We are Co-Hosting in a state that requires property managers to be licensed relators. This requires that payments, security deposits, etc. be paid directly to the owner, and we invoice the owner for our commission and out of pocket expenses. We believe we have this mostly figured out in OR, however, we can't figure out how to handle the payment processing fees and the channel commission that the channel deducts from the payment it sends to the owner. They show up in the OR booking as expenses, however there doesn't seem to be a way to indicate that owner paid these expenses directly. This causes the PM amount under the Profit section of the PM tab of the Booking to be too high bc it thinks the PM paid these expenses on the Owner's behalf.
The least wrong way we have found is to delete these as Expenses and add them as Discounts under the Charges. This makes all of the numbers on the PM tab of the booking come out correct (except that technically the Discount is too large and portions should be reflected as Owner Paid expenses, but it makes the Owner and PM profit correct). We then put the amount the Owner was paid directly by the Channel (VRBO) into the Direct Remittance field. This causes the Owner and PM amounts under Profit on the PM tab to be correct (Owner has a negative balance which is equal to the amount due to the PM).
The problem with the above solution is the Owner Statement shows that the guest paid over 100% of the total due (b/c the guest paid X, but we had to add the processing/commission fees as a discount, so OR thinks the guest should have paid less (X - processing/commission fees).
Are we missing something? Any suggestions?
Screen shots attached.
I saw this answered directly in an email you sent to us, and thought I'd post that answer here as well in case anyone else is wondering the same!
I understand your situation with co-hosting in a state requiring licensed realtors for property management, where payments must go directly to owners. The challenge you're facing with channel fees and processing fees is a common issue in this setup.
Direct Owner Payments Configuration
First, ensure you're properly using the Direct Owner Payments feature. You should enter the amount of rental funds that go directly to property owners in the PM tab of each booking. This is explained within this support doc article below:
Direct Owner Payments - Owner Payouts - Property Management - Support - OwnerRez
Channel Fee Handling Options
For the channel fees and processing fees that are deducted before the owner receives payment, you have configuration options in your Owner Settings:
Channel Fees Configuration:
Transaction Fees Configuration:
This is mentioned more within this support doc article:
Commission on Fee Expenses - Expenses - Property Management - Support - OwnerRez
By properly configuring the channel and transaction fee settings in the owner configuration, the system should correctly account for these fees without showing inflated payment percentages.
Unfortunately this doesn't really solve the problem. In Transactions, OR is showing the total charged to the Guest's credit card, however the remittance to the Owner is that amount minus the Vrbo commission and payment processing fees ("OTA Fees"). The only choices in OR for how to handle these OTA fees is Owner Pays or PM Pays.... If Owner Pays, the only options are Paid As Expense on Owner Statement or Paid From Escrow. Either way, the numbers on the PM tab are incorrect as well as on the Owner Statement, even if you set the Direct to Owner as $0 as the help text advises. If you choose PM pays, similar issue....PM numbers are incorrect b/c it is assuming this was a cost to the PM. I have not circled back with Support on this yet due to other priorities.
I saw this answered directly in an email you sent to us, and thought I'd post that answer here as well in case anyone else is wondering the same!
I understand your situation with co-hosting in a state requiring licensed realtors for property management, where payments must go directly to owners. The challenge you're facing with channel fees and processing fees is a common issue in this setup.
Direct Owner Payments Configuration
First, ensure you're properly using the Direct Owner Payments feature. You should enter the amount of rental funds that go directly to property owners in the PM tab of each booking. This is explained within this support doc article below:
Direct Owner Payments - Owner Payouts - Property Management - Support - OwnerRez
Channel Fee Handling Options
For the channel fees and processing fees that are deducted before the owner receives payment, you have configuration options in your Owner Settings:
Channel Fees Configuration:
- Navigate to PM > Owners > [specific Owner] > Settings tab > Channel Fees
- In the Expense section, you can select "PM will pay fees" option, which excludes these fees from being classed as an owner expense
- This means you, as the property manager, will be responsible for these fees in the system
Transaction Fees Configuration:
- Similar settings are available under Transaction Fees in the same owner settings area
- You can configure whether the PM or owner pays these fees
This is mentioned more within this support doc article:
Commission on Fee Expenses - Expenses - Property Management - Support - OwnerRezBy properly configuring the channel and transaction fee settings in the owner configuration, the system should correctly account for these fees without showing inflated payment percentages.
I saw this answered directly in an email you sent to us, and thought I'd post that answer here as well in case anyone else is wondering the same!
I understand your situation with co-hosting in a state requiring licensed realtors for property management, where payments must go directly to owners. The challenge you're facing with channel fees and processing fees is a common issue in this setup.
Direct Owner Payments Configuration
First, ensure you're properly using the Direct Owner Payments feature. You should enter the amount of rental funds that go directly to property owners in the PM tab of each booking. This is explained within this support doc article below:
Direct Owner Payments - Owner Payouts - Property Management - Support - OwnerRez
Channel Fee Handling Options
For the channel fees and processing fees that are deducted before the owner receives payment, you have configuration options in your Owner Settings:
Channel Fees Configuration:
- Navigate to PM > Owners > [specific Owner] > Settings tab > Channel Fees
- In the Expense section, you can select "PM will pay fees" option, which excludes these fees from being classed as an owner expense
- This means you, as the property manager, will be responsible for these fees in the system
Transaction Fees Configuration:
- Similar settings are available under Transaction Fees in the same owner settings area
- You can configure whether the PM or owner pays these fees
This is mentioned more within this support doc article:
Commission on Fee Expenses - Expenses - Property Management - Support - OwnerRezBy properly configuring the channel and transaction fee settings in the owner configuration, the system should correctly account for these fees without showing inflated payment percentages.
