Meal plans: EP, CP, MAP and AP, and how to sell them

• EP, European plan: the room only. Meals, if the guest wants them, are paid for separately.
• CP, continental plan: the room with breakfast. Booking sites call it breakfast included, or bed and breakfast.
• MAP, modified American plan: the room with breakfast and one main meal, usually dinner. Booking sites call it half board.
• AP, American plan: the room with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Booking sites call it full board.

All inclusive goes further, usually adding drinks and some activities. Few Indian hotels sell it, and those that do spell out exactly what it covers.

Booking.com's own list of meal plan codes lines up the same way: a European plan includes no meals, a continental breakfast plan includes breakfast, a half board or modified American plan includes breakfast and dinner, and an American plan includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.

MakeMyTrip and Goibibo use the letters themselves. Their extranet's rate plans carry names such as EP, CP and MAP, and Go-MMT's help suggests searching for “EP” to list every room-only plan you have.

• Guests compare totals, so a hotel showing only a CP price looks dearer beside one showing EP. Where you sell both, show both.
• The meal itself matters: say whether breakfast is a buffet or set, whether there are vegetarian and Jain choices, and when it is served.
• Whether children's meals are included is what families ask first about a plan. Say it in the rate plan.
• For weddings and groups, MAP and AP are often the only plans quoted, because the meals are part of the event.

Booking.com offers meals in two ways: as an extra the guest pays for on arrival, outside the room's price, or included in a rate plan's price.

1. 1For meals paid on arrival, sign in to the extranet and go to “Property”, then “Facilities & services”.
2. 2Under “Price for Meals”, select “Yes” for each meal you offer, and click “See details” to enter its price per person, per day, with any fees or taxes in it.
3. 3If you serve breakfast, choose the options under “Breakfast details”, enter the times, and click “Save”.
4. 4For meals included in a price, go to “Rates & Availability”, then “Rate plans”, and select “Add new rate plan”, or select a plan's name and then “Edit”.
5. 5In the “Meals” row, select “Edit”, then “Yes”, add a meal plan, choose the meals, and click “Apply changes”.

If a channel manager manages your rates, Booking.com says to check first whether it can add meal plans itself, and to map any meal plan you add in the extranet to it.

Go-MMT's extranet can work out each meal plan's price from your room-only price, with what it calls linked rates. You set the room-only plan as the parent and the meal prices once, and the CP and MAP prices follow whenever the parent's price changes.

1. 1Go to “Linked Rates” under the “Rates & Inventory” tab.
2. 2Choose “Yes” if you offer meals with the room, and enter the price per adult and per child for Breakfast Only, Breakfast + Lunch/Dinner and Full Board. Go-MMT notes that the first child's meals are free.
3. 3Pick the room, then the parent rate plan, usually EP, as the starting point for the others.
4. 4Set the single occupancy price as a reduction from the parent, by a percentage or a fixed amount, and the prices for extra adults and children, without meals.
5. 5Click “Next”, review the prices worked out for each plan, select the plans to link to the parent and save.

Go-MMT's packages, which bundle the stay with meals and other inclusions, can't be made on an EP plan.

So price each meal at what it costs plus what it is worth to the guest, and remember that meals inside the price carry the booking site's commission. Booking.com says its commission is based on the booking value shown to the guest. How GST applies to a room sold with meals is a question for your accountant.

• Incredible India bed and breakfast and homestay establishments, classified by the Ministry of Tourism, are run on a bed and breakfast basis: the kind of breakfast must be stated, its charges displayed, and guests told in advance.
• Heritage hotels are expected to serve the traditional cuisine of their area; Heritage Classic and Heritage Grand hotels some continental dishes too.
• Star classified hotels need a dining room serving all meals at one star and two stars, and from three stars a multi-cuisine restaurant open from 7 in the morning to 11 at night, with room service round the clock.

Whatever the plan, say in each rate plan's name and description what is included, in the same words on every site and on your own website, so the guest who arrives expecting dinner gets dinner.