Recommended Transaction and Reporting Procedures

There are probably as many different ways of handling transactions and requirements for reporting as there are campgrounds, so we've made Campground Master as flexible as possible.  However that can also leads to confusion as to what the "best" method is.  Here we attempt to outline the recommended procedures for getting the best results from Campground Master's transaction handling and reporting.  

The details on how to do the various functions are covered elsewhere -- this will be just a basic outline of when to do what, and why.

Note: The examples below primarily apply to short-term reservations.  Some details will be different for long-term (e.g. Monthly/Annual) reservations, although many of the same concepts apply.

Advance Deposits, Charges,  and Confirmations

The "Deposit" transaction in Campground Master is intended only for "Advance" deposits, i.e. prior to their stay.  This should be used when the customer has made a payment but you don't want the amount (or at least not all of it) to show as earned income on reports.  For instance, lets say they make a 4-day reservation for next month, and you take a 1-day deposit or perhaps payment for the full 4 days.  Depending on your accounting practices (and/or local laws) you may not want any of that deposit to be considered income yet (especially if it's fully refundable), and most certainly don't want the entire 4 days to be considered income since you haven't been paid for it yet.

Note: When we mention adding "charges" here, this also commonly includes Discount and Tax transactions in addition to Charge transactions.  It's usually done with Select Rates so that you're using your Rate definitions -- however it could also be automatic through Auto-Rates or you could be adding Charge/Discount/Tax transactions manually.

Note: Don't confuse "Advance Deposit" with a "Security Deposit" (e.g. for loss & damages).  Security Deposits are simply another type of Charge -- see the Security Deposits section for details.

Avoiding any of the Deposit being considered as earned income immediately:

In this case the only transaction you should enter is the Deposit transaction, for whatever amount needed.  No charges should be entered yet -- otherwise the Deposit will be "Applied" and will therefore be categorized as income.  So, how do you handle that?

First you will probably need to know how much Deposit should be taken, if it's not an easy fixed amount.  One way to do that is to use the "Check Rates" function while you're still in New Reservation.  You can select a single day to calculate for, if that's what you need to know, or at least just look at what the daily rate is.  Another way is to use "Quote/Confirmation" from Reservation Details. (Some of the details depend on whether you're using Auto-Rates, covered elsewhere.)

Next you need to enter the actual Deposit (which is basically a Payment, but treated specially).  This can only be done in Reservation Transactions.  Add the amount of Deposit (which should be the only Transaction you see at this point, until they check in).

Now you may want to print or E-mail a confirmation letter.  That can also be done from Reservation Transactions -- but if you want to include the total amount for the stay (and perhaps the balance due), then you should use Quote/Confirmation (so you may need to back out of Reservation Transactions to Reservation Details, then click Quote/Confirmation).  The difference is that the charges added in Quote/Confirmation will only be shown temporarily so you can create the confirmation, and won't be saved as income. Again, you don't want the reservation to have charges yet, or else they will be counted as income.  So once you've entered the charges in Quote/Confirmation, then you can print or E-mail a confirmation showing the charges and balance, then click Done -- the charges will be removed so you're left with just the Deposit again.

Counting the Deposit as earned income immediately:

Now let's assume you do have to count the Deposit as earned, since you have to pay the state & local taxes on it (or perhaps it's non-refundable).  While this is not commonly the desired situation, it's actually the easier method.

In this case you would enter the Deposit as above, but you would go ahead and add the charges through Reservation Transactions, and print or E-mail the confirmation from there.  The Deposit would be fully Applied immediately, and for reporting it would automatically be categorized proportionally to the categories charged (more on that in the Receipts by Category documentation).  

Finalizing Charges and Payments (Check-In)

At the time the customer Checks In, their reservation will generally only have a Deposit transaction or possibly a Deposit and the Charges, as described above.  Now you would add any remaining charges (or adjustments due to last-minute changes), and final payment.  That's done through Reservation Transactions of course.  After all charges/adjustments are added you will probably have a balance due -- so then you would add the Payment transaction.

Make sure you always add the charges before the Payment -- otherwise the payment will become "uncategorized" on reports (more on that in the Receipts by Category documentation).

So now the reservation should be fully charged and paid, and will have a $0.00 balance, and checked in.  You're done until they Check Out.

Handling Balances After Check-Out (or Cancellation)

Things don't always go so smoothly, and you end up with the customer owing money, or with you owning them a refund for an overpayment.  This could be after check-out, but could also be due to a cancellation, or any time during an extended stay.

If they owe you money that you don't expect to ever receive, then you need some way to zero that out.  The recommended method is to simply Reverse the Charges or enter Discount transactions to return the balance to zero.  Also see the Bounced Checks information.

If you owe them money and you give them a refund, then that's simple enough -- see the Refunds section for details.

If you owe them money but you want to hold that for a future stay, then the way to handle that is with a Payment Transfer or Deposit Transfer (see that section for details).

Reporting -- Cash Basis

This is the most common reporting done.  You should use the Quick-Reports "Receipts by Payment Method" and "Receipts by Category".  You will probably not need any of the other transaction reports.  Note that for sales tax reporting, do not use "Taxes by tax category" since that's an accrual-basis report.  Instead use "Receipts by Category" and look at just the Tax categories.

Reporting -- Accrual Basis

If you do reporting on "accrual" basis, i.e. you want to count any Charges on accounts to be considered Accounts Receivable, you should use the Quick-Reports "Receipts by Payment Method" and "Charges by Category".  You will also likely use the "Accounts Receivable" report, and you can use "Taxes by Tax Category" for sales tax reporting.

For more details on transaction reporting, see the Transactions tab view information.