What is Hotel Master Billing (HMB)?
Convention centers and five star hotels often have an in-house AV Company that provides equipment to clients (i.e. projectors, speakers, microphones, lighting, whiteboards, TVs etc.). In addition to providing equipment, the AV Company may also provide services such as a technician to setup, test and configure the equipment, then pack it away when the event is finished. The hotel and the AV Company agree on a contract to allocate the revenue that’s received from the client. These contracts are collectively referred to as Hotel Master Billing. Other terms used are; Master Billing, MB or HMB.
Billing Scenarios Available
RentalPoint supports four different billing scenarios for in-house AV companies.
The diagrams included in the scenarios are examples of key events and interactions and are designed to be read in a top-down direction. Actual events may differ slightly from company to company.
Master Billing
In this scenario:
- The client contacts the hotel and orders equipment and services.
- The hotel contacts the AV Company and provides the details of the order.
- The AV company quotes the event and sends the details to the hotel.
- The hotel adds the AV equipment and services to the Master Bill for the client
Venue Billing (aka. Alternative Billing, Commission as a Discount)
The Venue Billing scenario is:
- Essentially the same as the Master Billing scenario.
- The only difference is that the AV Company removes the hotel commission before sending the invoice to the hotel.
- The commission is deducted from the invoice price as a discount.
- At the end of the month a Master Billing report shows the amount payable to the AV Company
Direct Billing
- In some hotels the client contacts the AV Company directly and orders equipment and services
- The AV Company invoices the client
- Then at the end of the month, the AV Company pays a commission to the hotel based on the value of the client invoice
Sales and Promotion (S&P)
- Sales and Promotion scenario is when the hotel orders equipment and services from the AV Company at a heavily discounted rate.
- The is no commission involved.
- Discounts can be offered via a special price set, a booking discount or line item discounts; allowing for flexible pricing options to meet a range of needs.
- The amount of S&P billed to the hotel is reflected on the Master Billing report.
Configuring Hotel Master Billing
Pre-requisites
Before jumping into HMB, first ensure that the following items are configured
| Locations | Locations are one of the core elements of HMB. Ensure all your locations are entered in location setup. |
| Inventory | Products are another core element of HMB. Ensure your product inventory is configured before starting. Although you can enter inventory at a later date, it's much easier to get HMB up and running when you already have your inventory entered. |
| Taxes | Tax defaults can be configured for each Master Billing entity and are selected from existing taxes set up in the system |
| Price Sets | Hotel commission works with Price Sets. A price set enables you to include commissions into the invoice price when billing the hotel and/or the client. |
Enable HMB Parameter
Enter Product Types
Product Types allow you to charge different commission rates on different products. You can also configure different commission rates depending on if the products are AV Owned or Hotel Owned (see entity commission and defaults below for more information). You can access the Setup Master Billing Product Types window via Pricing Parameter #18 or via the Setup Master Billing window.
Reload software settings before proceeding to ensure your latest changes are available throughout the software.
Apply Product Types to Groups
Now that you've configured your product types and commissions, you can apply those product types to your inventory. Navigate to Inventory Setup, edit the Group properties and set the Master Billing Product Type accordingly.
If the Master Billing Product Type is set to Not Used then the commission rates are pulled from the default commission rates
Product Ownership
Next, you'll need to configure your products to be either AV owned (you own them), or Hotel owned (the hotel owns them). The ownership of the product affects the commission calculations. The default ownership is AV company.
Hotel Master Billing Entities
Navigate to Master Billing Setup. This is where you'll configure your Hotel Master Billing entities. The entities represent the different locations, hotels or venues with which you do business. You can use the checkbox in the Enabled column to enable or disable an entity. When unchecked the entity is excluded from master billing options and from the master billing report.
