Batch Folios

The Batch Folios option (Cashiering > Cashier Functions > Batch Folios) allows you to print/e-mail information folios for guests without having to open individual guest Billing screens or the Folio History screen. Using Batch Folios you can quickly print/e-mail one guest's folio or batches of folios for groups of guests based on a wide variety of selection criteria. In addition, you can store folios in your folio history or print/e-mail periodic folios for long-stay guests. A wizard-style format guides you through the steps for preparing each type of batch folio.

Notes:

The CASHIERING > BYPASS CASHIER LOGIN application parameter can be used to speed access to Cashiering functions for users having a cashier ID associated with their user ID. If this application parameter is set to Y, and if you have previously logged in to Cashiering and the Cashier is still open, the Cashier Login screen does not appear when subsequently accessing Cashiering functions. If Bypass Cashier Login is set to N (the default), you are prompted for a Cashier Login each time a Cashiering function is accessed.

The GUEST_LANGUAGE General Application Parameter enables printing/e-mailing folios in the guest's preferred language as specified in the guest's profile.

If the CASHIERING > DEFERRED TAXES application function is set to Y and the user generates batch folios, the taxes are temporarily generated and are displayed on the folio. The folio generated via batch folio or by selecting the Folio button on the Billing screen is the same in this case.

To e-mail folios, the CASHIERING > FOLIO EMAILING (1-8) application setting must be set to Yes or No to ensure that the Email Folio check box is available during the batch folio process. Also, the Allow Email screen paintable check box must be selected on the profile of the guest and a primary e-mail address specified.

The Batch Folio feature is useful for properties that prefer to give folios to their guests the night before check-out, or for properties that like to keep long-staying guests informed about their balance. Using batch folios can also make checkout more efficient for guests who are paying by credit card. If the guest has given you his credit card number you can slip an advance bill under his room door the night before checkout. The guest can check his folio, and, if he approves, sign it. In the morning, he can check out by simply leaving his signed folio at the checkout desk. (Some properties offer special drop boxes for signed folios that are paid by credit card.)

Batch Folios Screen

The Batch Folios screen is the starting point for all batch folio activities. The batch folio options are described below. Select the option that corresponds with your choice. A series of screens guides you through the steps for each batch folio option.

Folios for Guests Departing Tomorrow

This option prints/e-mails all folios for all guests whose reservations have a departure date of tomorrow. The steps are as follows:

Select:
- Interim Bill - Prepare a guest folio and process a payment without checking out the guest from the room. The Interim Bill will cover all outstanding posted transactions up to the present.
- Advance Bill - Prepare a guest folio and process a payment without checking out the guest from the room. While the Interim Bill option covers only those charges that have already been posted, the Advance Bill option also includes all anticipated fixed charges (such as room and tax or service charges) for either tonight only or for the guest's entire stay, even though the charges have not yet been incurred.
Select the sort order.
Select the type of guests (e.g., all, VIPs, group members only, non-group members only, etc.).
Select the payment method (all methods or credit card only).
Select the Billing screen windows (All Windows or Only Windows Billed to Guest).
Review the Batch Folios Grid display of guest folios.

Folios for Guests Departing Today

This option prints/e-mails all folios for all guests whose reservations have a departure date of today. The steps are as follows:

Select:
- Interim Bill - Prepare a guest folio and process a payment without checking out the guest from the room. The Interim Bill will cover all outstanding posted transactions up to the present.
- Advance Bill - Prepare a guest folio and process a payment without checking out the guest from the room. While the Interim Bill option covers only those charges that have already been posted, the Advance Bill option also includes all anticipated fixed charges (such as room and tax or service charges) for either tonight only or for the guest's entire stay, even though the charges have not yet been incurred.
Select the sort order.
Select the type of guests (e.g., all, VIPs, group members only, non-group members only, etc.).
Select the payment method (all methods or credit card only).
Review the Batch Folios Grid display of guest folios.

Folios for Guests Departed Yesterday

This option prints/e-mails all folios for all reserved guests that departed with yesterday's date. The steps are as follows:

Select the sort order.
Select the folio style.
Review the Batch Folios Grid display of guest folios. Print/e-mail all folios or folios for selected guests. Guests checked out with zero balance are included.

Folios for Guests Departed Today

This option prints/e-mails all folios for guests who have checked out today. The steps are as follows:

Select the sort order.
Select the folio style.
Review the Batch Folios Grid display of guest folios. Print/e-mail all folios or folios for selected guests.

Folios for All Guests

This option prints/e-mails folios for all in-house (and, optionally, checked out) guests. The steps are as follows:

Select:
- Interim Bill - Prepare a guest folio and process a payment without checking out the guest from the room. The Interim Bill will cover all outstanding posted transactions up to the present.
- Advance Bill - Prepare a guest folio and process a payment without checking out the guest from the room. While the Interim Bill option covers only those charges that have already been posted, the Advance Bill option also includes all anticipated fixed charges (such as room and tax or service charges) for either tonight only or for the guest's entire stay, even though the charges have not yet been incurred.
Select the sort order.
Select the type of guests (e.g., all, VIPs, group members only, non-group members only, etc.).
Select the payment method (all methods or credit card only).
Select the Billing screen windows (All Windows or Only Windows Billed to Guest) to print folios for.
Review the Batch Folios Grid display of guest folios.

Folios for One Guest

This option prints/e-mails all folios for one selected in-house or checked out guest. The property default folio style is used. (The default folio style for the property is set by the FOLIO_STYLE Cashiering Application Parameter.)

The steps are as follows:

Enter one or both of the following:
- Room. The room number of the guest.
- Name. The last name of the guest.
If no room or name is entered, this option defaults to all in-house guests. If more than one guest matches the room/name information provided, all matches are displayed on the Batch Folios Grid.
Review the Batch Folios Grid display of guest folios. Print/e-mail all folios or folios for selected guests.
Note: If you need to select a folio style other than the property default, select the Folio Styles button from the guest's Billing Options screen (Cashiering > Billing > Options).

Store Unprinted Folios in Folio History

To make sure that all your folios are actually saved to the Folio History, use the Store Unprinted Folios in Folio History option. The steps are as follows:

Choose whether you want to print the unprinted folios at this point or just store them in the Folio History.
- Print and Store in Folio History. Prints the previously unprinted folios and stores them in the Folio History.
- Store in Folio History Only. Stores the unprinted folios in Folio History without printing.
Select the folio style.
Review the list of folios to be stored. If you opted to print before storing, choose which folios to print by selecting them from the display screen. The Print button prints your selections to the local printer. Select Print All to print all displayed folios to the printer.
The Store button stores your selections in the Folio History. Select Store All to store all displayed folios in the Folio History.

Periodic Folio Print

If you frequently have long-term guests, the Periodical Folios Print option may be useful. This option allows you to print information folios weekly, monthly, or for user-defined periods of time. The steps are as follows:

Select whether you want to print weekly, monthly, or other periodic folios.
- Weekly Folio. Prints folios for in house guests whose last periodic folio was printed 7 or more days ago, or who have never had a periodic folio printed.
- Monthly Folio. Prints folios for in house guests whose last periodic folio was printed 28 or more days ago, or who have never had a periodic folio printed.
- Folio for. You specify a period of days to be covered. A folio will be printed for guests whose last periodic folio was printed the specified number of days (or more) ago, or who have never had a periodic folio printed.
Review the Batch Folios Grid display of guest folios to print. Print all folios or folios for selected guests.

Auto Folio Settlement

This option prints all folios of auto settlement guests having the specified auto folio settlement type associated with their profiles. When the CASHIERING > AUTO FOLIO SETTLEMENT application function is set to Y, the Auto Folio Settlement Types Configuration can be setup.

Note: The Auto Folio Settlement screen displays the eligible reservations in ascending order by Room Number. Only the reservations that have a balance are displayed. If the reservation balance is 0.00 then these reservations are excluded.

Select the Auto Folio Settlement Type down arrow to choose from the types in the multi-select list of values. This will filter the reservations based on the Auto Folio Settlement Type that is associated with the Profile that is attached to each billing window. Auto Settlement will settle only the billing windows that have a profile attached having the selected type. If this field is left blank, all Auto Folio Settlement types will be considered.
Select the Payment Types down arrow to search for specific billing windows that have the selected payment types. The payment types that are displayed in the list of values are only the ones that have been selected in the Auto Folio Settlement Rules. One payment type must be selected for this field and all of the reservations with billing windows that have the selected payment type will be included in the auto folio settlement. The payment types selected will not be used to determine the eligible reservations. The billing windows with the associated Payment types will be settled if there are any unsettled charges.
Select the Auto Settle Privilege Only check box to automatically settle only those reservations that have the Auto Settle Every X Days option selected on the Privileges screen.
Available when the Auto Settle Privilege Only check box is not selected, select the calendar button to choose a date for the Date Since Last Auto Settled and this will filter the reservations that have at least 1 billing window for which the last auto settlement was performed before or equal to the date entered.
Available when the Auto Settle Privilege Only check box is not selected, the Days Since Last Auto Settled field will filter the reservations that have at least 1 billing window for which the last auto settlement was performed before or equal value entered.
To transfer charges from Billing screen windows 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 to window 8, make the appropriate check box selections. Remember that auto settled charges on windows with a Direct Bill payment type will never be transferred to window 8.
Notes:

For a guest's reservation record to be settled using auto folio settlement, either of the following must be true: 1) The guest must have a valid AR account attached to the profile. 2) Valid credit card information must be associated with the reservation/billing window. Auto Folio Settlement Type field must be Screen Painted onto the PROFILES (Main or More Fields screens for Individual and Group Profiles) screen in PMS and ACC_MAIN (Main or More Fields screens for Company, Travel Agent, and Source profiles) screen in S&C if only specific auto folio settlement types are to be included in Auto Folio Settlement Process.

The Auto Folio Settlement process will perform the appropriate validations for Credit card authorization / settlement and direct bill settlement and only if successful, then the settlement transaction will be posted. The validations as currently exist (i.e., valid credit card number / expiry date or valid AR number associated with the billing window), will occur in the background and no user input should be expected. Any charges that were transferred to window 8 will remain there if window 8 cannot be settled for any reason.

While posting an Auto Settlement transaction, if a credit card authorization / settlement fails or if no AR account number exists, then such reservations/ billing windows will not be settled and an user log entry must be created for such auto settlement failure including confirmation no and failure reason.

Upon selecting the OK button, the Folio Styles screen is displayed, with the default selected configured from the Auto Folio Settlement Rules, so the user can select a different the Folio Style to use if the default one selected is not the one they want to use. Then the Auto Settle screen is displayed listing all of the reservations with folios that meet the entered criteria for the Auto Folio Settlement. See Auto Folio Settlement for details.

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Batch Folio Screen Descriptions

This section describes the individual screens that are displayed while you are working with the batch folio options. Which of these screens you actually see depends on the input requirements and filtering options of the specific batch folio option.

Interim or Advance Bill

Use this screen to choose an interim bill or an advance bill, and to include or not include folios with no charges.

Interim Bill. Select this option to prepare folios covering all outstanding posted transactions up to the present.

Advance Bill. Select this option to prepare folios covering all anticipated fixed charges (such as room and tax or service charges) through tonight's stay, even though the charges have not yet been incurred.

Include Folios With No Charges. Select this check box to include folios even if the guest has no charges on their account.

Note: If the Cashiering application parameter GENERATE_ZERO_BILL is set to Y, printing of zero-balance folios is not affected by the Include Folios With No Charges option setting.

Sort Order

Use this screen to choose how you want the folios sorted. (Your choice also controls the order in which folios are listed on the Batch Folios Grid screen.)

Room Number Order. Select this option to sort the folios by room number.

Name Order. Select this option to sort the folios by the guest's last name.

Room Class Order. Select this option to sort the folios by room class. The usefulness of this sort option depends on the shared characteristics of the rooms in a room class. For example, if your property has Tower and Plaza sections, and all rooms in the Tower share the TOWER room class and all rooms in the Plaza share the PLAZA room class, you might want to sort folios by room class to facilitate distribution of printed folios to guest rooms.

Note: This option is available only if the GENERAL > ROOM CLASS application function is set to Y.

Guest Type

Use the options on this screen to further filter your choice of folios. For example, if you are printing Folios for Guests Departing Today, and you select VIP type 1 on this screen, only those guests who are departing today and who are VIP level 1 will be selected. A room class specification can be combined with any of the other options on this page to further refine the list of folios you want to print.

All Guests. Select this option to print folios for all guests. This is the default.

All VIP. Select this option to print folios for all guests who have a VIP type assigned. Select the down arrow to narrow your choice by selecting a specific VIP type from list of values. This prints all VIP folios of the type chosen.

All Group Members. Select this option to print folios for all guests who are members of a group. Select the down arrow to narrow your choice by selecting a specific group using the Profile Search screen .

All Non-Groups. Select this option to print folios for all guests who are not assigned to a group.

All Companies. Select this option to print folios for all guests whose reservations are associated with a company profile. Select the down arrow to narrow your choice by selecting a specific company profile from the Profile Search screen.

Room Class. Select the down arrow to choose a room class from the list of values. This option is available only if the General application function ROOMCLASS_YN is set to Y.

Blocks. Select this option to open the Business Block Search screen to define which group of reservations to include for batch folios. The selected blocks populate in the Blocks field. The Blocks option button is available when either the BLOCKS > BUSINESS BLOCK or BLOCKS > QUICK BUSINESS BLOCKS application setting is active.

Opted In. Select to include only those reservations that have the Opt In Batch Folio field set to Yes on the Reservation screen More Fields.

Payment Method

Use this screen to choose the folios for all guests or only for guests paying with credit cards.

All Payment Methods. Select this option to print folios for guests using any payment method.

Only Credit Cards. Select this option to print only folios for guests using the credit card payment method.

Simulate Zero Balance. Displayed when the Only Credit Cards option is selected, select this check box to print the folio with a credit based on the method of payment for a particular window. When printing a batch folio with this check box selected, it allows the hotel to provide folios to the guest, which indicates a payment line showing a zero balance, without posting a payment or checking out the guest.

Choose Folio Windows to Print/Email

Use this screen to choose whether you want to print/e-mail all guest folios (up to four for each guest) or only the folios with an open balance:

All Windows. Select this option to print/e-mail folios for all windows on the guest Billing screen. A folio can be e-mailed to an address on the associated Company/TA/Contact/Group/Source profiles.
Only Windows Billed to Guest. Select this option to print/e-mail folios only for those Billing screen windows for which the guest is paying. For example, when this option is selected, if the guest pays for all charges in windows 1 and 2, and the guest's company pays for charges in window 3, only the folios for windows 1 and 2 print/e-mail.

The folio is e-mailed to the primary address of the profile associated with all the billing windows (providing the Allow Email check box is checked on the profile, and the billing window is checked for Email Folio when the RESERVATIONS > FOLIO EMAIL PER WINDOW application parameter is active).

Choose a Folio Style

Use this screen to choose a particular folio style for all the folios. The Folio Style that is defined by the CASHIERING > FOLIO STYLE application setting is selected by default. See Folio Styles for details.

Display of Folios Selected to Print/E-mail

Once you have provided the information needed to select folios for printing/e-mailing, the Batch Folios Grid screen appears and shows the Name, Room, VIP, Block Code (when the Blocks option is selected), Arrival, Departure, and Balance. This is a list of the folios that meet the criteria you specified using the previous screens. Use this screen to select the folios to print/e-mail.

Include Check Out. Available for Interim Bill, select this check box to include checked out guests in the listing. (This option is not available with grid displays for the following batch folio options: Folios for Guests Departing Tomorrow, Folios for Guests Departing Today, Folios for Guests Departed Today, and Folios for Guests Departed Yesterday.) Only guests checked out on the current business date and previous business date are included.

Print Folio. Select the check box to print a folio for each reservation that is included in the Batch Folio process.

Email Folio. Select this check box to e-mail folios. When a folio is e-mailed, a record is added in the User Activity Log, and a report can be generated.

Notes:

Guest folios are printed with all the information that is posted to a guest's account.

Reservations with ASB Rate Codes are not included on the Advance Bill screen.

Process. Select to proceed with printing and/or e-mailing the folios. After the screen refreshes, folios that were not able to be e-mailed are highlighted to provide an option to print the folios or to try e-mailing again.