The online payment link: take a payment remotely

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Why	Get paid when the guest is not at the desk: a prepayment before arrival, a balance settled on a phone booking, a deposit taken on a card.
Who	Front desk staff and administrators who handle guests remotely — by phone and email.
What you’ll get	A payment page link from the booking card — for the balance due, for a deposit, or both — and a clear picture of what happens next.
Limitations	The link belongs to the booking and is created in the PMS. Refunds of online payments go through the payment gateway. There is no way to pay inside the Guest Portal — only via the link. Settlement times depend on the gateway and the guest’s bank.

Not every payment happens at the desk: guests send a prepayment before arrival, settle the balance on a booking made over the phone, or leave a deposit on a card. For all of these, HotelsCalendar has the online payment link: you create it on the booking card, and the guest opens the page and pays on their own.

Where to get the link

Open the booking card — from the “Bookings” list or by clicking a bar on the Planner.
Go to the “Payments” tab.
Click “Create payment link” — the button next to “Add payment”.

Result: a payment link has been created for this booking — pass it to the guest however you like. The outcome is visible right away, in the “Amount / Paid / Balance due” summary lower on the same tab.

The link is the route for remote payments: the guest pays on their own, from wherever they are. It all happens on the booking card: a link is always created for a specific stay, not for “just an amount”. If the guest is standing at the desk with cash or a card, it is faster to record the payment directly on the booking card — that routine has its own article below, under “See also”.

The deposit hold: money kept on the guest’s card

The “Deposit hold” block on the same tab covers a different scenario: the money is not charged right away but held on the guest’s card (a pre-authorization). While the amount is held, the property has security behind the booking — you can charge it if the guest does not honor the booking, or release it if everything goes smoothly.

While there is no deposit, the block says “No deposit yet” and offers two buttons:

“Create link” — a link for the deposit only;
“Payment + deposit” — the guest pays for the booking and leaves a deposit on the same page.

The “Release”, “Charge”, and “Refund” actions are inactive at this point — they switch on once a hold exists on the card:

“Charge” — capture the pre-authorization: the held amount becomes a payment on the booking.
“Release” — drop the hold without charging: the stay was canceled and the deposit is no longer needed.
“Refund” — return an amount that has already been charged to the guest.

Result: the deposit lives in the “Deposit hold” block — create it, then decide as things unfold: charge, release, or refund.

How much to ask for

The amount comes from the booking, not guesswork:

The guest’s balance due is visible in the “Amount / Paid / Balance due” summary on the “Payments” tab — and duplicated in the “Finances” block in the card header.
How much to take as a deposit is set by the rate’s deposit policy — configure it when setting up the rate.

The summary is live: add a service or switch the rate, and the balance due recalculates on its own. So take the number from the card right before you create the link: the guest does not have to type in an amount — it is already on the payment page.

What the guest sees

The guest opens the link and lands on a payment page: the booking and the amount are already filled in, all that is left is the card details. No account is needed — just the link itself.

If the link has gone stale and the payment page no longer opens, create a new one with the same button on the “Payments” tab — the guest gets a fresh page.

Boundaries: refunds and the Guest Portal

Two boundaries worth knowing in advance:

Refunds of online payments go through the payment gateway: you cannot return the money by editing a payment record on the booking — it comes back the same way it arrived.
There is no payment inside the Guest Portal: the guest cannot pay from the portal — only via the link you created on the booking card.

When exactly the money reaches the property’s account is up to the payment gateway and the bank — it is best not to promise the guest a date. Whether the payment has landed is always visible in the “Amount / Paid / Balance due” summary on the “Payments” tab.

Refunds are a separate scenario with rules of their own: Refunding a guest: full and partial refunds.