Front Desk & Night Audit

Guest Check-in & Check-out

The two most important actions in RDPWin are Check-in and Check-out since that is potentially the only time the front desk has interactions with the guest. There are many variations on these two processes for our customers. The RDPWin system, along with the optional mobile check-in and mobile check-out features can be utilized to handle any possible check-in or check-out process. The RDP covers everything from a very quick process where the guest simply picks up keys for a pre-assigned room, to a complex situation where a room number needs to be assigned, activities added, credit card scanned, room keys made and housekeeping notified.

Check-In

Guest registration is fast and simple with the RDP Front Desk module. For walk-ins, create a new reservation and immediately check-in the guest in one simple process.

Features include:

View the Arrivals list to see which guests have not yet checked-in
Find the guest by reservation#, name, phone#, GDS reservation#, cancellation# and more
If rooms are not preassigned, quickly locate and assign rooms based on availability and guest preferences
If rooms are preassigned, simply check-in the guest
Securely have the guest scan their credit card for payment or authorization
Create a room key
Easily add any activity to the guest’s itinerary
Add any charges, such as parking
Various reports are available, such as an Arrival Report

Create Room Key Cards

RDP offers an optional interface to room key card systems to automatically generate one or more room keys on check-in and room move.

Some key card systems have a feature to send a room entry code to the guest’s mobile phone so no key card is needed.

Features include:

Check-in process prompts for the number of key cards and then interfaces with the key card encoder to prompt for the insertion of the blank key card(s)
Key cards limited to a specific room by the arrival & departure dates
Lock-offs are supported so one key can open multiple rooms based on the lock-off configuration
If a guest moves rooms, RDPWin interacts with the key card system to create new key cards
One key card encoder can be shared between multiple front desk workstations or each workstation can have their own
No need to re-input the room#, arrival date, departure date and guest name into a non-interfaced key card encoder

Deposits & Payments

A guest may have an full advance deposit, partial deposit or none. RDPWin check-in process handles all scenarios.

For a full advance deposit, no payment is necessary, but any additional payment can be taken.

If a guest has a partial advance deposit, check-in will display the current balance due and allow for an additional payments by credit card, cash or check.

If there is no advance deposit, check-in can proceed with a payment or not. If no payment is made, it is assumed the payment will be applied during check-out.

During check-in, the system will transfer any advance payment amount from the advance deposit ledger to the in-house guest ledger for auditing purposes.

Posting Charges to Guest

A variety of charges can be defined based on your needs. There are some charge predefined, but all customers will need to add their own. Each charge is assigned a revenue center, such as room revenue, parking, movie rental, room service, bar, etc. Charges can also be posted from various POS systems through an optional RDP interface.

Charges are handled as follows:

All charges instantly update guest folio totals
A guest can have 3 personal sub-folios (Folio I, A & B)
Charges can be posted to sharewiths
All charges are itemized on the guest folio
Folios can be emailed or printed for the guest
All guest charges are added to RDP Ledger and General Ledger accounts
The Daily Manager’s Report shows daily, month-to-date, and year-to-date revenue totals by charge code
Charges appear on all Night Audit and Shift reports

Sharewith Features

There is extensive support for sharewiths (two or more guests in the same room) including:

Unlimited sharewiths per room
Each sharewith can have their own folio with split room charges
Each sharewith can have different arrival/departure dates as long as they overlap
Different rates & packages for each sharewith
Each sharewith has a separate guest history record for mass mailings and email marketing
Sharewiths can be checked-in at the same time or different times
Sharewiths can be established when reservation is made, at check-in or after arrival

Over Credit Limit Report

Each guest can be assigned a credit limit. The system can also be configured to automatically calculated a credit limit based on the total charge.

When posting charges, the system notifies the clerk if any charge places the guest over the assigned credit limit.

Additionally, a Guest Over Credit Limit report is available.

Night Audit Procedure

The night audit procedure is customizable to accommodate the various needs of our customers. The process can be a sophisticated night audit, a simple night audit or none at all.

For example, some RDP customers rent homes or condominiums and can simply close the day at 5 o’clock. At the other end of the continuum are large resort hotels where auditors balance shifts and daily totals, run reports, post nightly charges and more.

As part of the installation process, an RDP support specialist will research the night audit needs and customize a checklist specific to the tasks needed to be completed for a successful night audit.

Posting of Room & Tax

As part of the night audit or simply on closing the day, room charge or package charges and tax is posted (or realized) to all in-house guests. These charges can be coded to bill the guest or group leader. Any automatic incidental charges, like parking or crib are also posted at this point. The posting screen allows a review of all these charges prior to posting.

Most hotels post room and tax and then conduct a night audit process to make sure everything balances.

For many property managers of condominium or houses, a simple process of closing the day is all that is needed. As part of closing the day, the system will automatically post the appropriate charges for all guests. For these customers, a check-in process isn’t even necessary.

Cashier Balancing

Every charge and payment to the guest folio is stamped with the employee’s initials and also the date and shift. For hotel customers, this information can be used to balance by clerk or shift or both.

For those properties where one workstation is shared by multiple front desk clerks, the system will prompt for which clerk is posting the charge and then use the appropriate initials.

All changes to existing folio transactions are also recorded so that the old charge and new charge can be tracked.

This information ensures accurate cash drawer balancing and provides a fraud and theft deterrent. Cashier reports are available to help balance cash drawers and close up to three shifts per day.

Owner Accounting

RDP offers Condominium and Timeshare Owner Accounting modules. Front Desk & Night Audit are fully integrated to these modules.

Features include:

Automatically pay owners their share of rental revenue
Each charge posted to a folio can be split with the owner or not
If a guest changes rooms during his stay, the system pays each owner the correct portion
Owner revenue can be audited from the totals on the owner statement to the individual folio charge
Extensive owner revenue reporting

Check-out

The RDP one-screen check-out process affords the front desk clerk a quick way to get the guest on their way. The features mentioned below are all part of the check-out screen.

Either use the Departures list to find the guest or find them by name, room#, reservation#, GDS reservation number or phone number.
Take a credit card, cash or check payment from the guest or in the case of an owner reservation, transfer the balance to the owner account.
Preview, print or email the guest folio
Change existing folio charges or post new charges just prior to check-out.
Guests can be checked out with a balance due.
Guests can be checked-out prior to the departure date and the system will prompt for whether the remaining future charges will be included in the balance due or not.

RDP Ledgers

The front desk system is interfaced to the city ledger.

Features include:

Transfer to the city ledger at check-out, with complete aging reports at 30, 60, 90, and over 90 days
Each transaction code has a GL account assigned
RDP allows for an GL export to various accounting systems like NetSuite, QuickBooks and many more
Inquiry and reporting is available for every ledger account down to the specific folio transaction
RDP Ledgers include:
- Advance deposit ledger
- Guest Ledger
- City Ledger
- Travel Agent Ledger
- Owner Ledger