Problem statement
- Marketplace cleaning payouts to cleaners are currently recorded as property-level transactions
- These transactions appear as charges on owner statements, even when the owner has already paid the host for cleaning through the booking platform (e.g., Airbnb)
- Co-hosts who receive cleaning fees directly from platforms like Airbnb should not charge owners a second time for the same cleaning
Current workaround
- Manually removing cleaning transaction charges from each owner statement before sending
- Alternatively, manually creating Business Transactions instead of using Marketplace cleanings (which defeats the time-saving purpose of the Marketplace feature)
- Using the "Charge owner on statement" toggle for individual property transactions (though this doesn't apply to Marketplace payouts)
Impact
- Significant time added to monthly statement preparation
- Owners may be incorrectly double-charged for cleanings if statements aren't manually reviewed and edited
- The Marketplace cleaning feature, designed to save time, instead creates additional administrative work
- Risk of billing errors and owner confusion
Proposed solution
Add a setting that allows hosts to automatically record Marketplace cleaning payouts as business-level expenses (Business Transactions) rather than property-level charges. This would prevent them from appearing on owner statements by default, while still maintaining accurate accounting records and syncing to tools like QuickBooks.
Unlock
- Co-hosts could use Marketplace cleanings without creating double-billing issues
- Eliminate manual work removing cleaning charges from owner statements each month
- Accurate, automated financial tracking that reflects the actual payment flow (platform pays host, host pays cleaner)
- Marketplace cleanings would truly save time as intended