Payments
In order to keep your accounts up to date, you will need to record payments made by guests, either as deposits in advance of a booking
or when the guest settles their account. You can add deposit details when you create a booking; the
New Booking screen
includes a section for entering deposit payment details. However, if you forget to add the deposit here, or you don't receive the deposit
until a later date, you can easily return to the booking details and add the payment details.
Add Payments to a Booking
To add payments to a booking, double-click the booking in the
Room Information panel to display the
Booking Details
screen. This shows the total cost of the booking and the
Total Payments received to date. To view payment details, either click on the
total payment value or on the
Payments tab at the top of the screen. This shows a list of all the separate payments made for this
booking. To add a new payment, click on the
Add button and enter the following details for the new payment:
- The payment date (when the payment was received).
- The payment amount (this defaults to the current balance on the booking).
- Whether or not the payment is a deposit. Strictly speaking, any payment received ahead of the booking should be marked as a deposit.
- The payment method.
If you select a payment method to which you have assigned an additional charge (e.g. on a credit card to cover the processing cost) you can optionally
apply the charge, the value of which is calculated automatically based on rules you set up for that payment method (see below). However, you can
override this value and apply any charge you like, or simply not apply the charge to this booking.
Click on
OK to confirm the payment. This will update the
Total Payments and
Outstanding Balance figures on the payments
screen.
Payments Due
Any bookings for which the departure date has been reached, and which still have money owing on them are added to a
Payments Due
list. This list is shown at the bottom left of the B&B Manager main screen, specifically to remind you of bookings that need to be settled. You
can access the booking details of any item shown in the
Payments Due list by double-clicking on the item.
Payment Methods
B&B Manager provides a number of preset payment methods, including "Cash", "Cheque", "BACS" and "Card". To begin with, it is assumed
that none of these payment methods is subject to commission (i.e. any money you receive by these methods is all yours). However, if you accept
credit or debit cards, you will know that these payment methods attract commission, payable to the card provider. B&B Manager can
automatically account for this expense, provided you set up the payment method(s) correctly.
To add or update a payment method, first select
Hotel > View Payment Methods from the top menu. To update a payment
method details, double-click the item in the list, or click the item to select it and click on the
Edit button at the top of the
Payment Methods screen. Then, in the
Payment Method Details screen, set the payment type (e.g. Visa), description and
commission and charge rates. The commission and charge rates are both split into two values; a fixed amount and a variable percentage amount.
The commission rates should be set to the rates you pay for accepting this payment method. The charge rates should be set to the rates you
pass on to the guest for using the payment method. Having completed the payment method setup, you will find that when you add a new payment,
the new payment methods appear in the list of options for the payment.
If you do make use of payment methods that attract commission, the commission is automatically added to your list of expenses. You will
see it at the bottom of the expense list when you click on the
Expenses button on the toolbar. If the payment method specifies
charges, you will be optionally able to apply these charges to any payment made.