Direct billing and company accounts (B2B billing)

Direct billing is when a company pays for the guest's stay rather than the guest paying themselves. Common cases: airline crew accommodation, corporate travelers booked by the employer, conference rooms picked up by the meeting organizer. The mechanics are not magical — the company is just a separate kind of client — but the workflow has to be set up correctly or you end up with stays nobody's invoiced and an AR balance you can't trace.

Step 1 — create a client profile for the company

1. Go to Guest CRM → Clients → Create. Set the client type to Company (or use the company name as the legal name and tick a Business flag, depending on your version).
2. Fill: legal name, NIPT/VAT number, billing address, billing email, accounts-payable contact.
3. Set payment terms: net-30 (or whatever your contract specifies). The system uses this to compute the due date on every invoice issued to this client.
4. Set a credit limit. This is the maximum unpaid balance the company can carry before the system warns. Be conservative — easier to raise than to chase.
5. Save. The company is now a payable counterparty in the system.

Step 2 — attach reservations to the company

1. Create the reservation as usual: guest's name (the actual person staying), room, dates.
2. On the reservation form, set the bill-to (or company / billing client) to the company you created. Some properties also tag the reservation with a corporate code or contract number.
3. Specify what the company covers: typically Room + Breakfast. Anything outside that scope (minibar, room service, spa, telephone) goes on the guest's own folio for personal payment at check-out.
4. If the company's credit limit would be exceeded by adding this reservation, the system warns. Stop and check with finance.

Step 3 — at check-out

1. Settle the guest's personal folio (minibar, etc.) — they pay the incidentals at the desk.
2. The company-billed portion stays as an open balance against the company client. Two paths from here:
   • Per-stay invoicing: issue an invoice to the company immediately at check-out and email it to billing.
   • Monthly invoicing (city ledger): close the stay without invoicing; consolidate all the company's stays for the month into one statement at month-end.

Step 4 — the monthly statement (city ledger model)

1. On the last business day of the month, run AR / open balance for each company client.
2. Generate the monthly statement: list every stay (guest name, dates, room, amount), subtotal, VAT, total.
3. Issue the consolidated invoice to the company, attach the statement as backup, email to AP.
4. Diary the due date (per the payment terms — net-30 = 30 days from invoice date).

Step 5 — collecting payment

• When payment arrives (bank transfer typically), record it against the invoice in Payments. Match the amount and reference.
• Partial payments: apply what came in; the invoice stays open for the remainder. Don't write off without authorization.
• AR aging report (Reports → AR Aging) is your weekly check: how much each company owes, and how old. Anything in 60+ needs a phone call this week.

Edge cases

• Mid-stay billing change: guest extends and the company contract caps stays at 5 nights — switch the bill-to on additional nights to the guest, document the reason on the reservation.
• No-show on a company reservation: the company is on the hook per your cancellation policy, but always confirm with the corporate booker before invoicing — relationships matter more than one no-show fee.
• Multiple guests on one company invoice: works fine — one company client, many reservations under it. The monthly statement aggregates all of them.
• Currency mismatches: the company may want USD invoices while you operate in ALL. Decide and document at contract signing; the system can issue in either currency but you need to set the convention upfront.