To make your work as easy as possible when processing advances, we have provided three different approaches that you can use to register an advance in the system - through closing a deposit folio, the creation of an advance based on specific services and the creation of an advance based on an available payment. Use the most suitable approach for your business model.
Advance through a deposit folio
Use this method when the advance is intended for a large number of services and will be used at stages in different folios. For example, you have a contract signed with a company that has to transfer a certain part of the amount for the upcoming bookings in advance. In this case, to create an advance, it is necessary to have an open deposit folio:
- Locate and open the property for which you wish to register an advance (booking, company or event);
- Create a Deposit folio:
- For Booking and Event, click the 'Add Deposit Folio' button from the 'Rate and Folios' section;
- For Company, click the 'Add Deposit Folio' button in the Folios->Deposit section.
- If the customer has already paid the amount of the advance, reflect the payment in the deposit folio. The payment is not obligatory, so you can skip this step, directly issue a document regarding the advance and send it to the customer for payment. The unpaid advance documents are tracked in the Accounts Receivable report;
- Click the 'Convert to Advance button;
- Charge the respective number of advance services by specifying their exact amount and tax group. To optimise the charging process, you prepare the respective charge templates beforehand, as these templates should be of the 'Pre-Invoiced Deposit' revenue group;
- Upon reflecting the services, you can proceed through the 'Next' button;
- Select the document type you wish to issue and close the folio.
Advance based on specific services
You can apply this method in the cases when the advance will be used all at once for the services it is intended for. To register an advance based on specific services, it is necessary to have a standard folio and the respective services to have been already charged in it. The amount of the advance is calculated as a percentage of the selected services. Follow these steps:
- Open the folio with services for which you are to register an advance;
- Tick the checkboxes of the services for which you are to register an advance. If the advance is for all services in the folio, proceed with the next step;
- select 'Create Advance Invoice' from the 'Selected' button, or from 'All' button (depending on the advance type);
- Select the 'Percentage' option and enter the advance calculation percentage;
- Select a template to be used for the charges that will arise from the advance registration. The additional text is optional and allows you to enter a text to be used in the printout. Select the the document type and confirm its issue.
- The system creates a new Advance folio, as the selected charges are automatically copied in it with a new amount (depending on the selected percentage) and the 'Pre-Invoiced Deposit' revenue group. The texts and details of the original charges are preserved. With this method, the selected template is not applied to the charges in the advance folio, but to use in the folio with the services. For more details, see Use of an Advance.
- Upon the registration of the advance, the system will redirect you to the main folio. In the upper part of the screen, a link appears that can be used for opening the advance folio, and if the amount has already been paid, you can register the payment.
Advance based on available payment
Use this method when the value of the advance invoice has to correspond to the specific amount paid, it is clear for which services it is intended for and is expected to be used all at once. To issue an advance invoice, first, open the folio with the services for which the payment is intended for. Follow these steps:
- Register the paid amount in the folio with the services;
- Select the services for which the payment is intended for, e.g. only the nights (if the payment is for all the services in the folio, skip this step)
- select 'Create Advance Invoice' from the 'Selected' button, or from 'All' button (depending on the advance type);
- Click the 'Existing Payment' option;
- Select the paid amount and proceed through 'Next';
- Select the template from which the text of the charges for the advance folio to be retrieved, you also have the option to enter an additional text to be used in the printout;
- Select the document type and confirm the issue of the advance invoice.
- The system creates the new Advance folio, as the necessary charges are automatically reflected in it. The number of the charges in the advance folio depend on the tax groups of the services for which the advance is intended for (one charge per each tax group). The amount for each tax group is automatically calculated through the application of a ratio. All charges are of the "Pre-invoiced Deposit" revenue group, and their texts are retrieved from the selected template.
- The payment from the folio with the services is moved to the advance folio, as all its details are preserved. The advance folios are balanced.
On the screen, you will see confirmation of the document issue, you can follow the link to open the document.
