HomeAway Email re payment after check in

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
Sunbeam
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Re: Advance payments home away

Post by Sunbeam »

Hello Swales - thanks for this information - it was exactly what I was looking for. However, I skipped past the pop up asking me to accept the new terms and conditions, as I wanted to find out more about them, and now I can't see where in my account to now accept them. I wonder if anyone can help? Thanks and best wishes

UPDATE: just found out you click on the link in the email!

FURTHER UPDATE: I have had the same experience as Swales. Note that you are asked to update your cancellation policy.
Swales wrote:I have just spoken to my designated point of contact at home away regarding this new payment system.
As I currently receive advance payments from Yapstone he assured me I will be eligible for advanced payments once I sign up to home away payments.
I have done so and the email received confirms this.
Although I was told the new advanced payments system may not be up and running for another 45 days.
Equally any existing books fall under the remit of yapstone so payment for those will be made after check in.
Fortunately most of my payments for this season have already been disbursed. I only have 3 bookings for next year and and they are relatively small so not an issue.
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

AndrewH I've read so much about all this I can't remember where it came from but pretty sure its from the community forum in the USA
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

roxytoo wrote:AndrewH I've read so much about all this I can't remember where it came from but pretty sure its from the community forum in the USA
Thank you, roxytoo. That figures. Sometimes civil law in the USA, which may vary from state to state, is more forgiving than its counterparts in the UK and other countries in Europe. I remember something from my student days called "Ousting the court's jurisdiction", which implies someone or some entity setting itself up as judge and jury in place of the court, and this would be heavily stamped on. I think your quote comes from some American t's and c's, because there was an awful lot of 'ousting' going on there!
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

I think its from the homeaway site AndrewH
gardenboy
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Post by gardenboy »

I got the email I thought it was a scam at first. Ha really are dying a death, I used to get c 25 weeks a year via them, now about 4. Thankfully I get loads of repeats direct as I feel I am slowly surrendering control of my villa to them.

Probably be my last year with ha, most people I know have already stopped. The fees, letting licence, now late payment....just not worth it.

Sad really, end of an era,
SW31
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Post by SW31 »

Does anyone here know where owners are going to on Facebook to discuss this issue further?
RebelEmC
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Post by RebelEmC »

If you opt in to HA advanced payments with their fee of 3% plus transaction charges does that make 6% overall as Yapstone currently take 3% transaction charge?
gardenboy
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Post by gardenboy »

Yes that's 6% owner and 11% client. There is no cap either, it used to be 250 client side but I did a phantom enquiry for Mine and the fee came out at 290.

17% is a chunky fee on a 3k holiday.
SW31
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Post by SW31 »

I spoke to HA twice on this. The first person at HA let the cat out of the bag. The real problem that has led to this has been due to cancellations.
When someone cancels, if it’s under their terms, then the money is debited from the owners bank account and repaid to the holidaymakers. Unfortunately, some people don’t have the funds in the bank account so that causes repayment problems. That’s the real reason for the change.
The second person said I wasn’t eligible for the advance payment system. When I started to push for an explanation I was told that I don’t do enough bookings with HA. All my five star reviews count for nothing.
I think it goes back to issuing refunds. If I had a bigger turnover with more bookings then, in theory, I’d have sufficient funds in the account to provide liquidity for a refund payment!

I’m not sure if people are going to understand the cash-flow implications of HA’s latest edict!
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

I can't help feeling that the "story" you have been given SW31 is a load of b****. This is about greed and hanging onto OUR money for as long as possible and earning interest on it while they do so.
SW31
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Post by SW31 »

I certainly agree SPJ about holding onto the money and earning more interest. However, a few also do spoil it for the rest of us and I think there is an element of truth as well. HA has a big PR problem if it can’t process refunds. It then has a cash-flow problem if it has to finance the refunds while it tries to get the cash!
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Post by jafa »

One reason why I ceased my advert with HA, being that they wanted to hold onto MY money until after the guests have been. Exactly whats now happening with TC hotels. I could never rely on any TP company being solvent for me to get paid or not. Yes they will argue the money was safe, but I bet the hotels on behalf of TC were told the same thing.
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Sam V
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Post by Sam V »

See my recent seperate post. I've not opted for advanced payments but it would appear HA are making interest inon our money by other means.

With a four night booking which commenced on Thursday, final balance was paid by the guest in August, HA so far have only released the deposit to me on guests check in with (after a phone call to ask why) the final balance being released to me at their discretion apparently sometime within the next 5-7 working days!
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chipiechoo
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Post by chipiechoo »

Sam we made the decision 2 years ago that the big sites were not working for us, the policies they introduced were not something we were prepared to partake in.
So if you stick with them you get what they say, your choice.
Our bookings have slipped since moving away from HA/OD, to booking sites where we still have control but not markedly. Happy with our choice and the quality of our guests, wouldn't go back to the big boys even if they paid upfront, just for the peace of mind. But having said that I guess it just depends on how much you need the money or if having control over you own property is more important.
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