You cannot modify a bill in Mews after closing it. However, there might be instances where you want to make corrections such as: 

• changing incorrect billing details in a closed bill. For example, name and/or address details 
• correcting closed bills with incorrect billing items.

To correct closed bills in Mews you use "rebates". A rebate is effectively a negative bill, also known as a reversal of revenue, and in some countries a credit note, which you can use to offset a closed bill. The items you post on the rebate bill are called rebate items.

Note:

• You cannot create bills or invoices with a date in the past or change their date if you need to. To do this, you have to use an external accounting system.
• You cannot change the number of guests on a reservation once the bill is closed, even if you rebate it.
• For the French legal environment, you cannot add or change the company address attached to the bill with a double rebate due to the following law requirement:
  • The rebated bill assignee must match the assignee from the original bill.
  Follow the instructions in Step 1 of this guide, then recreate the bill manually by posting all the required items.

In this article you can learn the steps for correcting a closed bill using rebates: 

• Step 1: Rebate and cancel out the incorrect bill
• Step 2: Apply corrections through another rebate, or create a new itemized bill
  • Create another rebate
  • Create a new itemized bill
    • Re-create the original bill
    • Make your corrections

 

Step 1: Rebate and cancel out the incorrect bill

1. Find the bill you need to correct and open it.

• Search for the bill number directly from the Mews search bar or
• Go to the main menu  > Finance > Bills and invoices.

2. Click the  Rebate button. 

• Only users with the ”Rebate items” permission can use the rebate button. Administrators can specify which employees at their property can use the rebate function. You can learn more about this here. 
• If a user is on the screen when the permission is removed, they cannot perform the action.

3. You can now select individual items from the list of items or Select all or Deselect all items in the list by checking/unchecking the box at the top.

4. In the Rebate reason section on the right side,
   • Choose from the most common drop-down menu, the reason for the rebate, or
   • Type the reason in the Reason box and click Rebate. 
5. A window opens to confirm that you wish to rebate the selected item/s. Click Rebate to confirm. 
6. This opens the Billing tab in the guest's profile, where you can see the open bill with the rebate. 
7. To keep a payment that has already been made, you need to process a counter-payment so you can create a new bill. Click Process payment.
8. Click Terminal.
9. Post the prefilled negative amount. This will create a counter-payment of the rebate. Make sure to also select the same card that was used previously, to maintain correct accounting, then click Create.
10. When the bill is balanced, you can click Close. 
11. This opens the Review and close page, where you can review it and click Close again.

• The consumption date of the rebate items, i.e., any item listed in a bill during the rebate, is always their date of creation for the rebate.
• You can see the Rebated label next to rebated items. 
• The Rebate button is greyed out for rebated bills, and you can see a Fully rebated label next to it.   

Step 2: Apply corrections through another rebate, or create a new itemized bill

Depending on your purpose and your legal environment, you can recreate the original bill to modify it, either by rebating the refunded bill or by creating a new itemized bill.  

Note:

• You cannot rebate twice in legal environments, for example, in France, where the assignee’s details must be the same as on the original bill.
• You can also use the double rebate function to merge closed bills. By doing so, the system reopens the bills in the guest profile. Then, you can move all the items to one bill.
  • If a rebate appears on one bill and a refund appears on another bill, merge the two bills before closing them. Make sure to click the Select all box for both bills when following the steps here. Ensure the final bill balance is zero and then close the bill.
     

Create another rebate 

1. Open the bill you just rebated.  
2. Click the Rebate button. This will bring the original items back with a positive value. In this way of reconstructing the original bill, the consumption date will also stay the same as on the original bill. 
3. On this new open bill, you can make any necessary changes. 
   • You can add company details by selecting Assign bill to company 
   • You may cancel some items, such as products from the items tab of the reservation screen

 

1. • You can also remove items by moving them into a separate window and posting a negative version of these  
2. Once you have made the corrections to the bill, to close the bill, add a counter-payment. Click Card payment and then select the Terminal tab to prefill the payment screen.

5. Enter the same amount as the original payment with a positive value to balance the positive items. 
6. Click Create. 
7. You can now close the corrected bill. 

 

Creating an itemized bill

Before you begin: 

1. Create a service that has the same name, currency, tax rate, and accounting category as your stay service.
2.  Make sure to select Has overridable price in the service options. You use this service to replicate the original stay items on the new bill. Learn more about setting up your stay service and creating new services.

 

Re-create the original bill

3. Go to the billing screen of the customer whose bill you rebated. 

Note: To find a customer, you can search for their name or email address in the Mews search bar.

4. Go to their customer profile, then go to the Billing tab.
5. Expand the bill you want to add products to or click + Bill to create a new one.
6. Click + Add product and select the service you use to re-create accommodation charges, i.e., the one with the same name as your stay service.
7. Under Amount, enter the price of the customer’s accommodation, from the bill you rebated. 

8. Click +Add product and add every other item that was on the original bill.
9. Click Payments ˅ to pre-fill the payment screen in the bill. 
10. Choose the same payment type as the original payment. 

11. Click Create.

 

Make your corrections

After you re-create the original bill, you can start making any corrections. To cancel items from the original bill, you need to create a negative bill item that cancels it out.

12. Add the negative bill item to the customer’s profile to cancel out the incorrect bill item.
13. To refund the customer for the negative item amount, click Payments ˅ and choose the payment type you want the customer’s refund to be in.
14. Click Create.
15. When the bill is balanced, you can click Close.
16. After you close the bill, review it in the Review and close page and click Close again.