Tariff Refund Policy
The refund policy is a per-tariff setting in IZI that controls what happens to unused time when a staff member manually ends a session before the tariff expires. It has no effect on sessions that run to natural completion. Three options are available: keep the balance on the player’s account, convert unused time to bonus balance, or burn it without compensation.
From a business perspective, this setting determines how you handle the gap between what a player paid for and what they actually consumed. From an admin perspective, it is a single dropdown on the tariff form — set once at tariff creation and applied automatically every time a session closes early.
Three options
Section titled “Three options”The Refund policy field appears as a dropdown on the tariff form in the Tariffs section of the IZI CRM.
Keep balance
Section titled “Keep balance”Unused hours or sessions remain on the player’s account. On the next visit the player continues from exactly where they left off — no time is lost.
When to use:
- Hourly tariffs where a player might pay and leave mid-hour.
- Multipass (a bundle of prepaid hours) — the package must not disappear after an accidental early close.
- Any tariff where you want to avoid the conflict of “paid but didn’t play.”
Trade-off: over time, players accumulate small balances they may never redeem. Your reporting will show these as outstanding liabilities.
Convert to bonus
Section titled “Convert to bonus”Unused time is converted to the player’s bonus balance proportionally. The player does not keep the time itself, but the value stays inside the club as virtual credit they can spend on a future visit or purchase.
When to use:
- Night or day packages with a fixed time window, where “keep balance” is logistically awkward.
- Tariffs where you want to incentivize a return visit: a bonus balance is a concrete reason to come back.
- Promotional packages where a direct time carry-over is not part of the offer conditions.
Calculation: unused fraction × tariff price = bonus added. If 25% of a tariff priced at 200 is unused, 50 bonus is added to the player’s account.
Important: make sure the Max bonus percentage field is set on the tariff. This parameter limits how much of the next purchase price the player can cover with accumulated bonus. Without it, no limit is applied and a player could theoretically pay entirely with bonus on a high-value tariff.
Unused time is cancelled with no compensation. Nothing carries over and nothing converts.
When to use:
- Promotional tariffs priced at a significant discount, where “use it now” is an explicit condition of the offer.
- One-time event packages with rigid time windows.
- Any tariff where you want to avoid accumulating outstanding balances across player accounts.
When not to use: any tariff the player buys as an investment — multipass, long-hour bundles, or recurring subscription-style tariffs. Burning unused time in these contexts creates a negative experience and reduces the likelihood of repeat purchase.
How to configure in the CRM
Section titled “How to configure in the CRM”The refund policy is set when creating or editing a tariff. Full step-by-step instructions are in How to configure a tariff in IZI.
In brief: go to Tariffs → open the tariff card → find the Refund policy block → select one of the three options → save. The change takes effect for new session closings immediately. Sessions that are already open when you change the setting continue under the previous policy until they close.
What the policy affects
Section titled “What the policy affects”Reporting. Converting to bonus creates a transaction in the player’s bonus history, which is visible in shift reports and player account views. Keeping the balance does not generate a transaction — the remainder simply stays on the tariff. Factor this into revenue reconciliation when reviewing session history.
Player behavior in the hall. A player who knows their balance is preserved leaves calmly at any moment. A player whose unused time will burn tends to “finish out” their time even when they need to go. This has a real effect on seat turnover and floor utilization.
Return visits. Converting unused time to bonus is a low-friction tool for driving the next visit. To measure whether this is actually affecting return frequency, see how to measure retention in your club.
See also
Section titled “See also”- How to configure a tariff in IZI — full walkthrough including the refund policy field.
- Tariff basics — tariff structure, types, and rules.
- Bonus balance — how the player’s virtual account works.
- Multipass — refund policy choice is especially important for multipass bundles.
- Expiration policy — a related setting: what happens when the tariff’s validity period ends, as opposed to when a session closes early.
- Creating a tariff — step-by-step tariff creation guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does the refund policy affect sessions that end naturally (time runs out)?
No. The refund policy only applies when a session is manually ended by staff before the tariff time runs out. Natural expiration has no remainder to handle.
Can I change the refund policy on a tariff that's already been sold?
Yes. Changes apply to future manual session endings. Sessions already open at the time of the change continue under the old policy until they close.
Which policy should I use for promotional tariffs?
Burn. Promotional tariffs are typically sold at a discount — allowing unused time to carry over or convert to bonus erodes the promotion economics. Burn keeps the rules simple and matches the 'use it now' nature of the offer.
What does 'Convert to bonus' calculate on?
The conversion is proportional to unused time relative to the tariff price. For example: a 2-hour tariff priced at 200, with 30 minutes unused = 25% of 200 = 50 bonus added to the player's bonus balance.
Can I refund unused time to a player's original payment method (cash or card)?
IZI's tariff refund mechanism does not process returns to a real payment method. The three built-in options are: keep balance, convert to bonus, or burn. A monetary refund to the player's original payment source must be handled manually through your cash register or POS, outside the IZI tariff system.
What is the difference between 'Keep balance' and 'Convert to bonus'?
'Keep balance' leaves the remaining hours or sessions on the player's account exactly as-is — they pick up where they left off on the next visit. 'Convert to bonus' exchanges the unused remainder for virtual bonus credit at the tariff's rate, which the player can spend on any future purchase in the club.