A guest's own money that hasn't yet been used to pay a room or a charge is their credit on file — for example a deposit taken when they booked in advance, or extra cash they paid over what they owed so far. This is the guest's own money. (Money paid by an employer or host is sponsor credit — that's a separate panel; see Sponsor credit on a folio.)
The system keeps this credit attached to the right guest and applies it to that guest's bills automatically, so their folio balance is correct. This covers any payment taken on the guest's folio, not only deposits: whenever a night or charge is posted, at check-out, and on the nightly billing run, the guest's spare money pays the oldest open bill first. Sponsor credit is only used for what the guest's own money leaves open (see Sponsor credit on a folio).
Before you start
- You need Room Management access — the same permission that opens the folio.
- Open the guest's folio from the Folios list or the Room Status board.
Where you see it
- On the folio's totals panel (right side), an Unused guest payment row appears between Payments applied and the balance whenever the guest has money that no bill has used yet. If it isn't shown, every naira they've paid is already applied to a room or charge.
- When every bill is paid and money is left over, the balance box reads Guest in credit with that amount: refund it, or transfer it to the sponsor.
- The Balance Due figure is what's still owed after applied payments. Credit on file is money that can still be put toward that balance.
How advance-booking deposits work now
- When you take a deposit for an advance booking, it is recorded against that guest.
- When the guest checks in from that booking, the room lands on the same guest, and the deposit is applied to the room straight away.
- For a group booking (two or more rooms on one deposit), each room's share of the deposit is applied to that room, and it keeps growing to the full share as the nights bill — you no longer see a deposit "stuck" at the first-night amount.
- Anything the guest paid over what they've used so far stays as credit on file, ready to apply to their other rooms or to refund at checkout.
Applying credit at checkout
- Open the folio and start checkout (or click Receive Payment).
- In the payment window, tick Apply brought-forward credit — the amount shown is the guest's credit on file.
- The credit is put toward the balance; collect only the remainder, if any.
- If the guest has paid more than the final bill, the leftover is theirs to refund (or keep on file for a future stay).
Tips
- The Unused guest payment figure on the folio and the Apply brought-forward credit figure at checkout are the same number — they always agree.
- You don't have to apply a deposit by hand for the common case; check-in and the nightly billing apply it for you. The manual apply is for surplus / brought- forward money.
Common problems
- "Unused guest payment" isn't showing → the guest has no spare money; it's all already applied. Check the Payments applied row.
- Balance Due looks too high on a group booking → make sure every room has been checked in. A deposit share only applies once its room is checked in and starts billing.
- A deposit seems to be on the wrong guest → this is the old duplicate-guest problem and is now prevented for new check-ins. For a stay booked before the fix, ask an administrator — moving an old deposit also moves posted ledger and must be done deliberately (see the internal relink runbook), not from this screen.
- The button to apply credit is greyed out → the folio may already be closed, or its balance is zero. Re-open the folio, or there's simply nothing to apply.