How to add a tip or service charge

Tipping practices vary wildly — some properties never tip (built into salary), some pool tips equally, some use a mandatory service charge with no separate tip. HotelBee supports each of these patterns; this article covers the configuration.

Service charge — auto-applied per POS Point

POS → POS Points → open the POS Point. Three fields:

• serviceFeeEnabled — toggle on to apply a service fee to every order at this POS Point.
• serviceFeeType — percentage or fixed. Percentage is a % of the base subtotal; fixed is a flat amount per order.
• serviceFeeValue — the percentage (10 for 10%) or the amount (5 for €5).

Save. From then on, every new order at this POS Point includes the service fee on the receipt as a calculated line — guests see it before paying. Existing open orders aren't retro-applied; close them and re-open if you need the new fee.

Tips — per-order at payment time

Each order has a tipMode field with three values:

• none — no tip on this order. The default for orders at POS Points without service fee enabled.
• manual — waiter or guest enters a tip amount at payment. Use this for voluntary tipping.
• auto — calculates from the POS Point's serviceFee config. The POS Point's percentage or fixed amount becomes the tip on the order. Use when 'tip' is really a service charge under a different name.

At payment time

When the waiter goes to close the order, the tip dialog (if tipMode is manual) shows the suggested amount based on a quick percentage picker (10%, 15%, 20%) plus a free-form override. The guest's chosen tip is recorded on the order and shows on the receipt. For card payments processed through Stripe, the tip is captured as part of the charge.

Reporting and pooling

Tips show as a separate column on the Detailed Orders Report. Filter by waiter to see per-staff totals. For tip pooling, export the report to Excel and apply your distribution formula. HotelBee tracks the data; the pooling math is per-property policy.

Common patterns

• Restaurant 10% service charge — POS Point: serviceFeeEnabled on, type percentage, value 10. Tips on orders: tipMode auto. Every order auto-includes the 10%.
• Bar with voluntary tips — POS Point: serviceFeeEnabled off. Orders: tipMode manual; guest decides at payment.
• Spa fixed service charge — POS Point: serviceFeeEnabled on, type fixed, value 5. Every spa order adds €5 service. Tips off.
• No tipping culture — both off. Receipt shows just the items + tax + total.