Recording Utilities

It doesn't have to take forever

Recording utilities used to be such a pain. Open up each unit, recording the reading, adding a payment, sending the payment notification, and processing the payment. That is why we set out to simplify this process and reduce the time and number of clicks it takes to record readings, send notifications, and process payments.

1. Choose the utility and read date

First, go to Property > Record Utilities to load the utility reading page. Choose the utility type and the date the utilities were read. If you have not already added a utility, do so at Settings > Utilities.

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Select the utility and the date the readings were recorded

2. Choose payment options

Next, choose your payment options if you want to record payments for the utility now or if you want to schedule payments in the future. If you do not want to process payments, skip this step.

Payment Option
Choose 'Collect payment now' if you want to process payments immediately, or choose 'Schedule payment for [date]' if you want to schedule the payments for a particular date. Choose the date by clicking the blue date link.

Option
Check the 'Email payment receipt' if you want a payment receipt email to be sent to the guest when the payment processes. Check the 'Email payment notification x days before' box if you want to notify the guest of an upcoming payment. This option only appears when the payment is scheduled.

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Select payment options if you want to process payments

3. Record unit utilities

Finally, it is time to record your utilities. All of your units will be listed here. For each unit, you will need to decide whether or not to add a charge to a reservation. You will see all guests that have stayed at that unit since the last reading. If you do not want to charge a guest for the utility usage, just select 'Do not charge'. For example, you may want to charge your long term guest for a utility but not any of the short term guests that stayed at the unit during the past month. The reservation type is shown after the reservation date, so you know if the reservation is a short term or long term (ongoing) reservation.

On the right side, you will see the previous reading, which will read 0 if this is your first time to record utilities. When you enter the current reading in the 'Current' box, the 'Total' will be calculated based on the utility price per unit. If you want to apply the payment options selected above, check the checkbox that has a description of the payment options. Click 'Save' to record the reading and process the payment (if applicable). If no payment method is on file for the guest, this checkbox will not appear so you will not be able to process the payment.

You can repeat this process for each unit, or just select the units for which you want to record the utility.

4. Relax!

That is all! If you applied the charge to any reservations, you can view the reservation charges section to see the new charge. If you elected to have the payment process, you will see the payment listed there as well. If you scheduled the payment, you will see the scheduled payment and you can relax knowing the payment will process on it's own when the time comes. No more returning after a few days to process payments!