Reservation Transactions

Note:  Many common questions related to Transactions have been answered in our newsletters -- be sure to check the Newsletter Category Index (click this link) to see if your question is answered there.

Access to the Transactions dialog for a reservation is available in several places.  The simplest way to get to it is to click on Transactions in the right-click menu of the tab views (for the appropriate reservation, of course).  Or if you're already in a Reservation Details dialog, then you can simply click the New/Edit Transactions button.  You will also get the Transactions dialog automatically when performing certain functions like checking in, checking out, and canceling a reservation.

You can also get to it through the main menu (Transactions / Enter Reservation Transactions).  If a reservation is already selected (highlighted) on the current tab view, then transactions for that reservation will be shown.  Otherwise, you will then need to use the Find Reservation dialog to locate the reservation for which to make the transaction.

Note for linked reservations -- Since transactions can only be added to one reservation, typically you would use only one of the reservations for all of the transactions when one person is responsible for them all.  However, this can result in some inconsistencies in transaction reports that are grouped by Site Type or Site (all of the charges and payments will appear on one site, even if the linked reservation is on a different type, such as a Cabin and a Boat Dock).  The only way to avoid the inconsistencies would be to enter separate transactions on each reservation, but that would require you to print multiple receipts for the customer.  There isn't a good solution to this, just be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the two ways of doing this.

Also note that when entering reservations for synchronized reservations, the software may warn you if you're not adding them to the "master" reservation.  It's recommended to keep them all with the master when possible.  (This will happen automatically by default, but there is an option to disable the automatic-master transactions, resulting in a warning if you don't select the master.)  When adding rates, you can add the charges for all of the synchronized reservations at once, so it's easy to keep them with the master.

Using the Transactions Dialog for Reservations

At the top of the Transactions dialog is reservation information most likely to be needed when determining the rates.  This is a grid showing the main reservation and any reservations linked to it for which billing is combined (synchronized and sub-members).  In addition to some typical reservation fields, it shows the number of nights in the reservation, the Charged-Through date and the Paid-Through date.  

The Paid-Through date is of special importance -- before finishing transactions, you should verify that this is correct.  For convenience, there is an All Paid Thru Last Date button which will automatically put each reservation's Last Night in the Paid Through date, to indicate that it's paid in full.  Also note that if you do enter a payment and forget to set (or change) the paid-through date, you will get a warning prompt when you click Done.  The prompt will give you the option to automatically make it paid through the last date (most likely), or to not adjust the paid-through date, or to go back and change it yourself.

You can use Reservation Details button to get to the Reservation Details dialog and make any changes necessary before adding charges (although this button will be disabled if you got to the Transaction dialog from the Reservation Details dialog).

For further details, refer to the Transactions Dialog section.

Special Considerations for Linked Reservations

A single collection of linked reservations can contain some that are billed separately and some combined, and even the combined ones can have different dates.  Therefore the Transactions dialog will show a list of reservations that will be billed together, with their dates (first, last, charged-thru and paid-thru).

Important points about the Transactions dialog (e.g. New / Edit Transactions) for linked reservations:

•Since the reservations listed in Transactions might not be synchronized, the dates cannot be changed directly.  Reservation Details must be used to make date changes (except for Paid-Thru, which you can click on to change).

•To view Reservation Details for any of the reservations listed in Transactions (if more than one), select that reservation before clicking the Reservation Details button.

•Select Rates can only operate on one set of synchronized reservations at a time (it can't handle reservations with different dates).  Therefore to select rates when more than one group of synchronized reservations are involved, you may need to do it in separate groups.  For each one, select one of the reservations in the list before clicking Select Rates.

•If Auto-Rates is enabled, it will calculate for ALL reservations appropriately -- there is no need to do it in multiple groups as with Select Rates.

•You can print Window Tags or other receipt formats for individual sites/reservations -- just select the desired site (reservation) in the list before printing a receipt.

•Most receipt formats will print using the "master" reservation's site by default (if no specific site is selected in the list), but will also include as many of the linked sites as will fit in the designated space on the receipt.  (This is an option that can be disabled in File / Printing Options / Receipts)

Auto-rates notes

The auto-rates calculations will always include charges for all appropriate linked reservations (synchronized and sub-members, but not non-synchronized).  These will be added to the "top-level", or "transaction master" reservation.  Also note that if auto-recalc is enabled (to automatically recalculate whenever a change is made), ALL linked reservations are recalculated whenever a linkage change is made.  For instance if a reservation is changed from Synchronized to Non-synchronized, that may result in charges being moved around to the new top-level reservation (for each non-synchronized set).

Another important note is that if you have it set up to auto-add charges when they check in, this will actually happen when the first of any linked reservation (with combined billing) is checked in, and it will add charges for ALL appropriate linked reservations.  So for instance if a sub-member is checked in first, charges for that reservation, it's owner, and any other synchronized or sub-member reservations in the tree will be added.  Furthermore, they're always auto-added to the top-level/master reservation (and the Transaction dialog would automatically open for that reservation).  

In our example above, lets say that Stall 1 was checked in before any of the others (their horse arrives early).  Since it's in a synced/sub billing group, the top-level reservation (RV 1) will be selected for billing, and charges for all combined-billing reservations will be added (RV 1, RV 2, RV 3, and Stall 1).  While this is an unusual situation, it's probably appropriate -- presumably any synced or sub reservations are all for the same customer (it will only combine billing for the same customer anyway), you would expect them to pay for everything the first time they check in, even if they're not ready to use all of their sites yet.  Remember, you can always change the linkage to create separate billings if needed.