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Understanding Folios on a Standard Reservation

This document will show you how you can use folios in a standard reservation that is not part of a group reservation.  


What are folios?

To explain what folios are and how they work, think about a time before computers and automated reservation systems.  When a guest wanted to stay at your property, they would call to make a reservation.  This reservation was nothing more than a promise to deliver goods and services in the future.  On the date of arrival, the reservation would disappear, and a folio would be created for each guest.  This folio was a physical folder in which charges would accumulate over the course of the guest's stay.  Each night, the room charge for that day's stay would be added to the folio.  When they made a purchase and charged it to their room, the bill for that purchase would be added to their folio.  At the end of their stay, all of the charges in the folio would be added together and presented as one bill.  In ThinkReservations, the new Folios feature operates the same way.  It allows you to create multiple folios where you can group together charges and bill your guests accordingly.


How do I use folios?

A reservation does not need to have folios, but there are situations where you may find it beneficial to enable folios on a reservation.  Two common reasons are:

  1. Two guests in the same room want to share the cost.
  2. A business traveler wants to be billed separately for incidentals.


The following instructions and examples will walk you through creating folios in a reservation, moving charges between folios, and accepting final payment in the folios.


We are going to start with a standard reservation that has already been booked, and we know that the two occupants want to share the cost.  One will pay for the first night and the other will pay for the second night.



Step 1:  Enable folios on this reservation:

  1. Click on Actions.
  2. Select Enable Folios.
  3. Confirm you want to enable folios.



You will notice changes to the look of the reservation:

  • A new "Billing" tab appears.
  • The Payments section is now titled Deposits.
  • The summary of charges and payments in the bottom right corner no longer displays a balance due.
  • The balance at the top right will be the total balance from all folios in the reservation.

The Details tab now displays the original reservation along with any deposits that are applied to the reservation.



Step 2: Click on the Billing tab to view the folios.  Folio #1 is automatically created when folios are enabled, and it contains all of the charges and payments applied to the reservation.



Step 3: Click on the Add icon above the first folio to add another folio.

  1. In the New Folio dialog box, click "Change" to add a new or existing customer name to the folio.
  2. In the Assign Customer to Folio dialog box, add the new or existing customer, then click "Assign to folio".
  3. Click Save to create the new folio.  The new folio appears under Folio #1.



Step 4:  Move charges from one folio to another and add payments in each folio.

  1. In Folio #1, select the room night you want to move to Folio #2.
  2. Click on the "Move" icon.
  3. Select the folio you want to move the charge to (Folio #2) then click the "Move" button.
  4. To accept payment for the balance in Folio#1:
    1. In Folio #1, click on the "$" icon
    2. The Add Payment dialog box will open just like in a reservation.  The default amount will be the balance due in the folio.
    3. Complete the payment details the click on Add Payment.
    4. Note the balance remaining on the folio.
  5. Click on Folio #2 to see the details in the folio, which should only be the night moved from Folio #1.
  6. To accept payment for the balance in Folio #2:
    1. In Folio #2, click on the "$" icon.
    2. The Add Payment dialog box will open just like in a reservation.  The default amount will be the balance due in the folio.
    3. Complete the payment details then click on Add Payment.
    4. Note the balance remaining on the folio.





 




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