Partner-Managed Properties
Partner properties are listings supplied by outside property-management companies. The partner keeps control of its own rates, availability, and booking confirmations, and you sell its properties alongside your own. Argonautas tracks each partner, its commission and payment terms, and the commission each booking earns.
What Are Partner Properties?
A partner property is managed by a partner instead of an owner. A property has exactly one of the two. The partner relationship affects:
- Booking confirmation: a booking on a partner property waits for the partner to confirm it.
- Commission: each confirmed booking records a commission between you and the partner.
- Payment terms: the partner's deposit and balance terms apply unless the property overrides them.
Properties imported from Beds24 or Hostfully are not partner properties. They come in as Direct properties of your company, even though another system manages their bookings. See PMS Integrations.
Setting Up a Partner
- Open Partners in the Admin section of the sidebar.
- Click Add Partner.
- Fill in the partner's details (see the table below).
- Click Add Partner at the bottom of the form. When you edit a partner later, the button reads Save Changes.
| Section | Fields |
|---|---|
| Company Information | Company Name, Contact Person, Email, Phone, Website, and an Active toggle |
| Financial Terms | Commission Type, Commission Value, Payment Flow, Deposit Percentage, Balance Due (Days), and Confirmation Window (hours) |
| Additional Information | Preferred Language, Concierge Model, and Notes |
Leave Deposit Percentage and Balance Due (Days) blank to use the company default.
Linking a Property to a Partner
- Open the property's edit page.
- On the Property tab, under Managed by, click Partners.
- Pick the partner from the list.
- Click Update Property.
You can also choose the partner when you create the property. To have the partner confirm each booking, set the property's booking type to Partner on the Channels tab and fill in the Partner Configuration card (external booking URL, iCal feed URL, and response timeout). See Property Setup Guide.
Commission Types
| Type | How it works |
|---|---|
| Percentage | A percentage of the booking. |
| Flat Fee | A fixed amount per booking. |
| Spread | The partner gives you a net rate and you sell at a higher rate. The commission is the difference. Net rates are entered with the property's rates, as the partner net nightly and weekly rates. |
The commission type, value, and rate are recorded when the booking is confirmed. Changing a partner's terms later does not change commissions already recorded.
Payment Flows
| Flow | Meaning |
|---|---|
| We Collect | You collect the guest's payment and owe the partner its share. |
| Partner Collects | The partner collects the guest's payment and owes you the commission. |
| Authorization Hold | The guest's card is held, not charged, until the partner confirms the booking. |
Confirmation Window (hours) sets how long to wait for the partner's response before your team is alerted.
Partner Confirmation
When a booking comes in on a partner property, the partner gets an email with links to confirm or decline it. Partners don't need an Argonautas login. If the partner doesn't answer within the property's Partner Response Timeout, the booking is cancelled automatically. On the Authorization Hold flow your team is alerted instead.
Partner Billing
Partner Billing, in the Finance section of the sidebar, shows the balance with each partner: the commissions earned, the settlements recorded, and what is still owed. A cancelled or changed booking is flagged for review there instead of being recalculated automatically.
Filtering by Partner
- Properties page: the Partner filter shows the properties whose booking type is Partner.
- Bookings page: the property filter groups properties by partner.
Common Questions
Can a property have both an owner and a partner? No. A property is managed by either an owner or a partner.
What happens if I change a partner's commission? The new terms apply to bookings confirmed from then on. Commissions already recorded keep the terms they were recorded with.
How do I stop working with a partner? Turn off Active on the partner's record. The partner and its properties stay in Argonautas for your records. To stop selling its properties, also set each property to Inactive on its Property tab.
Related
- Property Setup: adding and configuring properties.
- Financial Analytics: revenue reporting and analysis.
- Owner Management: managing property owners.
- PMS Integrations: properties imported from Beds24 or Hostfully.