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The front desk

Giving a discount on the bill

The 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.

"Ten per cent off for a returning guest." "Take ₹500 off the room, the AC was noisy." The restaurant has had this since the till was built; the room bill had only a void (the charge was wrong — the whole line goes) and, since September, a waiver of a small leftover at the door. Now it has the same fourth tab the restaurant has.

The Folio's Give a discount tab: the scope, per cent or rupees, the reason, who approved it, and the button.
The Folio's Give a discount tab: the scope, per cent or rupees, the reason, who approved it, and the button.

Do this

  1. Open the Folio and press Give a discount. The tab is there while the bill is open and your login may discount.
  2. What it is on — the whole bill, the room, food & beverage, everything else, or one line — each with what is on the bill under it right now.
  3. A percentage or a rupee amount, not both.
  4. The reason, from the hotel's own list (the same list the restaurant picks from; add to it on Lists & reasons).
  5. Approved by — yourself, up to the hotel's limit; above it, a manager's name from the list.
  6. Give the discount. It lands as an allowance beside the charges, one per tax slab it touches, with the reason and the name in the description and on the booking's history.

The tax follows the discount

A discount given on the bill before the invoice is issued reduces the value of supply, so each allowance carries its GST back at the rate of the charges it reduces — the guest pays tax on what they actually pay, and the GST return files what the invoice printed. This is the opposite of the waiver at the door, which is a goodwill reduction after the supply and carries no tax. A discount across the whole bill is shared over the slabs it touches in proportion: ₹500 off ₹4,000 of room at 5% and ₹1,000 of laundry at 18% is ₹400 off one and ₹100 off the other, each with its own tax. The room's slab is not re-read: a ₹8,000 room with ₹1,000 off is still billed at the slab its tariff put it in.

The limit

On Hotel details: the share of a bill the desk may discount on its own, 0 until the account administrator raises it — which means a manager's name on every discount until then. Above the limit the tab asks for the manager; a login that is not one is refused in a sentence: *A discount of 15 per cent needs a manager; this hotel lets the desk give 10 per cent without one.*

What it is not

A room price for the nights still to come is a rate change, done from the card's Rate button, which moves the GST base at source; the tab says so when there is nothing under Room yet (the night is not on the bill until the audit or the check-out posts it). A discount already given is undone by a manager voiding the allowance lines; the record of the decision stays.

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 payment is trusted first, and verified afterA 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 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. 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.