This is the first year we have received guests not in the UK. We are currently setup on subscription with HomeAway and take our own methods of payment.
We has a booking from a couple from Australia who booked in the normal process. We forwarded our bank details and they did a bank transfer for £100 for the deposit. New to this I didn't realise that we would have a fee taken from the money for transfer fees of £12. We will soon need to take the rest of the payment and wanting to avoid the charges again. We also take a security deposit which I would then need to return again probably being charged. I have looked at changing to accept the online payments thinking this would sort this problem with HomeAway being an international company but in the terms and conditions it talks about all charges for bank and currency exchange would be past on to the owners. Has anybody had any experience of this? What are the charges? Is there a better way to handle non UK guests? We have also had a request today from a German family so presume the same fees would apply.
H/A International Guests and Online Payment System
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Joanna
- Posts: 1091
- Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:12 pm
- Location: Chester, North West England & Sidmouth, East Devon
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We used Transferwise for a while - the fees are much lower than other methods we tried and they have a good reputation, so worth a look.
Recently we followed advice on LMH and set up an account with Wave for invoicing which is linked to a Stripe account for card processing so we can now take credit cards. Since then very few people have opted for bank transfers and all the overseas bookers have chosen the credit card option. Stripe fees seem fairly reasonable. Something to look into for the future maybe?
Recently we followed advice on LMH and set up an account with Wave for invoicing which is linked to a Stripe account for card processing so we can now take credit cards. Since then very few people have opted for bank transfers and all the overseas bookers have chosen the credit card option. Stripe fees seem fairly reasonable. Something to look into for the future maybe?
Jo
Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
Thank you Joanna. I have used TransferWise and worked well for the Euros. Will try the Australian Dollars when the next payment is due from our Australian guests.
Web - www.beadnellcottage.co.uk
Email - enquiries@beadnellcottage.co.uk
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Email - enquiries@beadnellcottage.co.uk
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When making an international bank transfer your guests would be given the option to send just the £100 or £100 plus the fees to make sure the recipient received the exact amount. They have obviously chosen for the fees to be charged to you. I would let them know you have not received the full deposit and they can make the shortfall up when the balance is due.
Hi Jeffers70, as with the others the best way is to ask the guests to pay by money transfer companies, there are many around and they either charge a fee (which your guest should pay) or they don't charge a fee but make their money in the exchange rate.
As for taking and paying back the security deposit the easiest way is to ask for them to pay the deposit in cash at the beginning of their holiday and return it at the end but that can be fraught with difficulties (sorry, we haven't had time to get the cash out yet, we will pay tomorrow etc. etc.). Sometimes we forego the security deposit for international guests and take the risk.
As for taking and paying back the security deposit the easiest way is to ask for them to pay the deposit in cash at the beginning of their holiday and return it at the end but that can be fraught with difficulties (sorry, we haven't had time to get the cash out yet, we will pay tomorrow etc. etc.). Sometimes we forego the security deposit for international guests and take the risk.