Marketplaces, agents and brokers with commission
Bookings from rental marketplaces, travel agents and brokers carry the channel and its booking number. The commission is worked out when the hire ends. You either pay it on one vendor bill or bill the channel when it collects from the customer.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- Bookings from a marketplace are typed in by hand from an email, and one is missed on a busy Friday.
- At the month end nobody can say what you owe each broker, so their statement is paid as it comes.
- When the marketplace takes the customer's money, your invoice still goes to the customer and the account never balances.
How it works
- A Rent Manager adds each channel once in Rental > Configuration > Customers and Channels > Channels. Give its name, the Partner you pay or bill, the Commission (%) and whether They Collect from the Customer.
- Bookings come in two ways. They are typed on a rental order with the Channel and the Channel Booking Number, or imported in bulk with Import Channel Bookings.
- To import, a Rent Manager picks the channel and a CSV file with reference, start, end and name. Car, class, email, phone and price are read when the file has them. Each line becomes a confirmed order.
- When an order with a channel ends, its Channel Commission is set: the commission per cent of the order's total, rent and extras.
- For a channel that does not collect, press Make Commission Bill on the channel. One vendor bill is made with a line per ended order not billed yet, each showing your order and the channel's booking number.
- For a channel that collects, the order's invoices go to the channel instead of the customer, with the channel booking numbers in the invoice reference.
Everything it does
Channels
- Name, Partner, Commission (%), They Collect from the Customer, a note, and Active
- One Entity per channel; Rent Users see channels, Rent Managers change them
On the order
- Channel and Channel Booking Number, both searchable
- Channel Commission, set when the order ends, and the Commission Bill it went on
- Group rental orders by Channel
Import Channel Bookings
- Rental > Bookings > Import Channel Bookings, for Rent Managers
- CSV columns reference, start, end and name are needed, in any order
- Times like 2026-11-04 09:00 or 04/11/2026 09:00, read in your time zone
- car is a code or number plate; class is a class name; with neither the line fails
- The customer is found by email, or made from the name, email and phone
- Priced from your rate plans; a price in the file replaces it
- References already imported for that channel are skipped
- The result lists the bookings made and each failed line with why
Commission and bills
- Commission = the channel's per cent of the order's total (rent and extras, before tax)
- Make Commission Bill: one draft vendor bill for all ended orders not billed yet
- Channels that collect: invoices are addressed to the channel; the commission is not taken off the invoice
Who uses it
Rent ManagerSets up channels and their commission, imports bookings and makes commission bills.
Hire desk (Rent User)Puts the channel and its booking number on orders taken by phone or email.
Where you use it
- Web: Rental > Configuration > Customers and Channels > Channels; Rental > Bookings > Import Channel Bookings; the Channel fields on each rental order
- Not built: a live link to a marketplace; bookings come from the channel's file export or are typed in
- Not built: taking the commission off the invoice to a channel that collects
What you control
Settings
- Commission (%): per channel, 0 to start with
- They Collect from the Customer: per channel, off to start with
- Import time zone: the user's own, else the Entity's, else UTC
Notifications
- Rental Confirmed: imported and typed channel bookings are confirmed orders. So the customer gets it like any other, in the app and by email, with WhatsApp and SMS from your message credits (Growth)
- No message goes to the channel itself
Questions
Can we take bookings from car rental marketplaces?
Yes, from a file. Export the bookings from the marketplace as a CSV and import them with Import Channel Bookings. Each line becomes a confirmed order with the channel's booking number.Does it connect live to the marketplace?
No. There is no live link to any marketplace. Import their file, or type the booking with its channel number.What if we import the same file twice?
Bookings whose reference is already on an order of that channel are skipped. Only new lines become orders.When is the commission worked out?
When the hire ends. It is the channel's per cent of the order's total, rent and extras before tax, and you can correct it before you bill it.The marketplace collects the money. Who gets the invoice?
Tick They Collect from the Customer on the channel. The rent invoices then go to the channel, with its booking numbers, not to the customer.Related features
CUSTOMERSOnline booking page and website widgetEach Entity gets its own booking page, which also sits inside your website as a widget. Customers find a free car or class, choose cover and extras, give their licence details, book and pay. A booking not paid in time is cancelled and the car freed.CUSTOMERSPublic booking API with keysYour website or a partner's booking form can list depots, find free cars and classes, get a quote and book, through a JSON API. Each caller has its own key, made by a Rent Manager and shown once.CUSTOMERSCorporate accounts with credit limits, own rates and bookersCompanies that rent from you often get a credit account with a limit. They also get their own rate plans and a list of people who may book for them. They can apply online, and you approve with the limit you give.CUSTOMERSVIP tiers, preferences and referral commissionsRegular renters move up tiers by what they spent in the last 12 months. Each tier takes a discount off the rent wherever they book. Their preferences and favourite cars sit on their contact, and hotels, concierges and agents who send you customers earn a commission on each rental.HIRE ORDERSHire orders from quote to returnEvery hire runs on one order. It starts as a quote and is confirmed with the cars reserved. It goes out through a handover check, comes back through a return check, and is closed once billed. Class bookings get a free car at confirmation, and clashes are refused with the booking named.BILLING AND PAYMENTSBilling in advance or in arrears, with Bill NowBill short hires at once with Bill Now, and long hires on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly or end-of-hire cycle. Bill in advance or in arrears, grouped as you like. Rent stops at the call-off or return, and time billed ahead and not used comes back as a credit.
See your fleet on it.
Tell us how many cars or machines you hire out, from how many depots, and how bookings reach you today. We will set up your fleet with you on SmartMy Rental.