Understanding Booking.com Payment Options

This article will explain what payment options are available on Booking.com and what is currently supported for Homhero users.

Please see below:

1. Property Collect - Supported with Homhero.
   
   Property Collect is a payment method on Booking.com where the property manager is responsible for collecting payment directly from the guest, rather than Booking.com handling it. This will mean that you will need to faciliate all payments for these reservations via Homhero.
   
   
2. Exclusive Payments (Net Payout) - Support coming in Q3 [2025].
   
   You can still utilise this method on Booking.com, but it will cause some additional work for your team to manually modify these bookings.
   
   The payout total for these bookings will be inclusive of commission and the 1.9% payment fee. The 1.9% payment fee is deducted with the commission and not sent to the partner in the payout. Since Homhero doesn't support this method, to balance these bookings, you will need to void the Booking.com Commission charge and add the difference of the booking.com commission and credit card fee. This is because we automatically split out the Booking.com Commission when bookings are placed via Homhero but only if a sundry is set in Booking Sources).
   
   The total in Homhero will not match the payout since we are expecting a credit card surcharge in that total, which doesn't get added until payment is processed on a card. You would need to manually add a sundry to these bookings for the difference of the credit card fee, otherwise they will not balance when you get a payout. You can view the correct payout amount in the internal notes section of a reservation.
   
   The 1.9% payment fee will not be separated on the booking. We recommend setting up a package for this fee, so that it is in a separate sundry for you, to have the funds available to pay the invoice.
   
   Example below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Online Payments VCC (Hybrid) - Supported with Homhero.
   
   Booking.com collects payment for all prepaid reservations. That payment is then sent in a virtual credit card to you, and you can go ahead and charge when that reservation becomes non refundable.
   
   All payments are guaranteed by Booking.com, meaning no risk of chargebacks or the hassle of chasing invalid cards.
   
   This option also allows guests to pay with their preferred payment method, such as Apple Pay, Afterpay or PayPal - therefore increasing conversion, resulting in more bookings for GCHH.
   
   Important: If your property has been live for less than 6 months, you’ll only be able to charge the card on the day of check-in. However, the funds remain secure, and there is still no risk of chargebacks.
   
   
4. Online Payments via Bank Transfer (Gross Payout) - Support coming in Q3 [2025].
   
   Also referred to as “Payments by Booking – Bank Transfer method”.
   
   This is a gross payout method where Booking.com pays you the full reservation amount (gross), and you are invoiced separately for the commission. If preferred, a direct debit can be set up to automatically settle your monthly commission invoices with Booking.com.
   
   You can use this method on Booking.com, however you will need to modify the bookings manually in Homhero to balance your payouts.
   
   From a Homhero standpoint, the only adjustment required is to manually add a 1.9% payment charge to the reservation and update the reservation to Confirmed. After that, when you receive the funds from Booking.com and receipt them into Homhero, the payout should match correctly.
   
   Key points for using this method within Homhero:

   • Manual adjustment required: To ensure the payout matches, your team will need to manually add the credit card surcharge to the reservation. This step ensures the expected balance in Homhero aligns with the actual payout you receive from Booking.com after guest checkout.

   • Booking status and correspondence: Homhero marks bookings as “Unconfirmed” until a payment is recorded. If you have any guest communication set to trigger only when a booking is “Confirmed,” you’ll need to manually update each reservation to ''Confirmed'' to avoid missing key correspondence. Alternatively, you can create specific correspondence schedules for ''Unconfirmed'' Booking.com reservations only, if you don't want to manually update the booking status each time.

   • Reconciling payouts: Once the funds are received from Booking.com post-checkout, and you’ve added the missing surcharge and receipted the payment into Homhero, the booking total will reconcile correctly.
     
     These steps will not be required once this feature is supported with Homhero.

What does Homhero and Booking.com recommend for seamless transactions?
Homhero and Booking.com recommends the new Virtual Credit Card (VCC) payment option. This solution allows you to charge the virtual card and get your payout as early as time of booking, when the reservation becomes non-refundable (for most properties). It's good news for you, because it also means no more chargebacks (it's on Booking.com).

Note: This payment option is not available for all partners

Only partners that meet the following criteria will be eligible for VCC:

If you meet the eligibility for Online Payments VCC and want to learn more, please reach out to Booking.com for more information. You can also view this article to find the most frequently asked questions about Payments by Booking.com.