The front desk

A payment is trusted first, and verified after

A deposit recorded against a booking is paid from that moment. It also goes to the accountant, who confirms the money arrived or rejects it with a reason — and only then does it come off the bill. A date change inside the cancellation window is a question, and the policy's charge goes on the bill.

A guest or a company pays something towards a booking that has not arrived — a transfer for a wedding block, a UPI payment two days after the call. The desk or the central desk records it on the booking: amount, how it came, the reference. From that moment it is paid — on the card, on the bill, on the proforma, in the balance — and the booking is guaranteed.

Approvals → Payments received: each payment recorded on a booking, awaiting verification, with Confirm and Reject.

Do this

Approvals → Payments received. Every payment recorded on a booking that has not been verified yet, oldest first, highlighted by age.
Each row: the booking, the amount, how it came, its reference, who recorded it and when.
Confirm — received, or Reject — it never came with a reason. The person who recorded it is not offered the buttons on their own row.

The second pair of eyes

Every payment recorded this way also lands on the Payments received tab of the Approvals screen, for the accountant: *this payment has come, please confirm the company has received it*. Nothing waits for that answer. The line reads awaiting verification until somebody decides.

Confirm — the money is in. Nothing the guest sees changes.
Reject, with a reason — the money never came. The tender is voided on the bill, the booking's paid amount goes down, and the person who recorded it is named beside the reason on the booking's record. Only the payment is rejected. The booking stands, shows the amount still to be collected, and there is until check-out to collect it.

The person who recorded a payment cannot confirm it themselves. A payment left unverified is highlighted by age, never blocked. A payment on a bill that has already closed cannot be voided from here — the administrator corrects it with a credit note, and it is marked rejected after.

Changing the dates before arrival

A booking that has not arrived can be moved. If the new dates fall inside its cancellation window — closer to arrival than the policy's free period, or on a non-refundable rate — the desk is told once what the policy keeps and why, and may go ahead: the charge goes on the bill, named as a date change inside the window, with who confirmed it. Adding a night is never charged; a room or plan change alone is not a date change.

Where the rule lives

The tab is one of four on Approvals — the same screen that carries the queue of journals, refunds and unlocks waiting for a second signature. See Approvals: what needs a second signature.

More in The front desk

Arrivals, in house, departuresThe day lists under Reports → Front office operations, and what the Rate and Payment mode columns mean. Checking a guest inRoom, identity, and the folio opens. What stops a check-in and what to do about it. Aadhaar, PAN, passport and Form CWhat identity the law wants, what the system checks, and where Form C is filed. Form C for foreign guestsRecording a passport and visa, raising the form, reading out what the portal asks for, and the register. The folioOne guest, one stay, every charge and payment on it — and what its balance means. Sending money backHow a refund is recorded, who may authorise one, and the four things that will stop you. Posting a chargePost a charge on the folio, choose what it is for, and it lands with your name on it. Early check-in and late check-out chargesWhat the hotel charges for a guest who arrives before check-in time or leaves after check-out time, who decides, and who can waive it. The guest who paid the OTABalance from the OTA is the stay; balance from the guest is zero. Collect nothing at the desk, and the invoice is still in the guest's name. A booking cancelled by mistake is put backA cancelled or no-show booking is found with Find and put back with one press and a reason. Before the night audit anybody at the desk can; once the audit has closed a night of the stay, the administrator can. The nights the audit passed over go on the bill. Taking a paymentTake a payment on the folio: method, amount, reference. It is the reference that saves you later. Splitting a payment across methodsOne settlement, several methods, checked against the folio as one movement. The registration card (GRC)Print it from the booking card. It carries the guest details, the stay, and the declaration they sign. Reprinting a registration cardReprints are allowed and counted. The second onwards is stamped COPY. Advances and depositsMoney taken before the charges exist, held against the stay and applied when they do. Correcting an invoice that has already been issuedDo not reopen the bill. Issue a credit note if the value falls, a debit note if it rises. The deadline for reclaiming tax on a credit noteTax may be adjusted until 30 November after the invoice financial year. After that, the money is credited and the tax is not. Voiding a posting, writing off a balanceNothing is deleted. A mistake is reversed with a reason, and both lines stay visible. Giving a discount on the billThe folio's fourth tab: a percentage or an amount off the whole bill, the room, the food, or one line — with the GST reduced to match, a reason, and a name on it. The GST number says who the company isType a guest's GSTIN on the card: the company is looked up, added to the CRM if it is new (pay at checkout, no credit), and the bill is made out to it. Checking out, and the tax invoiceSettle the folio, print the invoice, and the room goes dirty for housekeeping. Checking a company's GST registration before the invoiceThe panel on the Invoices tab lists the companies on your bills and bookings, and says when each GSTIN was last checked. Search for one that is not there yet. Splitting a stay across several invoicesRoom, food and spa on one bill or three — the guest decides, and you tick the lines. Waiving a small balance at check-outA guest owes ₹150 and has their bags in hand. The desk may forgive it up to the hotel's limit, with a reason and their name on it — the money is not taken out of the till. A guest who paid for more nights than they stayedAt check-out the bill may hold more than it owes. You are asked: keep it, or send it back — and the guest leaves either way. Proforma invoice — a bill before the stayWhat a company needs to raise a purchase order. Not a tax invoice, and it says so. The day book: opening, closing, expenses and the bankOne row per day of the month, cash opening to closing carried day to day, the bank receipts ticked when the bank shows them, and the till's expenses written where they happened. Undo a mistake the desk made todayThe administrator takes back the last thing done to a booking — check-out, check-in, cancellation, a charge — as long as the night audit has not closed the day. The administrator corrects any booking — and the log is the priceAn account administrator may correct a booking that is audited, in house, departed or billed: its dates, room, guests, rate or status. Every correction is recorded with login, time, machine and reason. Reopening a settled billA bill closed at zero or in credit is reopened only by an account administrator; then a charge can be voided, money refunded, and the bill closed again — every step with a name on it. Billing a company: the city ledgerA folio routed to a company instead of collected, and the ageing that follows it. Money owed and open balancesThe list that stops a hotel losing money quietly, and the red dot that counts it.