Channel fees don’t always behave the same way across booking platforms. This FAQ explains how VRTrust handles channel fees that are billed later, and how to set them up correctly so owner statements and invoices stay accurate.
Q: Why don’t some channel fees show up automatically in VRTrust?
Some booking channels bill their fees outside of the reservation payout, often days or weeks later. Because of this, those fees may:
Appear in the PMS but not affect cash, or
Not appear in the PMS at all
VRTrust handles these situations differently depending on where the fee originates.
Scenario 1: Channel fees exist in the PMS but are billed later
(Most common with Booking.com)
Example
Booking.com sends the reservation to your PMS with a channel fee amount, but bills you separately later.
How VRTrust handles this
The channel fee is excluded from financials, but mapped to a Reference Account
The amount is stored in a Reference Account
Reference accounts:
Do not affect financials
Do not post to the general ledger
Are used only as calculation inputs in Fees & Commission templates
This allows you to:
See the fee for reference
Use it to calculate a separate Booking.com channel fee
Avoid double-counting or overstating expenses
Why this matters
You don’t want:
Channel fees reducing the reservation financials, which should tie to cash collected, incorrectly
Scenario 2: Channel fees do NOT exist in the PMS
(Most common with VRBO)
Example
VRBO does not send its channel fee to the PMS. The fee is billed later and never appears on the reservation in the PMS.
How VRTrust handles this
You must create an Estimated / Custom Channel Fee
This fee:
Is calculated based on your rules (flat or percentage)
Is applied directly to the owner statement
Represents the expected VRBO fee
Important: Manually uploading VRBO fees into the PMS (e.g., OwnerRez) will not cause VRTrust to pull them into reservations.
Q: What is a Reference Account?
A reference account is a non-posting account used only for calculations.
It does not affect:
Owner statements
Financial reports
The general ledger
It exists so VRTrust can:
Store informational values
Calculate related fees accurately
Think of it as a calculator input, not a real transaction.
VRBO vs Booking.com – Quick Comparison
Channel | Fee in PMS? | Billed Later? | VRTrust Setup |
Booking.com | Yes | Yes | Exclude fee + Reference Account |
VRBO | No | Yes | Estimated / Custom Fee |
Best Practice Summary
Booking.com → Exclude PMS fee, park it in a reference account, calculate channel fee from that value
VRBO → Create an estimated/custom fee (do not expect it to pull from the PMS)
Never rely on manually uploaded PMS fees to drive VRTrust calculations