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System fees & OTA sync
hejGuide ships a fixed set of "system fees" -- Cleaning fee, Linen fee, Pet fee, Resort fee, Management fee, Community fee, Short-term cleaning fee, and Extra guest fee. These are special products that automatically flow to Airbnb and Booking.com when you mark them as required.
What makes a fee a system fee?
System fees match the categories Airbnb and Booking.com understand natively. When you set "Linen fee" at SEK 200 and mark it required, that exact amount appears on:
- Airbnb bookings -- as a pass-through fee in the price breakdown.
- Booking.com bookings -- as a custom fee line in the guest's pricing.
- Direct portal bookings -- as a regular product on the booking summary.
The point: one price you set in hejGuide is the price every guest pays, no matter which channel they book through.
Why are the name and category locked?
System fees keep a fixed name and stay in the Fees category. This is intentional:
- If you renamed "Linen fee" to "Bedding service", Airbnb would still show it under its own label ("Cleaning fee" in the guest's breakdown, since Airbnb groups linens together). Booking.com would show "Bedding service", and your direct portal too. Three different labels for the same charge causes guest confusion and host support tickets.
- Locking the name avoids that drift. The hejGuide name becomes the canonical label, and Airbnb/Booking.com keep their platform-standard labels in their own UIs.
What you can edit on a system fee: price, description, photo, active/required toggles, housekeeping behaviour, and which listings it applies to.
What happens when I change the price?
Price changes only affect new bookings going forward. Existing confirmed reservations stay at the price they were booked with -- guests are never re-billed mid-stay because of a fee change.
When you save a new price, hejGuide pushes the update to Airbnb and Booking.com within a few seconds. You'll see a toast at the bottom of the screen confirming the sync ("Synced to all OTAs") or warning if one channel is delayed.
Making a fee required vs optional
- Required -- The fee is automatically added to every new booking on every channel. Guests cannot opt out. Use this for fees that apply to all stays (cleaning, linen, mandatory community fees).
- Optional -- The fee is offered as an upsell in the hejGuide guest portal only. Airbnb and Booking.com guests don't see it. Use this for fees the guest can choose to add (e.g. a pet fee that only applies when they bring a pet -- though Airbnb has its own pet-fee flow that handles this differently).
The 8 system fees explained
| Fee | When to use | Airbnb label | Booking.com label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning fee | Standard turnover cleaning | Cleaning fee | Cleaning fee |
| Linen fee | Bed linens and towels | Cleaning fee (Airbnb groups linens with cleaning) | Bed linen |
| Pet fee | Charge per booking with pets | Pet fee | Custom line |
| Resort fee | Resorts or premium-location properties | Resort fee | Custom line |
| Management fee | Property management or service charge | Management fee | Custom line |
| Community fee | HOA or community building fees | Community fee | Custom line |
| Short-term cleaning fee | Higher cleaning fee for 1-2 night stays | Short-term cleaning fee | Custom line |
| Extra guest fee | Per-person charge above included occupancy | (rolled into nightly price) | Per-guest custom line |
Most short-term rental hosts only use Cleaning fee and Linen fee. The others are inactive by default -- toggle them on if relevant for your property type.
What if my fee isn't syncing?
If you save a price change and the toast says "OTA sync delayed":
- Booking.com usually updates within seconds. If it stays delayed, check that the listing is actually connected (Channel Manager page).
- Airbnb sync can occasionally be slower; hejGuide keeps retrying in the background. Recent connection issues with Channex (our channel-sync provider) can also cause temporary delays -- it'll catch up automatically.
You can see the last sync time and any errors per channel on the upcoming Channel Mapping panel (in development).
Related
- Adding Products -- Create your own non-system products
- Channel Manager -- Connect Airbnb and Booking.com
- Products & Services Overview -- Module overview