Payments

Vanio handles all the money flowing through your operation so you don't have to juggle a dozen tools. Guests pay you, you pay your team, owners get their cut — all from one place.

What Payments Does

• Money in — Guests pay you for direct bookings, upsells, damage waivers, and security deposits.
• Money out — You pay your cleaners, maintenance team, and service providers automatically when tasks are completed.
• Owner splits — If you manage properties for owners, Vanio generates monthly statements showing revenue and expenses.

Everything runs through Stripe. You connect your bank account once and you're done.

Setting Up Payments (One Time)

1. Go to Settings → Payments
2. Click Connect Stripe
3. Enter your business details (about 5 minutes)
4. Add your bank account
5. Done — you can now collect from guests and pay your team

You don't need a Stripe account already. Vanio creates one for you during setup.

Collecting From Guests

• Direct bookings — Guest pays at booking time on your direct booking website.
• Upsells — Guest buys early check-in, late checkout, or a mid-stay clean through the guest portal.
• Damage waivers — A non-refundable fee guests pay before arrival.
• Security deposits — Authorization hold released 7 days after checkout.

You decide when guests are charged — at booking, a set number of days before arrival, or split across both.

Recording Manual Payments

When you receive payments outside Vanio (bank wires, checks, cash), you can record them manually:

1. Go to your reservation
2. Click Record Payment in the payments section
3. Enter the amount and select payment method
4. Click Record

Vanio automatically uses your reservation's currency (CAD for Canadian properties, EUR for European ones, etc.) so your payment records stay accurate. No more accidentally recording CAD payments as USD.

[Screenshot: Manual payment dialog showing currency matching the reservation]

Charging a Guest's Card Manually

When you need to charge a guest's card directly — for a damage claim, an extra fee, or anything else that comes up — Vanio processes the charge without interruption, even if the guest's contact information is incomplete.

Specifically, if a guest doesn't have a primary email address on file, Vanio will automatically:

1. Use another email address on file for that guest, if one exists, or
2. Generate a placeholder so the charge can still go through

Either way, the charge proceeds. You won't see an error, and you don't need to fix the guest's contact details or handle anything in Stripe yourself before charging.

Note: If Vanio uses a placeholder email, the guest won't receive an automatic receipt for that charge. You may want to follow up with them directly if a receipt is needed.

[Screenshot: Manual charge dialog processing successfully for a guest with no primary email]

Paying Your Team

You have two modes and you can mix them:

1. Per-task auto-pay — When a cleaner marks a task complete, payment goes out within minutes.
2. Invoice cycle — Tasks accumulate and you batch-pay them weekly or monthly.

Pick whichever fits your cash flow. Some staff can be per-task while others run on an invoice cycle.

Platform Integration & Reliability

Vanio processes payments from all your booking platforms automatically:

• Airbnb — Payout notifications are captured and processed, including cancellation scenarios
• Direct bookings — Real-time payment processing through your connected payment gateway
• Other platforms — VRBO, Booking.com, and manual reservations

Payment processing is built to handle edge cases like cancelled reservations, partial payouts, and platform-specific data variations. Your earnings dashboard stays accurate regardless of booking source or reservation changes.

The Wallet (Funded Balance)

You can pre-fund a wallet to avoid per-transaction processing fees on every cleaner payment.

1. Top up your wallet from your bank — one larger transfer instead of many small ones.
2. Cleaner payments come out of the wallet instantly, with no per-transaction fees.
3. When the wallet runs low, auto-top-up kicks in at a threshold you set.

For US accounts this is ACH bank debit. Other countries use SEPA, Bacs, PAD, or BECS — whichever is native to your bank.

Cleaner Payout Setup

Your cleaners don't need a Vanio account. When you add them:

1. They get an SMS with a one-time link.
2. They tap it and enter their bank account on a secure page (about 60 seconds).
3. Future payments arrive automatically.

No app, no signup, no password. The same flow works for maintenance workers.

Earnings Dashboard (For Your Team)

Your cleaners and maintenance staff each get a personal earnings page showing:

• Today, this week, this month, and all-time totals
• Every task with amount and status
• Instant pay option — a small fee to get paid within minutes instead of the standard 2–3 days

Owner Statements

If you manage properties for owners, Vanio generates monthly statements with:

• Reservations and revenue
• Cleaning costs
• Maintenance expenses
• Your management fee
• Net payout to the owner

Owners get their own portal where they can view statements and upcoming bookings.

Multi-Currency

Vanio supports USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, and CAD. The right bank rail is picked automatically based on your country.

When you record manual payments, Vanio uses the reservation's currency automatically — so CAD reservations get CAD payment records, EUR reservations get EUR records, and so on. This keeps your books accurate for international properties.

Platform Fees

• Direct booking payments — Standard Stripe rates. You pay Stripe, nothing extra to Vanio.
• Cleaner payments through the wallet — Small platform fee.
• Upsells and waivers — Small revenue share.
• Instant payouts — Small fee the cleaner pays for choosing instant.

Exact percentages are on the pricing page.

Common Questions

Do I need a Stripe account already? No — Vanio creates one for you during setup.

What about my existing accounting? Vanio doesn't replace QuickBooks or Gusto — it sits next to them. You can export earnings as CSV.

What if a task is paid but I want to refund? You can issue refunds from the task page.

What if my cleaner messes up their bank info? They tap their original SMS link to update it, or you resend the setup link.

Can hosts pre-fund and let me handle their payouts? Yes — that's the three-tier flow. They top up, you manage, your team gets paid.

What if Airbnb cancels a reservation after I've already paid my team? Vanio automatically processes cancellation payouts from Airbnb and updates your earnings accordingly. You'll see the adjusted amounts in your dashboard.

Will manual payments use the right currency for my Canadian properties? Yes — when you record a manual payment, Vanio automatically uses the reservation's currency instead of defaulting to USD. Your CAD, EUR, and other non-USD reservations will have accurate payment records.

What happens if I try to manually charge a guest who doesn't have a primary email address? The charge goes through automatically. Vanio will use another email on file for that guest if one exists, or generate a placeholder if not. You don't need to update the guest's profile or do anything in your payment processor before charging. If a placeholder is used, the guest won't receive an automatic receipt, so you may want to send one manually.