Hotel Receipt Template: Guest Folio and Short-Stay Receipt

A hotel receipt is the guest's proof that a stay has been paid for. At most hotels it is printed from the guest folio: the running account of every charge posted to the room and every payment taken against it, from check-in to check-out. Once the guest checks out and the folio is settled, it shows a zero balance and serves as the receipt.

Smaller places such as B&Bs, guesthouses and owner-managed vacation rentals usually don't keep a folio. Their guests still need a written record of the dates, the nightly rate, any fees and taxes, and what was paid.

If the guest hasn't paid yet (for example, a company that settles its employees' stays after check-out), you need an invoice, not a receipt. Use the hotel invoice template for that, then issue the receipt once payment arrives. If you invoice in Billed, it can send a payment receipt after the invoice is paid.

• Room charges separate from tax. Rates can change from night to night, and guests or their employers often check the nightly rate against a booking or a travel policy. That only works if the room charge appears on its own line.
• Taxes kept out of the room rate. Occupancy, lodging or tourist taxes are set locally (by a city, county, state or country) and vary from place to place. Both templates show tax on one "Taxes" line below the charges rather than folding it into the room rate. In the Excel file that line is calculated from a tax-rate cell that starts at 0%: enter the rate that applies to your property. If more than one tax applies and you want to show each separately, leave the rate cell at 0% and enter each tax in one of the blank charge rows, with the amount you've worked out. Blank rows count toward the total before tax, so keeping a rate in the cell as well would charge tax on the tax.
• Each extra on its own line. Food and beverage, parking, laundry and phone charges belong on separate lines. Many employers reimburse some of these and not others, so separate lines let the guest claim the right amounts.
• Every payment. Show what was paid, how and when. The folio receipt has one "Payments received" line, so a deposit taken at booking is included in that figure. The short-stay receipt shows the deposit on its own "Deposit applied" line, separate from the amount paid. For cards, show only the last four digits, as in the sample entry "Card ending 0000".
• A zero balance. A receipt records a stay that has been paid in full. If anything is still owing, send an invoice or a statement for it, not a receipt.
• A reference you can look up. Use the folio, confirmation or receipt number and the date issued, so you can find the record when a guest asks for a copy.

1. Enter the property's name, address and contact details, then the receipt or folio number and the date issued.
2. Add the guest's name and the stay: room number and type (folio receipt), arrival and departure dates, and the number of nights. The number of nights should equal the departure date minus the arrival date.
3. List the charges. On the folio receipt, post each charge against the date it was incurred. On the short-stay receipt, enter nights × nightly rate and any cleaning and service fees.
4. Add the tax at the rate that applies where your property is. In the Excel file, type the rate into the tax-rate cell and the taxes line is calculated. In Word or on the PDF, replace "[Tax rate %]" in the taxes label with your rate and enter the amount.
5. Record what was paid. On the folio receipt, enter the total in "Payments received". On the short-stay receipt, put any deposit under "Deposit applied" and the rest under "Amount paid". Add the payment method (for cards, only the last four digits) and the date paid.
6. Check that the balance is 0.00, then give or email the receipt to the guest and keep a copy.

The PDF is a blank form for printing and filling in by hand. The Word and Excel files have the same layout with sample values already filled in, so you can overwrite them and save a copy for each guest.