How are guest payments collected?

Charge your guests through Guesty

We recommend you use a payment processor supported by Guesty for your revenue management.

If you are using a Guesty-supported payment processor, credit card transactions in Guesty will be processed through your connected payment processor. The accommodation fare, cleaning fee, and taxes will be collected by Guesty. Also, any price adjustments to the reservation invoice (such as making an accommodation fare adjustment, or adding additional fees to a reservation by default), will be collected from the guest's credit card.

If you’re not using one of Guesty’s supported payment processors, you need to collect your guests' credit card details from the Booking.com Extranet and charge your guests independently. See how to find your guest's credit card details on the Extranet.

Charge your guests through Booking.com

Booking.com offers two payment services: Payments by Booking.com (bank transfer) and online payments (VCC). Both options are subject to Booking.com approval. Check your eligibility and sign up via your Extranet’s finance page. Note that Booking.com charges a commission for both services.

When choosing Booking.com to charge your guests, reservation payments, including security deposits and authorization holds, won't be collected or synced to Guesty, and the guest's credit card details will not be imported into Guesty. We recommend you record your payments manually in Guesty. Otherwise, reservations will remain unpaid in your reservations reports.

Any payment adjustments you set in Guesty won't apply to Booking.com, including additional fees added by default. However, additional fees set in Guesty will appear in Guesty's reservation invoice, despite not being collected by Booking.com. Set your additional fees in the Booking.com Extranet to be collected.

Learn more about the two methods below.

Payments by Booking.com (Bank transfer)

Booking.com will charge your guest’s credit card, and the accommodation fare, cleaning fee, and taxes will be collected by Booking.com as well. You can add additional fees to your reservations via the Booking.com Extranet.

You will be paid via bank transfer once a month, with the channel's commission already deducted for each reservation (the processing fee is 1.1% - 3.1% of the total payout). Reservations will be received in Guesty once they're paid ("pre-paid" reservations). If you notice a discrepancy between the Guesty invoice and Booking.com's, it is most likely due to the processing fee. 

Auto Payment rules in Guesty won't apply to this method. 

Online payments (VCC)

For this method, Booking.com will provide you with a virtual credit card. You can view the VCC details on the Booking.com Extranet.  When a guest makes a reservation and pays for it online, Booking.com will send you a VCC with the reservation details, and you can charge it with the exact amount of the reservation price. See Booking.com's terms and conditions. You can also use Guesty's Auto Payment rules to charge the VCC.

Booking.com will collect the accommodation fare, cleaning fee, and taxes. If you need to collect additional fees from the guest after charging the VCC, obtain the guest's personal credit card details since the VCC will be empty.

Payment is collected through an Expedia Virtual Card (EVC) that is provided to Guesty with a pre-loaded amount. A new EVC is assigned to each reservation and is deactivated six months after check-out. If you have auto payments set up, the rules will be overridden and the payment will be collected at check-out when the EVC becomes available.

You are responsible for collecting the payment manually and recording it. This method is also known as "Pay Later" and is sometimes referred to as "HC", "Agency", or "Property Collect". This business model allows travelers to book same-day and next-day reservations on Expedia sites without a credit card and add a credit card after the reservation is made.

If your setup with Expedia is hotel collect and the listing has defined auto payment rules, the reservation will be charged according to the auto payment rules.

Follow the instructions below to set up or change a listing's payment schedule.

Step by step:

1. Sign in to your Guesty account.
2. In the top navigation bar, click the mode select menu and select Growth mode.
3. Click Distribution.
4. Click Connected listings, under the TripAdvisor thumbnail.
5. Click the relevant listing. For a multi-unit, each sub-unit should be updated individually by accessing the sub-unit's settings.
6. In the listing's menu, click Pricing & Policies.
7. In the dropdown menu, click Channel payment settings.
8. In the TripAdvisor section on the right-hand side, click Edit.
9. Under the "Payment schedule" field, select either "Split" or "Full" payment.
   •  When you select Split payment, the guest will be able to pay in installments.
     1. Under "Payment percentage" field, enter the percentage of the payment of the installments.
     2. Under "How long before arrival", select the number of days before the check-in date that the guest's payment must be fulfilled.
   • When you select Full payment, the guest will need to pay 100% up front.
10. Under the "How long until a quote expired" field, select the number of days the reservation's price quote will be valid for.
11. Click Save.

Payment processor

If you select this as the only payment method, the guest will be required to enter their credit card details when they book the reservation on Vrbo. The payments for their reservation will be automatically collected via your payment processor according to the auto payment rules set up on the listing.

Invoice payment (bill me)

Under "Invoice payment" there are four possible payment options:

• Credit card
• Cash
• Check
• Debit card

If you select at least one of these options, the guest will not be required to enter the details of any payment method when they book the reservation on Vrbo. They will be informed of the payment method(s) offered by you, and the payment for their reservation will be automatically recorded in Guesty according to the auto payment rules set up on the listing. You will need to contact the guest to retrieve their payment method and collect the payment outside of Guesty.

Payment processor and invoice payment

If you select both "Payment Processor" and at least one of the options under "Invoice payment" payment methods, the guest will be able to choose how they want to be charged when they book the reservation - based on the explanation provided above for each option.

Step by step:

1. Sign in to your Guesty account.
2. In the top navigation bar, click, the mode selector and select Growth mode.
3. Click Distribution.
4. Click the Vrbo thumbnail.
5. Click the relevant Vrbo account.
6. Click the relevant listing:
   • For a multi-unit, each sub-unit should be updated individually by accessing the sub-unit's settings.
7. In the listing's menu, click Pricing & Policies.
8. In the drop-down, click Channel payment settings.
9. In the Vrbo section on the right-hand side, click Edit.
10. If already turned on, turn the "Use your account's default settings" toggle off.
11. Edit the relevant information.
12. Click Save.