How to Collect the Accommodation Fee from Guests in Advance, Without Chasing

Why it matters

The guest pays the accommodation fee, but you have to collect it from them and remit it to the municipality as the payer (§ 3f of the Local Fees Act). You owe it to the municipality even if the guest does not pay: a fee that the payer did not collect and remit can be assessed by the municipality for payment directly by the payer (§ 233(3) of the Tax Code). Without a completed form you also lack the data for your evidence book and, for foreigners, for the report to the Foreign Police.

One common misunderstanding: synchronising reservations via iCal shows you that a stay exists, but it does not fill in guest data. An Airbnb or Booking.com calendar contains neither a name, nor an ID document, nor the number of people. Guests have to fill in the forms themselves.

Why guests do not pay

From practice we see four reasons, and none of them is unwillingness:

• They do not know about it. Someone who learns about the fee only at the door takes it as an unexpected surcharge, not as part of the price.
• They have no way to pay. Foreign guests have no Czech koruna in cash, their bank cannot read the Czech QR Platba, and with self check-in there is nobody to pay.
• The request comes too late. A request for payment that arrives the evening before arrival or after it is easily postponed and then forgotten.
• They have no reason to hurry. Once they have the door code, the form and the payment can wait. Often until departure.

Each point has a simple fix. The last one is the strongest: when the guest receives the arrival instructions only after filling in the forms and paying the fee, they have a clear reason to do it right away.

What works: five steps

1. Tell guests about the fee before they book

A guest who knows about the fee in advance takes it as part of the price, not as your extra charge. State it everywhere the guest makes a decision:

• Booking.com: set the accommodation fee as a mandatory fee per person per night. Under EU consumer protection rules, Booking.com includes all mandatory fees in the total price the guest sees with an offer, even when they are set as not included in the price. You can check the setting in the Extranet under Property → VAT/tax/charges. Hotels ask Booking.com for a change via messages in the Extranet; other properties edit fees under Property → Policies → Additional fees and charges.
• Airbnb: in Czechia, Airbnb does not collect the accommodation fee itself. Its rules allow you to collect it from the guest outside Airbnb, but only when it is stated in the listing description or house rules if it is not in the price breakdown. Write it there together with the rate. Airbnb also warns guests that a request for a bank transfer can be a sign of fraud. In your message, therefore, explain which fee it is and also offer payment by card.
• Your own website and e-mail offers: state the rate in the price list or next to the stay price, for example “price excludes accommodation fee of CZK 50 per person per night, guests under 18 do not pay it”.

You can find your municipality’s rate in the overview of accommodation fee rates, and who does not pay it in the guide Who is exempt from the accommodation fee.

2. Send one message with a link and an explanation

Airbnb, Booking.com and most channel managers can send a message automatically after a booking. Set it up once and it reaches every later reservation. Put the Best Guest registration link in the message and explain in two sentences why you need the forms and the fee. Guests are far more willing to do something the law requires than something “the host wants”.

A sample message for foreign guests (adjust the rate, payment methods and link):

Hello [guest name],

before your arrival, please complete the online registration for all guests.
We are required by law to keep a record of every guest and to collect the
local tourist tax for the municipality.

Registration link: [your Best Guest link]

Once your registration is confirmed, you will see the exact tax amount on the
same page and can pay it online in a few taps. The tax is CZK 50 (about €2)
per person per night. Guests under 18 and some other groups do not pay it.

As soon as we confirm your payment, you will receive the arrival instructions
and the door code.

Thank you, and see you soon!

And the Czech version:

Dobrý den, [jméno hosta],

před příjezdem prosím vyplňte online registraci za všechny hosty. Ze zákona
musíme vést evidenci hostů a vybírat pro obec poplatek z pobytu.

Odkaz na registraci: [váš odkaz Best Guest]

Po potvrzení registrace uvidíte na stejné stránce přesnou výši poplatku
a zaplatíte ho online na pár klepnutí. Poplatek je 50 Kč za osobu a noc,
hosté do 18 let a některé další skupiny ho neplatí.

Jakmile platbu potvrdíme, pošleme vám pokyny pro příjezd a kód ke dveřím.

Děkujeme a těšíme se na vás!

Feel free to add what guests need to know anyway: check-in and check-out times, luggage storage or the no-smoking rule. A message with useful information is read more carefully than a bare call to register.

When to send the message, where to find the registration link and how this looks on individual platforms is described in the guide Automated guest messages with a registration link. With message security switched on, Booking.com removes links that are not on the approved list, and the guest sees “[Link was removed]” instead. Add the bestguest.app domain in the Extranet under Property → Messaging preferences → Security settings. Airbnb may block a message with an external link. On both platforms, always test the link on a real reservation.

3. Arrival instructions only after the forms are filled in and the fee is paid

This is the most important step. In Best Guest you write the arrival instructions (address, door code, Wi-Fi, parking) once for each listing, and Best Guest sends them to the guest itself. It does so only at the moment the conditions you set are met:

• all guests in the reservation have filled in the form and the reservation is approved and locked,
• the accommodation fee is paid and you have confirmed the payment,
• and no more than the number of days you set remain until arrival.

The guest thus has a clear reason to sort everything out right away, and you do not have to remind anyone. How to set it up is described in the section Setup in Best Guest below.

4. Paying must take a few taps

The less the guest has to retype, the sooner they pay. When you lock the reservation, Best Guest sends the main guest an e-mail with the exactly calculated amount and a breakdown. The e-mail contains:

• A QR code in a format the guest’s bank can read: Czech QR Platba for Czech guests, Slovak PAY by square for Slovak ones and European EPC for others. Foreign guests see the amount in euros.
• An IBAN for a manual transfer, in case the guest’s bank cannot read the QR code.
• Links to Revolut, PayPal or Wise with the amount pre-filled, if you have them set up. Through the Revolut link the guest pays by card or Apple Pay, without a Revolut account. How to add it is described in the guide Revolut + Best Guest.

The guest finds the same payment card on their reservation page in Best Guest, so they can also pay later or for the whole group. The money goes straight to your account; Best Guest takes nothing from it. Details on QR codes and payment matching are in the guide Accommodation Tax by QR Code.

5. Confirm the payment and the rest happens by itself

Best Guest cannot see your account, so it cannot tell on its own that the money has arrived. After paying, the guest taps I’ve paid and you receive an e-mail. When you see the payment on your account, you click Mark as paid on the reservation and confirm the amount and date. Best Guest sends the guest a payment confirmation and right after it the arrival instructions and the door code (but no earlier than the day you set).

The guest’s “I’ve paid” alone releases nothing. A guest who just clicks and does not pay does not get the door code.

Setup in Best Guest

1. Bank account. Under Account → Companies, open your company and fill in the account guests should pay to in the Your payment details section. Optionally add links to Revolut, PayPal or Wise.
2. Fee payment request. For the property, switch on Send QR payment request to guest when approved & locked (in the property settings or under Automations).
3. Arrival instructions. Under Automation → Automatic door lock codes / check-in instructions, switch on sending instructions for the property. At the bottom of the page you write the instructions for each listing and can add other language versions. You then change the instructions in one place and do not have to edit them separately on Airbnb, Booking.com and other channels.
4. Sending conditions. For the same property you will find four options:

When you let Best Guest or the main guest lock reservations, reports on foreigners go to UbyPort without your review. You remain responsible for their correctness, which is why Best Guest shows a warning when you switch on either of the two options.

The When the guest receives the instructions option is fixed for a reservation at the moment it is locked. If you change it later, it applies only to reservations locked after the change.

How the guest sees the whole procedure

1. After booking, they receive a message with a link via Airbnb, Booking.com or your channel manager.
2. They fill in the form for themselves and send an invitation or link to their travel companions, or fill in the forms for them.
3. When everyone is done, they lock the reservation (or you or Best Guest do). On the reservation page they see: “Lock the reservation and then pay the accommodation fee – the host will release your arrival instructions as soon as they confirm the payment.”
4. They receive an e-mail with the amount, a breakdown, a QR code and payment links.
5. They pay and tap I’ve paid. Until you confirm, they see that the instructions are ready and will be released once the payment is confirmed.
6. After your confirmation they receive a payment confirmation and the arrival instructions with the door code, by e-mail and on the reservation page.

Alternatives and their catches

• Fee included in the accommodation price. Possible; the law does not prescribe how the fee is collected. But the price is the same for everyone, while the fee varies with the number of nights and exempt guests: for a family with children under 18 you collect more than you remit to the municipality, for a larger group of adults less. On Booking.com you also pay commission on the total reservation price. Booking.com does not charge commission on an accommodation fee set up separately, but a fee hidden in the nightly price becomes part of the price the commission is calculated from. The evidence book and remittance to the municipality work the same way.
• Cash on arrival. Works when you meet your guests. But foreign guests often have no koruna, you need change and a record of who has already paid. With self check-in there is nobody to pay.
• Collection by the platform. Airbnb does not collect the accommodation fee in Czechia. For reservations prepaid through Payments by Booking.com, Booking.com collects per-person fees only in some countries so far. Other properties, including those in Czechia, can join an optional early-access programme in the Extranet on the VAT/tax/charges page. You still remit the fee to the municipality. When a platform collects it for you, do not request it from the guest again via Best Guest: Best Guest cannot yet tell on which reservations the platform has already collected it.

What to keep in mind

• Leave the guest another way. Someone who cannot pay online can pay, for example, when handing over the keys. You then confirm the payment manually with the Mark as paid button and the instructions are released. With self check-in, however, a guest without a confirmed payment receives neither the instructions nor the door code, so agree on this with them in good time.
• Where there is nothing to pay, nothing is held back. The instructions are held back only when the reservation has received a payment request. When the fee comes to zero (all guests are exempt or the stay lasts longer than 60 days, § 3a), or no request is created because a bank account or a verified municipal rate is missing, the instructions go out as usual.
• Write the instructions in the languages your guests speak. A guest for whose language you have no version receives the one you set as the default.
• Check the mail on Booking.com. If for Booking.com reservations you enter the guest’s @guest.booking.com address as their e-mail, then with message security switched on Booking.com delivers only e-mails from approved senders to them. The payment request and the arrival instructions would then get lost. Add the address that Best Guest e-mails to guests come from (you will see it in the e-mail from a test reservation) to the approved senders, in the same place as the approved links.
• Watch for guests who have not started. A guest who never opens the form does not get the automatic Best Guest reminder. You can see which reservations still have no forms filled in in Reservation verification, and write to such guests directly through the platform.

The whole feature is described on the pages Guest instructions and door codes and Local fee payment; the fee calculation in the guide How the Czech Accommodation Fee Is Computed.