Spread Payment Term set up instructions
Introduction Spread Payment Terms
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.
First a Payment Term Set has to be created.
Per Payment Term Set, multiple Payment Terms can be added. The Payment Terms can be divided into 3 categories:
Standard Payment Terms (handled in Standard Payment Term setup instructions )
Spread Payment Terms
Business Snapshot Payment Terms (handled in Business Snapshot Payment Term set up instructions )
In this section the possibilities of the Spread Payment Terms will be described. Spread Payments will enable the guest to pay in several installments.
Setup Spread Payment Terms
When the check box for Spread Payments on the Finance tab is selected, a field appears where the number of payments could be filled. This number is the maximum number of installments that will be created, dependent on further configuration.
For example: when the number in this field is 10, the amount will be split up in 10 installments. This number only is considered, when no number of installments is defined in the next options. When there is a number defined, this will overrule the Spread payments number which is given in in this field.
The next tab Date will show different options then before, because the Spread payment option has been selected. When the tab is opened, the options under Due date have been greyed out. But two options have to be given in. One option of the first 3 bullets and one option of the last 3 bullets.
The first 3 options will define the first due date. The last three options will define the way the terms will be calculated.
What is the due date?
First 3 options define the first due date
A specific date:
reservation = the date that the reservation has been made Provisional
arrival = the date that the guests will arrive
departure = the date that the guests will depart
snapshot start date = the start date of the snapshot
snapshot end date = the end date of the snapshot
X days/weeks/months before/after a specific date, where specific date =:
the same options as above
1 extra option: X days/weeks/months before/after issue date = the date that the confirmation has been sent
Fixed date = a fixed date. 2 Dates can be given in. The date which is given in in the first field, will be shown in the “Last due date” field on the Payment Terms tab and also in the reservation that date is added as due date of the payment term.
It’s not clear where the date field Freeze date has to be used for. A ticket https://maxxton.atlassian.net/browse/CS-12 has been created to figure this out.
Last 3 options define the way the terms will be calculated
Frequency: if this rule is set on “2 months”, every 2 months a term will expire. The total amount to be paid will be divided into equal installments. If there is a rounding difference, this will be corrected in the last installment. The number of Spread payments given in on the Finance tab will be taken into account. The installments will start according to the configured first due date and follow the X number of days/week/months configuration till the number of Spread payments given in on the Finance tab has been reached. The last installment could expire far before the configured last due date in this case.
X amount: the total amount will be divided in installments equal to or approaching the amount that has been given in. The max number of installments defined on the Finance tab is not taken into account in combination with this option.
When the total amount is €400 and the amount of the installment has been defined as €50, 8 installments of €50 are added.
When the total amount is €400 and the amount of the installment has been defined as €95, 4 installments of €100 are added to the reservation. When the installment has been defined as 105, the same installment of 100 is added to the reservation. The system calculates an amount that is approximately equal to the configured amount.
When the total amount is €400 and the amount of the installment is €125, 3 installments of €133,33 are added. The total of the installments is €399,99, which means that €0,01 is missing.
X Quantity: the total amount will be split into X installments, where the first due date and the last due date will be taken into account. The number of days between these two dates are divided into equal parts (number of days). This option will overrule the number of Spread payments given in on the Finance tab. If there is a rounding difference, this will be corrected in the last installment.
Using the X amount option in Spread payments could cause rounding differences.
What is the last due date?
This is the moment when the payment term should be fully paid. There are different parameters:
A specific date:
reservation = the date that the reservation has been made Provisional
arrival = the date that the guests will arrive
departure = the date that the guests will depart
snapshot start date = the start date of the snapshot
snapshot end date = the end date of the snapshot
X days/weeks/months before/after a specific date, where specific date is:
the same options as above
1 extra option: X days/weeks/months before/after issue date = the date that the confirmation has been sent
Fixed date = a fixed date. 2 Dates can be given in, the first date field is shown in the Last due date field and also in the reservation that date is added as due date of the payment term.
Due date of month
This option is not working well in combination with Spread payments and won’t give useful results, so it’s better not to use.
What is the Issue date?
This is the date that the reservation confirmation has to be sent to the guest. Usually this will be the day the reservation has been made. Previously, this was set on one day after reservation, so that there was some time to (manually) check all reservations. The options are the same as the options for the Last due dates, except for the option for Due date of month, which is not available in Issue date.
The last option might not be visible because the screen is not big enough. The pop-up can be made larger to get all options visible.
Verify your expected outcome
An example of an outcome based on a reservation made on 05/06/24 for arrival 18/11/24, where the payment terms have been set up as:
Spread payments (10)
Due date = Reservation
Quantity = 6
Last due date = 2 weeks before arrival
Issue date = Reservation
The total amount has been divided in 6 equal parts, the first Due date is on Reservation date and the last Due date is 2 weeks + 2 days before arrival. This is not exactly 2 weeks before arrival (this would have been 04/11/24 instead of 02/11/24), but this has to do with the equal division of the terms.