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Hi Community!

I’m wondering what your workflow is for pre-paid bookings from OTA’s, those which are paid via bank transfer after guest departure.

Booking.com, for example, is now only sending us pre-paid bookings. And we get paid once a week via bank transfer. No more virtual credit cards.

 

Our current workflow is this:

  • Routing rule will move room charges to Booking.com bill
  • The guest does not get an invoice for their stay
  • After guest departure, once we get paid, we move all bookings for that week in a single bill to Booking.com and close it

If the guest requests an invoice, before they are checked-out:

  • Move the room charges back to the guest bill
  • Create a deposit for the total amount
  • send the positive deposit amount to booking.com bill
  • Close the bill to the guest with the deposit
  • The positive deposit amount will then be closed on the collective Booking.com bill

If the guests requests an invoice after check-out, but before we closed the Booking.com bill:

  • We cannot make deposits anymore
  • We send room charges back to the guest bill
  • Make an invoice to the guest
  • Guest receives an invoice without a payment on it, just the charges (we’ve had a few that accidentally paid twice!)
  • Move “receivable invoice payment” back to Booking.com bill to be closed on the collective bill

If the guests requests an invoice after check-out, and we have already closed the collective booking.com bill:

  • We’re screwed. 



Does anyone have a better solution for this? Preferably one that does not involve manually making a deposit for every pre-paid booking in advance.

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Cheers,
Andreas

Hello,

We have a similar setup.

We've turned OFF the routing rule, so the guest still needs "to pay" at check-in.

Our first shift handles an "external payment" prior to check-in, adjusting the bill to a balance of 0,-. We don’t close the bill at this point, but since the balance is 0,-, the guest isn't prompted for payment at check-in.

At check-out, we close the bill as usual, enabling us to provide a receipt to the guest if requested.

The only "issue" is when a pre-paid booking arrives on the same evening after we've balanced the bill. In this case, we check the reservation report for any new same-day arrivals from booking.com to ensure they're handled accordingly.

Hi Vegard,

Thanks for the feedback!

Yes, this would be the way to do it manually. And I’m guessing most hotels do it this way. But I’m hoping someone has found a better, or less time consuming, way for it.

Cheers,
Andreas

Hi Andreas,

I completely agree. Given the direct integration with such a major platform, MEWS should prioritize finding a solution to automate the payment process.

Have a great weekend!

Dear @andreas, 

Thank you for bringing this up.

At the moment, the approach you've outlined is the most effective solution available. We understand there's room for improvement, and we truly appreciate your feedback. To help us prioritize improvements, we encourage you to share any suggestions on our feedback page. 

Our Product Managers review this page weekly, and our roadmap is shaped by the input we receive. We take into account upvotes and comments, so if you find someone else’s idea valuable, please don't hesitate to give it a thumbs up.

Thank you for helping us make Mews better!

If you have any questions, please let me know. 

Warm regards,

​@Vegard Kaspersen can I ask, how do you control (check) the payments against the actual payout of Booking.com?

I assume you get paid weekly, do you compare the total payout sum with the external payments you entered in the guest bills?

Or maybe, are you using a special external payments type, just for booking.com payments, so you can track it later in the payments report?
 

​@Vegard Kaspersen can I ask, how do you control (check) the payments against the actual payout of Booking.com?

I assume you get paid weekly, do you compare the total payout sum with the external payments you entered in the guest bills?

Or maybe, are you using a special external payments type, just for booking.com payments, so you can track it later in the payments report?
 

Hi Andreas, 

We have set up an external payment with a seperate account for all pre-paidments from booking.com. This is how we follow up the payment flow.

Have a great day!

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