Manage your Deposits Ledger in Accounting

1. Access the Accounting page in the main menu .
2. Go to the first tab: Deposits.
3. You can toggle on or off the option to show consumed/void deposits:
   • Toggle this on to see the history of a deposit moved out of the ledger and into a reservation's guest ledger (folio).
   • If you only wish to show the deposits that are currently active in the Deposits Ledger, toggle this off to get a simple current view.
4. You can filter the Deposits Ledger by the following options:
   1. Transaction date
   2. Transaction state
   3. Reservation Status
   4. User
   5. Check-in Date
   6. Check-out Date

When a reservation is booked and paid, either in full or partially, through the booking engine, those payments are automatically classified as deposits and appear on the Deposits Ledger. Similarly, when creating a direct reservation within the system, it will also be recorded in the Deposits Ledger if you make a payment upon creation.

Additionally, the system allows you to mark any payment as a deposit after the reservation has been created, allowing you to manage security deposits collected upon the guest’s arrival.

Check below how to ensure the payment is classified as a deposit while creating a direct reservation from scratch:

1. Create the reservation with a direct source.
2. Click to add payment.
3. Assign the payment to the corresponding folio.
4. Fill out the payment details.
5. Check the box Mark as deposit.

After adding this payment, you will not see it directly posted to the reservation folio when you open it again. However, you will see a balance in the Deposits button on the upper-right side of the reservation:

Every reservation has a Deposit button on the upper right that indicates the deposit balance of that reservation.

• When the reservation is checked in or throughout the stay, you can take those payments to the Guest Ledger to show as revenue.
  • Optionally, all deposits can be moved to the Guest Ledger upon checkout.
  • However, a reservation cannot be brought to a terminal status (checked out, no-show, or canceled) while leaving an open balance on the Deposits Ledger. This ensures that all deposits are accounted for. Check the section Check out a reservation that has a remaining deposit.
  • Refundable deposits can be returned, and nonrefundable deposits can be posted as earned revenue.
  • If your property has enabled the consume at check-in automation, this process will happen automatically when a reservation is moved to In-house. Manual consumption is still possible if automation is not enabled.

You can follow the next steps to manage the deposits within the reservation:

1. Click the Deposits button to display the deposit details for that specific reservation.
2. You can filter the deposit transactions to hide already consumed or voided deposits or to see only voided deposits.
3. You can click Consume on any of the deposit items:
   • When you consume a deposit, it will be transferred out of the Deposits Ledger and posted into the Guest Ledger (Folio).
4. Review the warning message and select whether you want to proceed.

When you navigate back to the reservation folio, you will see the deposit was added to the transactions and the deposit remaining balance is zero, meaning that there is no further amount to be charged as a deposit for that reservation:

A deposit that has not yet been consumed remains in the Deposits Ledger and does not appear as a standard payment transaction in the reservation folio.

The correct refund workflow depends on whether you need to refund the entire original deposit or only part of it.

Refund the full deposit amount

If you need to return the entire original deposit, you can refund it directly from the Deposits Ledger:

1. Go to the Deposits Ledger page.
2. Find the applicable deposit transaction.
3. Click the button on the transaction line.
4. Select Refund.
5. Review the refund details and process the refund.

Refund only part of the deposit

If only part of the original Cloudbeds Payments deposit needs to be refunded, consume the deposit first. This transfers the payment into the reservation folio, where you can select the original gateway transaction and enter a partial refund amount.

1. Open the reservation and click the Deposits button.
2. Locate the applicable deposit and click Consume.
3. Confirm that the deposit now appears as a payment transaction in the reservation folio.
4. Click Add/Refund Payment.
5. Select Refund Payment.
6. Select the credit card, guest, and folio associated with the original payment.
7. Select Refund Payment Gateway Transaction.
8. Select the applicable payment transaction.
9. Enter only the amount that needs to be refunded.
10. Click Add refund.

The Refund Payment Gateway Transaction option is only available when Cloudbeds PMS can identify an eligible original payment that was processed through a connected payment gateway.

The option may be greyed out or unavailable when:

• The deposit is still unconsumed in the Deposits Ledger and does not yet appear as a payment transaction in the reservation folio.
• The original payment was added as a record-only payment.
• The payment does not have a gateway transaction ID.
• The payment was processed outside Cloudbeds PMS.

If the original deposit was processed through Cloudbeds Payments and only a partial refund is required, consume the deposit and then attempt the refund from the reservation folio.

Whenever you try to check out, cancel, or no-show a reservation (bring it to a terminal state), if you have a deposit remaining, you will be prompted to consume it.

You will not be able to set the reservation status to a terminal status until the deposits for that reservation have been zeroed out. Follow the next steps:

1. Move the reservation to In-house status.
2. Click to confirm the check-in.
3. You will be prompted with the remaining deposits and can optionally consume them. Follow the steps in Manage the Deposits within the reservation folio to zero out the deposit balance.
4. Move the reservation back to Checked-out status, or to No-show or Canceled, as applicable.

If you need to void or refund a deposit instead of consuming and posting it to the Guest Ledger before checkout, you can do this on the main Deposits Ledger page.

1. Go to the Deposits Ledger main page.
2. Find the transaction you need to void or refund.
3. Click the button on the transaction line.
4. Click to void or refund the payment.