Agent Commission Settings
Argonautas tracks commissions earned by your reservations agents — the staff members who handle direct bookings. When a booking attributed to an agent is checked out, a commission record is automatically created based on the rates you configure here.
How Agent Commissions Work
At checkout, the system looks up the booking's Reservations Agent and Booking Source, applies the matching commission rate to the company's revenue share from that booking, and records an immutable ledger entry. The ledger is the source of truth for agent payroll calculations.
OTA bookings (Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO) are not commissionable by default — the OTA already charges a commission, so agents typically do not earn on top of that. Direct-channel bookings (phone, email, referral, repeat, etc.) are commissionable.
Configuring Commission Settings
Navigate to Settings > Agent Commissions to access two configuration panels.
Commission Base Toggle
The Include Fees in Base toggle controls what dollar amount the commission percentage is applied to:
- Off (default) -- Commission is calculated on the accommodation revenue only (base nightly rate, excluding cleaning fees, service fees, and taxes).
- On -- Commission is calculated on the full company revenue including fees.
Toggle this setting to match your internal payroll agreements. Changes take effect on the next checkout.
Rate Configuration
The rates table lists every booking source, grouped into OTA Channels and Direct Channels. For each source you can:
- Toggle commissionable -- Enable or disable commission earning for that source.
- Set the rate -- Enter a percentage (e.g.
5.0). The rate is applied to the commission base (accommodation or full revenue, per the toggle above).
Click away from the rate input field to save. Changes are saved immediately per row.
Default rates seeded at setup:
| Group | Source | Commissionable | Default Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTA Channels | Airbnb | No | — |
| OTA Channels | Booking.com | No | — |
| OTA Channels | VRBO/HomeAway | No | — |
| Direct Channels | Direct Booking | Yes | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Phone | Yes | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Yes | 5% | |
| Direct Channels | Referral | Yes | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Repeat Guest | Yes | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Manual Entry | Yes | 5% |
| Direct Channels | Other | No | — |
You can adjust any rate or toggle any source on or off at any time. Other is not commissionable by default -- turn it on if your team uses it for a channel that should earn agent commission.
Travel Agency bookings are commissionable for the agent too, at the standard direct rate, but the Travel Agency row is not shown in this table today -- the agency's own share is configured separately on the Agencies page. See "Agency Commission Split" below for how the two payouts stack.
The rate table here sets the agent commission (what your reservations agents earn). It is separate from the management commission (your company's cut from the owner), which is configured per source under Booking Sources. The two interact: an agent earns their percentage of the management commission the company charged, so a low-management-commission source produces a smaller agent commission on that booking. See "Commission Base" below.
Agency Commission Split
When a booking is originated by an external travel agency, the agency earns a share of the management commission, and it does so before any reservations agent earns theirs. The two payouts are a waterfall:
- The management commission is the pool. This is the cut your company charges the owner on the booking, resolved from the booking's source exactly as described under Booking Sources. The owner always pays this full amount, so nothing here changes owner statements or reconciliation.
- The agency takes its share off the top. If the booking is linked to an agency, the agency earns its configured share percent of that gross commission pool.
- The salesperson earns off what remains. A reservations agent on the same booking earns their normal rate against the house share -- the commission left after the agency's cut, not the gross.
A single booking can therefore produce up to two payout records: one for the agency, one for the salesperson. Each is written at checkout and is immutable.
A Worked Example
A booking carries a $1,000 management commission. It was originated by an agency with a 50% share and processed by an agent on a 5% rate:
| Step | Base | Rate | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency share | $1,000 (gross pool) | 50% | $500 |
| Salesperson share | $500 (house share left) | 5% | $25 |
The company keeps $475, the agency is owed $500, and the agent is owed $25. With no agency on the booking, the house share equals the full $1,000 and the agent earns 5% of that ($50), exactly as before.
Managing Agencies
Agencies and their share percentages live under Commissions > Agency Payouts. From there:
- Open Agencies (via Back to payouts ↔ the Agencies list) to add or edit an agency -- name, contact details, and its share percent (default 50%). An agency can be deactivated but not deleted, because past payouts reference it.
- The Agency Payouts ledger shows what your company owes each originating agency over a period, filterable by agency, with a CSV export for settlement.
To attribute a booking to an agency, set its source to Travel Agency and pick the agency on the booking form.
Viewing the Agent Commission Ledger
Navigate to Commissions > Agent Commissions to view the commission ledger. This page is available to admins and property managers.
Summary Cards
At the top, summary cards show each agent's total commission earned and booking count for the selected period. Each card also breaks down earnings by source (e.g. "Direct: $240.00, Phone: $80.00").
Filters
- Agent -- Filter to a specific reservations agent, or view all agents combined (admins and managers only).
- Date range -- Set a start and end date to narrow the results.
Click Apply to refresh the view.
Booking Lines Table
Below the summary cards, a paginated table lists each individual commission record with:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Date | The date the commission was earned (checkout date) |
| Agent | The reservations agent credited |
| Booking | Booking confirmation code, linked to the booking detail view |
| Property | The property the booking was for |
| Source | The booking source (Direct, Phone, etc.) |
| Base | The dollar amount the commission rate was applied to |
| Rate | The commission rate percentage used |
| Amount | The commission earned (Base × Rate) |
Results are paginated at 50 rows per page.
Exporting
Click Export CSV to download the filtered ledger as a CSV file suitable for payroll processing or accounting review.
Key Concepts
- Reservations Agent -- A staff member assigned to a booking at the time of creation or editing. This is distinct from the free-text Referral field (formerly labelled "Booking Agent"), which is just an informational note about who referred or placed the booking and carries no money. Only the Reservations Agent field -- which links to a real staff account and is marked "Earns agent commission" -- drives commission calculations.
- Commission Base -- The dollar figure the rate is applied to: the company's management commission (its cut of the owner's revenue) on the booking, optionally including fees per the "Include Fees" toggle. Because the management commission is now resolved from the booking's source, re-classifying a booking's source changes the agent commission base for that booking as well.
- Immutable Ledger -- Commission records are written at checkout and are not edited. If a booking is modified after checkout, the original commission record stands. This preserves a clean audit trail.
- Idempotent Calculation -- Running checkout on the same booking twice does not create duplicate commission records. The system skips if a record already exists.
Common Questions
A booking was checked out but no commission record appeared — why? Commission records are only created when the booking has a Reservations Agent assigned and the booking's source is configured as commissionable in Settings. Check both the booking's agent field and the rate configuration for that source.
Can I set different rates for different agents? The settings page configures default rates by source that apply to all agents equally. Per-agent rate overrides are not currently available through the UI; contact support if you need per-agent arrangements.
Does changing a rate affect past commissions? No. Rate changes only affect commissions generated at future checkouts. Existing ledger entries use the rate that was in effect at the time of checkout.
Can I reverse or delete a commission record? Commission records are immutable by design. If a booking is cancelled after checkout, the commission record remains in the ledger as a historical record.
An agency booking also had an agent -- do they both get paid? Yes. The agency is paid its share of the gross management commission first, and the agent then earns their rate on the house share that remains. See "Agency Commission Split" above.
Does the agency's share reduce what the owner receives? No. The owner always pays the full management commission. The agency and agent payouts are both carved out of your company's share of that commission, never out of the owner's net.
Related
- Booking Sources -- Managing sources and the source-aware management commission that forms the agent commission base.
- Booking Lifecycle -- How to assign a reservations agent when creating or editing a booking.
- Settings Overview -- General settings and configuration.
- Reporting Guide -- System-wide financial reporting.