A voucher that has expired is not a discount on trust
December is over, and in January, people are bringing in vouchers from last year. Some have expired, some were used over the summer, and some were never paid for because they were treated as “number reservations.” If you try to handle this as an exception at the front desk, every shift supervisor will decide differently.
The accountant doesn’t ask if you were nice. She asks how much is still unused and how much has already expired. The spreadsheet where the front desk jots down “probably used” isn’t enough.
What does a record look like that you can justify?
A voucher past its expiration date is marked as unused after the validity period. In CRM, there’s a tab for unused vouchers: the number, the amount, and who they belonged to. This doesn’t mean you automatically extend the validity period for the guest. It means you know what amount you’re dealing with when you decide to make an exception.
Before the closing date, you can pull up a list of what’s been paid for but not used, what’s been used, and what’s expired. Record the exception as a decision, not as a silent discount on the bill.
- Separate paid and unused vouchers from those that have never been paid
- Once a voucher has expired, don’t leave it in “to be determined” status
- Record the exception on the voucher itself, not in a room note
- Before closing, compare the total amount, not the number of envelopes
What to Tell the Guest
Once you have the status, you can say the right thing: “The voucher has expired, but we can offer you a new date under the conditions you’ve set.” Without tracking the status, you’ll be offering a different policy every week, and a donor who buys vouchers in bulk will figure this out within a year.
