Guest payments: Stripe, prepayment, and deposit hold

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Why	Understand how the guest’s money reaches the property when a booking comes from your website, and pick the payment mode that fits your rates.
Who	Owners and administrators who set up rates and the booking module; front desk staff who want to know where a booking’s money will come from.
What you’ll get	A clear picture of the three payment methods and the ability to manage a deposit on the booking card: create a link, then charge, release, or refund the hold.
Limitations	The rate decides how and how much the guest pays — the module follows that policy rather than deciding for the property. Refunds of online payments go through the payment gateway.

A booking from your website brings money in one of three ways: the guest pays at the desk, pays the full amount online, or leaves a deposit on a card.

Which path applies is your decision, made in advance in the rate’s policy: the booking module simply shows the guest the terms you have set. Card payments go through Stripe, the acquiring provider; the guest needs no separate account to pay.

Three ways to take payment

Pay at the property. The guest books without an online payment: the payment step is not shown, and the booking is confirmed right after the guest details. The money arrives at the desk, where the payment is recorded on the booking card. The guest sees the terms in advance, in the order summary: payment happens at the property.
Full online prepayment. The guest enters card details on the payment step and the amount is charged at once: by arrival, the booking is paid in full. The charge goes through Stripe.
Deposit hold. Nothing is charged: the amount is held on the guest’s card by a pre-authorization. The property keeps security behind the booking; the guest keeps the money on the card. What to do with the hold next is up to the property — see below.

The three modes are not an either-or choice for the whole property: the same room can be sold under two rates, one with a full prepayment and another with payment at the property. The guest pays under the terms of the rate they picked.

Outcome: the payment method is chosen not at the moment of booking but in advance — by the rate’s policy; the guest just follows the module’s prompts.

What’s enabled for the property

Online card payments run through Stripe. The acquiring commission belongs to card processing, not to the booking engine: the module adds no fees of its own to the price.

How much the guest pays online is set by the property’s or the rate’s policy: no online payment, a percentage of the total, the first night, the full amount, or a fixed sum.

The same rate defines the deposit: whether the guest leaves one, and how large it is. A rate has a single policy — every booking under it follows the same terms, and the guest has nothing to negotiate by hand.

Outcome: one rate sells with payment at the property, another with a full prepayment, a third with a deposit. In the module, the guest sees the terms of the rate they chose.

The deposit hold

A deposit hold keeps money without charging it: a pre-authorization freezes the amount on the guest’s card until the property decides its fate.

If the guest does not honor the booking, the hold can be turned into a payment; if everything goes smoothly, it is released with nothing charged. The booking stays secured, and the money stays with the guest.

Deposit management lives on the booking card:

Open the booking card and go to the “Payments” tab.
In the “Deposit hold” block, click “Create link” — the guest gets a link for the deposit only — or “Payment + deposit”: the guest pays for the booking and leaves a deposit on the same page.
Once the hold exists, three actions become available: “Release”, “Charge”, and “Refund”.

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

While there is no deposit, the block says “No deposit yet” and the action buttons are inactive.

Creating a link, taking the payment, and charging the hold all show up right away in the “Amount / Paid / Balance due” summary on the same tab — there is nothing to cross-check separately.

Outcome: the deposit is created from a link in the “Deposit hold” block — then it depends on the situation: charge, release, or refund.

What the guest sees

The guest opens the link or reaches the payment step in the module and lands on a payment page: the booking and the amount are already filled in, all that is left is the card details.

The guest pays on their own, from wherever they are: no account is needed — just the link itself or the payment step. The amount comes from the booking, so the guest does not have to type it in.

The terms are visible earlier too: in the order summary, before the booking is confirmed.

If the payment page does not open, create a new link with the same button on the “Payments” tab — the guest gets a fresh one.

Where it’s configured

Online booking in the PMS — the section where the booking module lives: embedding on the website, appearance, widget settings. How the guest pays comes from there too: the module shows what the rates define.
Rates — the payment method and the deposit policy are set when configuring a rate. What a rate consists of and how its rules look to the guest — in the article Rate plans: how they work.

Outcome: first the rate’s policy, then the module’s behavior: set up the rates, and the module shows each guest the right payment method on its own.