Working with Booking Fees for those on the legacy Flex or new Growth (Online Booking Fee) plans

Learn more about Booking Fees, including understanding online Customer Booking Fees, reporting on Booking Fees, editing bookings with Booking Fees, and refunding exclusive and inclusive Booking Fees.

Learn more For a detailed look at setting up booking fees, check out the following article: Configuring Ecommerce settings for taxes

Which plans include this payment option?

Legacy: Available only with the Flex plan.
Current: Available with the Growth (Online Booking Fee) plan only.
→ Learn more about our current plans or how to change your plan.

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

• Manage > Ecommerce Setup > Taxes > Booking Fee
   

What more do I need to use this feature?

• The Growth (Online Booking Fee) plan is available in select regions with select payment providers. Please reach out with any questions about fit.

Booking Fees are Checkfront service fees applied to bookings processed through accounts on the legacy Flex plan or the new Growth (Online Booking Fee) plan. These fees replace monthly or annual subscription plan fees.

We apply Online Booking Fees (%) to Customer bookings, including those processed through the Booking Widget.

By default, the system includes these fees in the Booking Invoice, with the option to display them as inclusive or hide them.

The system automatically deducts fees from your payment provider at the time of payment and remits them to Checkfront.

We calculate all booking fees in your account’s base currency.

Booking fees apply to bookings that include items, products, or gift certificates, including those processed through GetYourGuide and Expedia.

Booking fees do not apply to: 

• Historical bookings created before upgrading to the Growth (Booking Fee) plan

• Imported bookings

• Refunds

Other Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and Booking Fees Bookings processed through myallocator are considered Staff-side. Depending on your account configuration, bookings processed through Viator can be considered Customer-side or Staff-side.

Booking Deposits and Online Booking Fees We require a minimum of 10% deposit for all bookings on plans with the Booking Fee. This requirement means that if you set your deposit to less than 10% or your fixed deposit is less than 10% of the booking total, the system bumps up the required deposit to 10% on the invoice and payment page. Learn more about Customer deposit settings here: Configuring ecommerce settings for deposits, payment types, order confirmation, and reCAPTCHA

Contact our Customer Support team with any questions Don't hesitate to reach out to our Customer Support team with any questions about your unique situation. Getting Support for Checkfront

By default, the online Booking Fee is calculated and added to the Sub-Total of the Booking Invoice as a separate line item for bookings made by your Customers. We refer to this configuration as a non-inclusive (or exclusive) setup.

You can also configure the online Booking Fee to be inclusive or hidden entirely.

Example numbers for instructional purposes The numbers used in the examples below are for instructional purposes only. For information on online Booking Fee percentages, please see your billing page.

Learn more For a detailed look at setting up booking fees, check out the following article: Configuring Ecommerce settings for taxes

By default, the system adds online Booking Fees to the invoice's Sub-Total. The system displays the amount before the booking Total within the Create Booking, Payment, Booking Summary, and Booking Invoice pages.

Your payment provider automatically deducts the online Booking Fee from the amount paid and then remits it to Checkfront.

The above is an example of the online Booking Fee configured as inclusive. The system displays the fee after the booking total within the Payment, Booking Summary, and Booking Invoice pages.

The online Booking Fee is not charged on top of the Sub-Total, as the system presumes you have included it in the item/product's asking price

Your payment provider automatically deducts the fee from the amount paid and then remits it to Checkfront.

The above is an example of the online Booking Fee configured as inclusive and hidden to Guests. The system does not display the fee within the Payment, Booking Summary, and Booking Invoice pages. 

The online Booking Fee is not charged on top of the Sub-Total, as the system presumes you have included it in the item/product's asking price.

Your payment provider automatically deducts the fee from the amount paid and then remits it to Checkfront. 

 You can report on online Booking Fees via the Sales Report (Reports > Sales).

Editing the booking (adding or changing the items/products) does not recalculate or change the paid status of the online Booking Fee.

You cannot remove the online Booking Fee by editing the transaction or excluding it from the payment when adding a new item/product to the invoice.

Removing an item/product from the booking leaves a credit on the booking.

You can refund non-inclusive online Booking Fees to the Customer if you submit a full refund.

A use case example For example, an Operator can fully refund a payment of $100.00, plus the non-inclusive online Booking Fee of $3.00*, for a total refund of $103.00 to the Customer. We refund the money from the Operator's bank account. The Operator receives a $3.00 online Booking Fee refund from Checkfront. *These numbers are for instructional purposes only. For information on online Booking Fee percentages, please see your billing page.

Online booking fees and processing fees are not refunded Online Booking Fees are not refunded in the case of partial refunds. Payment provider processing fees are not refunded.

Learn more For a detailed look at refunding transactions, check out the following article: Refunding payments from the Booking Invoice

You can also refund a booking with online Booking Fees configured to be inclusive.

A use case example For example, an Operator can fully refund a $100.00 payment to the Customer. We refund the funds to the Operator's bank account. The Operator receives a $3.00* online Booking Fee refund from Checkfront. *These numbers are for instructional purposes only. For information on Booking Fee percentages, please see your billing page.

Online booking fees and processing fees are not refunded We do not refund Online Booking Fees for partial refunds. Payment provider processing fees are not refunded.

Learn more For a detailed look at refunding transactions, check out the following article: Refunding payments from the Booking Invoice

• Is the Checkfront Payments processing fee charged on the full amount of the booking, including the online Booking Fee?
  
  Yes, we charge a processing fee on the full amount of the booking, including the online Booking Fee, because we incur network costs and fees on the total amount.
   
• If a payment fails due to an issue with my credit card on file, does this prevent me from taking online payments?
  
  The system pauses Staff bookings, but you can continue to take online payments until you resolve the issue.