People love to travel, with many individuals, couples, and families across the world saving up their money to spend on exciting trips and vacations each and every year. Indeed, many people say that travel is the best part of life, allowing them to experience new things, explore new cultures, try new foods, and make many happy memories with loved ones by their side.
And in recent years, the way in which people travel has changed a lot, particularly in terms of accommodation. In the past, many travelers were forced to choose between hotels, motels, and guesthouses when traveling around the world, but the internet has made it much easier for travelers to find private vacation rentals, with sites like Airbnb leading the way.
The internet has led to a real surge in popularity for vacation rentals, boosting the entire industry and giving people more options to choose from when they travel. And running your own vacation rental business can be a great way to make money, but you’ll need to set up a vacation rental merchant account before you start.
As stated in the introduction, the rise of online vacation rentals has really changed the game for the travel industry and had big effects on the hotel and hospitality industries, too, as more and more people have taken an interest in private rentals and started to move away from the classic hotels and accommodation options of the past.
It’s easy to see why private vacation rentals have proven to be so popular, as they offer a lot of advantages when compared to other forms of accommodation; vacation rental properties like apartments, homes, and villas are often more spacious than standard hotel rooms, as well as commonly being equipped with all the comforts of home, like kitchens and washing machines.
These additional features and amenities give travelers more ways to enjoy their stay, and the prices of vacation rentals can be highly competitive, too. All of this makes them highly attractive in the eyes of many modern travelers, and opening up business opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to break into an exciting industry with a lot of potential for growth and development.
So what is a vacation rental merchant account and how do these kinds of accounts work? Well, in order to understand the importance of a vacation rental merchant account, you need to know what general merchant accounts are and how they are used: a merchant account is a type of business account that allows a business to receive electronic payments from customers.
In other words, the vacation rental merchant account is what makes it possible for customers to send payments to you for your rental properties online. They can pay with their cards via the vacation rental site or payment portal, send the money to the merchant account, and then you simply have to wait for the money to be processed before continuing through to the main business account.
In a way, the vacation rental merchant account acts like a kind of “middleman” for the transaction, passing the money between customer and business and ensuring that the transaction is secure and convenient for both parties. And since most vacation rental bookings are done online, it’s really important to have a vacation rental merchant account in place so you can handle these sorts of payments.
It’s clear to see that vacation rental merchant accounts are really important for anyone running this type of business. In fact, you can’t really expect to run a vacation rental site without having a vacation rental merchant account set up beforehand. But if you speak with your local bank and ask for vacation rental merchant services, there’s a high chance that they will refuse to work with you.
This is because the world of vacation rentals is regarded as a “high risk” industry. In fact, many businesses that are involved with travel, in general, are classed as high risk, and it can be hard for travel-based businesses to get the merchant accounts and services they need. There are several reasons behind this.
One big reason is the fact that the travel industry has a very high rate of chargebacks. This is when cardholders dispute payments or request their money back for goods or services they have paid for. This can happen a lot with vacation rentals because people sometimes book trips in advance and then cancel and need their money back due to changing circumstances and situations.
In addition, vacation rental businesses can have to deal with a lot of chargebacks if travelers are not satisfied with the standards of the property. Travelers might initiate chargebacks if they feel that the property was not clean or didn’t have all of the listed services, for example, and this can cause a lot of extra problems and hassle for banks.
It’s clearly very important to get vacation rental merchant accounts when running these kinds of businesses, but what do you do if the banks in your area refuse to work with you? Well, there are other options out there, and Shark Processing can help you find a solution that works for you.
At Shark Processing, we’re experts in high risk payment processing and high risk credit card processing. We work with high risk businesses, like those in the vacation rental sector, helping to match our clients with trusted banks and reputable payment processors who aren’t afraid of working with high risk industries.
We can help you get a vacation rental merchant account that works for you, with competitive rates and attractive terms to suit your specific needs and situation. Get in touch with the Shark Processing team today to find out more about our vacation rental merchant accounts and services.