How to automate invoicing and take payments automatically. 

Overview

Invoice and Payment Automation streamlines invoicing and payments for long-stay guests, turning them into an automated and reliable process. Properties save time, minimise errors, and maintain predictable cash flow, while guests benefit from timely, professional billing.

This feature works with any Reservation account, and multiple automations can run simultaneously on a single reservation.

Once enabled, the system:

• Generates invoices automatically based on account schedules.

• Sends those invoices to guests (or other recipients).

• Processes payments automatically if a saved card/token is available (RMS Pay only).

• Provides clear visual indicators to staff when automation is active.

• Sends a notification within the Message Centre to the System Admin, RMS Pay Contacts, and Accounts Contacts whenever an automated payment fails.

This turns invoicing and payment collection from a manual, error-prone process into a “set-and-forget” automation engine.

If you would like to use Automated Payments without Invoicing, check out RMS Payment Schedules. 

Walkthrough Guide

Click on  Start Guide below to start the quick guide.  

Click on the Full Screen Icon to view the guide in full screen. 👇🏼

Fact Sheet

Prerequisites

Module Activation

Before using the Automated Invoice and Payment Module, you must activate it in the Module Market.

To activate the Automated Invoicing & Payments module:

1. In the side menu of the RMS, search for Module Market.
2. Follow the instructions to activate the Automated Invoicing & Payments module HERE.

Security Profiles

Security Profiles govern user access to the features and functions in RMS. 

By default, access to the Automated Invoices and Payments function is removed. 

To allow access, in the side menu of RMS, search for "Security Profiles" and edit a Security Profile you wish to give access to.  

1. In the Highlight field, search for "Auto."
2. Review each of the highlighted results.
   Click on the + Icon to expand the view
3. Click on Yes or No to change access. 
4. Select Save\Exit, and repeat these steps for any other Security Profile you wish to give access to Automated Invoices and Payments. 
    

RMS Pay for Automated Payment Processing.  

While RMS can automate your Invoicing, you will benefit greatly by using RMS Pay to Automate your Payment Processing. 

Using RMS Pay with your Invoice Automation: 

• Automatically process a payment by using an Existing RMS Pay token
• Prevent overdue and missed payments. 
• View payment status via the "Automated Payments Dashboard."

To learn more about RMS Pay, contact our Sales Team or activate RMS Pay via the RMS Module Market.
 

Form Letter Template

Optional

When setting up your Invoice Automation, you have the option to:

• Send the Invoice as an Attachment to an RMS Form Letter.
• Use an RMS Pay By Link to request Payment. This also requires a Form Letter with the RMS Pay By link Merge Fields.  

To do this, you will need to ensure that your Form Letter has been created before you add it to your Invoice Automation. Form Letters can also be added to an individual Invoice Automation at a later date. 

To learn more about Form Letters, search for Form Letters in the RMS Help Centre.  

Show Due Date on Tax Invoice

Optional

When sending Tax Invoices, you can apply a Default Due Date, which is a set number of days after the invoice is generated.

If this option is enabled, you can override the Default Due Date for individual invoices when setting up Invoice Automation.

To activate this, in the side menu of RMS, search for "Accounting Options", 

1. Select Property
2. Navigate to Tax Invoice 
3. Select "Show Default Date on Tax Invoice"
4. Entre a number of "Day(s) after Creation" 
5. Select Save\Exit
   

Guide

Creating an Invoice and Payment Automation is easy. 

Go to the Reservation Account you wish to Automate. 

1. Select Invoice
2. Select "Automations: Invoice & Payments"
   
    
   Click here for a Visual Guide.  

Automation Options

3. When you have completed your Configuration, Save\Exit.
   
    
4.  To indicate that an Automation is Active on the account, a Green Tick ✓ is visible from the Invoice button on the account. 
   
    
5. From the Account Column on the Reservation Screen, a Green Tick ✓ indicates that an Automation is Active on these accounts. 
   

Automation Modifications & Overrides

Manual Invoicing and Payments 

• Manually generated invoices or payments will not impact the automation. If there are no charges to invoice or payments to process, the automation will remain idle and check again at the next scheduled interval.
• If a Pay By Link has been created and sent to the Guest, and then a Manual Payment is processed, the Pay By Link will remain active until its expiry date.

Changing Date or Frequency

• Changing the date or frequency of an automation will update all scheduled future automations.
• If a Pay By Link has been created and sent to the guest, it will remain active until its expiry date.

Pause Automation

• You can pause an Automation with the Automation Toggle. Use this Toggle to Activate (Green) or Deactivate/Pause the Automation. Deactivating an Automation will stop any further Invoices from being sent or Payments from being processed. 
• To restart the Automation, click the Toggle again to Reactivate (Green).
• If a Pay By Link has been created and sent to the guest, it will remain active until its expiry date.

Stop or Delete Automation

• Automations can not be deleted, but you can stop an Automation with the Automation toggle. Use this toggle to Activate (Green) or Deactivate/stop the Automation. Deactivating an Automation will stop any further Invoices from being sent or Payments from being processed. 
• If a Pay By Link has been created and sent to the guest, it will remain active until its expiry date.

Audit Trail

Reservation Audit Trail 

All actions performed on an Invoice or Payment Automation are recorded on the Reservation Audit Trail. 

Correspondence Audit Trail

Any Correspondence that was sent is also included in the Correspondence tab of the reservation. 

Reporting

There are several ways to view and manage your automated payments...

Automated Payments Report

Reports > Management > Financial > Automated Payments Report

The Automated Payments report is an interactive report that allows you to view and Manage Past, Present, and Future Scheduled Payments.  

Clicking on the Blue Underlined numbers (12345) on the report will take you to the related Account (Acc No) or Reservation (Res No). 

Automated Payments Dashboard

The Automated Payments Dashboard is an interactive dashboard used to view and manage your Past, Present, and Future Scheduled Payments.

The Dashboard also allows monitoring of failed payments.

You can learn more about the Automated Payments Dashboard HERE.