Changes in Airbnb has meant that the security deposit is no longer collected and managed on the Airbnb platform as before. Instead, guests may be charged by Airbnb for any damages caused during their stay but the mandatory collection of the security deposit when making the booking is no longer required.
However, software-connected hosts may continue to collect the security deposit away from the Airbnb platform if they wish to do so. If this is the case, it is important that the security deposit amount is disclosed correctly.
You will be able to configure whether the security deposit is synchronised or not directly from the Channel PRO. This can be set as your default rule for all properties or configured by listing.
Configure the security deposit in the Channel PRO for all properties
Enter the Channel PRO and click on the "Channels" tab
Locate Airbnb from the list of your connected channels and select Configure
Go to the Payment Settings section
Locate the Management of Security Deposit section and choose one of the following options:
The property manager does not work with security deposits (Avantio Channel Manager will not synchronise the security deposit)
The property manager collects the security deposit
Click Save
Configure the security deposit in the Channel PRO for selected properties
Enter the Channel PRO and click on the "Activation of Accommodations" tab
Select the property you wish to apply the setting to by clicking on the accommodation name
Click Edit next to the Payment Settings
Choose one of the following options:
The property manager does not work with security deposits (Avantio Channel Manager will not synchronise the security deposit)
The property manager collects the security deposit
Click Save
If configured to synchronise the security deposit, the amount will appear when the guest proceeds to book.
If you do not select any of the two options, the security deposit amount will be synchronised from the VRMS and shown to the guest as above. However, it will not be registered automatically when the booking is registered in the VRMS and will have to be added manually.
If you use an external tool such as Swikly, remember that you will have to manually record the security deposit as it will not synchronise automatically.