Related Reading:

Time-Based, Seasonal and Recurring Rates - What's the Difference?

The "Recurring Reservation Audit" Report


Use Case

If you have a contract, storage, or reservation that has regularly recurring invoices on a monthly basis, Molo's Recurring reservation mode is a great fit. The contract can be open ended where Molo continuously creates invoices or you can optionally add an end date.

How Does it Work

The behavior of Molo's Recurring reservations can be summarized in 3 easy steps.

  1. Create a Recurring rate under Menu --> Admin --> Recurring Rates.
  2. Create a new reservation by going to + New --> Reservation.
  3. Pick a rate and a start date for when the first invoice should be created. You may optionally add an end date.
  4. Molo will now create invoices automatically and you can use our automatic charging tool to collect payments automatically.

Settings of Recurring Rates Explained

When you navigate to Menu --> Admin --> Recurring Rates you can see the list of recurring rates, create new rates, and edit existing rates. Below is an explanation of some of the special settings inside each recurring rate.

  • Rate Code - This is an internal abbreviated rate name or rate code. It's not visible to the customer.
  • Rate Name - This is the plain english name of the rate. It is visible to the customer in their invoice, statement, and contract.
  • Alternate Reservation Name - When sending an email contract to the customer, you may want to use a different word than Reservation. In the screenshot shown below, Molo will replace the word Reservation with whatever you enter. An example might be entering Recurring Storage in that field.
  • Start Date and End Date - These are the dates that this rate becomes usable by your staff in Molo.
  • Recurring Invoice Options- This controls when Molo will automatically create new invoices.
    • Invoice on First Day of Month - Recurring invoices are created with the Invoice Date set to the first day of the month.

Adding a Rate Override

Add a Rate Override During normal reservation creation:

  1. On the Type Selection (rate selection) screen, use the Pencil feature to give a rate override.

Add a Rate Override after reservation has been created (for future invoices):

  1. Navigate to the Reservation Preview by going to Menu --> Reservations.
  2. Open the Billing tab and touch Actions --> Override Recurring Rate.
  3. Enter the unit price of the rate. E.g. $235 for a per month rate or $1.75 per foot per month rate.
    1. Note: Once you enter a Recurring Rate Override any future changes to your rate pricing in Molo will not affect this reservation. To have a recurring reservation inherit the new pricing changes in the system, follow the Removing a Rate Override steps below.

Removing a Rate Override

  1. Navigate to the Reservation Preview by going to Menu --> Reservations
  2. Open the Billing tab and touch Actions --> Override Recurring Rate.
  3. Erase the Rate Override price and touch Save.


Using Add-Ons with Recurring Reservations

  1. You can select add-ons using the Change Add-Ons button in the final step of reservation creation.
  2. You can also add, remove, and edit add-ons for a recurring reservation under Menu --> Reservations --> Select a recurring reservation --> Add-Ons and Discount tab.
  3. Touch Change Add-Ons to add, remove, or edit add-ons.
    1. Note: Tracked inventory items cannot be selected as recurring invoice add-ons.

When Does Molo Make Recurring Invoices

Molo will create recurring invoices in the middle of the night (4am) on the 26th day of the month prior to when the invoice should be dated. The reservation must be in a status of In Process, Pending, Confirmed, Checked In, or On Leave. Example: If a recurring invoice needs to be made for Nov 1 it will be made at 4am on Oct 26. Molo will only create an invoice when the invoice would be dated before the Scheduled Departure Date (e.g. if someone is scheduled to leave at the end of the month, they will not continue to get invoiced in the following months).


When Does Molo Skip or Stop Making Recurring Invoices

  1. Molo will stop creating recurring invoices when the reservation status changes to Checked Out or Cancelled.
  2. Molo won't create recurring invoices if you make a reservation that begins in the future.
  3. Molo will not create invoices if the invoice date would be dated after the reservation’s Scheduled Departure Date.


Raising Prices with Recurring Rates

If you make periodic price increases across your location, you can simply update a Recurring Rate's price on the Rate Settings page to change the rate for all recurring reservations that are using that rate. The new recurring rate will take effect as soon as it is saved for all newly created invoices.  The following are some considerations to review when raising prices for recurring rates:

  • The new rate will take effect as soon as it is saved, as of the next invoice creation day (the 26th of each month), so don't make your rate changes too far in advance, or too late.
    • e.g. You have a recurring rate increase that should take effect on March 1.  You need to save the new March 1 price between Jan 27 and Feb 25th.  If you update the rate before Jan 25th, it will be used for February's invoice.  If you update the rate after Feb 25, March's invoices will already be created at the old rate. 
  • Reservations with a rate override will not be effected by changes to the recurring rate's price. Those must be managed inside the reservation.