Setting up payment policies

In a payment policy, you determine which portion of total invoice is due when, and which payment term applies. It is possible to set up multiple payment policies for different purposes.

Creating a payment policy

Go to 'Payment policies' in the financial module to set up or edit a payment policy. Click on 'New payment policy', choose between 'pay in advance' or 'pay afterwards', and give the payment policy a name.

  1. With a minimum amount for down payment, you ensure that guests with a small reservation pay the full amount immediately. The amount you enter here represents the total value of the reservation—the threshold that makes paying in installments possible.

  2. With a payment term, you determine how long your guest or the channel has to settle the payment before reminders are sent. Always set at least a default payment term. It is possible to add multiple payment terms to allow deadlines to vary depending on the installments you add below.

  3. With a payment installment, you determine which amount is due when. It is mandatory to define at least the first installment 'immediately after confirmation'; if you do not want to require a payment upon confirmation, choose 'down payment not required' here. You can create multiple installments.

Please note! The percentages you define always include percentages of preceding installments. If you charge 25% upon confirmation, and set the next installment to 25% as well, this does not work. The second installment must be set at 50% to ensure that similar amounts are charged both times.
Therefore, the final installment before arrival must be an installment where the percentage of the total amount is set to 100%. This ensures that, regardless of your preceding installments, the (remaining) total amount of the reservation is charged.

Payment policy with a fixed amount as down payment

Set the payment policy type to 'pay in advance' and specify a specific amount for the first installment (immediately after confirmation). Use '+add payment installment' to determine how and when the remaining amount must be paid. If you have only defined a default payment term, it will apply to all installments.

Payment policy without down payment

A payment policy where a down payment upon confirmation is not required is sometimes applied to a channel like 'own website'.

The ability to confirm without payment must also be permitted in the settings of the relevant channel.
Go to 'Channels' in your administration settings, open and edit the correct channel, and under 'other invoicing settings', check the box for 'allow confirmation without direct payment'.

Create or edit the payment policy for this channel. For the first installment directly after confirmation, choose 'Down payment not required'. Click 'add another payment installment' to create one or more installments to determine when the amount should be paid.

Applying payment policies to invoices and channels

  1. In the 'Payments' tab of your administration settings, select which payment policy you want to use as the default for guest invoices and channel invoices.
    Read more: Administration settings for payments

  2. In the settings of a channel, you can deviate from the default payment policies mentioned above. Under 'payment policies', choose the payment policy you wish to apply from the dropdown menu.
    Read more: Connecting a payment policy to a channel