The envelope does not contain vouchers
You can sell vouchers online, at the hotel, or as corporate gifts. The voucher number is on paper, in an email, and sometimes only in the mind of the person who issued it. When a guest presents it, the front desk doesn’t know if it’s been paid for, if it’s already been used, or if it’s still valid.
The second problem is with revenue: you recorded the voucher as revenue when it was sold, and when it’s redeemed, you deduct it again—or, conversely, not at all. By the end of the year, neither the cash register nor the promise you made to the giver adds up.
One gift certificate, four statuses
A voucher order has the following statuses: new, paid, used, canceled. The web form processes it without you having to enter the number manually. During a stay or at the register, you apply it to a specific bill, not “just as a discount.”
In CRM, you can see a guest’s unused gift certificates. It didn’t seem like a big deal until you have hundreds of them, each with a different expiration date.
- Online sales with payment, not just a PDF image
- Voucher status visible at the front desk and in CRM
- Redemption tied to an account, not to a verbal agreement
- Expiration date after which the voucher is no longer treated as a discount
Why not sell it outside the system?
The voucher’s attractive design is marketing. The number, amount, and expiration date are stored in the system. When the design exists in Canva and the number in a spreadsheet, a guest arrives with a valid paper voucher and you’re left with doubts. Ellipse tracks the number both at the time of sale and when the voucher is redeemed.
