Collect payments for direct bookings at the time of booking, or send payment requests for bookings you already have. Activate at least one payment option in Settings > Payments: an integrated payment gateway, Credit Card Collection or Offline Payments. Beds24 never handles guest payments: all payments go directly into your account with the payment gateway you use.
Tip: Stripe offers the most functions. With Stripe you can automatically charge guest credit cards and virtual cards sent by OTAs.
Table of Contents
- Payment options
- Payments for bookings from OTAs
- Pending payments
- Payment requests
- Collect only credit card details for website bookings
- Collect deposits for website bookings
- Reports
- Important Notes
Payment options
| Option | What it does | Payment in the booking |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated payment gateway | The guest pays online through Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.Net, Globalpayments, Asiapay, pesopay, siampay, paydollar, Borgun or Bitpay. The funds go directly to your account with the gateway. | Added automatically to the Charges and Payments tab |
| Custom Gateway | Connects a payment gateway that Beds24 doesn't integrate with. Needs HTML and programming skills, or a developer. | Added when the gateway sends the payment notification to Beds24 |
| Credit Card Collection | Collects credit card details securely without charging the card. You charge the card yourself through your bank or merchant account. | Enter it manually |
| Offline Payments (Custom Instruction) | Asks the guest to pay by bank transfer or cheque. | Enter it manually |
Integrated payment gateways
You need an account with the payment gateway you want to use. Ask the gateway about its fees and charges. Connect it in Settings > Payments > Payment Gateways.
| Gateway | Payments | Account |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Credit cards. Automatically charge pending payments and OTA virtual cards, and charge a card manually from the booking. | Register for a Stripe account |
| Authorize.Net | Credit cards | Register for an Authorize.Net account |
| Realex (Globalpayments) | Credit cards | Register for a Realex account |
| Bitpay | Bitcoin | Register for a Bitpay account |
| PayPal | PayPal and credit cards | Your PayPal account |
Credit Card Collection
Beds24 isn't notified when you charge a card collected this way, so enter the payment manually on the Charges and Payments tab of the booking. If leaving card details is the only option you want to offer, go to Settings > Payments > Payment Gateways > Credit Card and follow Card Number Collection.
Offline Payments
Beds24 isn't notified when the guest pays by bank transfer or cheque. Enter the payment manually on the Charges and Payments tab of the booking.
Payments for bookings from OTAs
Each channel handles deposits for its bookings according to its own rules and your account settings with the channel. Some channels send credit card details. If you use Stripe, you can send the cards from all channels directly to Stripe, and then:
- Charge virtual cards automatically when they become valid. Go to Settings > Channel Manager and set Channel Collect Payments to Charges and Pending Payments. Then, in the channel settings (for example Settings > Channel Manager > Booking.com), set Auto Process Virtual Cards to Yes and select the Virtual Card Payment Rule: Auto, or a payment rule you've created.
- Charge a card manually from the booking or in your Stripe account.
See Stripe Channel Virtual Cards. For channels that don't send card details, or if you don't use Stripe, send a payment request.
Pending payments
A pending payment schedules an outstanding payment on a booking. Add it with an Auto Action, manually on the Charges and Payments tab of the booking, or by importing virtual cards from an OTA. Payment rules decide when a pending payment is collected and which info code is added to the booking.
Prerequisites: automatic collection of pending payments only works with Stripe connected through Stripe Connect (the Connect to Stripe button). If you connected Stripe with keys, remove them and connect with Connect to Stripe.
| You use | What pending payments do |
|---|---|
| Stripe | Collected automatically on the due date (payment rule Auto or your own rule), or manually with ... > charge now when the card is at Stripe. Successful collections move from Pending Payments to Payments, and a status shows on the Info tab. |
| No Stripe | Add a Manual pending payment with an Auto Action, based on your payment timetable. Use it as a reminder, for reporting, or to send a payment request. For bank transfers, check the list in Bookings > Pending Payments and set the pending payment to paid in the booking. |
To stop collecting a pending payment when the booking is cancelled, use a payment rule that doesn't apply to cancelled bookings.
Tip: To email the guest when a payment is received, see the Auto Action example Send an email to the guest when a payment is made. In the message, [INVOICETABLE] shows all charges and payments of the booking.
For step-by-step setups, see How to setup Pending Payments and Stripe deposit and balance (deposit at booking, full payment for near-term bookings, balance before check-in).
Payment requests
Send a payment request to a guest at any time after booking, manually or automatically with an Auto Action. The guest gets a link to a secure page and pays with the payment options you support. If you use an integrated payment gateway, Beds24 is notified and the payment shows on the Charges and Payments tab of the booking.
- Activate at least one payment option in Settings > Payments > Payment Gateways.
- Optional: add a custom message for the header of the payment page and for the confirmation the guest sees after paying, in Settings > Payments (Payment Request Header and Payment Request Confirmation).
- Go to Settings > Guest Management > Auto Actions and create an Auto Action. A template is available that you can customise.
- In the Messaging tab, click Edit and enter your text with a payment template variable (recommended) or your own payment URL.
All template variables and URL parameters are in Payment request links and parameters, including how to ask guests to submit their credit card details.
Note: Payment links expire 28 days after check-out.
No payment option activated? Send a PayPal payment request instead: see Send Paypal Payment Request.
Collect only credit card details for website bookings
To collect credit card details securely without charging them, go to Settings > Payments > Credit Card Collection. The guest can only complete the booking after entering their card details. You process the card yourself through your bank or merchant account. See Card Number Collection.
| To | Go to |
|---|---|
| Collect a deposit or payment automatically through an integrated payment gateway | Settings > Booking Engine > Deposit Collection Direct Bookings |
| Require an offline payment (for example a bank transfer), connect your own payment gateway, or let guests choose between two or more options (online deposit, offline payment, card details) | Settings > Payments |
After the guest clicks Confirm Booking, they're taken to the payment screen.
Collect deposits for website bookings
With deposit collection, the guest can't complete a booking on your booking page without paying. Setup: choose the Non Payment Booking Status and the amount in Settings > Booking Engine > Deposit Collection Direct Bookings, enable one or more payment gateways, and set Booking Type to Deposit Collection 1 or Deposit Collection 2. For the full steps, see Deposit Collection.
Note: If you set Booking Type in Settings > Booking Engine to Collect CC - auto confirmed with Credit Card or Request CC - Request only with credit card number, the guest submits their card details but the card isn't charged.
Reports
- Flag bookings with an Auto Action (Settings > Guest Management > Auto Actions), then build a custom report for these bookings in Reports > Custom Reports and show it on the dashboard.
- Reports > Standard Reports has a wide range of financial reports.
Important Notes
- Beds24 never handles guest payments. All payments go directly into your account with the payment gateway you use.
- Beds24 isn't involved in deposit collection for bookings from channels: each channel handles it according to its rules and your account settings. With Stripe, you can send cards from OTAs to Stripe and charge them.
- Outstanding payments for direct bookings: if you use Stripe and have the guest's card details, add a pending payment to collect the amount at a set date and time. Without the card details, send a payment request.
- For a gateway Beds24 doesn't integrate with, use Settings > Payments > Custom Gateway. Without the programming skills, hire a developer or one of the Beds24 partners for API connections.