The front desk

Billing a company: the city ledger

A folio routed to a company instead of collected, and the ageing that follows it.

Where a company or travel agent pays, the folio is not collected at the desk — it is billed to them and moves to the city ledger, which is the hotel's receivables book.

The company or agent must exist on file, with its billing address and GSTIN, before a booking can be billed to it. "requires a company branch" or "requires a travel agent" means the booking says bill-to-company without naming one.
A contracted rate, if there is one, comes from the contract and cannot be typed over at the desk.
The city ledger ageing report is the collections list: who owes what, and for how long. Thirty, sixty, ninety days.
Payments against it are recorded per company, not per stay, so one cheque can settle six folios.

This is the one place a hotel's money sits outside the folio, and it is the one most often forgotten. Read the ageing report monthly.

More in The front desk

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. The folioOne guest, one stay, every charge and payment on it — and what its balance means. Posting a chargePost a charge on the folio, choose what it is for, and it lands with your name on it. 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. Advances and depositsMoney taken before the charges exist, held against the stay and applied when they do. Voiding a posting, writing off a balanceNothing is deleted. A mistake is reversed with a reason, and both lines stay visible. Checking out, and the tax invoiceSettle the folio, print the invoice, and the room goes dirty for housekeeping. Splitting a stay across several invoicesRoom, food and spa on one bill or three — the guest decides, and you tick the lines. Proforma invoice — a bill before the stayWhat a company needs to raise a purchase order. Not a tax invoice, and it says so. Money owed and open balancesThe list that stops a hotel losing money quietly, and the red dot that counts it.