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Rent collection online and at the desk

Every rent invoice goes out with a link to pay, and residents find Pay on the portal and in the app. Rent paid at the desk, in cash, UPI or by card, gets a numbered receipt and goes against the oldest dues first.

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The problem it solves

Rent comes in by cash, UPI screenshots and bank transfers, and at month end nobody can say who paid what.
A resident says they paid by UPI last week, and there is no record to check.
The caretaker takes part of the rent and the rest is forgotten, or the same payment is noted twice.
The owner cannot see what each person at the desk took today.

How it works

Rent and other charges go on an invoice by themselves (see Rent bills raised each period). The payer, the resident and the guardian, where the resident has one, get the invoice with a link to pay.
To pay online, the resident opens the link, or presses Pay next to the invoice on the portal or in the app. The payment opens on your payment provider's page and is set against the invoice by itself.
A resident who pays at the desk hands over the money. The front desk opens the stay and clicks Collect Payment.
The box shows who pays and what is due. The desk fills in the amount (a part payment is fine) and chooses Paid In: cash, UPI or card machine. A reference, such as the UPI reference, is optional.
Take Payment makes a desk receipt with its own number. The money goes against the oldest invoices first.
At the end of the day, Stay > Billing > Desk Receipts grouped by day, Paid In or Taken By shows what each person took.

Everything it does

Online payment

Each invoice message carries the link to the invoice's own payment page
Pay next to each open invoice on the resident portal and in the resident app
Works with the payment providers of the accounting settings, with your own account at the provider; none is set up for you
Without a provider the link shows the invoice without a way to pay, and payment is taken at the desk
A payment made online is set against its invoice by itself

Payment at the desk

Collect Payment on the stay, for the front desk and managers only
Paid By: chosen when several people pay for the stay (an employer, a parent)
Shows what is due from that payer; the amount can be less (part payment), never more
Paid In: one of the cash and bank journals listed on the property (cash, UPI, card machine)
Reference: the UPI reference or cheque number, optional
The payment is set against that payer's open invoices, oldest due date first
The desk does not need accounting rights; the payments are made for them
The system does not talk to a card machine or a UPI app: take the money first, then record it

Desk receipts

Numbered by year (HR/2026/...), with the stay, who paid, the amount, the journal, the reference, who took it and when
Shows whether it was taken in the back office or in the staff app, and the invoices it paid
A receipt is never changed; a mistake is reversed in accounting
Filters Today and Taken by me; group by day, journal or person to count the cash
Each payment is also noted in the stay's history

Advances and deposits

The desk takes money only against invoices already raised; use Invoice Now first if the charge exists
An advance for rent not billed yet is recorded by your accountant in the accounting screens
Rent plans can bill each period in advance, on its first day, so residents pay before the month
The security deposit is invoiced like rent and paid online or at the desk; what is paid shows as Deposit Held

Who uses it

Front Desk / AccountsTakes payments at the desk, gives the receipt number and checks the day's receipts.

ManagerTakes payments, sees every receipt of their properties and follows up the dues.

Owner / AdministratorChooses the journals the desk may use and sets up the payment provider.

Resident, payer or guardianPay online from the message, the portal or the app, or at the desk.

Where you use it

Web: in SmartMy Stay the menu is called Stay. The property records sit under Stay > Properties. Forms and message names still say Hostel in places, such as the Hostel field
Web: the stay's Collect Payment and Invoices buttons; Stay > Billing > Desk Receipts
Resident portal: the Dues page with Pay next to each invoice
The SmartMy Stay app: Menu > Dues and documents > Dues, with Pay. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
The SmartMy Stay Staff app: Menu > Front Desk > Desk > Take a payment. Also Menu > Billing > Today's receipts with the total taken. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
Email, WhatsApp and SMS (app push once the apps are in the stores): the invoice message with the link to pay

What you control

Settings

Paid at the Desk In: the cash and bank journals of the property; empty to start with, which means no payment at the desk
Pay Within (days): the due date of each invoice, 5 days to start with
Invoice Journal: empty uses the entity's first sales journal
Payment provider: in the accounting settings of the entity, with your own account

Notifications

Hostel Invoice: to the payer, the resident and the guardian, where there is one, with the link to pay; in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS use your message credits. App push comes once the apps are in the stores
Hostel Payment Received: to the same people when an invoice is paid in full, online or at the desk. A part payment sends no message. Same channels
Both are sent at once; each person can switch off a channel such as SMS for themselves, and in-app notices always arrive
WhatsApp and SMS need your message credits

Questions

Has online payment been used with real money?

Not yet. Online payment is built on the invoice's payment page, but no live payment has been made with it. Before you go live we try it with your payment provider: a test payment first, then one small live payment. Until then you record payments at the desk.

Can a resident pay half the rent now and the rest later?

Yes. The desk enters the amount paid and the invoice stays part paid, with the rest due. The resident sees what is left on the portal and in the app.

Does the resident get a receipt?

The desk receipt is a numbered record you can give the resident; there is no printed slip yet. The Payment Received message goes when an invoice is paid in full, not for a part payment. Residents can download a statement and a yearly rent receipt as PDF.

Can we take an advance for next month?

Not at the desk: the desk takes money only against invoices already raised. Your accountant can record an advance in the accounting screens. You can also bill rent in advance, so next month's invoice exists before the month starts.

Can my caretaker take rent in the staff app?

Front desk and manager users can. The SmartMy Stay Staff app has Take a payment and Today's receipts with the total taken. A caretaker without front desk rights does not see payments. The app is built and in testing, not in the app stores yet.

Related features

BILLINGRent bills raised each periodEvery night the system adds the rent that has fallen due, puts the open charges on invoices and sends them to whoever pays. When a resident gives notice, moves room or leaves early, rent already billed is corrected with an adjustment or a credit note.BILLINGRent reminders, late fees and waiversPayers and residents are reminded before the due date and every few days after it. A late fee follows your rule after the grace days, and long overdue dues reach the manager as a to-do. A charge can be waived with a reason, within a limit for managers.BILLINGSeveral payers and employer billingSay who pays what on each stay. A company pays the rent and the resident the electricity, or the company pays 70 % and the employee 30 %. Each payer gets their own invoices, and an employer that leases many beds gets one invoice for all its residents.BILLINGResident statement and yearly rent receiptPrint a resident's statement of every charge, invoice and payment, with what is due and the deposit held, in one click. Residents who claim HRA get a yearly rent receipt as a PDF. Both download from the portal and the app.ENQUIRIES, BOOKINGS, WAITLISTDeposit and booking fee at bookingBooking a bed charges the security deposit and the booking fee of the rent plan at once, with a link to pay online. A booking not paid within your hold hours is cancelled and the bed is free again, and check-in can wait until the deposit is paid.PORTAL AND APPSThe staff app for wardens and the deskSmartMy Stay Staff puts the front desk's and the caretaker's day on a phone. The desk searches residents, books beds, checks residents in and out, and takes rent with a receipt number. Wardens and caretakers approve leave, mark residents out and back, and take a roll call even without signal, where the property keeps one. Any of them can press SOS to call the other staff for help.

See it with your own beds and rent plan.

Tell us how many beds and properties you run. We will show you a booking, a month of rent and a move-out, set up the way your PG works.

Talk to us Compare plans