Keep the Money, Keep the Guest: Credit, Promo Codes and Guest Ambassadors in Gurita
Every hospitality business knows the cancellation e-mail that ends with "…but we would love to come later in the year." Too often what follows is a refund, a bank fee, and a guest who rebooks somewhere else. Gurita, our property-management system for dive resorts, liveaboards and dive centres, now gives operators a better answer, and two new ways to bring guests in.
A refund is not the only option
Gurita's reworked credit follows the situations front desks actually face. When a guest cancels a paid booking, the cancel dialog now asks a simple question: refund the money, or keep it as credit? Choose credit, and the paid amount, minus any cancellation fee, waits on the guest's account for their next stay. The same works the other way round. When an agency transfers a round sum for the season, the payment dialog books what the first booking needs and offers to put the rest on the agency's credit. Overpaid bookings show a clear banner with two buttons, refund or move to credit, and goodwill gestures get their own button with a reason attached.
Spending credit is just as easy. Staff pay a booking from credit like with any other payment method, or settle several open bookings of the same guest or agency in one step. Agencies that pay in advance can be set to have every new booking paid from their credit automatically the moment it is confirmed. Credit is company-wide, so a guest's balance works at every property you run, and it can be converted between currencies at a rate staff can see and adjust.
Guests are kept in the loop: every change can send a short credit statement with the movement and the new balance, while internal staff notes stay internal. For the finance team, two lists show every agency and guest holding credit, with totals per currency and an export.
Promo codes that work with your pricing, not around it
Gurita's new promo codes do not carry their own discount. Each code unlocks an offer you already manage, such as an autumn special or an early-bird rate, which nobody can book without the code. Change the offer, and every code that unlocks it follows. Guests enter the code in your booking widget or arrive through a campaign link that applies it for them, staff can add one to an existing booking, and each code keeps a record of every booking that used it. A code already on a booking keeps its discount even after the campaign ends, so nobody gets an unpleasant surprise at checkout.
Turning happy guests into ambassadors
The most valuable marketing a dive resort has is a guest telling friends about the reef. Gurita now rewards it. A referral code belongs to one of your guests. When someone new books with it and the booking is confirmed, the owner receives a reward: credit for their next stay or loyalty points, as a fixed amount or a percentage of the booking. If that booking is later cancelled, the reward is reversed automatically, with no bookkeeping by hand.
Guests see their own code in the Gurita Guest Portal, with a share button, the number of bookings it has brought in and the rewards earned so far. Operators who want word of mouth to run on its own can let guests create their code themselves, with a default reward set once.
Why it matters
A refund costs twice: once in fees, and again when the guest books elsewhere. Credit keeps the money and the relationship. A referral code costs nothing until it brings a booking. Together they make the most of the guests you already have.
All three features are available now for Gurita customers. The full walkthrough is on the Gurita blog, and you can explore the product at gurita.app.
Want to see how credit and referral codes would fit your operation? Talk to us. We answer every inquiry within 24 hours on business days.