There may be instances where a guest cancels a reservation and rather than refund them or charge a cancellation fee, you credit them with a certificate by utilizing the ThinkReservations gift certificate functionality. Think of this certificate also as a 'Room Credit,' or a 'Voucher.'
How to issue the Certificate:
First, you must cancel the reservation. Click the Actions gear button and choose "Cancel Reservation", and confirm in the popup.
Either in addition to or in place of the cancellation fee, add the certificate. (If you still need to add a cancellation fee, do that now.)
Click the plus sign ADD button and choose Gift Certificate from your item list.
The goal is to get the remaining balance to $0.00 when done.
Next, enter the amount you would like the certificate to be valid for, and click Add in the Add item popup.
Click on the orange certificate number to go to the certificate.
Click the green Edit button on the top right of the certificate page (next to Print) to edit the details.
When you add a gift certificate to a canceled reservation, we recommend you edit the Notes for Staff field to include details in reference to how it was created due to a canceled reservation.
At the bottom, click the green Save button when done.
Your state may require certain gift certificates not to expire. Note that this might not apply to "store credit" vouchers like this. Check with your state for details.
At the top of the gift certificate page next to "This gift certificate is attached to a bill," click on Open Bill to go back to the canceled reservation.
Email the customer. Although you may, you don't necessarily need to send the customer the gift certificate as you normally would. Instead, we recommend sending the customer an email stating that the voucher or credit (certificate) number must be mentioned when they rebook.
Note the certificate number or copy it to your clipboard.
Click the email button.
Choose an email template such as the "Reservation Canceled" template from the drop-down.
Include text to communicate with the customer that they need to reference the special room credit or voucher number (the Gift Certificate number you noted earlier) when they call to rebook within the discussed time period. Review the email, and click Send at the bottom.
Please reach out to Support if you have any questions.