Folio: the guest's running bill, from check-in to check-out

• The room charge, posted each night, with its tax.
• Meals and drinks signed to the room, laundry, the minibar, transport.
• Advances and deposits, card and cash payments, and payments from a booking site or a company.
• Allowances: corrections and discounts, each with its reason and who agreed it.

A folio number ties the folio to the stay. A property management system usually gives one when the guest checks in, and prints it on the bill, so any charge or payment can be traced.

• Guest folio: one per room or guest, for their own charges.
• Master folio: one for a group, a wedding or a company, carrying what the organiser pays, such as the rooms and the group's meals.
• Split folio: one stay's charges divided between two payers, such as a company paying the room and the guest paying the extras.
• Company or agent account: for a company or travel agent billed later, after the guest has left.

Agree before arrival which charges go to which folio, in writing for groups and companies, and tell the front desk.

When a guest has paid a booking site in advance, the site pays for the room and the guest pays for the extras, so the folio splits in two. When the guest pays you at the hotel, everything is on one folio, and the site invoices you its commission afterwards.

• Agoda says that even when it takes the guest's payment, the hotel remains responsible for the guest's invoice for the stay, at the price the guest paid, showing the amount before GST, the GST and the total.
• Booking.com says that if your property isn't registered for GST, it collects and pays the GST on room rates sold on its site for you, and sends a GST payment overview with its commission invoice.
• Take the guest's own payment at check-in for extras, and keep the site's payment for what it paid.
• Mark the payer of each line, so the bill handed to the guest shows what they owe and nothing the site has already paid.

The rate follows the room's price per unit per day, so the folio has to show each night's room price clearly. Meals, laundry and other services on the same folio may be taxed differently: set each kind of charge up once, with your accountant, in your property management system or billing software.

Agoda lists what a guest's tax invoice should show: the hotel's name, the guest's full name, the amount before GST, the GST and the total. India's GST rules set out what a tax invoice must carry, so agree the layout with your accountant and let every folio print the same way.

1. 1The evening before, check the folio of every room leaving: restaurant, bar and laundry charges posted, nothing missing or posted twice.
2. 2At check-out, ask about anything used since: the minibar, a late breakfast, a call.
3. 3Show the guest the folio before they pay, and explain any line they ask about.
4. 4Take payment for the balance, or move it to the company or travel agent paying, if that was agreed.
5. 5Issue the tax invoice from the settled folio, and email a copy if the guest wants one.
6. 6Close the folio at zero. Anything left open goes on a list the accounts team clears each day.