How to Set Up Merchant Fees to Pass Through to Owners
If merchant or credit card fees charged by your payment processors must be passed through to owners and shown as an expense on owner statements, you’ll need to apply Merchant Fee settings to the appropriate listings and booking channels in VRTrust.
This article explains when this setup is required, how merchant fees are captured, and how to apply them correctly.
When This Setup Is Required
You should set up merchant fees if:
Merchant / credit card fees are charged to owners
Fees should appear on the owner statement
Fees should be recognized at the time of the guest stay, not when the deposit is processed
You can skip this setup if the property management company covers merchant fees
How Merchant Fees Are Captured
Merchant fees are most commonly:
Extracted automatically from Stripe deposits
Related to Direct bookings and Vrbo bookings
For other payment processors:
Deposits must be imported using the Deposit Import feature
Merchant fees will be extracted from those imported deposits, if present
Refer to the Deposit Import help video for detailed instructions on importing deposits.
1. Navigate to Merchant Fees
Go to Fees & Commissions
Select Merchant Fees
You will see pre-populated Merchant Fee templates for each booking channel.
2. Review Merchant Fee Settings
Click into a Merchant Fee template
Review the configuration:
Fee Name: Merchant Fee – [Booking Channel]
Rate: 100%
Booking Channel: Listed on the fee
Advanced Settings
In Advanced Settings, confirm:
Revenue Recognition: Uses the default setting
Whether the fee applies to:
All reservations (including cancelled), or
Only booked reservations
Tax Rate (if applicable)
3. Understand the Account Mapping
Each Merchant Fee uses two accounts:
Revenue Account
Merchant Fees – Rebilled to Owner
Posts as revenue on the Property Management Income Statement
Recognized at the time of the guest stay
Expense Account
Merchant Fees
Appears as an expense on the Owner Statement
Matches the stay period
4. How the Offset Works at Deposit Time
When the actual merchant fee is charged by the payment processor on the deposit date:
The expense posts to:
Merchant Fees on the Property Management Income Statement
This offsets the revenue previously recorded to:
Merchant Fees – Rebilled to Owner
This ensures merchant fees are:
Charged to owners at stay time
Correctly reconciled when the processor deducts the fee
5. Preview and Test the Merchant Fee
Before applying the fee broadly, you can preview it:
Open the Merchant Fee
Use the Preview window
Select:
A booking channel
A reservation that has already been paid
If a payment exists:
It will appear in the Deposits section
The Stripe processing fee line is used to create the merchant fee
Example:
Stripe processing fee extracted: $54.36
6. Apply Merchant Fees to Listings
Go to Fees & Commissions → Listings
Select the relevant listings
Click Add New
Select Merchant Fee
Choose the appropriate channel fee (e.g. Merchant Fee – Vrbo)
Set the Fee Start Date:
Typically ~2 years before your VRTrust Go-Live date
Why Set the Start Date Back?
This ensures:
Advance deposits received before Go-Live
Are extracted from Stripe
And recorded on owner statements for stays after Go-Live
Be sure the start date captures all advance deposits that relate to future stays.
Click Submit
Repeat this process for other booking channels, if applicable.
Summary
Setting up Merchant Fees allows you to:
Pass payment processing fees through to owners
Show fees on owner statements at the time of stay
Automatically extract fees from Stripe or imported deposits
Properly offset PM revenue when the fee is deducted
This setup ensures accurate owner reporting and clean reconciliation of merchant fees in VRTrust.