A Gift Certificate is an Inventory Item which is charged to a folio through "Add Charge".  Before you sell a Gift Certificate it must be set up as an Inventory Item first. See Gift Certificates | Setup

When a Gift Certificate is sold, the transaction is charged and paid for in the same House Account folio. When a Gift Certificate is redeemed, it is applied as a payment in a guest folio using payment type "Gift Certificate Redeemed". See Gift Certificates | Redeem

Since the two transactions (Sold and Redeemed) are recorded in different folios and on different dates, the best way to "match"a Gift Certificate to sold and when it is redeemed is to use the transaction description record details like purchaser name, folio #, gift certificate #, expiry dates, etc.. If you already have a Gift Certificate system set up and have tracking #, then you can use these in the transaction description.

There are two options for using the House Accounts for Gift Certificates. See Gift Certificates | House Accounts

  • Option 1: Use One Folio to Track Gift Certificates: Use one House Accounts Folio to track all Gift Certificates purchased and redeemed.
  • Option 2: Setup a new folio for each gift certificate purchased: Add a new House Accounts folio for each gift certificate purchased. You can create as many folios as you need and each folio will function independently using the basic folio operations.

Regardless of which option you chose, adding the charge and receiving payment in the folio for the Gift Certificate is the same. To make tracking easier, be sure that that the descriptions of each transaction matches and contains as much detail as possible.

All Transactions can be tracked in the Transactions Report.

Option 1: Sell Gift Certificates in One House Account Folio

  • Go to FRONT DESK | HOUSE ACCOUNTS and click on the "Gift Certificates" Folio. 
  • Add Charge: Go to Add Charge and choose "Gift Certificate" ( or whatever you have named this inventory item) from the Charge type drop-down list.
    • In the Description, enter the name, Gift Certificate#, expiry date, etc. Remember the Transaction Type will already say "Gift Certificate" so add other details to the description. In this example, we included the name, a gift Certificate #, and Expiry Date.  "Kim Johnson. #101116 Expires 10/11/17"
  • Add Payment: Go to Add Payment and choose the payment type. Ie. Visa, cash, etc.
    • In the Description, enter the name, GC#, expiry date, etc. Be sure that that the description matches the description in Add Charge. Remember the Transaction Type will only say the payment type ie "Visa" so add "Gift Certificate" to the description. For example, "Gift Certificate: Kim Johnson. #101116 Expires 10/31/17"
  • Print Folio: If you are using one folio to record all Gift Certificate Sales, then just clicking "print folio" will generate a receipt of all transactions. To print or email specific transactions, click the check box next to the transactions and use the "Print checked items to POS Printer". You must have a POS Letter setup in Letters to use this option. See POS Receipt Function

Remember all folios must be balanced in order to complete night audit, so be sure to make charges and take payments in the correct folios.

 In this example a Gift Certificate is sold for $150 to Kim Johnson. It expires 1 year from purchase date.

Select Gift Certificate in Add Charge

Add Details in Description

 

Gift Certificate Sale recorded

Add PaymentAdd ChargePrint to POS