GetYourGuide Invoice Explained: What Actually Matters?

First: what is the invoice actually telling you?

A GetYourGuide supplier invoice is not the same thing as the invoice you might give a guest. It is the financial document GetYourGuide provides for the bookings and commission in an invoicing period.

GetYourGuide says the invoice reference begins with GIS-. You will usually see both a PDF and an Excel version. The PDF gives you the tidy summary. The Excel file is where the individual bookings live.

If you are simply checking that the grand total looks sensible, the PDF is handy. If something looks odd and you want to know why, the Excel file is usually where the detective hat comes out.

1. The PDF: the one-page summary

GetYourGuide’s current guidance says the invoice PDF includes your company details, the GIS invoice number, invoicing period, service commission, tax on commission where applicable, total bookings, the balance in your favour, payment details and payment threshold.

GetYourGuide explains the invoice PDF here.

The line I would look at first is Total balance in your favor. GetYourGuide describes this as the remaining balance after its commission is deducted. In plain English, this is the amount the invoice says is due to you for that invoice.

If that number looks fine but the payment confirmation or bank amount later looks different, the mystery has moved to another stage. That is exactly why separating invoice, payment and bank is so useful.

2. The Excel file: where the useful little clues live

The Excel file contains the detailed booking list. This is the one to open when you are asking questions like:

• Is a booking missing?
• Why is the commission different on this booking?
• What is this manual adjustment?
• Why is there a reversal?
• Where did this VAT or GST amount come from?

GetYourGuide’s current booking-list guide includes fields such as Booking Reference, Status, Activity Date, Retail Price, Commission Amount, Commission Rate, Manual Adjustments, VAT on GYG Service, Retail Price Minus Commission and Additional Information.

Their full Excel column guide is here.

I know. Nothing says “I chose a career in tourism” quite like a field called Retail Price Minus Commission. Still, once you know which columns matter, the sheet becomes much less frightening.

3. Booking Reference is your best friend

GetYourGuide says each booking reference begins with GYG followed by nine characters. If one booking is causing trouble, this reference is the cleanest way to follow it through the paperwork.

Search the invoice Excel file for the reference. Then search the payment confirmation Excel file for the same reference. One little ID can save you from trying to reason with a grand total that has absolutely no interest in explaining itself.

If you cannot find a booking where you expected it, our Booking missing from payout guide is the better place to continue.

4. Status: Normal, Reversed and Reversal

The Status column deserves a little respect because it can change what you think a row means.

GetYourGuide says Normal generally indicates a completed booking. Reversed indicates a cancelled booking, while Reversal represents the reverse charge for that cancelled booking and shows a negative amount.

There is also a wrinkle: supplier cancellation compensation can sometimes appear with a Normal status, so do not let one word in one cell make the whole decision for you.

We have a dedicated Reversed vs Reversal guide for this because, frankly, those two words were clearly designed by somebody who enjoys watching people squint.

5. Commission Amount and Commission Rate

The Excel file shows the commission amount deducted from the booking and the commission rate that applied to the tour option when that booking was made.

If the rate looks higher than you expected, do not immediately assume the calculator has turned against you. Payment frequency modifiers and booking-specific commission settings can matter too. See Commission looks wrong if this is the bit giving you grief.

6. Manual Adjustments and Additional Information

GetYourGuide describes Manual Adjustments as corrections for missing payments or other issues. The Additional Information column can contain comments from GetYourGuide staff explaining what a booking payment or correction relates to.

If you see an adjustment you do not recognise, read across the whole row before deciding it is suspicious. The spreadsheet occasionally hides the explanation three columns to the right, presumably for exercise.

Our Manual adjustments guide goes deeper into that one.

7. VAT on GYG Service

The invoice Excel can also contain a VAT on GYG Service amount. GetYourGuide describes this as VAT on its commission. The PDF groups applicable tax with its commission under “Our Commission”.

Whether VAT, GST or another tax applies depends on your circumstances and country, so this is one area where I refuse to put on an imaginary tax-adviser moustache. Our VAT or GST on GetYourGuide commission guide explains what the line means without pretending to do your tax return.

8. Retail Price Minus Commission

This is one of the most useful booking-level fields. GetYourGuide describes it as the earnings you receive from each individual booking after commission, including adjustments.

That means if a particular booking looks short, this is a much more useful number to inspect than the retail price alone.

If several bookings look fine individually but the overall payment is still lower than expected, move to Payout lower than expected.

9. The invoice is not the payment confirmation

This is the distinction that saves the most confusion.

The invoice says what is being invoiced for a period. The payment confirmation verifies a payment made in a payment run. GetYourGuide says the two amounts will often match, but they can differ because one payment confirmation may cover multiple invoices. Suppliers using Payment by Checkout date can also see different totals because the documents use different date logic.

GetYourGuide explains that relationship here.

If your invoice and payment confirmation are currently having a disagreement, our Invoice and payment don’t match guide is exactly for that.

This is why OTA Ninja asks for the Excel invoice

The PDF is useful. The Excel file is useful in a much nosier way.

OTA Ninja uses the booking-level invoice data together with the payment confirmation data so it can compare references, amounts, commission, adjustments, cancellations and other things that deserve a closer look.

It does not replace GetYourGuide’s documentation or your accountant. It simply saves you from manually introducing row 184 to row 184 in another spreadsheet while wondering where your afternoon went.

The 60-second invoice check

1. Confirm the invoice reference begins GIS-.
2. Use the PDF for the summary and the Excel file for booking-level detail.
3. Check the Total balance in your favor.
4. If something looks wrong, search the exact GYG booking reference.
5. Read status, commission, adjustments, tax and Additional Information across the row.
6. Then compare the invoice with the payment confirmation, not just the bank total.

That is enough to turn a large spreadsheet from “what on earth is this?” into “right, I know which row is annoying me.” Progress, friend.