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VRBO didn't help out---watch out! talks about possibility of non-payment. Suggestions were to meet guest, get copy of credit card and id, confirm guest is named on credit card. This process was required to enjoy vbro / airbnb chargeback protection.
Do you have to meet guest or will a picture from door cam satisfy to confirm guest is named on credit card
Have any host found asking for so much information cause cancellations ?
Does anyone have samples of script asking for credit card copy and id ?
credit card copy front and back required ?
is there a time limit to chargebacks ?
I know alot of questions, but this seems very concerning and it would be useful to know what other hosts have found and how other hosts are protect income.
Why can’t VRBO reach out to guest and ask for their credit card onto the platform? A guest will probably be reluctant to give the credit card info. to host fearing the host might scam them. If I were you, I would just cancel the reservation. Seems like VRBO is not securing payment and you might not get paid. I don’t use VRBO but it seems odd to me that the host has to gather this info.
We don’t require any of this, expecting that it would deter bookings.
You’re referencing a 2018 post and we don’t know that this is VRBO policy or what one VRBO customer service rep did in one situation. Is that correct or do we know this to be VRBO policy?
Still, if you wanted protection, I think you could get OwnerRez [look it up] and if you could be the merchant of record on the credit card you’d have authority to dispute chargebacks, but regardless would have a lot of information and control. I believe that this is the way to go, and I am planning to do so. [I am not affiliated in any way with them.]
VRBO is much closer to a true booking site than AirBnB. They generally let you manage your business and don’t override your cancellation policy.
But you also have more risk with chargebacks and other payment issues.
To minimize the risk:
*Don’t take last minute bookings
*Have the paying guest send you a copy of their ID with a name that matches the credit card. They can take a picture (some hosts ask them to take it as a selfie to be sure they didn’t steal the ID, too). Don’t wait until they show up to do that
*Have the guest sign a real contract. You can use DocuSign or another online signature platform.
*Be sure to state penalties in the contract for bad behavior (for instance, $500US penalty for smoking in the house)
*Don’t turn on Instant Book until you have some experience on the site
*Cancel the booking or turn down the request if they don’t sign the contract within the allotted time (I give 48 hours)
*If you allow the rental fee to be paid in installments, be sure to put a hard deadline and a penalty. I take half at booking and half 60 days before check-in, and tell them they forfeit the booking and I keep what they’ve paid if they don’t pay in full by 55 days before check in.
Wow, now that I see all the work VRBO needs that I do NOT have to do thru airbnb, I am more grateful than ever that airbnb takes a small % for all this work and allows me to simplky be a good host.
You don’t HAVE to do all that. You can upload a contract once and guests have to click to agree (just copy your AiRBnB house rules and call that a contract). You can skip matching the ID and the credit card (I only do that if I think there is something suspicious). And you can require 100% payment at time of booking.
One major upside is essentially no risk of a CS rep overruling your strict cancellation policy and issuing a full refund for a hangnail.
But the OP was asking about ways to reduce risk, not about the minimum required.
Airbnb will also make decisions on your behalf, and refund money on your behalf, and sometimes unlist your properties based on an unfounded complaint. They are great…until…they aren’t. I will stick with VRBO as my main booking engine.
Not exactly. You log in to DocuSign, upload the personalized contract, enter the guest’s email, then add fields for names, dates, initials, signatures - whatever the guest has to fill out. Then DocuSign sends it to the guest for them to complete. Takes me a few minutes to do all that.
One thing I really like about DocuSign is that it tells me when the guest opens and views the contract. Then if they claim they never got it, I know they are lying
