Hospitality

The Bookings System

The Bookings System in Augtool can be used by two parties i.e The Property Owners and The Broker. The examples and information in the guide is primarily from the perspective of the Broker.

a. The Property Owners  

The property owners would be able to manage their own bookings for their own properties. In this case there would be just One Business Unit that controls the administrative processes of the bookings for the property and receive the income from the bookings directly. In other words there is no intermediary. This is shown as Cape Villas Finance in the screenshot.

b. The Broker

The broker is an intermediary and will therefore use Two Business Units. One Business Unit would be where the administrative processes are carried out on behalf of the owner, this is shown as Cape Villas Booking in our screenshot. The other Business Unit would be the actual registered business of the Broker and it is in this Business Unit that the Broker invoices the Property owner for his commission and receives his commission. The broker receives his commission by retaining his portion of the income received from the bookings, and pays over the balance to the owner.

External Agency

Some brokers have an agreement with external agencies whereby if the booking is sourced through the external agency then the broker shares the commission with them. Augtool caters for 2 scenarios regarding this i.e Invoice Client and Invoice Agency. The External agency is referred to as the Agency in Augtool.

a) Invoice Client: This is where the broker pays a percentage of the commission as a finders fee to the external agency for sourcing the client but the full booking process is carried out by the broker. The broker invoices the client directly for the booking.

b) Invoice Agency: This is where the broker outsources the handling of the full booking to the external agency and splits the commission with them according to an agreed percentage. As the external agency is handling the full booking for the agency, the broker invoices the external agency for the full booking instead of invoicing the client. The external agency retains their portion of the commission and pays the balance of the full booking amount to the broker. The broker then subtracts their portion of the commission and pays over the remaining balance of the booking to the Owner also known as the Supplier or Organisation in Augtool. The security deposited is retained as that is refundable to the client.