Agent Commissions
Argonautas tracks the commission your salespeople earn on the bookings they handle. When a booking checks out, a commission payout is created automatically for each person credited on it, using the rates you configure. Accounting then marks payouts paid from the Agent Commissions report.
This page covers who can earn commission, how rates work, how credit is assigned (including splitting it between several people), how the amount is calculated, and how payouts are paid and locked.
Who Can Earn Commission
Only people marked Earns commission on their user account can be credited on a booking or paid commission. The checkbox is on the Edit User form in Users & Roles. It is separate from roles: it grants no screen access, and anyone (a reservations agent, a concierge, an administrator) can have it.
How Commission Is Calculated
Commission is a share of the management commission your company charges the owner on the booking, never a share of the owner's money.
The pool is the management commission. Argonautas works out the commission your company charged the owner, from the booking's source (see Booking Sources) and each active owner's share of the property. The owner always pays this full amount, so commissions never change owner statements.
An agency takes its share first. If a travel agency originated the booking, the agency's Commission share (%) comes off the top of the pool. What remains is the house share. With no agency, the house share is the whole pool.
Each credited person earns their own rate on their share of the house share:
Commission = house share × the person's rate × their credit share
A person credited alone has a 100% credit share.
Each person's amount is rounded to the cent separately, and your company keeps whatever is left, so rounding can never pay out more than the house share. If a calculation comes to zero (for example, the source isn't commissionable for that person), no payout is created.
If your company sets a Monthly sales threshold, each agent earns only on their sales above it in a month (see Monthly Sales Threshold).
What the Management Commission Is Charged On
The management commission, and therefore the pool, is based on the booking's accommodation amount:
- Direct bookings: the accommodation (base rate), plus any add-ons the guest chose.
- OTA bookings: the accommodation amount from the channel, excluding IVA and cleaning.
- Fees: included only if Include fees in commission base is on (see below). Properties supplied by a partner never include fees, whatever the setting.
- Taxes (IVA): never included.
A Worked Example
A booking carries a $1,000 management commission. A travel agency with a 50% share originated it, and credit is split 50/50 between Ana (a 10% rate for this source) and Luis (12%):
| Step | Base | Rate | Credit share | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | $1,000 (gross pool) | 50% | -- | $500 |
| Ana | $500 (house share) | 10% | 50% | $25 |
| Luis | $500 (house share) | 12% | 50% | $30 |
The agency is owed $500, Ana $25 and Luis $30, and your company keeps $445. With no agency and no split, one agent on a 5% rate would earn 5% of the full $1,000: $50.
Setting Rates
Company Default Rates
Go to Settings and open the Agent commissions tab (admins and property managers). The Default rates by booking source table applies to everyone who earns commission. Sources are grouped into OTA Channels and Direct Channels. For each source:
- Active: turns commission on or off for that source.
- Rate: the percentage "of company cut" (the house share). Saved when you click out of the field.
Default rates when your company is set up:
| Group | Source | Active | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTA Channels | Airbnb | Off | -- |
| OTA Channels | Booking.com | Off | -- |
| OTA Channels | VRBO | Off | -- |
| Direct Channels | Direct | On | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Phone | On | 5% |
| Direct Channels | On | 5% | |
| Direct Channels | Referral | On | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Repeat Guest | On | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Manual Entry | On | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Other | Off | -- |
OTA sources start off because the channel already takes its own commission. You can change any of these at any time.
Travel Agency bookings earn salesperson commission too, at 5% by default, but that source isn't shown in this table. The agency's own share is set on the agency itself (see "Agencies" below). Sources that aren't listed here (Google Vacation Rentals, Complimentary (CPL), and custom sources you add under Booking Sources) don't earn salesperson commission.
Individual Rates
To give one person a different rate, open them in Users & Roles and use the Commission rates section (shown once Earns commission is saved on the user). For each source:
- Blank: the person uses the company default.
- A percentage: the person's own rate for that source. It applies even when the source is off in the company defaults.
- 0: the source is off for this person.
When commission is calculated, a person's own rate for the booking's source always wins over the company default. See Users and Roles.
Include Fees in Commission Base
Include fees in commission base ("When enabled, cleaning fees and other fees are included in the base used to compute the agent's commission. IVA/taxes are never included.") is off by default. Turn it on if your pay agreements include fees.
Monthly Sales Threshold
Monthly sales threshold ("Sales each agent must reach in a month (accommodation without tax, by arrival date) before earning commission. Only sales above it earn.") sets a bar each agent has to clear every month before commission starts. Enter an amount and click the Save button next to it. Enter 0 for no threshold.
Saving recalculates every unpaid commission. Paid commissions never change.
Default Agent
Default agent ("Credited on bookings with no agent tagged. Leave empty to credit no one.") names one person, who must be marked Earns commission, to receive credit on bookings nobody was credited on. Choose No default to credit no one.
Crediting Bookings
Who Gets the Credit
When a booking checks out, Argonautas decides who is credited in this order:
- A split, if one was set on the booking. Each person gets their share.
- Otherwise the booking's Reservations Agent gets 100%.
- Otherwise the company's Default agent gets 100%.
- Otherwise nobody is credited.
When someone marked Earns commission creates a booking, they are set as its Reservations Agent automatically.
Reservations Agent
The Reservations Agent field on the booking ("Responsible for this booking; earns commission unless credit is split") lists only people marked Earns commission. It is edited in the booking's details like any other field, by people who can edit bookings. It is separate from the free-text Referral field, which is only a note and carries no money.
Splitting Credit
When two or more people share a sale, split the credit from the Commission credit card on the booking detail page:
- Click Split credit (or Edit split if one exists).
- For each person, Choose agent and enter their share. Use Add agent for more rows.
- The shares must add up to exactly 100 (the running Total turns red until they do), and each person can appear only once.
- Click Save.
To go back to crediting the Reservations Agent alone, open the split and click Remove split.
Admins, property managers, Reservations, and Accounting can split credit. Only people marked Earns commission can be chosen.
Without a split, the card names who will be credited, for example "Ana earns 100% of the salesperson commission" for the Reservations Agent, "Ana earns 100% (company default)" when the default agent will be credited, or "No agent credited". After checkout, the card also lists each person's payout amount and whether it is Unpaid or Paid with the date.
Changing Credit After Checkout
You can change the Reservations Agent or the split after checkout, as long as no payout on the booking has been paid:
- The booking's unpaid agent payouts are removed and calculated again for the new credit, using the rates and settings in effect at the time of the change.
- The agency payout, if any, is not affected.
Locking Once Paid
As soon as any agent payout on a booking is marked paid, that booking's credit is locked:
- The Commission credit card shows "Commission on this booking has been paid, so credit can't be changed." and hides the split button.
- Changing the Reservations Agent is refused with "Commission on this booking has already been paid; attribution is locked."
- Paid payouts are never recalculated or removed.
If a payout was marked paid by mistake, mark it unpaid in the report (below). Once no payout on the booking is paid, credit can be changed again.
Agent Commissions Report
Go to Agent Commissions in the Finance section of the sidebar. Admins, property managers, and Accounting can open it; people who only earn commission don't see it.
Filters
- Agent: one person or All agents.
- From / To: the date range. Payouts are dated by the booking's departure date, so a range like the 1st to the 15th gives you a pay period.
- Status: All, Unpaid, or Paid.
Click Apply to refresh.
Summary Cards
A card for each person shows their total commission, booking count, and a breakdown by source for the filtered results.
Booking Lines
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Checkout | The booking's departure date |
| Agent | The person credited |
| Booking | Confirmation code, linked to the booking |
| Property | The property |
| Source | The booking source |
| Company Cut | The house share this payout was calculated on |
| Rate | The person's rate used |
| Share | The person's credit share (shown only when a line in view has a split) |
| Sales Month, Sales, Toward Threshold | The month the sale counts toward, the sales amount, and how much of it went toward the monthly sales threshold (shown only when a line in view used up part of a threshold) |
| Commission | The amount owed |
| Status | Unpaid, or Paid with the date (hover to see who marked it) |
Click a column heading to sort by it. Lines are shown 50 per page.
Marking Payouts Paid
- Filter to the period and Unpaid lines you're paying.
- Tick the lines, or use the checkbox in the header to Select all on page.
- Click Mark paid.
Argonautas records when each line was marked paid and by whom. To reverse a mistake, select the lines and click Mark unpaid. Admins, property managers, and Accounting can do this.
Exporting
Export CSV downloads the lines matching your filters, including each line's base, rate, share, amount, and paid date, ready for payroll.
Agencies
When a travel agency originates a booking, it earns a share of the management commission before any salesperson does (step 2 above).
- Agency Payouts (in the Finance section of the sidebar) shows what you owe each agency over a period, with filters by agency and date and an Export CSV. Admins, property managers, and Accounting can open it.
- Manage agencies opens the Agencies list, where admins and property managers add or edit an agency: name, contact details, and its Commission share (%) (50% by default). An agency can be deactivated but not deleted, because past payouts refer to it.
To attribute a booking to an agency, pick it in the booking's Agency field ("Splits the management commission").
Where the Agency Split Appears
- Reports: when an agency shared commission on any booking in the period, the revenue report shows Management Commission (gross), Agency Commissions, and Net Commission. See Reporting Guide.
- Invoice: on a direct booking with an agency, Download Invoice itemises the management commission as "of which retained by" your company (with its net percentage) and "of which paid to agency" (with the agency's name and share). The two lines add up to the management commission.
Key Concepts
- Earns commission: The user setting that makes someone eligible to be credited and paid.
- Reservations Agent: The one person responsible for a booking. Earns 100% of the salesperson commission unless credit is split.
- Split credit: Credit shared between several people, with shares adding up to exactly 100%. Each person earns their own rate on their share.
- House share: The management commission left after any agency's cut. Salesperson rates apply to this.
- Payout: A commission amount owed to one person (or agency) on one booking, created at checkout.
- Paid lock: Once any agent payout on a booking is marked paid, the booking's credit can't change.
Common Questions
A booking checked out but no commission appeared. Why? Check that someone is credited (a split, a Reservations Agent, or a default agent), that they are marked Earns commission, and that the booking's source is active for them, in the company defaults or their own rates. A zero amount creates no payout.
Can different people have different rates? Yes. Set individual rates on each person in Users & Roles. Anyone without their own rate for a source uses the company default.
Two people worked on one booking. How do I pay both? Split the credit on the booking. Each person earns their own rate on their share. A 10% person and a 12% person splitting 50/50 earn 5% and 6% of the house share.
Does changing a rate change past commissions? Not for paid payouts. Unpaid payouts keep their original amount unless you change that booking's credit, which recalculates them with the rates in effect at that moment.
We picked the wrong agent and the payout is already paid. What now? Mark the payout unpaid in the report, correct the credit on the booking (which recalculates the unpaid payouts), then mark the new payouts paid.
Does the agency's share reduce what the owner receives? No. The owner always pays the full management commission. Agency and salesperson payouts both come out of your company's share.
Related
- Users and Roles: Marking people as earning commission and setting individual rates.
- Booking Sources: The source-based management commission that forms the pool.
- Booking Lifecycle: The booking detail page, including the Commission credit card.
- Reporting Guide: Financial reports, including the agency commission split.
- Role-Based Permissions: Who can split credit and mark payouts paid.