How Do I Take Payments for a Holiday Home?

Bank transfer: free but slow

A direct bank transfer to your account costs nothing. Guests wire money to your New Zealand bank account and you confirm their booking once you see the funds arrive. This works fine for a small number of bookings, and many international guests are comfortable with it because it is transparent and low-risk for them.

The problem is timing. An overseas bank transfer can take 3 to 5 working days to land in your account. During that time, you have promised the property to a guest but you have not been paid. If they do not complete the transfer or if it bounces, the booking calendar gets messy. Many hosts ask guests to transfer within 24 hours as a condition of the booking, but there is no way to enforce that, so you still have to follow up manually.

Bank transfer also does not verify that the guest actually has the money. They could request a booking, you confirm it, and then they disappear without paying. You would then have to release the dates back to other guests or chase them for payment. For this reason, hosts usually only use bank transfer after they have already received a deposit via card.

Credit card and online payments: immediate, but with fees

Processing credit card payments through Stripe, PayPal, Square or a similar service is the industry standard. A guest enters their card details, you get the money in your account within 1 to 3 days, and the transaction is verified and secured. The card processor handles fraud checks and dispute resolution. This is what guests expect and what booking platforms use.

The cost is 2 to 3 percent per transaction, plus sometimes a fixed fee of $0.30 or so per transaction. For a $2,000 booking, expect to pay $60 to $65 in fees. This is higher than a bank transfer, but you get the money immediately and you avoid the risk of guests not paying. Most hosts treat this as a business cost.

Credit card also makes refunds easier. If a guest cancels and you want to refund them, you process the refund through the payment processor and it lands back on their card within a few days. Bank transfer refunds require you to manually send money, which is slower and leaves more room for error.

Deposit plus final payment: the usual split

Most holiday home hosts ask for a deposit when the booking is confirmed, usually 20 to 50 percent of the total, and collect the final payment closer to arrival. The deposit is almost always taken as a credit card payment for speed and security. The final payment might be by bank transfer or card, depending on the guest's preference.

This splits the risk. If a guest cancels a month before arrival, you have already received a deposit and you are less out of pocket. If a guest backs out the night before and you have no time to find someone else, you keep the deposit to cover your lost revenue. This is standard practice across the industry and most booking platforms use the same structure.

The downside is more admin. You have to send multiple payment requests, chase guests who do not pay the final amount on time, and handle refunds in pieces rather than all at once. For direct bookings, automation is essential here. A good booking system will send automatic reminders and take final payments without you having to chase anyone.

What most New Zealand holiday homes actually do

The pattern that works is: deposit via credit card when the booking is made, final payment by bank transfer a week or two before arrival. This gives you money fast upfront, prevents cancellations after you have blocked the dates, and lets guests use the payment method they are most comfortable with for the final amount. International guests tend to prefer bank transfer for large amounts because credit cards sometimes trigger fraud alerts and can have daily limits. Domestic guests often do the reverse, preferring card for the deposit because it is instant.

If you are building your own booking system, do not overthink this. Offer card as the primary method, with bank transfer available for guests who request it. Most software for this handles both automatically. If you are taking payments manually by email, keep it simple: ask for the deposit by card, send a payment link via Stripe or PayPal, and accept bank transfer for the balance. The more payment options you support, the more admin work falls on you, so stay lean.

One practical note: if you offer bank transfer as an option, always ask guests to include their booking reference or property name in the transfer description. This makes it far easier to match payments to bookings when they land in your account. A guest name alone is not unique enough, and you will spend hours trying to figure out which booking a mystery payment belongs to.

Many hosts also ask guests to pay the full amount upfront if they are within two weeks of arrival. This removes the risk of a guest showing up without paying the final balance. For longer lead times, the deposit plus final payment split is fine because you have time to chase a missing payment or release the dates again if it becomes clear the guest is not going to pay.