Managing Invoicing & Cancellation Strategies
Its is possible to setup so that invoices are auto generated when bookings are created or confirmed and bookings can be set to be automatically cancelled if payment is not received.
Invoicing & Cancellation Strategies are managed via Product Setup >> Invoicing & Cancellation Strategies
Strategies are made up of set of rules to cover different cases, Considerations when adding rules are:
What is the booking's source: Agent, Website or Manually added / Confirmed inside the account?
What is booking's check in month?
How far in advance of check in / start date was booking made?
How many invoices should be created, how much should invoices be for and when should they be due?
Should the booking be auto cancelled if invoices are unpaid?
Should polices only apply to bookings made for specific accommodation rate plans?
For simple cases an account wide default policy can be set to cover all bookings but policies can also be linked to specific accommodation rate plans.
Notes:
In order to set so polices can auto cancel unpaid bookings, Auto Cancel needs to be enabled for your account by the master user via Account >> Edit account Details.
Auto cancellation is set on a booking when it is created. Turning on auto cancellation will not set auto cancel on existing bookings.
Example 1: A Simple Case
A simple use case would be for an account wide policy with a single rule so guests can Book and Pay online with 100% due immediately and cancel booking if unpaid.
Navigate >> Product Setup >> Invoicing & Cancellation Strategies
Use the grey + icon to create a new rule
Above settings are:
For bookings with source Direct Website.
Checking in in all months.
Made any time before check in.
Create an Invoice for 100% of the booking amount.
Auto cancel booking after 15 minutes if the guest hasn't paid.
On saving will see rule:
Now for all reservations made via website a 100% invoice will be created and the booking will be auto cancelled if this is not paid after 15 minutes.
No invoices or auto cancels will be set for bookings that do not match these settings.
Example 2: An Account Wide Default Setup With Different Polices For Website Bookings For Peak / Off Peak Months
An example setup using the account default strategy for Agent, Direct and Website bookings with different policies for Peak (Jan, Feb, Jul, Aug, Sep, Dec) / Off Peak check ins for website bookings.
Navigate >> Product Setup >> Invoicing & Cancellation Strategies
Add the following rules using the + icon:
Above settings mean that:
Website bookings for peak season will be invoice 100% due immediately and cancelled if unpaid after 15 minutes.
Website bookings for off- peak season will be invoice 20% due immediately and the balance due on check in with booking cancelled if unpaid after 15 minutes.
Agent bookings will be invoice 100% due on check in with no auto cancel.
Manually added / confirmed bookings will be invoice 100% due 2 days after booking and cancelled if unpaid by the 3rd day.
Example 3: A Complex Setup With Different Rules for Different Accommodation Rate Plans
An example setup for accommodation sales case where a user has winter and summer rate plans with different polices and they also offer a discounted, non refundable pay 100% on booking rate.
To set these up we will need 3 invoicing and cancellation strategies:
Summer Pay On Check in - 100% due on check in - no auto cancel.
Non Refundable Pay on Booking - 100% due on booking - auto cancel if unpaid 15 minutes after booking made.
Winter Standard - 20% due 5 days after booking and the remainder due 60 days before check in if booking made more than 65 days before check in. 100% due 3 days after booking if booking made between 64 days and 7 days before check in. 100 due on the day of booking if booking made within 6 days of check in. Auto cancel for each case if first invoice not paid 1 day after due.
As these will be strategies linked to rate plans they will be added seperately rather than set as the default. This is done by clicking the blue + next to the Default strategy:
As these strategies will be linked to specific rate plans we do not need to restrict them to particular check in months:
Our Non Refundable strategy will look like this:
Our Summer strategy will look like this:
And Winter Standard will look like this:
Linking Polices to Rate Plans
Once our Strategies are defined we can apply each of them to one or more rate plans.
This account has 4 rate plans:
Summer Standard Rate - Pay on check in.
Summer Non Refundable 10% Off Rate - Pay 100% on booking, available more than 7 days before check in. This can be a rate derived from the summer standard rate with a 10% reduction.
Winter Standard Rate - 20% deposit balance due 60 days out.
Winter Non Refundable 20% Off Rate - pay 100% on booking, available more than 60 days before check in. This can be a rate derived from the winter standard rate with a 20% reduction.
To set the strategy for a plan Navigate >> Product Setup >> Rate Plans
Then on each plan in the Invoicing & Cancellation Strategy section and choose the appropriate strategy:
The non refundable strategy will be set on both the summer and winter non refundable plans and the standard plans set with the summer / winter strategies.
Note: When setting a Strategy on a rate plan it is good to also update the rate plan text to describe the terms and conditions, this text will be display on the booking confirmation screen.
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