How-to set up Payment terms
- Carin van de Velde
Introduction
When a reservation is made, the guest will have to pay for it. Because there are multiple situations, it could differ, when and how much the guest will have to pay. To automate this, there are payment terms. Payment terms can be created with multiple dependencies.
This article will show you what the possibilities are and how they could be configured and used.
Initial set up
Prerequisites
The user needs to have access to the Marketing - Distribution Channels module in Newyse (enabled on the right of the user role)
A Distribution Channel should be added, before the Payment terms can be configured.
Access
To start the set up of payment terms, you go to Newyse - Marketing - Distribution Channels. On the tab Payment Terms you can find the set up of the Payment Terms. If you don’t have access to this module, you might need to contact your admin user or Maxxton consultant to assign the role/ rights to your user account.
General Setup
Payment Term Set
For increased granularity, Payment Terms are created using Payment Term Sets. Payment Term Sets are a blueprint on which you can base Payment Terms that can be grouped together per customer or group of customers. The Payment Term Set can therefore be considered the 'set of applicable rules' for a reservation (e.g. booked >60 days before arrival).
Payment Terms
Payment Terms are a set of rules that establish at what moment(s) a customer (or a group of customers) need to pay for the provided service.
Rules
Within a payment term, rules are created to define what needs to be paid.
Conceptual example
Payment Term Set:
Booked >60 days before arrival
Payment Terms:
1st down-payment at book-date
Rule: 10% reservation amount
2nd payment at arrival
Rule: 2nd payment: Remainder
Payment Terms as a concept is linked to Notifications, as these are needed to be able to send the relevant information about when and how much is due by the customer. You can find more information on this through the article.
Payment Term Set Setup Instructions
A Payment Term Set can be found and added in the first part of the Payment Terms Tab in Newyse.
The detailed setup of a Payment Term setup is described on the page Payment Term Set setup instructions .
Main term (Payment term) setup instructions
Now that we have configured a payment term set, we can add payment terms (also called Main Terms) to our payment term set. The main terms define at what moment(s) a customer (or a group of customers) need to pay for the booking. To do so, select your payment term set and then press the “Add” button under the Main Terms board as shown below:
The Payment Terms can be divided in 3 categories:
Standard payments,
Spread payments
Payments used for Business Snapshots
Standard payment terms
Standard Payments are used for the “normal” bookings of holiday guests, who book a holiday and have to pay for it in approximately 2 installments. Mostly one part after reservation and one part before arrival, dependent of the period between booking and arrival.
The detailed configuration set-up is described on Standard Payment Term setup instructions
Payment terms for Spread payments
The feature Spread payments is meant to be able to split up the amount to be paid in several terms. They are used for the “normal” bookings of holiday guests, who book a holiday and would like to pay for it in multiple installments.
The detailed configuration set-up is described on Spread Payment Term set up instructions .
Payment terms for Business snapshots
Business Snapshots can be described as the way invoices can be made for business clients. They have been developed, to be able to invoice changes in the right way. For Business Snapshots, some extra options have been added related to the Payment Term configuration. The detailed configuration set-up is described on Business Snapshot Payment Term set up instructions
Rule Setup Instructions
Once the main term has been setup, we can add one or multiple Rules to it in order to define what needs to be paid.
The detailed configuration set-up is described on Rule set up instructions
Managing Payment Terms
Updating Payment Terms
Updating Payment Term configuration can easily be done by using the button Edit in the different sections of the Payment Terms tab. Be always aware of the fact, that existing reservations could get new calculated payment terms when changes are made.
To be sure existing reservation would not be impacted, it’s always possible to close a set by putting an end date in Valid to. After that date, the payment term set could not be chosen anymore.
Using Payment Terms
Payment Terms automatically are added to reservations, based on matching configuration and priority of the Payment Term sets. Payment terms also could be changed manually by using the button Change payment terms. A pop up will appear where some variables could be changed.
To be able to do so, the user needs to have the following rights:
Archiving / Deleting Payment Terms
Payment Term Sets, Payment Terms and Rules could be removed with the related Remove button. Once related configuration has been added or the payment term set has been used in a reservation, it won’t be possible to remove a Set.
A Set could be made inactive by adding an end date in Valid to. From that day on, the Payment Term Set could not be chosen anymore.
Dependencies & impacts
Dependencies
Because the Payment term configuration is part of the Distribution Channel configuration, the Distribution Channel has to be available before the configuration can be added.
To be able to create Payment Term Sets in combination with extra costs, it is necessary to have created the add-ons that should be chosen on forehand. The same goes for the Rule configuration based on specific resources. The resources to be chosen need to be available. The selection could be made based on Resource types or Resource kinds as well. If that is the case, these off course should be available too.
The Payment term set configuration could be made dependent of specific Resorts (Locations), Rate types, Reservation categories, Accommodation types and Suppliers. In case one or more of these entities should be selected, they should be available or created before.
Impacts
To be able to manage the payments within a reservation and be sure, guests will pay in time, the payment terms have to be added to the confirmation. Every guest that has made a reservation, will receive a confirmation. Mostly by e-mail, sometimes by post. On this confirmation they can see, what they have booked for. And they can see, when they will have to pay and how much. Confirmations are created in templates. The templates have to contain tags, which will get the Payment term information from the reservation.
When guests make a payment, these will be registered by the system in a Statement of a Financial (payment) account. Both needs to be there to be able to receive payments.
When guests won’t pay in time, reminders need to be generated. The reminder configuration should be linked to the Payment Term Set. Once this has been done, the system knows for which reservation guest should get a reminder. Information regarding the reminder configuration can be found on Reminder configuration .
Payment Terms are shown online when a booking has been made through the booking module. These are related to the payments which can be done through the payment provider, like Ingenico.
To share information about the Payment Terms on websites or booking modules, the information has to be available in API calls.
Conclusion
The configuration of Payment Terms is part of the Distribution Channel configuration. Three parts need to be considered: the Payment Term Set, the Payment Terms (or Main Terms) and the Rules.
The Payment Term Set defines which reservations will get the set, based on several configuration options. The Payment Terms define what the due date is and the Rules define the amount per Payment Term that should be paid.