Deck 10: Billing and the Guest Folio

Question 1

Guests who arrive late (usually after 9:00 p.m.) to claim their reservations are called late charges.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A guest staying in the hotel who is charging meals and services to his/her guest folio is essentially an account payable.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

There is one folio for each person (guest) staying in the hotel.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Hotels offer numerous services that increase the balance of a guest folio, but there are only three methods of settling (paying) for those services; they are cash (or cash equivalents, like a company check or traveler's check), allowances, and transfers (as when a guest uses a credit card and transfers the balance to the City Ledger).

Question 5

Assuming a department (say, the restaurant) has a POS terminal interfaced to the PMS, room charges created at that department are electronically transferred directly to the guest's folio.

Question 6

An example of an asset is:

A) Beverage allowances
B) Room sales
C) Taxes collected and due to be paid to a municipal government
D) Accounts receivable due from guests
E) All of the above depending on the circumstances

Question 7

A skipper is a (an):

A) Nickname given to the hotel GM
B) Guest who charges bar drinks to the room folio
C) Guest who leaves without paying his bill
D) American-plan guest who skips one or more meals that have been prepaid
E) Both A and D

Question 8

Bills are presented to guests:

A) Whenever total charges exceed a ceiling limit established by the hotel
B) By a copy delivered under the door the night before check out
C) By the front desk at check out
D) By means of the in-room television set
E) All of the above, depending on the circumstances

Question 9

The distribution of charges between a master account and a guest's personal account is called:

A) Comp allowances
B) Credit accounting
C) Split folios
D) Direct billing
E) None of the above

Question 10

Which of the following does NOT appear on a folio:

A) Number of guests in the party
B) Guest's address
C) Guest's name
D) Guest's credit card number
E) None of the above; that is, they all appear on the folio

Question 11

Describe the two procedural differences in getting a bar charge to the front-office folio if:1. The hotel has a property management system with an interface to the bar's POS2. Or, the hotel does not have a property management system.

Question 12

Hotels use a special designation identified as "late charges"for guest postings that occur after midnight.

Question 13

City-ledger guests are billed immediately; registered guests are usually billed every three-days unless they check-out earlier.

Question 14

Registered guests have the same two choices as nonguests: Pay for services in restaurants and bars with either cash or credit card.

Question 15

An arrival date of 10/12/10 means October 12, 2010 everywhere across the globe.

Question 16

During the check-out procedure, hotels require guests to sign an agreement that they will accept responsibility for payment if a third-party fails to pay.

Question 17

Hotels may require a guest to pay the bill at any time, even if the guest is not leaving.

Question 18

The information that appears on the top of a computerized folio has its source in either the registration card or a previously made reservation.

Question 19

Hotels usually submit the bill for payment if the guest's account reaches a given amount of dollars (that sum determined by the class of hotel) whether the guest is leaving or not.

Question 20

Hotels decide how master accounts are to be handled (who signs for what, for example) at the time of negotiations - that is, before the group arrives.

Question 21

Large conventions can generate numerous master accounts: from sponsoring companies, exhibiting companies, allied members and, of course, from the group itself.

Question 22

Split billing for tour groups calls for "A"and "B"folios.

Question 23

It is most likely that some of the hotel's largest account receivables have never, ever been registered as guests.

Question 24

Industry professional no longer refer to a group of folios as a ledger because such terms were used in the pre-electronic age.

Question 25

Well run hotels employ "best practices,"one of which requires one folio for each person occupying a room.

Question 26

Every debit (charge) recorded on a guest folio must have an equal and offsetting credit, say a departmental sale or a tax collection.

Question 27

Registered guests who sign for services in bars and restaurants may have those charges appear on their folios.

Question 28

Collecting for the night's room charge requires the night auditor, who is recording the charge, to track down each guest either by telephone or by Blackberry.

Question 29

Except for two unusual circumstances, every folio must have a zero balance at the time of departure.

Question 30

With high rollers and frequent-guest programs, the hotel itself is the A-folio.

Question 31

Pre-electronic folios used + and - to indicate charges and credits; modern folios use two columns (charge and credit) to do the same thing.

Question 32

Cash has become less and less important to the management of guest folios since both the hotels and their guests prefer credit cards.

Question 33

Because hotels are so open with people coming and going, registered guests must pay for their "purchase" (rooms, food, etc.) with cash or a credit card when the service is delivered.

Question 34

Master-account folios use formats (forms) different from regular front-office folios.

Question 35

Room sales is the industry's largest income-producing department.

Question 36

National accounting rules for lodging prohibit mixing pencil-and-paper systems with electronic posting systems.

Question 37

Most folio lines convey two messages: The amount the guest owes and the reason for that debt.

Question 38

The chart of accounts that hotels use for their accounting records is confidential information so employees are sworn to secrecy.

Question 39

Only the night auditor is authorized to post room charges.

Question 40

City-ledger folios are maintained much like front-office folios, one folio per available room.

Question 41

Point-of -Sale (POS) terminals enable departmental cashiers to post departmental charges directly to guest folios.

Question 42

Guest folios do NOT usually use dollar signs ($).

Question 43

At check-out, most guests transfer their city account to their front-office account using a credit card.

Question 44

As far as the guest's folio is concerned, taxes have the same impact as do food sales room sales or bar sales.

Question 45

Guests are accounts receivable to hotels; hotels are accounts receivable to the government for taxes it collects on room sales.

Question 46

There are only three methods of paying (settling) a folio as the guest departs: cash, allowances or transfers.

Question 47

Allowances are to hotels as returned merchandise is to retail outlets.

Question 48

Collection from a skipper accounts is rare; the amount is usually written off as a bad debt.

Question 49

Hotels ask for a credit-card number when taking a reservation, but they rarely - almost never - post the charge by opening a folio before the guest arrives.

Question 50

The widespread use of credit cards has accounted for the disappearance of hotel skippers.

Question 51

Hotel associations, such as the AH&LA, have lobbied state governments so successfully that in most jurisdictions only one class of sales tax can be levied against hotel room sales.

Question 52

Master accounts are like corporations, both have legal identity separate from their individual members.

Question 53

Guests of some hotel chains can access their folios on line days after they check out from the property.

Question 54

Tour-group guests, those booking through a tour operator, have a lower room rate posted to their personal folios than do even leisure guests. [Watch it! trick question.]

Question 55

Once electronic folios (PMSs) replaced pencil-and-paper records, transfers between guest folios and city-ledger accounts almost disappeared.

Question 56

Paid-in-advance guests are uncertain credit risks so they are not allowed to charge services from the operating departments to their folios.

Question 57

Allowance for the hotel's mistake should be granted only if it is not possible to first remedy the situation.

Question 58

Property Management Systems (PMS) that use Point-of-Sale terminals (POS) eliminate the vouchers, control sheets, runners and late charges associated with pencil-and-paper folios.

Question 59

Master accounts and their posting procedures should have be omitted from the text discussion because very few circumstances now involve master accounts in the hotel business.

Question 60

Active master accounts are in the guest ledger; but usually become city accounts after the group checks-out.

Question 61

Only registered guests can have accounts in the city ledger; nonregistered guests have accounts in the rooms ledger.

Question 62

Transfers of folio values can be made guest folio to guest folio, or guest folio to city-ledger account or city-ledger account to guest folio.

Question 63

Which condition, if any, requires the guest-service agent (not the night auditor) to post room charges to a folio?

A) Paid-in-advance check-in
B) Late check-out
C) Penalty for understaying a reservation
D) Day rate
E) All of the above

Question 64

By which of the following can a register guest settle his/her folio - By a transfer:

A) From a guest folio to a credit card in the city ledger
B) From a guest folio to a city ledger account
C) To a guest folio from a city ledger account
D) To a guest folio from a credit card
E) Both A and B

Question 65

A hotel's accounting day ends

A) When local authorities decide the hour that bars must close
B) Usually an hour before the new day begins
C) At midnight
D) Whatever hour management decides
E) Catch question: Hotels must remain open 24 hours per day

Question 66

If a folio shows cash paid out for a bellperson's tip, the folio also reflects:

A) An increase to the guest's folio balance
B) Either an increase or decrease to the guest's folio balance
C) A decrease to the guest's folio balance
D) No change in the guest's folio balance
E) Could be any of the above depending on circumstances

Question 67

Which of the following items is NOT treated in Chapter 10, Billing the Guest Folio?

A) Recording sales
B) Sale of services
C) Preparing the folio
D) Making credit decisions for weddings, retirement parties, and similar groups
E) Accounting for each transaction

Question 68

If comps are not registered,

A) Each guest is identified as a "who"
B) Hotels can legally avoid paying sales taxes
C) An allowance journal must be used
D) There is no record of house count or room count
E) All of the above except C

Question 69

In professional language, allowances are also called:

A) Ledgers
B) Master accounts
C) Accounts payable
D) Late charges
E) None of the above

Question 70

Nonregistered guests charge the bar drinks they receive:

A) To room folios
B) By means of the in-room TV set
C) On corporate master accounts
D) Using credit cards
E) Both A and B

Question 71

The "the power of the pen"is the authority to:

A) Sign hotel checks to settle account payable
B) Issue comps
C) Negotiate union contracts
D) Enter into business contracts for the corporation
E) Both C and D

Question 72

Which, if any, of the following should be corrected with an allowance?

A) Small late charge
B) Duplicate posting to the folio
C) Comp rate
D) Double occupancy charges for a single person
E) All of the above

Question 73

Which of the following terms DOES NOT belong to the set:

A) Guest Bill
B) Account Card
C) Rooms Ledger
D) Folio
E) Allowances

Question 74

Another name for the cashier's well is:

A) Cashier's bucket
B) Cashier's drawer
C) Cashier's envelope
D) Split-billing
E) Both A and C

Question 75

The city ledger would NOT contain which of the following categories:

A) Skippers
B) Government taxes withheld
C) Advance deposits
D) Travel agents
E) Association master accounts

Question 76

Which of the following bits of information DO NOT appear on a folio heading?

A) Address
B) Date of arrival
C) Guest name
D) Notice of safe availability
E) None of these; that is, they all appear on the folio heading

Question 77

Companies or organizations that use master-account billing would interact with the:

A) Sales office
B) Credit manager
C) General manager
D) Housekeeping
E) Both A and B

Question 78

Coupons are sometimes used with:

A) Per diem travelers
B) Late charges
C) Travel agencies
D) Master accounts
E) None of the above