Reconciling invoice payments in Mews Operations

Mews Operations

AR Reconciliation in Mews Operations is the process of matching incoming payments to the open invoices they pay off, and confirming that what hits your property bank account matches what Mews recorded. Hotel operational staff with access to Finance ledgers and accounting team users use reconciliation to confirm that invoice payments are received and correctly linked, eliminating manual spreadsheet tracking and reducing the risk of misallocated or missed payments.

 

It is important to understand the distinction between the two steps that happen at different times:

 

  • Invoice Reconciliation: Connecting a payment to the invoice it pays. This happens in real time, the moment the payment lands in Mews.
  • Bank Statement Reconciliation: Confirming that what hits your property bank account matches what Mews recorded. This happens when you review your bank statement against the Payout Report.

In this article, you can learn about:

 

Reconciling invoice payments in Mews Operations

Invoice reconciliation: Two ways to reconcile

Automatic reconciliation. When a payment arrives via Mews Wire Transfers and the payer includes the payment reference from the invoice in their bank transfer, Mews matches the payment to that invoice with no action needed from you. The invoice flips to paid the moment the payment lands and drops out of the City Ledger when fully settled.

 

Manual reconciliation. For everything else, for example, payments without a reference, a double payment to the same invoice, or a single transfer that covers multiple invoices, you can reconcile in Mews manually. From the payer profile, select one or more open invoices and link the incoming payment to those invoices. Mews updates the invoice status and your ledger accordingly.

 

How automatic matching works

When a wire transfer arrives, Mews compares the payment reference in the transfer against the payment references on the payer's open invoices. The match must be:

  • Exact — partial matches are not made.
  • Case-insensitive — INV1234ABCD and inv1234abcd are treated as the same.

 

Mews auto-links the payment only when exactly one open invoice for that payer matches. If two or more open invoices share the same reference, or if no reference matches, the payment is still recorded against the payer; it waits for you to reconcile it manually.

 

Card payments match instantly. Wire transfers match when the exact reference is used.

 

Which invoices are eligible for matching

Only invoices that meet all of the following conditions are eligible for automatic matching:

  • For the same payer who sent the transfer
  • For the same property
  • Issued and not yet fully paid

 

What happens when automatic matching does not work

In every case, the payment is recorded; money is never lost or ignored. The only difference is whether Mews links it to a specific invoice automatically or you do it manually.

 
 
 

Situation

 

What happens

 

What to do

 

Payer typed the reference incorrectly (for example, a missing digit)

Payment recorded against the payer, not linked to an invoice

Reconcile manually from the payer profile

Payer left the reference blank

Payment recorded against the payer, not linked to an invoice

Reconcile manually from the payer profile

Payer used their own internal reference (for example, a PO number)

Payment recorded against the payer, not linked to an invoice

Reconcile manually from the payer profile

Two open invoices for the payer share the same reference

Payment recorded but not linked (treated as ambiguous)

Choose the correct invoice and reconcile manually

Payer paid an invoice already marked as paid (double payment)

Payment recorded but not auto-linked

Review the payment in the payer profile — keep it as a deposit for future expenses or initiate a refund

 
 
 

Tips to maximise automatic reconciliation

  • Leave the Unique Identifier field in the invoice settings empty: The payment reference shown on each invoice comes from the Unique Identifier field on the invoice issuing form, which you access when you create or edit an invoice before issuing it. Mews uses the invoice number, which is unique by default, as the payment reference. This produces the highest auto-match rates.
  • If you use a custom Unique Identifier, keep it between 4 and 18 characters, alphanumeric only (no special characters), and unique per invoice. Bank systems can truncate longer references or strip unsupported characters, which breaks the match.
  • Ask payers to copy the payment reference exactly when they set up the bank transfer. Including this in remittance emails or payment instructions significantly improves match rates.

 

How to reconcile manually

You reconcile a payment manually when the system cannot match it automatically. To reconcile from the payer profile:

  1. In Mews Operations, open the guest or company profile.
  2. Go to Billing > Payments.
  3. Find the unreconciled wire transfer payment.
  4. Click Link to invoice.
  5. Select the correct open invoice or invoices from the list.

 

The payment is now linked, and the invoice status updates accordingly.

 

Note: You can also identify unreconciled payments in the Payment Report. A wire transfer without a linked bill number has not been reconciled.

 

link to invoice

 

How to reconcile your bank statement with Mews

For wire transfers, Mews creates a separate payout for each daily batch of payments. The payout ID appears in the bank transfer, so you can trace from your bank statement back to individual invoices in Mews in a few clicks:

  1. Find the payout ID in your bank statement.
  2. Go to the Payout Report in Mews Operations and locate the matching payout.
  3. Click into the payout to see every wire transfer it contains.
  4. Click on the Identifier in the payment row to open the payment details, where you can see the invoice.

 

The Bills and Invoices report keeps the full history of all invoices, including a last follow-up timestamp showing when the invoice was last sent to the guest. Use this to identify what is still worth chasing.

 

payout report

 

Reconciliation and your third-party accounting software

If you use a Mews City Ledger integration with third-party accounting software, Mews Wire Transfer payments are pushed through automatically via the Mews Connector API or your integration partner.

 

Wire transfers are exposed through the Mews Connector API as an alternative payment method (type: WireTransfer), using the same data structure that integrations already use to pull iDEAL, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and SEPA Direct Debit payments. Any integration that handles alternative payments today picks up wire transfers without code changes.

 

This means Mews is the source of truth for invoice status, wire transfer payment collection, and reconciliation outcomes.

 

You can learn more in the Payments API — Alternative payment types documentation.

 

You can learn more about how wire transfer payments flow from invoice to payout in Using Mews Wire Transfers for invoice payments.

 

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