Clearly Identify OTA-Paid Reservations in the Guest Portal
The updated guest portal is creating confusion for guests who booked through an OTA such as Airbnb, where the platform collects the payment.
When guests open the Authorize Security Deposit page, they see the full reservation price under “Price details” beside a form requesting their credit card information. Because the page does not explain that their reservation was paid through the OTA, many guests we are going to charge them again for the cost of their stay—in addition to the security deposit hold.
I have personally had several guests contact me because this screen made them believe they were being charged twice. This creates unnecessary worry for guests and additional messages for hosts/property managers to resolve.
Please add a clear payment-status notice to this screen for OTA reservations. Ideally, it would identify:
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The platform through which the reservation was booked
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Whether the reservation payment was collected by that platform
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That the credit card being entered will only be used for the security deposit authorization
For example:
Reservation payment: Paid through Airbnb
Amount due for your stay: $0.00
Your reservation charges were collected by Airbnb. You will not be charged again for your stay. The card information entered below will only be used to authorize the refundable $250 security deposit hold.
This message should appear prominently near the price details and security deposit amount—not hidden in expandable text—so guests see it before entering their credit card information.
At minimum, the price details section should label OTA-handled charges as “Paid through Airbnb,” “Paid through Vrbo,” or the applicable booking platform. It would also help to visually separate the reservation total from the security deposit hold so guests understand that they are two different items.
This small clarification would make the updated portal much easier for guests to understand and reduce avoidable concerns about duplicate charges.