Room and Bed Variations Overview
Last updated: October 5, 2026
Room and bed variations, often referred to as room types or bed types, help categorize your housing inventory and support billing accuracy. Both are managed in the Inventory section of the Admin Portal, but each serves a different purpose within your assignment and billing workflows.
Room variations are used to label and organize spaces based on layout or usage. Bed variations control billing by linking each bed to a specific charge code. Both play a role in how housing is managed, assigned, and reported on throughout the year.
Room Variations
Room variations describe the physical structure or classification of a space — such as Double, Deluxe Single, Converted Triple, or Overflow Housing. These names are visible to students in the Resident Portal and help admins organize and filter inventory during setup and assignment.
Room variations can also include tags, which are automatically applied to any room assigned that variation. This helps streamline inventory tagging and support ruleset logic for assignments or room selection.
Room variations do not control pricing — they are used for structure, organization, and eligibility workflows.
Max Occupancy
Each room variation includes a max occupancy value. This determines how many beds can be assigned to a room using that variation.
For example, a room variation labeled “Single” may have a max occupancy of 2 to allow that room to flex as a double. A variation cannot be assigned to a room if the number of beds exceeds its max occupancy.
Bed Variations
Bed variations control the cost of a housing assignment. Each bed variation is linked to a charge code, which determines the transaction amount generated when a student is assigned to that bed.
In addition to a charge code, institutions using an Ethos integration may assign a rate code to support backend financial mapping. Rate codes are optional unless required by your SIS configuration.
Changing a bed variation will not impact current occupants or their existing transactions. Updates to a bed variation only apply to future assignments made after the change is saved.
Create Room or Bed Variations
Room and bed variations are created from the Inventory Management section of the Admin Portal. Room variations include display names, max occupancy, and optional tags that auto-apply to rooms. Bed variations require a linked charge code to ensure assignment billing is accurate, and can optionally include a rate code for institutions with Ethos integrations.
Learn how to create new variations and assign the appropriate details.
Change Room or Bed Variations
Room and bed variations can be updated at any time, either individually or in bulk. This is useful when converting overflow housing, reclassifying spaces mid-year, or adjusting pricing. Updates made in bulk must apply the same variation to all selected items.
Learn how to change an inventory item's variation here.
Add Media to Variations
Media can be attached to a variation after it’s created to improve visibility in both the Admin Portal and Resident Portal. This may include floor plans, reference images, or other supporting visuals. Media can be uploaded or linked and set as primary for display priority.