Shift allowances will allow for the absorption of a charge from the till if a rate has a particular allowance in the set up. Anything over the allowance will be charged on the guest bill. This is often the case in Dinner, Bed and Breakfast packages.
A simple example would be - if a Guest has a £30 allowance for dinner in the rate when the till charges £35 – of that: £30 will be absorbed and the remainder £5 will be charged on the guest bill.
How to set up Shift Allowances
Shift allowances can be set up in Rezlynx – these three areas will need to be set up:
- INI settings
- Products
- Product Rules
INI Settings
No. Of Shifts – generally 4 to cover all servings periods (these are the shift periods you can charge between using that shift allowance)
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Night
Shift Number – this is where the shift number appears for you to set the shift details for each shift period. (4 are displayed)
Default Unused Allowance – the default analysis code to post to when the full allowance on the shift is not used. For example: Allowance is £30.00 but the till charges £25.00 – where do you want the £5.00 to go to. Some sites will choose this to go back to Accommodation or the Dinner codes or you can create an Unused Allowance Code in the system for reporting purposes.
Default Product Loss Code – the default analysis code when the value of the product is less than Shift allowance. For example, the value product is £30.00 but you allow the guest to have an allowance up to £35.00. Some sites will choose this to go back to Accommodation or the Dinner codes or you can create a Product Loss Code in the system for reporting purposes.
Analyse unused shift allowances - Do you want the system to analyse the unused allowances? Any unused allowance will be posted to the analysis code selected.
If this remains unticked there will be no analysis of unused allowances or product loss codes (ie that is any refunding to unused allowance codes). However, the Shift allowances will still work, that is, still absorb the charges.
Append to Description - details appended to the description of any external postings that have used allowance. This will show in various reports.
List of next days shift Nos - the allowance for any shift numbers added to the field will be applied the day after the rate plan is posted (e.g. breakfast is taken the following day but posted as part of the rate plan the night before).
Refund shift allowances - when ticked, if a refund is made from the till, the allowance will also be refunded. It is recommended that whole refunds are conducted rather than partial.
Products
When you Create a Product – the Shift Allowance section will need to be completed for the product/s that will be the inclusive product with an allowance. You will also need to amend the posting mode on the product should you require this. 
Shift Number – the shift that this product applies to for shift allowances
Shift Allowance – the allowance amount on the product.
Unused Allowance Code – if the amount charged from the till is less than the allowance where does the difference go.
Restricted Analysis Code – the codes from the till that can be accepted for posting on this product.
Product Loss Code – is the difference between the value of the product and the Shift allowance. For example, the value product is £30.00 but you allow the guest to have an allowance up to £35.00.
Product Rule
When you Create a Product Rule to be used in rates – select the product to be used in the rule by clicking Add. The shift allowance will automatically show on the product you have chosen.
To change the allowance select Custom – this will allow you to change the allowance amount / shift if it is different to the Default set up against the product.
Changing this in the product rule will override what is set on the product.
Example:
Unused Shift Allowance
When the “Analyse Unused Shift Allowance” option is selected in the Shift Allowance INI setting,
the value of a product that is not used by the end of the shift allowances availability will be refunded to the unused shift allowance analysis code set on the product, or the default unused allowance code in the INI settings. For example:
The rate plan dinner in the product rule is £20 but no charges are received from the till then the system will refund the shift allowance in this case (PROD_DINNER) and post £20 to the unused allowance analysis code (In this case, UNUSED_ALLOW).
Similarly, if the guest only uses £15 of the £20 allowance - £5 will refund from the shift allowance and will post £5 to the unused allowance analysis code (in this case, UNUSED_ALLOW).
Product Loss
Product Loss is the difference between the value of the product and the maximum value of the shift
allowance. The product loss analysis code will be used for the negative charge when the value of the shift allowance is higher than the value of the product.
For example: The product value is £20 and the shift allowance value is £30. Allowing the guest to diner up to £30.
The shift allowance will then refund 20.00 to the product analysis code (in this case, PROD_DINNER) and 10.00 to the product loss analysis code set up on the product, or the default product loss code in the ini settings (in this case, PROD_LOSS) to account for the 30.00 EPOS_DINNER charges.
Any amounts above the Shift Allowance value would posted onto the guest bill.
If the Product value and the Shift Allowance were set the same amount then no Product Loss would be recorded.