Multiple Items for One Service
In GlobalWare, a booking/sale can have multiple invoice items to handle the accounting.
Deposit for hotels
Sometimes when you book a hotel for a client, you need to collect a deposit (or the amount in full) from the traveler and write a check to the provider. This invoice item might or might not have a commission deducted from the payment to the provider. This type is always settlement plan I for invoice and form of payment should be non-plastic.
If the commission is not in this invoice item, you can have another invoice item for the booking with settlement T (tracking) to track the commission due.
Front-room agents can invoice both of these items.
Multiple payments for sales
There are two standard methods of handling multiple payment for non-ARC sales (typically, tours and cruises):
- Payment in full upon booking
- Two (or more) installments: a deposit upon booking and a final payment sometime before departure
In GlobalWare, the payment in full upon booking is represented by one invoice item. A deposit plus a final payment has two invoice items.
An example of this would be a client buying a tour package from Santo Tours on July 8, for a 10-day tour starting October 5. The client is also buying a trip cancellation policy from Mutual of Omaha for $75.00, with a 30% commission. The cost of the tour is $3,000.00 (14% commission) with a deposit of $300.00 and a final payment of $2,700.00. The client asked to make the final payment in two equal installments on August 1 and September 1.
| Invoice Item | A/R Due Date | From Traveler Amount | A/P Due Date | To Provider Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Deposit-Check |
07/08 |
$300.00 |
07/08 |
$300.00 |
|
Second Payment |
08/01 |
$1,350.00 |
08/01 |
$1,350.00 |
|
Final Payment |
09/01 |
$1,350.00 |
09/01 |
$930.00 |
|
Total |
|
$3,000.00 |
|
$2,580.00 |
|
Trip-Insurance |
07/08 |
$75.00 |
07/08 |
$52.50 |
On this invoice there are four items, three for the tour and one for the trip insurance. The four invoice items can be set up when the tour is booked on July 8, so the entire package is included in the agency’s sales analysis for that month. For information about interfacing these invoice items through your front office system, see the interface help.
Each invoice item has an Invoice Date, an Accounts Receivable Due Date, and an Accounts Payable Due Date to properly control when each item was invoiced, and when money is due from the traveler and to the provider. In accrual accounting, the AR, AP, and commission post on the AR due date of each item, while the sales for the entire trip post on the AR date of the last item.
Each installment has its own form of payment and any installment can be paid by MCO. If you find out after the item has been invoiced that the payment will be by MCO, change the Settlement Code to A and put in the MCO document number in the validating carrier and ticket number fields.
The final payment (third item in this example) should include the commission for the entire package for Santo. It would be entered as a fixed $ commission amount of $420.00, not as a percent.
The items for one trip are related with the Sale Number field. In this example, the three tour items would have Sale Number 1, and the trip insurance would have Sale Number 2.
Some agencies prefer to invoice each item as the payment is made. This can also be done with front-room segments using the Payment Adjustment format (for example, /QA- in Apollo).