Vacation rental damage protection and depositsA waiver fee you keep, damage you can prove, a cost you can recover.
Charge a damage waiver with every direct booking and decide whose money it is on the statement. Find damage on the departure inspection, with photos the form won’t close without. Recover the cost with an extra charge the guest pays by link. And publish the security deposit terms your channel listings should carry, all from the same property record.
No insurer, no claims desk: your terms, your processor account, your books.
Property → Pricing → Fees
Guest checkout
A damage waiver on every direct booking, and it is your money
Add a fee row to the property named for what it is, as a flat amount or a percentage, per stay, night or guest. A fee named damage protection, damage waiver or accidental damage is a condition of booking on your direct site: it is always charged, never offered as a declinable add-on, so the booking matches the terms the guest signs. It is paid into your own processor account with the rest of the booking.
- Flat or percentage, per stay, night or guest, shown on the checkout line by line
- Always charged on direct bookings, whatever the optional flag says on other fees
- Statement routing per fee: owner statement, manager, or a split with the owner’s share you set
- A manager-routed fee never counts as owner revenue or a commission base
Property → Pricing → Fees
Guest checkout
The inspection asks, and won’t close without the photo
The form builder’s Damage Check preset is a yes-or-no question that opens a description and required photos when the answer is yes. Attach the form to the departure clean or inspection and the task cannot complete until it is in. A Yes can create the maintenance task on its own, and Form answer matches is a workflow trigger for whatever else should happen: notify the manager, text the crew, start the recovery.
- Damage Check preset: Yes/No, description and a minimum photo count
- Any answer can create a task on that property, assigned and due on the next departure
- Form submitted and Form answer matches are workflow triggers with branches and delays
- Photos queue offline on the phone and upload when it reconnects
Departure inspection · Ridge View
Task created: Replace hot tub cover
Maintenance · assigned to Dale · due before next arrival
An extra charge on the stay, paid by link
Add a charge to the reservation after the fact, named for the damage, taxed on the stay’s own channel if taxable, routed to the owner or to you. The guest’s balance rises by that amount and you collect it the way you collect any balance: take a card over the phone, or send a pay link the guest pays on their own device. Refund a settled charge from the same place if the repair comes in under.
- Works on direct and channel stays: the charge sits beside the channel’s own total, which stays as delivered
- Pay link by email or text, paid on the guest’s device into your processor account
- Record a payment made elsewhere, by cheque or cash, so the balance is right
- Every charge, payment and refund on the reservation’s ledger and in your books
Reservation · Collect payment
Publish the deposit terms your channels should carry
Set a security deposit amount, currency and refund wording in the property’s booking terms and the channel connection sends them with the listing, so the channel presents and holds the deposit under its own rules. VacayOps itself does not take a card hold or collect a refundable deposit on your direct site: for money behind a direct stay, the waiver fee is the tool, and for damage after the fact, the extra charge.
- Amount, currency and refund wording per property, for channel listings
- One place for the terms, beside the cancellation policy and rental licence
- No card holds or pre-authorisations on the direct site, by design
- VacayOps records and reconciles the money in your own bank and processor accounts. It never holds or moves funds.
Property → Listing → Booking terms
One stay, from waiver to recovery
- 1
Set the terms
A damage waiver fee row on the property, and the security deposit terms for your channel listings. Write both into your booking terms and agreement.
- 2
The guest books direct
The waiver fee is on the checkout, always charged, paid into your processor account. The guest signs the agreement in the portal.
- 3
The departure inspection
The crew answers Damage found? with a description and photos. The form won’t close without them.
- 4
The task and the workflow
A Yes creates the repair task and can notify the manager and start whatever else you’ve built.
- 5
Recover the cost
An extra charge on the stay, a pay link to the guest, and the payment on the ledger. Route it to the owner or keep it.
What damage protection covers
Fees, forms, charges and pay links are part of every plan.
Damage waiver fee
A named fee row, flat or percentage, always charged on direct bookings.
Statement routing
Owner, manager or split per fee; a manager-routed fee is never owner revenue.
Damage Check on the form
Yes/No, description and required photos; a Yes can create the task.
Extra charges
A named charge added to the stay, taxed on its own channel, routed on the statement.
Pay link or card
Collect the charge the way you collect any balance, into your own processor account.
Security deposit terms
Amount, currency and refund wording per property, sent to your channel listings.
Damage protection: questions
- What is a damage waiver fee, and how is it different from a security deposit?
- A damage waiver is a fee the guest pays with the booking, which you keep, in return for waiving your claim on them for accidental damage up to the terms you set. A security deposit is the guest’s own money, held and returned. In VacayOps the waiver is a fee row on the property: it is charged on every direct booking, lands in your own processor account, and routes to the owner statement, to you, or split, as you choose.
- Does VacayOps collect a security deposit?
- No. VacayOps publishes the deposit amount and refund terms you set to your channel listings, where the channel collects and holds it under its own rules. It does not take a card hold or collect a refundable deposit on your direct site. For money behind a direct stay, use the waiver fee; for damage after the fact, an extra charge the guest pays by link. VacayOps records and reconciles the money in your own bank and processor accounts. It never holds or moves funds.
- Is this insurance?
- No. The waiver fee is a term between you and your guest, set by you and written into your own booking terms and agreement. VacayOps charges it, routes it on the statement and records it in your books. Whether to carry insurance, and on what terms, is between you, your owners and your insurer.
- How do I find and document damage?
- The inspection form has a Damage Check preset: a yes-or-no question that opens a description and required photos when the answer is yes. The answer can create a maintenance task on the property by itself, and Form answer matches is a workflow trigger, so one Yes can also notify the manager and text the crew. Photos of the home as found back up the recovery.
- How do I charge a guest for damage after the stay?
- Add an extra charge to the stay from the reservation drawer, named for what it is, taxed on the stay’s own channel if taxable. The balance rises by that amount, and you collect it with the same tools as any balance: take a card over the phone, or send a pay link the guest pays on. There is no automatic charge to a card on file.
- Does the waiver fee go out to Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com?
- No. The channel connection sends rates, availability and the listing’s security deposit terms; the waiver, the booking fee and any travel protection are direct-site fees. On a channel, the guest pays whatever that channel’s own damage or deposit arrangement is.
- Where does the waiver fee show up in accounting?
- Each fee row has statement routing: owner statement, manager, or a split with a share you set, and a manager-routed fee never counts as owner revenue or a commission base. At month close it posts to the ledger account you mapped it to, like any other fee.
- Is damage protection extra?
- No. Fee rows, inspection forms, extra charges and pay links are part of every plan. Keep 100% of your direct bookings. No booking fee, no revenue share — card processing is billed by your own processor at its rates. No setup fee — onboarding, setup, configuration and training included.
See one stay from the waiver fee to the recovered cost
In a 30-minute walkthrough we'll set up a waiver fee, run the inspection with a damage photo and send the pay link. No setup fee — onboarding, setup, configuration and training included.