The information in this article is relevant only for the Vrbo full sync connection type.
This guide explains the integration between Guesty and Vrbo, how taxes and commissions are handled, and steps you can take to prevent common issues.
How taxes work
Vrbo collects and remits taxes in the United States across all states. However, Vrbo users who are integrated with third-party software such as Guesty are the merchant of record, and collect the payments. directly. In these cases, Vrbo only collects the service fee.
Taxes types that sync with Vrbo
Once taxes are set up in Guesty on your account (Pro users only) or an individual listing, they are synced to Vrbo. The tax configurations that are supported are:
- Flat taxes
- Percentage taxes applied "per night" and "per stay"
Tax conditions do not apply to reservations made through booking channels, and “Length of stay” conditions are not supported for Vrbo. If a reservation came from Vrbo with a “Length of stay” condition of 29 or more nights, taxes will still apply to the reservation.
How taxes are displayed
- In Guesty: When a reservation is made, the guest folio breakdown reflects specific tax types.
- In Vrbo: Guests see a single "taxes" field without a breakdown of individual tax types.
For example: If you create a "city tax" tax type in Guesty, it will be sent to Vrbo, but dispkayed as "taxes".
How commissions work
In Vrbo
Vrbo charges a 5% host fee/channel commission 48 hours after booking, unless the reservation is canceled. If a cancellation occurs after the fee is charged, it will be refunded.
In Guesty
Vrbo does not send Guesty channel commission information. Guesty calculates the commission based on the accommodation fare and cleaning fee only. Additional fees are excluded. Since additional fees are excluded from the calculation only in Guesty, the channel commission in Guesty and Vrbo will not match. Read more about configuring channel commissions.
Preventing common issues
To avoid missing taxes or channel commissions on your reservations, review the following:
- Confirm that taxes are set up on your Guesty account or to an individual listing.
- Confirm that the Vrbo channel commission is configured on your Guesty account or per listing.
- Check if the reservation is a mapped reservation. Mapped reservations with the source "uploaded_VRBO" are manual and do not automatically inherit Vrbo’s financial settings. For these reservations configure your taxes and commission separately for the “uploaded_VRBO” sources, in order for these settings to be added to the reservations’ financial settings.