Guest balances

A guest balance is what a guest owes minus what they paid. At month-end, every guest who has checked out should have a balance of zero. Balances of future stays are advance deposits and are expected.

Review the report

1. Go to Reports and open Guest Balances.
2. Set the date to the last day of the month.
3. Work through the cards:
   • Departed: must be zero. Every balance here needs a fix.
   • Cancelled: money kept or owed on cancelled reservations.
   • In-House: guests who checked in and have not left.
   • Advance Deposits: payments for later stays. These are expected.
   • Unassigned: payments not applied to a reservation.

Most balances come from resolutions, refunds or cancellations.

Fix a balance

• The guest paid more than charged, for example for an extra service: open the reservation and add a financial adjustment for the extra amount. If it belongs to a line such as cleaning, add it on that line.
• The guest paid less: look for a missing deposit or a payment on the wrong reservation, see Deposits.
• A cancelled reservation kept money: record the cancellation revenue, see Cancellations.

Then fix the split between owner and you with fee adjustments, and run the report again.

A financial adjustment changes what the guest owes. A fee adjustment changes who gets the revenue. Using one for the other is the most common month-end mistake. See Adjust reservation financials and fees.

Check the account

On the trial balance, the guest deposits account holds the advance deposits of future stays. Its ending balance should equal the advance deposits on the guest balances report.