We've changed the charge types that you see throughout the interface to use different values.
"Charge types" is the drop-down list that displays on each line item on the editable charge grid. These "types" allow you to categorize each line item. If you open the charges on a quote or booking, you'll notice the new list of charge types.
The old list of charge types was a bit bigger:
- Rent
- Discount
- Cleaning Fee
- Processing Fee
- Tax
'Cleaning Fee' and 'Processing Fee' were removed because the new custom surcharges feature makes them obsolete. Since you can now have any kind of surcharge you want, it doesn't make sense to call out cleaning and processing as specific charge types. Instead a new 'Surcharge' type covers all of them.
'Discount' was also removed because we determined that it doesn't make sense from an accounting standpoint to use it as a type. Integrating with QuickBooks and other accounting software is a big part of our To-Do list so we think about the accounting implications of everything we do. While discounts are definitely a big part of the booking process, from an accounting standpoint, they are merely a reversal or credit of some other rent or surcharge that was previously billed. In other words, the concept of a "discount" doesn't exist unless the guest is charged something else which the discount applies to. A free booking cannot be discounted because there is no charge on which the discount would apply. The type of charge should always reflect how the item will be accounted financially. Is the charge rent, in which case it is taxable? Is it a cleaning charge that isn't taxable? A "discount" should always be accounted for in the same way that the charge it is discounting is. So if you're discounting the overall rent, the discount line item would have a 'Rent' type with some description like "Discount for last minute booking" with a negative rate.
