There are situations where you may need to create a new recurring charge manually. See the steps below on how to create a new recurring charge and how to manage each of the available settings.
1. Create the new charge.
In the charges tab of the reservation select “New Recurring Charge”, as shown below.
2. Select what the recurring charge is for.
In this example, we are creating a recurring charge for the $3.50 reservation fee, so that is what we will select.
3. Write in a description of the charge.
The charge description determines what the title of the charge will be when posted, this is also what the guest will see on invoices, guest portal, etc.
4. Set the recurring charge price, quantity, and taxes.
Enter in the price or amount you will be charging to the guest.
The quantity can be a useful setting if a guest has multiple sites booked and you need to charge them at the base price of $3.50 but at a quantity of 2 to cover two sites. In this example, we only need to bill $3.50 once so we will leave the quantity at 1.
Apply taxes. If taxes are needed, you can select the tax dropdown and check all applicable taxes for the charge.
5. Set the Charge Frequency.
The charge frequency determines how often the charge will post. When creating a new recurring charge, you will see it is set to monthly by default, as this is most used. However, you may choose to post Annually, Weekly, or Daily instead.
6. Set the “Create First Charge On” date.
When creating a new recurring charge, this date will determine when the first charge is posted, by default the system will select tomorrow’s date, adjust the date as needed.
IMPORTANT: Recurring charges will not auto post for dates that have already passed. If you need to backdate a recurring charge, you will set the date then post the first recurring charge manually, as shown in step 12.
7. Set “End Recurring Charge On” date, If applicable.
This is the day Firefly will no longer create the recurring charge. Leave the end date blank to post the charge indefinitely. When you enter a departure date for an ongoing reservation, it is automatically set on the recurring charge as well so you do not need to set an end date manually.
However, if you need to end a particular recurring charge ahead of the guest's check out date, you will set the end date here.
8. What is the Current Cycle?
The current cycle represents the number of charges that have been posted. In this example, there have been zero charges created, as this charge is being newly created, so the cycle is currently 0.
The current cycle drives the next charge date and must be set to 0 for the first charge to post on the Create First Charge date set above.
If the Create First Charge date is today or a past date, and the current cycle is set to 0, you must create the first charge manually. See step 12 for directions.
TIP: The current cycle can be used to manage posted charges.
You can decrease the current cycle to post a previous cycle's charge. In the example below, the cycle shows 1 recurring charge posted, which would have been for March 1st. If the recurring charge for March 1st was accidentally deleted or you are working retroactively, the current cycle can be reduced by one to reset the next charge date back to March 1st and then the March 1st recurring charge can be posted again manually. See step 12 below to "Create Next Charge" manually..
Alternatively, if you need to skip an upcoming recurring charge you can increase the current cycle to move the next charge forward one cycle. In the example below, if you increased the current cycle to 2 then the next recurring charge will post May 1st instead.
9. Set “Create Days Early”, if applicable.
If you would like the charge to be available before the due date, you can set the charge to create in advance. In the example below, we see a Create Days Early setup for 5 days which will create this March 1st charge on February 25th. This is especially useful for guests that prefer to pay their recurring charge before the due date or on a specific date every month.
10. Additional recurring charge options.
When “Send email notification for every new charge created” is enabled, the guest will receive an email notification when each new charge is posted. This is especially useful if they do not have autopayments enabled, so the guest can be notified that they have a new charge and balance available.
11. Automatic payment options.
You may set up recurring scheduled payments if the guest has a payment method on file (credit card or ACH).
Select “Auto Process Payment” once you confirm the guest would like to automatically schedule a payment to the payment method on file when a new recurring charge is created. Unless set for a specific day, in the option below, autopayments process the day a recurring charge is created.
Select “Send email notification of upcoming payment…” if you would like to send the guest an email to remind them of their upcoming autopayment. In the example below, an email will be sent to the guest 2 days before the payment will process. This means once a recurring charge posts an automatic payment is scheduled but delayed for the number of days set in the email notification. Setting notification for 3 days will delay payment for 3 days, and so on.
Select “Process payment on a specific day” if the guest would like their payment to always be posted on a specific day of the month. In the example below, the guest’s payment will process on the 1st of the month even though the charge will be posted on the 25th. Leave this box unchecked if the recurring charge is a daily or weekly frequency. If this option remains unchecked,
NOTE: If you enable both email notification and a specific day to process payments, Firefly will schedule a payment on the specified day but delay processing for email notification. In the example below, Firefly schedules autopayment on the 1st, sends an email notification for the upcoming payment on the 1st, but will not process the autopayment for 2 days until the 3rd.
If you wish to process an autopayment the same day a recurring charge is created or on a specified day, do not enable email notification.
This completes the recurring charge setup, you can now SAVE the charge.
12. Manual “Create next charge” feature.
As we mentioned earlier in this article, if you backdate the recurring charge, you will need to create the first charge manually. You can do so as shown below.
You can also use this option if the guest would like to pay a charge early, but it has not been posted yet.
