Expedia Collect Mexico - The Specific Process (Mexico | Desktop)

What is the Expedia Collect reservations process for Mexico?

The Expedia Collect Model for hotels in Mexico is called Net Remittance.

This program requires the creation of a separate City Ledger account and a specific process to handle check-in for Expedia Collect reservations.

Definitions

Net Remittance: Refers to a money transfer that is sent as a payment or gift to another party. Remittance can be used to meet a bill or invoice obligation. 

Sale Rate / Gross Rate:  The Full Rate the guest booked on Expedia when making the reservation

Net Rate: The rate after Expedia's commission has been taken out

Sale rate - Commission = Net Rate

Explanation of the Process

1- Expedia Collect reservations will be sent to Visual Matrix with the Sale Rate, and not the Net Rate.

2- The Expedia Virtual Credit Card will continue to have only the Net Rate amount pre-loaded on the card. 

3- The CRS comments will display the exact amount of funds on the Expedia Virtual Credit Card.

4- When the guest checks in, the Front Desk will charge and post the credit card payment on the folio. This can also be done before check-in as an Advance Deposit.

5- At the end of the stay, this will leave a balance on the folio.

6- Hotels will now have to Direct Bill the remaining balance on the guest's folio to an Expedia Collect City Ledger account.

7- Each month the hotel will need to reconcile the Expedia Collect City Ledger balance to Expedia's monthly statement.

Three Steps

The Expedia Collect Program for hotels in Mexico requires the creation of a separate City Ledger account.

The process is divided into 3 steps, 3 articles:

- Step 1: Setup a Specific City Ledger Account

- Step 2: Expedia reservation from check-in to check-out

- Step 3: Reconciling the Expedia Account

Step 1: Create Expedia Collect City Ledger Account

Go to Accounting > City Ledger

Click on Add New and complete the new account profile.

Company Address

- Account #: Expedia Collect

- Company Name: Expedia Collect

- Address 1&2/City/State-Prov/Country: If you do not know what address to use, the hotel's address will work

Credit Information

- Terms: 30 days

- Credit Limit: is the maximum amount that can be charged to this account. You can always modify this amount but this is generally a good way to see when the account is high and needs reconciliation.

It is best practice to set the limit high enough to handle a little over 1 month of charges. If you reach the Credit Limit, the front desk will not be able to post DB payments to this account until the balance is brought down, or the limit is increased.

Contact Information

- First Name: Expedia

- Last Name: Collect

- Phone number: is required. You can use the hotel phone number

Billing Information

- Allow to Bill: Room and Tax

- Rate Override: No

- Rate Private: Yes

- Tax Exempt: Taxable

- Status: Active

- Language: you can choose

- Email Invoices: No

- Click Save

Step 2: Front Desk Process - From Check-in to Check-out

Check-in the Expedia Collect reservation

- Choose City Ledger as Method of Payment

- Choose the Expedia Account created in Step 1

- Click OK

Post the Credit Card Payment in the Folio

- Go back into the reservation and verify the amount on the virtual credit card by viewing the CRS Comments

- Click on the button CRS, next to Comments

- Go to View Folio, and post the credit card payment in the folio

- Make sure the payment amount matches the CRS comments

Check-out the Expedia Collect reservation

- The folio will have a debit balance from the difference between the virtual credit card payment amount and the total charges. The virtual credit card covers only the hotel part of the stay, without Expedia commission.

- Click Check-Out

- You will have a message asking if you want to post the difference to the City Ledger account that you checked the reservation with

- Click Yes

- The Direct Bill (DB) payment for the remaining balance to the Expedia Collect City Ledger account is now posted

- Folio now has a 0 balance and can be checked out

Step 3: City Ledger Reconciling

Once a month Expedia will have a recap of all the Expedia Collect reservations.

Hotels should compare the totals Expedia has with the totals in Visual Matrix.

Print Invoices

Once a Direct Bill payment is posted on a guest folio, it will show up in the Accounting section, in Print Invoices.

- Go to Accounting > City Ledger > Print Invoices.

A Visual Matrix user must Print these direct bills into Invoices. This can be done once a day, once a week, or once a month, depending on hotels procedures.  

- Select all the invoices related to Expedia Collect

- Click Print

- Click Close at the bottom left

Compare Visual Matrix and Expedia

- Go to Accounting > City Ledger > Account Details

- Select the Expedia Collect account number. This will show all outstanding invoices

- Compare this list and totals to Expedia's statement

Credit the City Ledger Account

- Go to Accounting > City Ledger > Payments

- Select the Expedia Collect account. The fields will be empty until the payment is posted

- Post an A/R Direct Bill Credit Payment (Code DX)

- The amount should be the same as the Expedia Statement

- Apply the Payment to the matching invoice(s). This should 0 out the account for the month, as long as the Expedia statement amount matches the amount in Visual Matrix

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