Using Deposits in HART

By the end of this training article you will be able to:

• Add a deposit
• Remove a deposit
• Charge a deposit
• Transfer a deposit 
• Convert a deposit
• Move a deposit to a Profile
  

Deposits are easily managed in HART via the Deposit tab in Reservations > Room Booking. Deposits are payments received that are store as a pre-payment on a room booking for example and do not produce revenue until the booking is checked in and charges are added against this.

To add a new deposit, navigate to Reservations > Room Booking, find the room booking the deposit should be added to, and open the Deposit tab

Next, right-click and select Add Entry. 

• Reference: This is a free-type window for you to put in any relevant reference
• Payment Method: Select from the drop-down the payment method used
• Amount: Key in the value of the deposit
• Guest/Account: Select from the drop-down the guest account the deposit is linked to (you will not have this option when adding a deposit in a guest profile)
• Date: The date is created upon saving (F3)
• Unit: Select the Unit this deposit is for in the case of your property having multiple ones

Press F3 and the deposit has now been added to this booking.

In an event of a guest not being able to stay on the dates agreed or cancels the booking after the agreed cancellation period the deposit might be either moved to a different booking or charged and not refunded.

To remove the deposit, use the remove button. This will open the following window. You will be asked if you want to proceed. If the users choose to proceed the following window will open.

The top section of this screen deals with the amount of a deposit that is to be refunded whilst the lower section deals with the value of a deposit that will be charged as cancellation.

The amount being refunded to the guest should be typed into the Refund field.  The Integrated button should be pressed where a deposit was taken via token and is being refunded in the same way.  Once the refund is complete the lower part of the screen will update.  The Non Integrated button should be used where the deposit is being refunded manually or not within the PMS.

Where part of the deposit is being used against cancellation charges, the lower section will automatically update with the residual balance of any deposit.  The appropriate cancellation revenue centre should be selected.  On pressing OK a cancellation invoice will be generated which will sit against the room booking for future reference

Refund/ Charge

The top section displays all current deposits and their value.  To make a full or partial refund, enter the amount to refund and press the Refund button.  Please note only deposits paid via tokenisation can be refunded this way.  If a deposit has been manually added it will need to be manually removed.  Once pressed the Refund button will open the screen below:

Confirm the value is correct, press the '?' button to select the required token and press Refund

The residual balance will now be left in the lower section of the Refund/Charge screen and the relevant revenue centre should be selected to post cancellation charges to:

Once complete cancellation charges will display within the Billing tab of Room, Function, Group and Spa Day reservations.  For Restaurant, Golf, Spa Treatment and Class reservations a late charge will be automatically generated.

• Activate:  In some cases, a booking is checked in but the deposit is still inside the deposit ledger, please use the activate button to manually push this through to the billing screen.
• Credit Card: The credit card button is used to add a deposit through the VeriFone or FiServ gateway with the CNP (customer not present)
• Receipt: The receipt button will print a receipt for the payment received
• Transfer: The transfer functions allow the user to transfer the deposit to another room booking, function booking, facility booking, group booking, non-resident booking or a profile. Tick the desired destination and key in the id into the id tab at the bottom of the window and ok the transaction. Exit abandons the transaction.

The Transfer function is required if a booking cancels or moves the stay date.

Deposits can only be added to definite bookings. Once the booking is checked in the deposit will drop into the folio containing the same guest profile as the deposit is attached to.