Lay My Hat

We are on subscription model on Abritel/HA. We just had a booking yesterday and the total due to the host, as shown to client, is "rental cost" + "service fee". The total is split in two payments as usual. So now the guest is asking us to refund the 150 EUR of "Abritel service fee".
Previously the guests were asked only to pay the rental to us, then the service fees directly to HA.

RC = Rental Cost
HASF = HomeAway Service Fee

Till a few weeks ago the guest was asked:
- at booking, 1/3 RC to us, then HASF to HA (two separate entities, us and HA)
- x days before arrival, 2/3 RC to us

Now:
- at booking, 1/3 RC + HASF to us (unified payment to us)
- x days before arrival, 2/3 RC to us

I don't know if something has changed and we hosts have to receive the Service Fee on behalf of HA, then redirect to HA the service costs after receiving it from the guests. That instead of them asking directly that payment to the guest as they did. Or it's yet another error/bug in the software that manage bookings. We have not manually changed the amount to be paid by guests, it's all calculated by HA at the enquiry, as usual.

That's really strange, Cotto. If this is not some programming error by HA, but is intentional then the change is so fundamental that it is hard to believe that HA would not have told their owners/customers about it in advance. As I see it, the guest makes two quite distinct and separate contracts when he/she concludes a booking through an HA platform. One is with HA for all their services to the guest - the "Service Fee" (!) and the other is with the owner or manager in the form of a rental agreement. The two don't mix, unless HA are trying to make their owners/customers their collecting agents.

Whatever else, the service fee of €150 is not refundable to the guest in this instance, but presumably payable by you to Abritel/HA.

The practical question is when do you yourself get payments from HA? Is it soon after the guest makes a payment, or do you have to wait until the guests have started to occupy/left the property before receiving anything at all?

AndrewH wrote:Whatever else, the service fee of €150 is not refundable to the guest in this instance, but presumably payable by you to Abritel/HA.

The problem is that the guests are saying that they also paid 150 Euro to HA by credit card. So the system added that sum to our rental price, then asked them to pay it again, separately.
I think there has been a programming bug. It does not make sense to pay twice for the Service Fee.

The practical question is when do you yourself get payments from HA? Is it soon after the guest makes a payment, or do you have to wait until the guests have started to occupy/left the property before receiving anything at all?

We get direct payments from guests, we don't have the online booking, we do not like it at all. So they send us a bank wire of the rental price, then separately pay HA the Service Fee.

Cotto wrote:The problem is that the guests are saying that they also paid 150 Euro to HA by credit card. So the system added that sum to our rental price, then asked them to pay it again, separately. I think there has been a programming bug. It does not make sense to pay twice for the Service Fee.

It must be a mistake on the part of Abritel/HA. A guest having to pay the service fee once is bad enough, but never twice. I would check with Abritel/HA first to see if they also received a separate service fee payment direct from the guest and, if so, what they expect you to do in the circumstances.

I no longer list with HA and thought (wrongly) that direct payments from guests to owners was no longer an option.

AndrewH wrote:I no longer list with HA and thought (wrongly) that direct payments from guests to owners was no longer an option.

Me neither, but I was also under the impression that online booking & payment processing were compulsory now.