PAYMENTS > SECURITY-DEPOSITS
Security Deposits PLUS
For Bedful Plus and Bedful Pro users, you can set a security deposit on each of your units to cover losses and damages incurred by the customer during their stay.
Customers are prompted to save their card details on Security deposits before the booking starts - you can choose how many days before the booking starts on your site payment settings under security deposits. Note that saving card details does not collect any money from the customer's card. Customers should use a credit card if possible as the reserved money will simply be taken from their credit limit.
When the booking starts, we'll attempt to reserve the funds on the customer's card, if this fails, or the customer has not stored their card details with us, we'll email you to let you know that you need to collect the deposit when they arrive. You can do this by clicking the existing security deposit under Bookings > Payments and choosing Save Card then Reserve Funds. For most customers no action will be required on your part.
The reserved funds will automatically be renewed each 7 days while the booking is still in progress - each renewal is for 7 further days.
After the booking is over, you can collect funds from the security deposit or release funds to the customer. This should be done within 24 hours of the end of the booking. Their bank may take a few days to return the funds to their account. Though authorisations will expire automatically after 7 days, if a customer is only staying for a couple of nights then it would be prudent to manually release their funds at the earliest opportunity if you do not wish to collect a sum from their security deposit.
Setting up security deposits
Each unit can have its own security deposit, charged in the currency of the site. The total security deposit that a customer will be liable for is the sum of the individual deposits for each unit on the booking. To set up security deposits for your site:
- Choose 'Authorise Security Deposits' on the site Payment Setup
- Choose the number of days prior to the deposit falling due that you want to remind customers to add their card
- Set the settings on each unit to choose how much to reserve on the customer card and when
Managing security deposits
Security deposits are shown in the payments list for a booking, and can have one of 5 statuses:
- Pending: The charge has not yet been authorised, but a card may have been stored
- Authorised: The funds have been reserved from the customer's card, but no money has been taken.
- Paid: An amount of money has been collected from the customers security deposit.
- Released: The authorisation is no longer valid, and the funds are no longer held on the customers card.
- Failed: The charge could not be authorised.
To manage a security deposit, click the 'Update' button on the row in the payments list and you can see what stage it is at.
Collection and Release of security deposits
Once the card details have been stored, the security deposit will automatically be managed by the system. The deposit will be authorised against the card and the money reserved by default 18 hours before midnight on the day of checkin (so at 6AM UTC on the day of checkin). The deposit will be released by default 18 hours after midnight on the day of checkout (6PM on the day after checkout).
Collecting money from a security deposit
If a security deposit is authorised, the funds are held on the customers card, and can be collected at any time during the period that the authorisation is valid. You can elect to collect all or part of the security deposit, but cannot collect more than was originally authorised. Funds can only be collected from a deposit once.
To help avoid chargebacks and disputes, please make it clear to customers how much you are collecting and the reasons why, before you collect funds from their security deposits. We recommend adding specific reasons to your terms and conditions, which customers will see before they book.
Transaction Fees
If no claim is made against a security deposit and it is returned in full, there are no fees to pay for either party.
If a claim is made, stripe fees will be charged to your account on any funds that you collect, at the standard rate per your agreement with Stripe.
Releasing security deposits
Once a deposit is authorised, it will be renewed automatically every 7 days as necessary until the booking expires), it will be released automatically 18 hours after midnight on the day the booking ends. You may choose to manually release the deposit early, for example if the customer is only staying for a couple of nights and requires their deposit back urgently, but normally you should adjust your settings so that manual intervention is not necessary.
Please note that once a security deposit is released, it cannot be re-authorised, and no money can be collected from it.
Reminding customers about security deposits
A default message will be sent to ask customers to save their card for a security deposit. You can set up a custom message if you prefer - choose the send date of security deposit due. Note the days setting on the message will be ignored as we use the setting from your site payment settings instead for these messages. You must include a link in this email with the href {{.payment.AuthoriseURL}} for the customer to authorise their payment. Feel free to use this suggested text:
Dear {{.booking.Name}}
We hope you are looking forward to your upcoming stay at {{.site.Name}}. In advance of check-in, {{.site.Name}} requires a refundable security deposit to cover losses or damages incurred during your stay, as outlined in your booking confirmation (see below). If there are no problems, the funds will be released at the end of your stay.
We recommend you pay this with a credit card as the amount due will be provisionally held as an authorised amount, without being charged, and will be released at the end of your stay. If using a debit card, the funds may actually leave your account and, once reimbursed, may take a few days to clear. Please check with your bank for full details if you are unsure. Please have your card ready and visit the link below to complete your payment before you arrive at {{.site.Name}}.
Full details of your original booking can be found below. If you have any questions, please contact {{.site.Name}} at {{.site.Email}}.
Enjoy your holiday!
NOTE the message must contain a link with the html attribute href set to {{.payment.AuthoriseURL}} to work.