Security deposit - is it possible for the amount charged to vary?

Hi - I'm deep into setup of my account. I'm setting the rules for security deposit holds and am running into a problem. I take a much higher security deposit for summer holiday weekends to discourage damage from groups that aren't our typical guests (ie, groups of friends vs our normal family groups). Is there a way to do this with OwnerRez? I only see one place for the amount to hold.
Thanks.
Anne

Unfortunately, at present we do not have the ability for your security deposit to vary for the same property at different seasons. We've occasionally had people ask for this, but it's rare.

Is there a way to manually change it on a per-booking level?

Yes! You can do that in the Rules tab of a specific Booking or Quote.

Thanks, Ken!

Another time this would be useful is for long-term stays. For example, if someone books my property for a month, I'd like to take a $400 security deposit instead of a $100 one. Not sure if the channels would support this, but if some or all do (or even for direct bookings only), it would certainly be a nice addition, especially in these current times (where we're getting some month-long inquiries).

Incidentally, I did have a monthly renter earlier this year and had some trouble collecting on the security deposit. The authorization still showed as open and available (it hadn't been released yet), but when I tried to claim it, the card was declined. I suppose for longer stays, an actual charged SecDep is probably preferable to an authorization-only hold. Anything that can be done in the software to assist with that?

You can't automatically set rules like that based on stay length, but you can alter the rules for specific quotes. If you're quoting someone for a month, you can go in on the Rules tab of the quote and change the secdep amount for just that quote. Or turn off the built in secdep hold and add a surcharge for it instead (so it's charged with the booking charges).

Like at a hotel, we offer services at our villa in the Caribbean (such as meal preparation and sometimes local currency cash advances). I'd like to set up a credit card hold to cover these services like the hotels do.

It looks like the security deposit hold would work, but some guests don't use the services and others pay cash to avoid credit card fees. Is there a way to add a security deposit hold about a week before arrival to be collected the day before arrival?  And how long is the hold good for?  Most of our guests stay a week.

I'm not sure I understand the question?  It sounds like you're basically just describing a security deposit hold - we collect the credit card info in advance, then set the hold a day or two before arrival and keep it active as long as necessary.

Here's information on hold length and renewal:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/security-deposit-holds#multiple-holds

Hello, Ken - thank you for the link - that's useful information. 

But I'll ask my question this way - can I modify the booking to require a unique security deposit hold after the booking has been paid in full?  What about after arrival?  I want zero as the value for the security deposit hold at time of booking, but I want to change it to a unique value shortly before check in date.

In theory, yes, you could do that, but you'd have to set things up manually, and I don't really see what that's accomplishing for you.  We wouldn't recommend trying to do it that way, as there's so much scope for confusion, disagreement, and forgetfulness, but technically it is possible.

Thank you.  I presume I simply edit the booking to change the security deposit hold amount and the date, so I'll try it.

You'll want to change the Rules, and, potentially, also the Scheduled security deposit on the Transactions tab.