The front desk

A guest who paid for more nights than they stayed

At 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.

A guest booked for three nights leaves after two. The nights were paid — by the guest as a deposit, or by the OTA before they arrived — so after two nights the bill holds more money than it owes. It reads in credit.

Press Check out as usual. Instead of refusing, the desk asks one question:

Retain — the hotel keeps the money. It is posted on the bill as a room charge, *Retained at check-out — early departure*, with GST inside it at the room's slab. On a stay the OTA paid for, the OTA is still asked for the whole amount it collected.
Refund — the money goes back the way it came. A payment the desk took is refunded by the same method, and the card shows it. On a stay the OTA paid for, the OTA's account is reduced by the unused nights, so their remittance is asked for two nights and not three.

Then the guest is checked out, the room is free, and the released nights are back on sale.

What is recorded

Both choices are written on the bill and on the booking's history, with the reason (the default is *Early departure* — type over it if it was something else) and your login. Nothing is deleted.

When it will still stop

If the credit did not come from a payment or from the OTA — a charge that was voided after the bill was settled somewhere else, say — there is nothing to send it back through. Retain it, or open the bill and see what made the credit.

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. 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. 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. 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. Proforma invoice — a bill before the stayWhat a company needs to raise a purchase order. Not a tax invoice, and it says so. 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.