Folio Management (Billing Folios)

Overview

A folio is a billing container that holds charges, payments, and a running balance. Each reservation can have multiple folios — one per guest, one for the company, and a master catch-all. Charges are automatically placed on the right folio via a routing engine that evaluates rules in priority order.

Folio Types

Charge Categories

How Folios Are Created

Folios are auto-initialized the first time you open the Folios tab on a reservation. You do not need to create them manually.

What Gets Created Automatically

1. A Master Folio — the catch-all for any unrouted charges. Always created with a RESIDUAL routing rule at the lowest priority
2. A Guest Folio per reservation guest — one for each person on the booking
3. A Corporate Folio — only if the reservation has a business trading partner (company paying the bill)

How Charges Are Auto-Imported

After folios are created, existing reservation items (room nights, activities, spa, etc.) are automatically converted into folio charges and routed through the routing engine. Each item's type maps to a charge category (e.g. room → ACCOMMODATION, dining → F_AND_B). Items already imported are skipped to prevent duplicates.

How to View Folio Charges

1. Navigate to Reservations → [reservation] → Folios
2. Each folio appears as a card showing the folio name, type badge, list of charges, and current balance
3. The summary bar at the bottom shows cross-folio totals: total charges, total payments, and overall balance

How to Move a Charge Between Folios

Use drag-and-drop to manually transfer a charge from one folio to another.

1. Click and hold a charge row on any folio card
2. Drag it to the target folio card
3. Release to drop — the charge is transferred immediately

What happens: The original charge is marked as TRANSFERRED (with an audit trail), and a new charge is created on the target folio. Both folio balances are recalculated.

How to Split a Charge Across Folios

1. Click the split icon on a charge row
2. In the split dialog, set the percentage for each target folio (must sum to 100%)
3. Click Confirm

What happens: The original charge is voided, and new charges are created on each target folio with the proportional amounts and a reference to the original charge.

Routing Rules (Automatic Charge Assignment)

Routing rules control how charges are automatically placed on folios. When a charge is posted, the routing engine evaluates rules in priority order (lower number = evaluated first) and places the charge on the first matching folio.

Rule Types

Amount Cap Overflow Behavior

When an AMOUNT_CAP rule's spending limit is exceeded, the overflow is handled according to the rule's overflow behavior:

How to Add / Edit / Remove Rules

1. On the Folios tab, open the Routing Rules panel
2. Click Add Rule to create a new rule, or click an existing rule to edit it
3. Select the rule type, target folio, priority, and any filters (categories, business units, caps)
4. Save the rule — new charges will be routed using the updated rules
5. To remove a rule, click the delete button on the rule row

Split Rules (Room Sharing)

Split rules handle room-sharing scenarios where one guest's charges should be partially billed to another guest. For example: "50% of Guest A's accommodation charges go to Guest B's folio."

How to Set Up a Split Rule

1. Open the Routing Rules panel on the Folios tab
2. Click Add Split Rule
3. Select the source folio (where the charge originally lands)
4. Select the target folio (where the split portion goes)
5. Set the percentage to split (e.g. 50%)
6. Optionally filter by charge categories (leave empty to split all categories)
7. Save — future charges on the source folio will automatically generate a split charge on the target folio

How to Record a Payment

1. Click Record Payment on a folio card
2. Enter the payment amount, select the payment method (Cash, Card, or Transfer), and set the date
3. Click Save — the payment is recorded and the folio balance is updated

Auto-Allocation

When a reservation-level payment is received without specifying a folio, the system auto-allocates it across folios in this priority order:

1. CORPORATE folios first
2. GUEST folios (by balance, highest first)
3. ROOM and CUSTOM folios
4. MASTER folio last

How to Settle a Folio

1. Ensure the folio balance is zero (record remaining payments if needed)
2. Click Settle on the folio card

What happens: The folio status changes to SETTLED. No more charges or payments can be added to a settled folio.

How to Create a Custom Folio

1. Click the Add Folio button in the toolbar
2. Enter a name for the folio (e.g. "Group Dinner")
3. Select the folio type (ROOM or CUSTOM)
4. Click Save

The new folio appears as a card. You can then drag charges onto it or set up routing rules to auto-assign charges.

How to Sync Charges

When to use: If new items are added to the reservation after folios were initialized (e.g. a spa booking added later), those items won't appear on folios automatically.

1. Click the Sync Charges button in the toolbar
2. The system re-imports reservation items into folios, routing each through the routing engine
3. Items that were already imported are skipped (no duplicates)

Folio Templates (Corporate Billing Policies)

Folio templates are reusable billing policies that define what folios to create and what routing rules to apply. They are ideal for corporate accounts with standard billing arrangements.

Where to Manage Templates

Settings → Billing → Folio Templates. The list view shows all templates with create, edit, and delete actions.

How to Create a Template

1. Click Create Template
2. Enter a name (e.g. "ACME Corp Standard") and optional description
3. Optionally link the template to a specific trading partner (corporate account)
4. Define the folio configuration — which folio types to create (Master, Corporate, etc.)
5. Define routing rules — e.g. "All F&B and Accommodation to Corporate", "Minibar up to $500 to Corporate, overflow to Guest"
6. Save the template

How to Apply a Template to a Reservation

1. On the reservation's Folios tab, click Apply Template in the toolbar
2. Select a template from the list
3. The system creates folios and routing rules as defined in the template
4. A RESIDUAL rule is always ensured on the Master folio

Guest Self-Service

Guests can view their folio via the guest portal or a direct link with an access token.

• Authenticated access — Guests logged into the consumer PWA can view their folio from the reservation detail page
• Token-based access — Each GUEST folio gets a unique access token. Share the link or QR code via email
• View charges and balance — Guests can see all charges on their folio and the current balance
• Move charges — If guestCanModify is enabled on the folio, guests can transfer charges between guest folios within the same reservation

Troubleshooting

Folios show 0 charges

• Click Sync Charges to re-import reservation items
• Verify the reservation has items (room nights, activities, etc.) — folios import from existing reservation items

Charge went to the wrong folio

• Check routing rule priorities — lower number = evaluated first. A broad rule with a low priority number may catch charges before more specific rules
• Use drag-and-drop to move the charge to the correct folio
• Adjust the routing rules to prevent the issue in the future

Cannot settle a folio

• The folio balance must be zero before settling
• Record the remaining payment amount, then try settling again

Guest token not working

• Only GUEST folios have access tokens — other folio types do not generate tokens
• Check if the folio has been voided — voided folios cannot be accessed

Balance mismatch

• The balance is recalculated from actual charge and payment records after every operation
• If you suspect a mismatch, clicking Sync Charges or recording a zero payment will trigger a recalculation

Related

• Reservations — Where folios live, within a reservation
• Accounting — Journal entries for folio payments follow the same GL patterns
• Hotel Front Desk — Checkout process interacts with folio settlement
• Guest Portal — Guest self-service folio access