Voucher Redemptions

Let's break down how customers use vouchers, and go over how they're used in Oracle Loyalty.

Vouchers are used to redeem services, such as staying at a hotel, renting a car, or for the exchange of retail products. Vouchers can also offer a percentage discount or an absolute monetary value toward product purchases. Keep in mind that you must use a point-of-sales system to redeem vouchers. So if your business model requires vouchers, then you must integrate Oracle Loyalty with your point-of-sales system.

Suppose you have a member who has a voucher for a hotel chain and wants to redeem it for an overnight stay. The member checks in, presents the voucher, and the hotel validates the voucher number in Oracle Loyalty. When the member checks out, the hotel updates the voucher status to Used.

If you intend to use vouchers, you must define a voucher redemption promotion for each voucher product you grant. For details, see Set Up a Voucher Redemption Promotion.

Voucher Expiry

Every voucher has an expiry date, which is determined during set up when you create the voucher product.

To validate a voucher, Oracle Loyalty checks the date of activity against the expiry date of the voucher. If the date of the activity occurs after the expiry date, it rejects the voucher.

It's possible that a member could use a voucher before its expiration date, but this information isn't sent to Oracle Loyalty until after the voucher's expiration date. What happens then? To handle this, Oracle Loyalty extends the expiration period, allowing the voucher to completely expire the revenue against the voucher to be recognized. This is the amount of time after the expiration date when the voucher can still be used. If the voucher isn't used within this time period, then the voucher's status changes to Expired, and the revenue is recognized. After a voucher is used, it can't be expired for revenue recognition.

Voucher Status

Here are statuses your vouchers can have.

• Available. Oracle Loyalty issues the voucher to the member.

• Canceled. The member returns the voucher to the loyalty program operations to invalidate it.

• Used. The member presents the voucher for the partner product or service. For a voucher to be considered used, the partner must confirm the voucher's availability.

• Expired. The revenue of a voucher is recognized for a defined time period from the expiry date.

• Closed. The voucher is closed and can't be used.

• Reissued. A voucher is reissued when another voucher is issued in its place. A voucher can be reissued only if has Available or Reserved status. Let's say voucher V1 goes into Reissued status, and a second voucher, V2, is issued in its place. When this is completed, the status of V1 is Reissued, and the V2 status is either Available or Reserved. Voucher V2 contains a reference to the original voucher, V1.