What an owner statement is
It is the summary the property manager sends each owner with what their property generated in a period, what was deducted and what they are owed. It can be monthly or per booking, depending on how each channel pays out.
What it should include
- Every booking in the period: dates, channel, guest and amount.
- Each booking site’s commission.
- The property’s expenses: cleanings, repairs, restocking, utilities.
- Your management fees and how they are calculated.
- Who collected what: some channels pay the owner directly and others pay the manager.
- The final balance: how much has to be transferred and in which direction.
The most common mistakes
- Calculating fees on a different amount than agreed (with or without the site’s commission).
- Forgetting an expense and having to claim it the following month.
- Not separating what the site paid the owner directly from what the manager collected.
- Sending a total without the detail of each booking: it breeds distrust and questions.
How to stop doing it by hand
If bookings, expenses and fees are already in the system, the statement is a calculation, not a job. A spreadsheet built by hand with data copied from each extranet is where mistakes show up.
One step further is letting owners see their bookings and statements whenever they want, in their own portal, without having to ask you.
Frequently asked questions
How often should owners be paid out?
Monthly is the most common, but it depends on how each channel pays out: in some cases it makes sense to settle booking by booking.
Are fees calculated before or after the booking site’s commission?
It depends on what you agreed with each owner. What matters is that it is in writing and that the statement shows it the same way every month.