In the United States, some states require Property Managers (PMs) to be licensed real estate professionals and/or they cannot legally directly accept guest monies.
Many PMs or co-hosts bypass this requirement by depositing any revenue directly with the property owner and then billing the property owner for any commissions, fees, surcharges, etc.
While there is no way to record negative payout balances globally by property and/or owner, this workaround accomplishes a negative payout balance. It results in owner statements with negative payout balances, as owners receive all the money paid by guests but owe their PMs for any commissions, fees, surcharges, etc.
- OwnerRez has no direct connection to the banking system and is not able to move money anywhere. All OR can do is track and calculate what money needs to be paid to or by themselves or the property owners; users have to actually make the payment some other way and then record that in OwnerRez.
- Users with an active QuickBooks account (QuickBooks Online, not QuickBooks Desktop) connected to OwnerRez can follow the instructions in the Owner Payouts support article.
Types of Payment Agreements
In this scenario, all revenue must go directly to the owner if you as a PM are unable to directly accept guest monies. But how does the PM achieve this?
There are a couple of different options. Here are just a few ideas.
- Send revenues directly to the owner's payment processor. Users can set up multiple payment processors in their OwnerRez account. The property owner remits any commissions, fees, surcharges, etc.
- The owner sets up their own listing channel account, including their banking information for payouts, and gives the PM or co-host access to the listing channel. The property owner remits any commissions, fees, surcharges, etc.
Recording Negative Payout Balances
Since all revenue goes directly to the owner, owner statements must result in negative Payout balances, which are then billed to property owners, who then remit the amounts due to PMs or co-hosts for any commissions, fees, surcharges, etc.
PMs or co-hosts have to record these negative payout balances on each and every booking by changing the Direct Remittance amount to the same amount as the Total Charged.
On the individual Booking > Overview > Guest Balance, copy the amount of the Total Charged.
Navigate to the PM tab > and click on the Change button.
Enter the copied Total Charged amount in the Direct Remittance field. Click Save.
Remember that PMs or co-hosts must record these negative payout balances on each booking by changing the Direct Remittance amount to $0, accurately reflecting the amount paid directly to the owner.
Owner statement payouts must have a negative balance that accurately reflects commissions, fees, surcharges, etc, due to the PM or co-host.
Since Statements and payouts are separate entities in the system, you will record the negative payouts sent to the owner (the owner sent money to the PM/co-host) in the Owner Payout.