Take cards, deposits, fees and refunds

Turn on online payments for the venue.

1. 1Open Admin Settings (admin PIN) and go to Payments & policies.
2. 2In Guest payments, pick your country and state or province and click Confirm location.
3. 3Click Connect Stripe and finish the steps on Stripe's site.
4. 4Back in Hostbook, click Refresh status (or Continue in Stripe if Stripe needs more information).

The status reads Ready and guest payments are on.

If this doesn't work: If Guest payments says Information needed or Payments paused by Stripe, open Stripe from the same card and finish what it asks for.

Decide which bookings need a card and how much a no-show or late cancellation costs.

1. 1Open Admin Settings › Payments & policies (Stripe must be ready).
2. 2Under Party-size rules, click Add party-size rule and set Parties of at least, Fee up to ($), Cancellation window (hours) and Per guest or Per reservation.
3. 3Under Holiday and event dates, add dates when a rule always applies.
4. 4Under No-show guarantee, choose whether to allow (or require) a card on every booking.
5. 5Click Save payment rules.

Ask the guest to save a card, so a no-show or late cancellation can be charged.

1. 1In New Reservation or Edit Reservation, open Payment and tick Require a card for no-shows or Require a card (manager) (lets you set the fee and window for this booking; a manager approves).
2. 2Click Create or Save.
3. 3Check the guest's email in the box that opens and click Send payment request.

The guest gets a secure link. The booking stays Unconfirmed with Awaiting card until they finish.

• The request box opens by itself when one of your rules covers the booking.
• Without Stripe, you'll see Payment policy applies: choose Card collected offline or Waive policy.
• Nothing is charged now. Hostbook holds the card instead of taking an up-front deposit.

The guest lost the link, or you've decided not to require a card.

1. 1Open the booking and expand Payment & deposit.
2. 2Click Resend request, or Waive (a manager approves).

• Expired requests also show under the credit-card icon in the header (Payments needing attention) with Resend request.

Decide whether to charge guests who broke the policy (managers).

1. 1Click the credit-card icon in the header (Payments needing attention), then Review fees. (Or open the booking and click Review fee.)
2. 2For each booking choose Charge $…, Charge less (type an amount) or Don't charge.
3. 3Click Approve … decisions.

• Fees to review are queued at the end of the service day. Note the Charge by deadline.
• If a charge fails, it shows in the same popover with Review again.

Give back a deposit a booking already paid (older bookings, from before Hostbook switched to holding cards).

1. 1Open the booking and expand Payment & deposit.
2. 2Click Refund deposit, type the reason the guest will see, and click Refund $….

• Refunds can't be undone. Prepaid promotional menus are refunded from Reports › Transactions.

Refund a prepaid menu, event ticket or other payment.

1. 1Open Reports and switch to Transactions (manager PIN).
2. 2Click Refund on the payment.
3. 3Leave Amount blank for a full refund or type a partial amount, add a reason, and click Review refund, then Yes, refund.

Check what was paid, refunded or failed.

1. 1Open Reports and switch to Transactions (managers and admins; PIN needed).
2. 2Filter by Reservations or Events, and by 30 days, 90 days, Year or All.

• Each row shows its status (Paid, Refunded, Failed…) with Refund, Retry refund or Resend receipt.

A guest disputed a charge with their bank.

1. 1Find the payment in Reports › Transactions; it reads Disputed: respond in Stripe.
2. 2Respond in your Stripe dashboard before the date shown.