Creating, Sending, and Getting Paid on a Folio

A folio is hospitality terminology for a running account or tab, as opposed to a single fixed invoice. You can keep adding charges to a folio after it has been sent, even after it has been paid, for incidentals, rather than issuing a brand new bill every time. It works just as well when all you need is a single invoice.

A quick note on terms: the payer is the person or company the folio is addressed to, the one who pays. The guest is the person who is actually staying, when that is someone different. (The folio form’s “Same as payee” checkbox uses an older word for the payer.)

Creating a folio

1. Click “+ New folio” from your Folios list.
2. Choose an existing payer, or add a new one with their first and last name, company (optional), language, email, and phone. The payer’s language controls which language their folio documents and payment link are in.
3. Set the guest information. By default the guest is the same as the payer. If someone else will actually be staying, uncheck “Same as payee” and enter the guest’s first and last name (email and phone are optional).
4. Add a charge description (your past descriptions autocomplete to save time), an optional code such as a room or accounting code, and the amount. You can add several line items.
5. Owners and super users can also add a “Credit” line, which records an offline or manual payment such as cash, a check, or an existing deposit.
6. Add any notes and click “Create folio”. The folio is saved as a draft.

Sending a folio

From the folio page, click “Send folio”. Sending emails the payer a secure link to their folio and marks it open. They do not need to create an account, download an app, or log in: they simply open the link, review the folio, and pay. You can also copy the payment link directly from the folio page to send it yourself.

Adding more charges later

You can add additional charges to a folio at any time, even after it has already been paid. That is exactly what the running tab model is for, such as adding an incidental after a guest checks out. Adding a charge to a paid folio reopens it, and the payer is emailed about the updated balance.

Recording a manual payment

Owners and super users can record an offline payment, such as cash or a check, by adding a “Credit” line item to a draft or open folio. This closes out part of the balance without a card payment. Refunds are not available against manual credits, since there is no gateway transaction behind them.

Refunds

Owners and super users can issue a full or partial refund directly from a folio, against any successful card payment. Refunds never resurrect a payer’s balance: only a new charge increases what is owed, so the running total always stays accurate. Refunded money routes back through the provider that processed the original payment, even after you switch providers.

Keeping a card on file (incidentals)

When your business has enabled card on file (in Settings, Payments) and the payer kept their card on file when paying, staff see a “Card on file” panel on the folio. An owner or super user can charge that card for damages or extra charges discovered after the stay. Every such charge is best-effort: the card issuer can always decline, and if that happens the charge stays on the folio and the payer is emailed your ordinary payment link. The payer’s card can also be removed at any time. See Keeping a Payer’s Card on File for the full guide.

Identity verification

If your business has the ID verification add-on enabled, a folio will show an “Identity verification” panel with a status for the payer and, when the guest differs, one for the guest too. From it, staff can request a Stripe-hosted identity check, or reuse a prior verified result at no charge. See Identity Verification for Payers and Guests for the full guide, including billing and privacy details.

Folio statuses

• draft: created but not yet sent
• open: sent, awaiting payment
• paid: balance fully paid
• partially refunded: a partial refund has been issued
• refunded: a refund has been issued

Deleting a folio is a soft delete: it stays on record, can no longer be paid, and shows a “deleted” badge next to its real status. An owner or super user can restore it later, which re-sends it to the payer. A folio’s status is never changed by deleting or restoring it.

Documents

Every folio is a clean, shareable document, viewable in-app, downloadable as a PDF, or exportable as a CSV. Pro businesses can brand it with their own logo, and every business can set a contact email shown on it. The same document is the one emailed to the payer and the one the payer sees on the payment page. Voided line items are excluded from payer-facing documents.