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RezOvation GT, the new software inspired by Guest Tracker, is now available! Click here for details.
Here's what our users have to say:
"I love the fact that RezOvation GT is so similar to Guest Tracker, making it easy to learn. It feels familiar, and incorporates lots of innkeeper feedback. Being able to customize reports is key; GT does exactly what we need it to do!" -- Lyn, Cornell Inn, Lenox, MA
"The import from Guest Tracker went very smoothly and I compliment your organization." -- Ron Vergoz, Still Bay Resort, Diamond Point, NY
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How do I track WorldRes prepayments and commissions in Guest
Tracker?
| Overview |
| Some Guest
Tracker users have requested instructions for properly tracking
the WorldRes prepayment
program in Guest Tracker. Here is one (but by no means the only)
way to do so. This method is designed to work with the guidelines
suggested by WorldRes and to provide the most detail about your transactions.
It splits your data into easy pieces for Guest Tracker. This method
can certainly be adapted however you wish.
If you use the Quick Books Export feature, please
examine the Quick Books Method instead. The guidelines suggested by WorldRes, are:
- You charge your regular rates on the WorldRes system.
- You collect payments for sales tax and incidentals
from the customer during their stay.
- You enter and track payments and commissions from
WorldRes in Guest Tracker.
If you do not wish to work within the above guidelines,
reviewing this method may help you come up with your
own way to handle the prepayment program at your property.
If you need assistance, please contact
our support department. NOTE: We have received notice that the WorldRes Pre-Payment/Auto-Pay
program will end effective July 1, 2003.
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| Guest
Tracker Method |
| 1.) |
Create a Revenue Account for WorldRes
commissions. Call it WORLDRES or something else descriptive.
There are specific instructions about creating Revenue Accounts on
page 39 of your Guest Tracker User's Guide.
Since WorldRes does not collect any taxes, there should be no taxes
in this revenue account.. |
| 2.) |
When you receive a reservation from WorldRes,
they will also email a voucher that shows the reserving party has
paid WorldRes the basic room rate in full. You may wish to record
this voucher in the Reservation by copying it to a Correspondence
Item or the Notes section, or you may put the voucher number into
a user-defined field designated for such, or you may choose to record
this in another area of Guest Tracker, or to not track this information
in Guest Tracker at all. |
| 3.) |
On the guest's arrival, check them in.
WorldRes suggests you collect a credit card number at this time,
to cover the taxes and any incidental charges. If you do so, in Guest
Tracker you will probably want to add a credit card payment for the
amount of any room taxes. You should take payment for incidental
charges however you normally collect for them. You
are not required to take payment for sales taxes at this time.
If it is your habit to
collect all payments
at another
time (such as check-out), there is no reason to change.
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| 4.) |
At check-out, collect payments for any amount due over
and above the amount collected by WorldRes. If you are uncertain
of how much they had collected, the amount is recorded on both the
voucher that you were e-mailed and the voucher copy that the guest
should have given you at check in. Check the guest out, leaving a balance due equal to the voucher
amount.
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| 5.) |
When you receive payment from WorldRes,
it will be for the voucher amount minus their commission payment.
The amounts should be specifically defined for you. |
| 6.) |
Open up the reservation
in question and go to the Charges tab. |
| 7.) |
You are going to add the WORLDRES charge
item first. (When you created the WORLDRES Revenue Account, Guest
Tracker created a matching WORLDRES charge item.) You need to enter
this item with a NEGATIVE amount. For example, if the commission
subtracted was $15.00, you should enter this charge item with a -$15.00
amount. Please
note: Negative charges do NOT export to Quick Books/Quicken.
If you use Quick Books, please read the Quick Books
method below.
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| 8.) |
Finally, you will enter the actual payment.
The check amount sent to you by WorldRes should match the balance
remaining on this reservation. Enter it as you would any other check
payment. |
 Quick
Books Method |
| Quick Books does not allow for the breaking
up of information in quite the same way Guest Tracker does. Here
are two ways to adapt your system to the WorldRes prepayment plan. |
| 1.) |
Accept the Vouchers as Payments
When presented with the voucher at check in, enter it as a payment
for the amount reflected. Make the payment type OTHER and record
the Voucher number in the description field. When you export, the
vouchers will go into Quick Books as a form of payment. You can
then use Quick Books to adjust any differences between the voucher
amount and the checks you receive. |
| 2.) |
Follow the Guest Tracker Method, with
one change
The negative charge item (step 7, above) is a problem for Quick Books,
since negative charges are not exported. In order to get this to
work with Quick Books, you need to enter a payment rather than a
negative charge. If you wish to track your prepayments in this manner,
follow all of the above steps, with the following substituted for
step 7: "You
are going to add the commission amount as a payment first. Add
a payment in the commission
amount. Be
sure to select
OTHER as your payment type. You may wish to note that this is a
WorldRes commission by changing the description to something that
reflects that information."
If you choose to use this method, your WorldRes commissions will
show up as payments, but should be easily separated from actual
payments in both Guest Tracker and Quick Books. |
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