Hospitality
Vacation rental management companies, boutique hotels, and B&Bs dealing with OTA reconciliation, owner payouts, and TOT compliance.
The Industry
A vacation rental manager in Pacific Beach handles 18 properties. Last month she had bookings through Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com. Each platform deposits at different times, takes different commission rates, and sends payout statements that look nothing alike. One property had a guest damage claim that reduced the payout. Another had a refund processed for a cancellation two months ago. When she tries to reconcile what actually hit the bank account against what she expected, the numbers never match. She spends hours every month trying to figure out where the discrepancies are hiding.
San Diego hospitality runs on tourist seasons and platform bookings. Summer fills up fast. January and February get quiet. Revenue swings dramatically but fixed costs like property management software, cleaning crews, and insurance stay constant. Property managers have to keep owners happy with accurate monthly statements while also navigating Transient Occupancy Tax requirements that apply differently depending on whether you operate in the city of San Diego or unincorporated county areas. Miss a TOT filing and penalties stack up quickly.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Vacation rental management companies, short-term rental operators, boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts, and hospitality property managers across San Diego County. Any business managing guest accommodations and dealing with platform bookings, owner relationships, or occupancy tax compliance.
What Makes It Complex
What Makes It Complex
Multiple booking platforms with different payout schedules and fee structures. Revenue that needs tracking by individual property. Owner payouts requiring accurate expense allocation. Transient Occupancy Tax filing with San Diego city and county requirements. Cleaning and maintenance costs that need assignment to specific properties. Seasonal cash flow swings between peak summer and slow winter months.
What We Handle
Vacation rental accounting requires tracking every dollar by property and by booking platform. When Airbnb sends a deposit, we reconcile it to the actual bookings, verify the commission taken was correct, and allocate the revenue to the right property. Same process for VRBO, Booking.com, and direct bookings. You get a clear picture of what each platform is costing you and what each property is actually generating after all fees.
Property managers handling rentals for owners need monthly owner statements showing gross revenue, platform fees, cleaning costs, maintenance charges, management fees, and the net amount owed. We build systems in QuickBooks Online that track these by property so generating accurate owner payouts takes minutes instead of hours. TOT compliance gets handled with proper tracking and timely filing so you avoid the penalties that come from missed deadlines or incorrect calculations.
Platform Reconciliation and Property Tracking
Platform Reconciliation and Property Tracking
Every booking platform reconciled to bank deposits with fees verified and discrepancies identified. Revenue tracked by property showing actual performance after platform commissions. Cleaning and maintenance expenses allocated to specific properties instead of lumped together. QuickBooks configured to generate property-level profit and loss reports that show which units make money.
Owner Statements and TOT Compliance
Owner Statements and TOT Compliance
Monthly owner statements prepared showing gross revenue, all expenses, and net payout amounts. Trust accounting setup for property managers holding owner funds. Transient Occupancy Tax calculated and filed for San Diego city and county requirements. Sales tax compliance for any retail or food service revenue at boutique hotels and B&Bs.
Common Problems
Platform payouts create confusion because the deposit hitting your bank account is never the amount you expected. Airbnb took their percentage, processed a refund from last month, applied a damage deposit, and withheld something else. The payout statement has fifteen line items and none of them match your booking calendar. Without reconciliation, you have no idea if the platform is paying correctly or if money is falling through the cracks. Property managers who skip this step often discover months later that they were underpaid on several bookings.
Expense allocation is the other problem. Your cleaning company sends one invoice covering all 18 properties. Maintenance gets paid from one account. The property management software charges one monthly fee. When it comes time to prepare owner statements, you have to manually figure out what portion of each expense belongs to each property. This takes hours and introduces errors. Owners receive statements that don’t quite match reality, and you can’t tell which properties are actually profitable versus which ones eat up revenue in maintenance and turnover costs.
Platform Reconciliation Gaps
Platform Reconciliation Gaps
Deposits don’t match expected revenue and nobody can explain why. Refunds processed weeks later create confusion in the current month’s books. Platform fee percentages vary by booking type and nobody verifies the math. Underpayments go unnoticed because reconciliation is too time-consuming to do properly each month.
Property-Level Blindness
Property-Level Blindness
All 18 properties look the same in the books because expenses aren’t allocated. One property might require twice the maintenance of another but the owner statements show identical expense ratios. You can’t identify underperforming properties or explain to owners why their net payout dropped. TOT filings become estimates instead of accurate calculations based on actual occupancy.
What Changes
Every platform payout gets reconciled to actual bookings with fees verified and discrepancies flagged immediately. You know exactly what Airbnb and VRBO are charging and whether those amounts are correct. Revenue tracked by property shows real performance after all platform costs. That oceanfront unit in La Jolla generates great gross revenue but the platform fees and high cleaning costs leave less margin than the smaller inland property. You have the data to make pricing and inventory decisions based on actual profitability.
Owner statements get generated from clean books instead of assembled from scattered records. Each property shows accurate revenue, properly allocated expenses, and the correct payout amount. Owners receive professional statements that build trust and reduce questions. TOT filings happen on time with accurate amounts. You stop spending weekends reconciling platforms and preparing owner payouts. That time goes back to managing properties, improving guest experiences, and growing the business.
Property-Level Profitability
Property-Level Profitability
Each property shows true performance after platform fees, cleaning, maintenance, and management costs. You identify which units generate the best margins and which ones need pricing adjustments or operational changes. Owners get accurate information about their property’s performance. Investment decisions about adding or dropping properties rely on actual data.
Time Back and Compliance Handled
Time Back and Compliance Handled
Owner statements prepared in minutes instead of hours because the underlying data is already organized by property. TOT calculated correctly and filed on time every period. Platform reconciliation catches discrepancies before they become problems. You focus on hospitality operations instead of wrestling with spreadsheets and payout statements that never seem to balance.
San Diego's Small Business Bookkeeper
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