BookingTrust

Topline

BookingTrust is a cloud based software property accounting suite designed for Trust and Host Accounting within a property management company.

Designed and built in Australia to comply with strict Australian and NZ Trust Accounting requirements and available to clients all over the world. Firstly, let’s define what those two terms mean and how they apply to you Trust account : This is a bank account that is used exclusively for money received or held by a real estate agent for or on behalf of another person in relation to a real estate transaction and is not to be used to hold monies for any other purpose. In some states of Australia and the US, this is legislated and yearly audits are conducted to ensure that every Property Manager adheres to correct accounting practises. The software used for these businesses must be compliant in order to pass the year audit. (Yes, BookingTrust is compliant) A trust account must be reconciled to the bank account and every cent accounted for and logged. A trial balance is required, as well a 3-way balance report at the end of each month. There is complete onus on the property manager to ensure that every cent is accounted for and at the end of each month, the owners are paid and the management fees transferred to the ‘Trading account’. There is no business operating money in the Trust account, it is only owner money. Each owner effectively has their own account and all the accounts are reconciled against the daily bank account total. Host account: This is where you don’t have any legislative requirements to be audited each year, and you don’t have to produce 3-Way or Trial Balance reports. However, all the accounting requirements are still valid, you are looking after other people's money, so every cent needs to be accounted for on a daily or monthly basis. We like to call this ‘Compliance Accounting’, where the property manager is committed to ensuring that all funds are correctly accounted for. So no matter whether you run a Trust or a Host account, BookingTrust is the only accounting software that directly interfaces to your Property Management Systems (PMS) and is specifically designed for only short term accommodation providers. What does BookingTrust do? In simple terms BookingTrust looks after the money after it hits your bank account. If you run a property management company, the first thing you need is a Property Management System), in order to list the properties, manage the channels and the bookings and ensure vacancy rates are low and returns are high (sure it’s a little more complicated than that). Once you get started and the money starts rolling into your account, you then have to work out whose money it is, this is usually the boring part of the job that no-one really told you about. This can be done by printing out a booking report into an Excel spreadsheet and then designing a complex management calculation, and then spending a couple of days entering outgoing and typing out owner statements and emailing them, then disbursing the funds. Or you can try and use business accounting software (like Xero or QuickBooks) and try to make each owner a ‘leger’ and then retype all the booking information in, so at the end of the month (after you add all your expenses), it will hopefully give you a figure for each owner and how much management fees you earned in one of the reports you’ve managed to discover. Oh, and then you spend a couple of days typing out owner statements and emailing them. BookingTrust is designed specifically to process the monies held in your Trust (or Host) account. BookingTrust has an interface to your PMS, and pulls down booking and payment information from both the PMS and Stripe, so you don’t have to account for Stripe fees or Airbnb channel fees. Our software automatically calculates all the fees and charges and how they get distributed at the end of each month, with the ability to have a complex array of different fee structures that may vary depending on the property or owner. Once a booking is received from the PMS in BookingTrust and you confirm the payment (full or part payment), the software will do the rest, from allocating fees to the final disbursement, where the owner is emailed a disbursement report and you’re given a list of bank account numbers and transfer amounts. It really can’t be simpler than that. Client Services On top of all the things our awesome software can do, we also have experienced staff that will do everything for you, because, let’s face it, some of you are not really numbers people and are better getting things done like building your portfolio and increasing returns for your owners and creating better guest experiences. We can provide a full service operation that will process all the money received and expense transactions, balance it with your bank account and provide a completed disbursement report at the end of the month. All you need to do is verify the owner statements and press a button to disburse*. (*we all know that’s the best case scenario and there will be some queries to be resolved in the meantime, and we do much more that just that) On top of all this, you’ll sleep better and make more money because your accounts will be totally transparent and tracked and reconciled to your bank account and integrated to your PMS. Features: - Load booking and payment details into BookingTrust - Operator then reconciles these against the bank statement - Fees and charges are generated for the booking - Once the reservation is complete and paid, the money is released to disburse - The end of month disbursement process send money and statements to the owners and ensures compliance with Trust Account regulations