Check out a guest and issue the invoice

Q: The company pays the room and the guest pays the extras.

Set Billing routing on the booking so room and tax go to the company's folio. At check-out the guest pays their own folio, and the company's folio is billed to the company ( Company billing and the city ledger ).

Q: The guest wants another copy of the invoice.

Folio > Print invoice . Every print after the first says "Copy of original" and asks for a reason.

Q: We found a minibar item after the guest left.

Add a late charge : it gets its own small invoice, and the first invoice stays as it was.

Check out a guest and issue the invoice

Every folio of the stay ends at zero, either paid or billed to a company. Then each folio with charges gets one invoice.

Hospitality Front desk

6 min read

Updated October 20, 2026

For Front desk Cashier Manager

Before you start

Look at the guest's folios: their own, and the booking's company or extra folios if this is the last room of the booking to leave. The check-out lists them all.
Have your cashier shift open if the guest will pay.

Check out

Open the check-out
Who
Front desk or cashier
Where
Folios > the folio > Check out, or More › Check out this stay; or Reservations (Departures today) > Check out
What changes
The Check out drawer lists every folio the stay settles, with its balance.
Read the charges the check-out adds
What changes
Leaving after the check-out time today adds the late checkout fee. Leaving after midnight, or on the day of arrival, adds that night's room charge. Both are shown before you confirm.
Needs
Waiving the late checkout fee, or the night of a same-day stay (day use, complimentary), needs a reason and, above the desk's limit, a manager.
Choose how each folio ends
What changes
Guest pays: take the payment until the balance is zero. Bill to city ledger: the balance goes to a company (see Company billing and the city ledger).
Needs
A folio in credit must be refunded first. Check-out stays blocked until every folio is settled.
Confirm Check out
What changes
The stay ends, the room becomes vacant and dirty with a departure clean for housekeeping, and the folios close.
Print the invoice
Where
Folio > Print invoice
What changes
The first print is the original; later prints say "Copy of original" with the number and ask for a Reason for a reprint.

What happens at check-out

Area	Change
Room	Vacant and dirty; a departure clean is queued for today
Stay and booking	The stay is checked out; the booking too when its last room leaves
Folios	Settled at zero, or billed to the company's city ledger; then locked
Invoice	One invoice per folio with charges, for the whole stay
Guest or company account	The invoice goes to the folio's account; the payments already on it clear it
Cash drawer	Payments taken at check-out go into your open shift

One invoice for the stay

Each folio with charges becomes one tax invoice, for every night and every charge of the stay. Payments and deposits are not printed on it: they were recorded when they were taken, against the same account, so the account ends at zero. The invoice is the exact folio total, without rounding.

Worked example: one invoice, and where each amount lands

A guest stayed two nights at 5,000 a night, had laundry worth 1,000, and paid a deposit of 5,000 before arriving. The hotel's service charge is 10% and VAT is 13% on the amount plus service charge (the values set up for this example).

On the invoice	Amount
Room, first night	5,000
Room, second night	5,000
Laundry	1,000
Service charge	1,100
VAT	1,573
Invoice total	13,673

At check-out the guest's folio shows 8,673 to pay (13,673 less the deposit of 5,000). The guest pays 8,673 in cash and the desk confirms Check out.

In Accounting	Amount
The invoice, to the guest's account	13,673
Income: room sales and laundry sales	10,000 and 1,000
Service charge and VAT, each on its own account	1,100 and 1,573
The deposit receipt (taken before arrival) and the check-out receipt	5,000 and 8,673
What the guest's account owes after check-out	0

The printed invoice shows the 13,673 and no payments: there is no round-off, so it is the exact folio total.

Things check-out checks first

Check-out stops before it changes anything when the invoice could not be made, so nothing is left half done. Typical causes: a service not linked to its product, a product without a sales ledger, VAT or service charge not set up, no invoice numbering for today, no main store, or a store short of an item on the bill. The message names what is missing and where to fix it. Usually the administrator or the accountant fixes it; then check out again.

Common questions

The company pays the room and the guest pays the extras.

Set Billing routing on the booking so room and tax go to the company's folio. At check-out the guest pays their own folio, and the company's folio is billed to the company (Company billing and the city ledger).

The guest is leaving earlier than booked.

Check out as usual. Only the nights the guest stayed are charged.

The guest wants another copy of the invoice.

Folio > Print invoice. Every print after the first says "Copy of original" and asks for a reason.

We found a minibar item after the guest left.

Add a late charge: it gets its own small invoice, and the first invoice stays as it was.

The invoice is wrong.

Correct it with a credit note and a new invoice: see Credit notes and reopening an invoice.

Why can't I check out a guest who paid too much?

A folio in credit must be refunded first. Refund the extra (Refunds and payment adjustments), then check out.

The guest pays part now and the rest has to wait.

A stay cannot be checked out with a balance left open. Take the whole payment, or bill the balance to a company's city ledger (Company billing and the city ledger). A balance is left open only when posting an interim bill, or on a group's master folio, and a manager approves it.

The screen shows a late checkout fee or a night I did not expect.

Leaving after the check-out time (and the grace) today adds the late checkout fee. Leaving after midnight, or on the day of arrival, adds that night's room charge. Both are shown before you confirm. The late checkout fee, and the night of a same-day stay, can be waived with a reason (Early check-in and late check-out fees).

Check-out is refused and nothing was recorded.

The message names what is missing: for example a product without its sales ledger, no invoice numbering for today, or a store short of an item on the bill. Fix it where the message says, then check out again (When something is refused).