When handling direct billing for
FX reservations, it's important for the property to take note of the monthly BW statements they receive, which will be later used for payment collection. We recommend refraining from printing invoices until the property has received their BW statements. By waiting, the property can then print the invoices according to departure dates when the direct bill was posted to the guest folio. This ensures that the BW credit payment is accurately applied to the correct invoices.
The following steps will guide you through the process of checking in the guest, posting the direct bill payment in the folio, and subsequently printing the invoices for a designated departure date range.
Check in the Guest
1. When checking in your guest it is best to choose City Ledger as the method of payment.
2. The system will then ask you to select the appropriate
City Ledger account where you will then select the FX Account.
3. When checking the Rate Details on the reservation, you should see the FX discount applied, set for a rate override of $0.01, as it should come from Best Western.
4. Ensure that you update the rate to reflect the correct amount that will be reimbursed by Best Western.
The rate can always be adjusted after posting, even if it has already been direct billed.
Posting the Direct Bill and Checkout
5. To direct bill the room charges to the City Ledger account you would use the Detail Posting and select DB - A/R DIRECT BILL PYMNT
6. The system will then ask you to confirm the posting before it posts to the selected account. This is just a security measure and if the direct bill was applied to the incorrect account, then it can still be corrected after posted.
7. Once you have selected the account you can again verify the posting and amount to the City Ledger before selecting "Save" to post to the guest folio and check your guest out.
Printing the Invoice
Printing the invoice creates a document that encompasses all stays and folios for a specified period, intended for posting the credit received from Best Western. This period and the total number of folios should match the Credit Statement from Best Western.
As mentioned at the begining, by waiting to receive the BW Credit Statement before printing the invoices, the property ensures the invoices accurately reflect the direct bills associated with each guest's departure date, facilitating easier consolidation of stays and BW credits.
Path: Accounting > Print Invoices
8. Select all direct bills within the date range of the Statement and generate an invoice that will be covered by the credit applied to that same statement.
9. Print the invoice. The invoice will summarize the selected direct bills and provide a grand total of the amount due.
10. Go to "Account Detail".
11. The newly created invoice will now appear in the "Invoices" section. Clicking on it will prompt a breakdown at the bottom left, displaying all folios included in the invoice. This breakdown illustrates how the grand total of the invoice was calculated.
Post the Credit
The guest has stayed, you've direct billed the stay to the Best Western FX account, received the BW Statement, and created an invoice in Visual Matrix for all the stays reflecting the credit received. The final step is to apply the credit in Visual Matrix to that invoice.