Glossary · Rates and revenue

What is BAR (best available rate)?

Best available rate (BAR) is the lowest flexible, freely cancellable price a hotel offers for a room type on a given night, open to anyone. It moves up and down with demand, and other rates — non-refundable, packages, corporate — are usually set relative to it.

Also called BAR, Flexible rate · Rates and revenue · Last reviewed 25 September 2026

How BAR works

"Best" means the lowest price with no strings attached — not the lowest price a guest could ever find. A non-refundable rate is often lower than BAR precisely because the guest gives up the right to cancel.

BAR changes by date: higher on a festival weekend, lower on a monsoon Tuesday. It sits below the rack rate, and it is the rate that rate parity clauses and price comparisons usually look at. Setting other rates as a fixed step from BAR — "non-refundable is 10% under BAR" — keeps the whole price list consistent when BAR moves.

Example

A standard room's BAR is ₹4,200 on a Saturday in December and ₹2,700 on a Tuesday in July. With the non-refundable plan set 10% under BAR, it sells at ₹3,780 and ₹2,430 on those nights.

How Nivasik handles it

  • Nivasik's booking page sells the active free-cancellation plan coded BAR; failing that, the cheapest other free-cancellation plan; failing that, the room type's standard price.
  • It never sells a non-refundable plan: the page takes no money, so a guest could walk away from it as freely as from any booking. Non-refundable rates are sold at the desk, where a deposit can be taken.
  • The chosen plan's calendar prices each night, and a stay whose nights differ is quoted as "a night, on average".

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