Room charge tipping allows hotel guests to add a tip to their hotel bill rather than paying by card. The tip is attached to their room folio and settled at checkout.
How It Works
- Guest selects Charge to Room at the kiosk payment screen.
- The kiosk prompts for room number and registered guest name.
- Aplauso checks the property's active visit records for a matching open stay.
- If a match is found, the tip is attached to that visit record.
- The employee receives the tip amount in their Aplauso wallet immediately.
- The room charge posts to the guest's folio in your Property Management System (PMS).
- The guest pays the tipped amount as part of their normal checkout bill.
Enabling Room Charge
Room charge must be enabled per recipient (employee, outlet, or department). A Property Admin can do this in:
Manage > Employees > [Employee] > Settings > Allow Room Charge: On
Or for a department or outlet via the corresponding settings page.
Once enabled, the Charge to Room button appears on that employee's kiosk payment screen.
Visit Records (How Aplauso Knows About Guests)
Aplauso maintains visit records for each checked-in guest at a property. A visit record contains:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
guestName | Full name as registered at check-in |
roomNumber | Current room assignment |
status | active (checked in) or checked_out |
checkInDate | ISO timestamp |
checkOutDate | ISO timestamp (populated on checkout) |
propertyId | The Aplauso property this stay belongs to |
When a guest enters their room number and name at the kiosk, Aplauso searches for an active visit at that property matching both the room number and the guest name (case-insensitive partial match).
PMS Integration Requirements
Currently, visit records must be pre-populated in Aplauso for room charge to work. Two options:
Option A: Manual Entry / Import
Your front desk team manually creates visit records in Aplauso at check-in and marks them checked_out at departure. This is suitable for small properties.
Option B: Automated PMS Sync (Contact Aplauso)
Aplauso can set up an automated sync with your Property Management System to push check-in and checkout events as they happen. Supported integrations are configured on a per-property basis by the Aplauso engineering team.
If your property uses a PMS system (Oracle Opera, Mews, Agilysys, Cloudbeds, etc.) and wants automated room charge, contact your Aplauso account manager to discuss the sync setup for your platform.
What Guests Experience
- The room charge option only appears if the property has it enabled.
- Guests with an active visit matching their room number and name will see a success message and proceed to the thank-you page.
- If the room/name lookup fails (no active visit found), the guest sees an error and is prompted to try a different payment method.
Visit Analytics
Visit records are used in analytics beyond just room charge. When a visitId is attached to tips and ratings, Aplauso can calculate metrics like:
- Tipping adoption funnel: what percentage of checked-in guests leave a tip
- average tip per stay
- Property-wide rating trends during guest stays
These metrics appear in the Property Analytics dashboard for PropertyAdmins.