A common mistake when refunding a payment on a folio is to post a manual refund (Actions > Refund > Payment) instead of using the three dots next to the payment.
Manual refunds of payments are global, i.e. not associated with a specific transaction, and also do not trigger a real Apaleo Pay transaction. So if you add a manual credit card refund, no real refund is made on the guest's credit card.
Manual refunds cannot be reversed. Below is a workaround to correct accidental manual refunds. It is best to check this process with your accountant to make sure it is in line with their processes.
Instructions
- Move the manual refund to another folio (Click the 3 dots (⋮) next to each and select move to.)
- Check if the folio has an open balance that is greater than the amount of the refund.
- If no: go to step 3
- If yes: go to step 4
- If order to add a manual payment to balance out the manual refund, you need to first add a manual charge for the same amount (Actions > + Add > Charge > Add charge manually).
- Add a manual payment to balance out the manual refund. Ensure that the payment method is the same as that used for the manual refund so that the accounting transactions balance out.
- Refund the manual charge using the three dots next to the charge (the purpose of adding the charge was only to be able to add a payment).
- On the original folio, you can now correctly refund the payment: click the 3 dots (⋮) next to the payment and select refund.
Example
- A guest who paid 100 Euros via payment link was offered a full refund by your hotel.
- Two weeks after their stay, the guest reports that they never received the refund in their bank account.
- You check the folio, and see that your colleague added a manual refund with payment method cash. This means no real refund was made to the guest's credit card! Moreover, this is incorrect from an accounting perspective because the payment was received via credit card (Visa) and the refund was in cash:
- You move the manual refund to the second folio of the reservation.
- By now, your colleague also refunded the accommodation and city tax charges so the folio is already balanced. In order to add a payment, you thus need to first add a manual charge for the same amount:
- Now that there is an open balance, you can add a payment. You add a cash payment.
- You refund the manual charge, using the three dots next to the charge (the purpose of adding it was only to be able to add the payment).
- On Folio 1, you now refund the payment link, using the three dots next to the payment. This triggers a real financial transaction, to refund the visa card of your guest.