Payments

A payment belongs to a booking and records its amount, received date, reference and status. Finance Officer compares confirmed payments with posted folio charges for that same booking. A pending entry is useful evidence of an attempted collection, but it is not confirmed money. A refunded entry changes how the booking’s balance is interpreted and should remain visible to the reconciliation process.

The payment reference is important when a provider or bank sends the same notice twice. The team needs a stable identity for the external event so a retry can be recognized instead of counted as a second receipt. A booking can have several legitimate payments; matching by member name alone is too weak when a person has more than one booking.

• Capture. Record the payment amount and reference against the intended booking.
• Confirmation. Use the provider’s accepted result before treating the receipt as confirmed.
• Reconciliation. Compare confirmed money and posted charges, then identify the remaining balance or agreed outstanding account.

Agree who can record a pending payment, which external system confirms it, and how refunds are authorized. Finance Officer should have a clear source for provider confirmation and a way to investigate unknown references. Set a rule for partial payments and outstanding balances before the first completion cycle. If an accounting system receives the result, agree which system owns the posting and how the two records will be reconciled.

A booking should not be completed just because a payment row exists. The team needs the confirmed amount and the applicable posted charges. Likewise, a completed booking should not itself change a payment to confirmed. Keep the financial decision traceable to the money source and the booking.

A member makes a deposit before arrival, then pays the remaining amount on departure. Finance Officer sees both entries on the booking. The first is already confirmed; the second remains pending while its provider response is checked. The posted folio charges exceed confirmed receipts until the second response arrives. Finance Officer can then reconcile the balance and give Front Desk Agent the correct completion position.

If the provider repeats the deposit response, the same external reference should resolve to the existing payment rather than add another confirmed amount. If a refund is later issued, keep it attached to the booking and visible alongside the original receipt. This lets a later review explain the net position.

• Pending Payments — Investigate receipts that are not confirmed yet.
• Confirmed Payments — Reconcile accepted money against posted charges.
• Posted Folio Charges — See the booking amounts that the receipts must cover.

Follow financial completion and plan connections.