Consumers use credit cards as a payment method for goods and services based on the cardholder’s promise to pay in the future. To accept credit card payments, vacation rental property owners can engage the services of a credit card processing provider.
Accepting Credit Card Payments for Vacation Home Rentals
VacationRentPayment provides the convenience of credit cards as a payment method. Accepting credit card payments for your vacation rental properties frees you and your guests from the hassle of paper checks. VacationRentPayment has years of experience offering customizable, scalable, and flexible methods of payment, including the ability to accept credit card payments. By making it easy to accept credit card payments for vacation rentals, we help give you more time to concentrate on running your business.
How Does Accepting Credit Card Payments Work?
When a credit card is used as the method of payment for vacation home rentals, charges are usually processed in seconds. As you might expect, a lot takes place in the background:
Step 1: Guest Initiates Online Payment
The vacation home rental customer visits the VacationRentPayment site, payment app or other payment channel to make payment for a vacation rental. He selects credit card as the online payment method, provides his name, credit card information, and address, and submits payment. This starts a series of processes on the backend.
Step 2: The Payment Gateway & Merchant Account
The payment gateway, VacationRentPayment’s online payment processing frontend interface, sends the transaction details (name, address, credit card number, Card Verification Value (CVV) security code and the amount) to its merchant acquirer, also known as the payment processor.
Step 3: Payment Processor & Credit Card Networks (A)
In order to validate payment details, the payment processor (merchant acquirer) relays them through the credit card networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express), which in turn send them to the card’s issuing bank for verification.
If the renter is paying for a vacation rental with Discover Card or Diners Club, which issue cards directly to consumers and utilize a three-party scheme of a closed loop system, the payment processor moves the payment to the acquiring bank of the merchant for validation. This is because it’s the same as the customer’s card issuing bank. Basically, transactions like these are processed through the Discover payment network and relayed to Discover Bank for verification.
Step 4: Credit Card Issuing Bank
The vacation home rental customer’s card-issuing bank approves or denies payment based on the card’s status — active, stolen, or within credit limit. The bank then sends the results back to the credit card networks. Assuming payment is approved, the card issuing bank charges the vacation rental customer and transfers the funds to the credit card network less the interchange fees that cover the assumed credit risk and any rewards the customer receives for using the card as the payment method.
Step 5: Payment Processor & Credit Card Networks (B)
Now, the credit card network notifies the payment processor regarding the transaction approved/denied status and sends the money less the assessed fee. If the renter is paying for a vacation rental with a Discover Card or Diners Club that use a closed loop system, Discover Bank validates and sends the payment approved/denied status via its Discover Network directly to the payment processor. The payment processor then lets the VacationRentPayment payment gateway know if the transaction is approved or denied and sends the funds for approved payments less the merchant acquirer service charges for using a credit card as the payment method.
Step 6: Payment Gateway & Merchant Account (B)
VacationRentPayment’s payment gateway notifies the vacation rental customer if the transaction is approved or denied via the online payment interface. VacationRentPayment also sends funds for approved payments less fees. In the event the payment method is rejected, VacationRentPayment’s payment gateway sends the information back to the site or app and payment processing is stopped.
Step 7: Payment
At this point, the money is transferred from the merchant account to the vacation rental property’s bank account. Because the vacation rental property is a partner with a VacationRentPayment sub-merchant account, the payment gateway deposits the net payment into the partner’s bank account. When payment processing is complete, the vacation rental customer is notified that the payment was successful and is shown a confirmation screen. Then a receipt is emailed and reports are updated in real time indicating that payment was made.
Why Use VacationRentPayment for Your Vacation Home Rental Property?
When you work with VacationRentPayment, we consider you a valued partner rather than a customer, and want to develop a relationship with you that’s mutually beneficial. Our industry expertise in online payment methods and vacation home rentals is a great place to start.
A long list of vacation rental properties use VacationRentPayment to help them work out how to accept credit card payments. Whether you’re big or small, when you partner with VacationRentPayment, you’ll benefit from dedicated customized service combined with unparalleled vacation rental experience.