The front desk

Sending money back

How a refund is recorded, who may authorise one, and the four things that will stop you.

A refund returns money the hotel has already taken. It is not a discount and it is not a correction — for those, use void on the posting or a credit note on the invoice.

Do this

Open the folio the money came in on.
Choose Refund, and pick the payment you are returning. This matters: the system counts refunds against the tender they came from, so it can stop the same ₹5,000 going back twice.
Amount — a part refund is fine.
Reason — from your hotel's own list. If the list is missing a reason you need, an administrator adds it under Lists and reasons.
Approver — some reasons require one. Type the manager authorising it.
Method — how the money physically goes back. Record it honestly; the cashier's drawer is counted against this.

Who can do this

A manager or above. A receptionist cannot refund, by the same rule that keeps voids and write-offs away from the desk. If you are at the desk and a guest is owed money, fetch a manager — do not take it out of the till and settle it later, because nothing in the system will ever know that happened.

When it refuses

"Folio X has received ₹Y, so ₹Z cannot go back." You cannot return more than came in on that folio, counting refunds already made. If the guest is owed more than they paid, the charge is wrong — void it or raise a credit note.
"There is no active refund reason called …" The reason must come from your hotel's list.
"Refund reason X needs an approver." That reason was marked as needing one. Name the manager.
"This booking holds an advance of ₹X. Name the posting being refunded." The system will not guess whether you are returning the advance or a later payment, because the answer changes whether the booking still counts as guaranteed. Pick the payment.

What a refund does not do yet

It records that money went back. It does not send it back through a payment gateway — a card or UPI refund still has to be done in the gateway's own dashboard, and this is the record of it.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.