What are 'Contracts' in Avantio?
You can set up your contracts in the Owners section of the VRMS. In the submenu, you can select the Contracts section, which will take you to the Contract List option.
The contracts you set up in Avantio are used to establish the following:
How your settlements will be calculated for each booking
When your bookings can be settled in the system
Please note that our 'Contracts' module does not create legally binding documents, although they can be used as a supplement to external documents you may ask the owner to sign.
You can easily export or print a PDF of your contract configuration by clicking Actions - View document - Print/Export
How do contracts affect other parts of the system?
The settings you define in your contracts will directly impact how your settlements are calculated for each booking.
Ways to create a new contract
You can create a contract from different parts of the system, but the steps to create a contract for an accommodation for the first time and replace an existing one may be different.
Create a new contract for a new property
a) If you have never created a contract for this property, you can create it directly from the accommodation profile by clicking on the contract field to create a new one.
b) Or, you can go directly to the owners module, click on contracts in the submenu, go to the contract list, and click 'New'.
2. Replace an existing contract for a property that already has one set up.
If you are going to replace the contract for a property that already has one, we recommend following these steps:
Make sure that all settlements related to the old contract have been generated and issued, as once you assign the new contract, all future bookings will be generated with the new contract settings.
Once you have reviewed your settlements, you can create a new contract directly from the Owners section in the VRMS, by clicking on Contracts in the submenu and going to the contract list.
From there, you need to find the old contract and set the end dates for that contract and disable automatic renewal.
After saving these changes to your old contract, you can now create the new contract. You can go back to the Contract List and click 'New'. From there, make sure to set it up with the next date you want the contract to be available after the previous one.
Example
For example, if the old contract was from January 1, 2025 to February 28, 2025, your new contract should start from March 1, 2025.
If the owner of a property has changed, we recommend first reviewing this page on how to Safely update the owner of a property in Avantio.
This page will help you ensure that all documents related to each owner are generated and will prevent you from losing settlements or other important files.
Contract Configuration
These are the fields you will see in this module, which is divided into 5 sections:
General information
Contract types
Payment methods
Tax options
Other
General information
In this section, you will set the general details of your contract, dates, legal entity name of the owner, accommodation, etc.
1. Owner / accommodation
1. Owner / accommodation
Here you select the owner and the accommodation. Just start typing the name of the owner or accommodation and select from the options that appear.
2. Registration date
2. Registration date
This is the date the contract is created. Most commonly, you will select the current date, but you can choose a past date to better reflect when the agreement was made.
3. Contract validity
3. Contract validity
The dates you set here determine which bookings this contract configuration will apply to. You can click on the field and select the start date in the first field and the end date in the second.
4. Automatic renewal
4. Automatic renewal
You can enable this option so the contract renews for the same period each year. This option is usually used when you are sure these conditions will not change.
If you think there might be changes in the near future, it's better not to enable automatic renewal. With this option disabled, remember that you will need to set up the contracts again once they expire.
5. Co-owners
5. Co-owners
Here you can select an existing owner in the system to set as a co-owner. Note that this is for internal reference only. Just start typing the owner's name and existing owners in the system will appear.
6. Company name
6. Company name
This is the legal entity of the agency that will be associated with this contract. It is also the name that will appear as the “issuer” on the settlement document.
Remember to make sure all your details are correct in your legal entity name to avoid errors in the settlement. You can find these details in the Configuration module, in the Company section at the bottom of the page.
7. Contract number
7. Contract number
This is the series with which the contract is registered, so you have a clear record of existing, previous, and future contracts. Like your company name, you can edit the series and customize them within your legal entity configuration.
Tax Options
In this section, you define how VAT is calculated in the owner's settlements.
1. VAT (of the contract)
This is the VAT you set for your agency's commission. You can click on this field and see the available options.
2. VAT to apply to the commission
When to apply VAT (New - only for direct sale contracts)
For Direct Sale contracts, you can now choose at which point in the calculation VAT is applied to the owner's commission. This allows you to adapt to different tax regulations:
On the base price (Commission with VAT): This is the default option. The system calculates VAT based on the gross rental amount, before applying any deductions for portal or agency commissions (previous behavior remains).
After calculating the owner's commission (Commission without VAT): Select this option if you need VAT to be applied at the end of the chain. The system will first deduct all expenses (portal commission, price increase on portals, expenses charged to the owner before the rental calculation, and rental VAT) and apply VAT only to the final net result.
Important
If the owner's payment amount is manually customized in the booking file, it is considered that the value already includes VAT and no additional VAT will be added.
Existing contracts are not affected (they keep the current default configuration).
Note that these options will only be available for direct contracts
3. VAT breakdown
This option allows VAT to be shown as a separate line in the issued settlement.
You can see this by selecting the template that shows the VAT breakdown here:
4 . Withholding to apply in the settlement
Here you can set the withholding percentage you want to apply to the booking.
Contract types
In this section, you determine the type of contract you want to have with the owner. There are 2 types of contract:
Direct: the agency acts as the owner, invoices the guest, and assigns the use to the owner; it is also suitable for your own accommodations.
Intermediary: the agency applies a commission to the booking and settles the rest with the owner.
When you select this option, you'll see the option to apply the VAT you set up in the General Information section to your agency's commission.
Payment Methods
1. Payments per Booking
1. Payments per Booking
a) Intermediary
Here you set the agency's commission. If you've set a VAT percentage and enabled the option to apply VAT to the commission, a bubble will appear showing the commission percentage with VAT automatically included:
You can set different commission amounts for different seasons and configure it as a percentage of the rental or a percentage of the rental including the final cleaning:
b) Direct
The amount shown is the percentage of the rental that goes to the owner.
You can set different amounts for different seasons, and you can also set it as a percentage of the rental amount or a per day amount.
The following options determine the availability of your settlements and how often the system is set to generate settlements, such as monthly, using a specific date, etc.
2. Settlement Availability
2. Settlement Availability
This setting establishes the specific trigger point—the exact moment—when a settlement can become available and be generated by the system.
Your options:
You can choose when settlements become eligible based on the booking's lifecycle:
When booking / After booking
Before / During / After check-in
Before / During / After check-out
If you choose any of the options that include After check-in/check-out/booking, you'll need to set how many days after it will be available for settlement.
Keep in mind this means that if you selected availability at check-out, and you try to generate the settlement using the check-in date, the settlement won't appear.
3. Settlement Dates
3. Settlement Dates
This setting determines your payment frequency: it acts as the official release point for all settlements that have met their availability criteria.
The Settlement Date works as a scheduled update for the system. Even if a booking is technically ready in the middle of the month, it stays in the queue until the next scheduled date.
There are three options to choose from: Per booking, Monthly and Specific.
Just click add payment dates if you want to set specific dates when you'd like to settle.
Example
If you selected Settlement Availability - When booking, but for Settlement Dates - 1st of each month, any booking registered that month after the 1st won't be available unless you filter the dates to include the 1st of the next month.
Scenario:
Settlement Availability: When booking (Ready immediately)
Settlement Date: 1st of each month
Today's date: May 24
The result: Any booking from May 21 or May 24 is technically ready, but won't show up in the settlements list until June 1. To see these bookings in reports before that date, the user must manually adjust the filters to include the next settlement date of June 1.
a) Advanced options (optional):
1. Deduct portal commission
1. Deduct portal commission
Here you can choose to deduct the portal commission from the rental or from the owner's payment. You can also choose to deduct a percentage of the portal commission you want to discount.
This is the amount that appears on the booking page, between the deposit details and the guest reviews.
2. Pay Extras to the owner
2. Pay Extras to the owner
This will indicate how much of an Extra will be paid to the owner. Here you can set a percentage of an Extra you want to pay to the owner and whether you want to apply a different VAT to this Extra or use the VAT set on the property page, in the Extras section.
All Extras will be added to the owner's payment after all deductions.
3. Booking charges and expenses
3. Booking charges and expenses
Here you can set up automatic expenses to be generated for each booking. You can choose whether to deduct it from the owner's payment or from the rental.
Note that if you choose to deduct the expense from the rental, the amount shown on the booking page is the amount with the expenses already deducted.
On the other hand, if you choose to deduct the expense from the owner's payment, this expense will only appear and be deducted when you create the settlement:
4. Tourist taxes
4. Tourist taxes
Here you can enable this option to pay tourist taxes to the owner after deductions. This is the amount that appears on the booking page in the breakdown of amounts.
If you need to edit the amount paid to the owner, you must change the amount shown on the booking page.
b) More options:
1. Deduct markups applied on portals
1. Deduct markups applied on portals
This option lets you deduct the portal markup from the rental amount. This is the amount that appears on the booking page:
This amount will be deducted before calculating the owner's payment, and the amount is determined according to your settings for each portal in ChannelPro.
2. Set a guaranteed minimum payment (per season or annual)
2. Set a guaranteed minimum payment (per season or annual)
This option lets you set a guaranteed minimum payment, whether there are bookings registered or not.
You can set fixed payments to the owner for a certain season of the year by selecting a start date and an end date to set the time period.
You can also set a fixed amount you pay the owner annually.
Note that you can only set up 1 season.
3. Include VAT in the rental amount
3. Include VAT in the rental amount
You can choose to calculate the owner's payment using the rental amount with or without VAT.
For Direct contracts, you have additional options to set up taxes, for example, to show the VAT breakdown in the settlement and to set whether or not there is a withholding percentage.
1. Fixed payments
1. Fixed payments
This option lets you set up a fixed payment, whether there are bookings registered or not.
In this section you can set the date(s) you want to pay the owner and the amount.
If you decide to use this option, at the bottom you can also see how much you would be paying the owner annually.
2. Schedule settlements
2. Schedule settlements
This option lets you automatically generate all pending settlements on a specific day of the month, for example, the 30th of each month. Just enter the date of each month when you want the system to create the settlement and save.
Other
1. Period Management (optional):
1. Period Management (optional):
Only when creating a new contract, in this section you can choose to automatically block periods not covered by the contract to prevent bookings from being made in the system.
For example, if you have set the dates 01/01/25 - 27/02/25 for the contract conditions, all dates from 01/03/25 onwards will be blocked. If you have the option to automatically renew the contract, the calendar will be blocked for the same dates for the next 20 years automatically.
Note that this option is only available when you create the contract for the first time.
As for the Reserve periods for the owner option, it will automatically generate owner bookings (up to 20 years ahead if auto-renewal is enabled) for the selected dates in this section.
You can select the start and end dates for which you want to set up these blocked periods and click “+ Add period” to add more seasons.
2. Templates
2. Templates
Here you can choose a previously created template in the system to set as your default contract or settlements document to send. Simply click on this field and you’ll see the available options.
Note that if you want to modify these templates, you need to go to Configuration - Templates
3. Special conditions
3. Special conditions
If you want to add any additional comments or special conditions, you can add them here as plain text, and they will appear when you print or preview this document.
Once you have reviewed all the selected options, don’t forget to click “Save” in the upper right corner. The contract will be active and you can duplicate it for other accommodations if you wish.
Best practices
Clearly define VAT and withholdings before finalizing the contract.
Use templates to standardize processes.
Avoid enabling auto-renewal if you expect changes in the conditions each season.
Carefully review the included Extras to avoid errors in settlements.
Common mistakes
Enabling auto-renewal when changes in conditions are expected.
Not clearly specifying which Extras are included or excluded in the settlement.
Forgetting to detail the payment method and deadlines.