservation Codes -> Rates -> Rate Schedules. Here we need to check the "Inclusive Amounts" tab to confirm the amounts that needed to distribute for example: Breakfast R120 and Dinner R200.
  1. Thereafter navigate to the Distribution Account by using the "Reservation Look-up" menu options. Once the distribution account has been opened please confirm that the meal plans did not in fact distribute, these transactions should be listed at the bottom of the "Invoice" tab and will have the guest's surname and reservation number as reference.
  1. To add the revenue splits Accommodation needs to be adjusted seeing that we are taking revenue from accommodation and distributing it as food revenue to breakfast and dinner. In our example Mr. Smith stayed for one night and his Total stay was R2500 per night including Breakfast of R120 and Dinner of R200.
  1. Seeing that distribution never took place for Mr. Smith's reservation we need to click on the "Adjust" button and select the code as "Accommodation" complete the details and enter the amount R120 (this will be for breakfast). 
  1. The account will then reflect the adjustment as seen below:
  1. Accommodation: -R120
  1. To counter this we need to charge Breakfast with R120. Click on the "Charge" button and select the charge code "Breakfast" complete the details and enter the amount R120, then select the "Post" button. The account will now display as seen below:
  1. Accommodation: -R120
  2. Breakfast: R120
  3. Total: R0.00
  1. This process will need to be repeated for the Dinner distribution. Click on the "Adjust" button and select the code as "Accommodation" complete the details and enter the amount R200 (this will be for dinner). 
  1. The account will then reflect the adjustment as seen below: 
  1. Accommodation: -R200
  1. To counter this we need to charge Dinner with R200. Click on the "Charge" button and select the charge code "Dinner" complete the details and enter the amount R200, then select the "Post" button. The account will now display as seen below:
    1. Accommodation: -R200
    2. Dinner: R200
    3. Total: R0.00
  1. This should be repeated for every reservation that did not distribute during End of Day.

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