Every month, the same dilemma arises: settlements with owners. Sound familiar? For many holiday parks and rental organisations, it remains a tricky task. And that’s a shame, because in most cases, the complexity is self-inflicted. By creating varied agreements, you lose oversight and invite unnecessary stress. My advice is to keep it simple for yourself and for your owners. Transparency is the key to trust.
A settlement with an owner essentially revolves around one thing: the payment of the rent received, minus the agreed commission. This can be calculated per accommodation or per group (pool).
Sounds simple? In practice, it often turns out to be anything but. Here are some of the variables you might encounter in a settlement. Ready for the list?
When do you calculate revenue – before arrival, based on the departure date, or with an overlap across months?
Are costs such as pets or cleaning passed on to the owner? If so, is it at 100% or as a percentage?
Do you settle outstanding owner invoices before making a payout?
Do you apply different commission rates depending on the season, length of stay, or booking channel?
Do you make pool settlements with varying values per day or per period?
And that’s just the beginning. Everything can be negotiated, but do you really want it to be? If all 50 of your owners settle differently because Hans negotiated slightly better than Karin, you’re creating a full-time weekly task for yourself: preparing settlements.
Of course, sometimes you want to offer a bit of customisation, just that little extra to secure a particular owner. Commercially, that makes sense. Operationally? Not so much.
Choose a clear structure. You can still have different commission agreements, but build your system around these three principles:
And most importantly: you set the rules. That keeps it clear for you and for your owners.
A simple, clear agreement brings peace of mind, not just for you, but for the owner as well. No surprises, fewer questions, and more room to focus on what really matters.
When owners have full insight into their settlements and calculations, they don’t need to raise the alarm as often. And if they do spot something, such as an incorrect VAT rate, you can resolve it together. You correct it, and they trust you even more.
Accounting in Excel? Keeping formulas to yourself? Calculating manually in your financial system? That’s a thing of the past. Today, you can use a system that takes the work off your hands.
Make sure your reservation data and rental income are stored in the same system where you create the statements. Let it calculate automatically based on your settings, perform spot checks, and send them out at the push of a button. This saves both time and errors.
If something changes in a reservation that has already been settled, you want to be notified automatically. That way, you can correct it and respond flexibly to any changes. Now that’s transparency.
Do you want to eliminate the uncertainty of monthly settlements? Then it’s time to get structured. Want to discuss your settlement model? Don’t worry, there’s no judgement here.
Request a free Demo .