Guest payments and refunds

What it is

Setting up how a guest pays, and working with payments in the reservation detail.

Why you need it

So that you know who has paid and who has not, and so that you can process and record a refund.

Payment methods

They are set up in Settings, in the Payment methods block. Choose at least one option.

With online payment you can also choose which methods the guest sees (card, Apple Pay, PayPal and others) - see "How guests can pay" below.

Pay on arrival

The simplest option. You set nothing up, the guest books and pays with you.

When they then pay, you record it through Mark as paid (see below).

Online card payment

To accept card payments you have to connect your own payment account. That is done in the same Settings block.

The money goes directly to you, with no commission for Ubytora.

1. In Settings find the Accept card payments block.
2. Click the button that starts the connection. The payment gateway's page opens.
3. It takes you through entering your company and bank details. It takes a few minutes and is done once.
4. After verification come back here and turn on the Online card payment toggle.

You see the connection status as a label: Not connected, Finish connecting, Action required or Connected.

Ubytora neither sees nor stores your card or bank account details.

Your own payment gateway (GoPay, Besteron, Comgate)

If you already have your own contract with GoPay, Besteron or Comgate, you can take payments through it as well. The contract is between you and the gateway - Ubytora is not a party to it, and guest payments go straight to your account, exactly as with the connection above.

1. In Settings, find the Taking payments block and switch to your gateway's tab at the top.
2. Copy in the details the gateway gave you when your contract was signed. You will find them in your account with the gateway:
   • GoPay: your GoPay account number (usually labelled GoID), your login ID and your connection password.
   • Besteron: your Besteron ID (usually labelled CID), your payment key and your API key. These are two different keys and cannot be swapped
     • the payment key opens the payment, the API key checks its status and issues refunds. If you mix them up, the connection test says so right away.
   • Comgate: your Shop identifier and Password. These are the only two details Comgate needs.
3. Click Save details, then Test connection. We check that the details work - nothing is charged or created by the test.
4. Once the test passes, turn on the Take payments through switch for that gateway.

We store the details encrypted and never show the keys again - you only see their last four characters. To change one, simply enter the new one; leaving the field empty means the saved key stays as it is.

You can switch on more than one payment system at a time - for example the connection above as well as GoPay, Besteron or Comgate. Guests then choose which one to pay with when booking. Bookings that have already been paid are always refunded the same way they were paid, even if you later switch a system off.

What the guest sees

When a guest picks online payment at the last step of booking, an indented list of Ways you can pay opens below it - payment card, digital wallets, bank transfer. The names of payment systems (Stripe, GoPay) mean nothing to a guest, so they see the payment methods behind them instead.

If you have one payment system switched on, guests see only this list of methods - there is nothing to choose between, so the name of the system is not shown at all.

If you have several switched on, each one gets its own card with its name (Payment gateway) and its methods listed below. Guests can compare what they can pay with through each one and pick one. The choice is nested under online payment, so it is clear it is a way of paying online rather than another option next to paying on arrival.

For bank transfers, the individual bank names you switched on are listed too (for example "Bank transfer: Tatra banka, Fio banka"), so guests can see at a glance whether theirs is among them.

For GoPay and Comgate, a note appears below the list: "You will see the exact options on the payment page." With these two you switch individual banks on in the gateway's own portal, so Ubytora can only show what the gateway usually offers, not your exact list.

A deposit instead of the full amount

When you have online payment switched on, you can set a Deposit for online payment - what percentage of the price the guest pays in advance. They pay the rest on arrival.

The system tells you directly what you have set: "The guest pays 30 % in advance, the remaining 70 % on arrival."

How guests can pay through the linked account

When you have online payment switched on, you can choose which payment methods the guest sees on the payment page. You will find it in the same block, below the Online card payment switch.

If you tick nothing, the payment gateway picks the methods itself based on the guest's country and the amount. That is what we recommend - the guest is offered what people in their country normally use, and you have nothing to keep an eye on.

Ticking specific methods narrows the choice: the guest sees exactly the ones you picked and nothing else. To go back to the automatic choice, untick them all.

There are three groups to choose from:

Each method says who it suits - Przelewy24, for example, is for guests from Poland.

Apple Pay and Google Pay are part of the payment card, they have no entry of their own. With the card ticked, a guest paying from a phone is offered them automatically.

How guests can pay through Besteron

Besteron has its own set of payment options - besides the card, it offers buttons for Slovak and Czech banks. You set it up right in the Besteron panel, below the fields with your credentials.

If you tick nothing, the guest pays by card (including Apple Pay and Google Pay). Unlike Stripe, Besteron cannot pick the methods itself, so the card is the default.

Ticking specific options narrows the choice - the guest sees exactly the ones you picked. A bank button means the guest pays by transfer through their online banking, not by card.

The lists for Stripe and for Besteron are separate. Each gateway has its own set of options, so ticking a bank for Besteron has no effect on what Stripe offers the guest, and the other way round.

The choice sits on top of online payment, it does not replace it. Until you have connected a payment account and switched Online card payment on, the list is not shown and the guest cannot pay by card at all.

How guests can pay through Comgate

Comgate offers guests whatever you have enabled in your Comgate account. You set up individual banks there rather than in Ubytora - here you only pick one of two options:

If you pick nothing, the first option applies.

Payment confirmation address (Comgate only)

Comgate is the only gateway that needs to be told where to send the payment confirmation. You set this address in your Comgate account, not with us.

That is why the Comgate panel shows a Payment confirmation address field - copy the address from it and paste it into the payment notification settings in your Comgate account.

Without this step a reservation will not mark itself as paid, even though the guest really did send the money. The reservation will show "Paid online 0" and the full amount as due on arrival, even though the guest paid the deposit. The payment itself is fine - the money is at Comgate, our system just has no way to find out about it.

In your Comgate account this is the "Payment result URL" field (Integration, Edit shop connection). There is nothing to do for GoPay or Besteron - we hand them the address automatically with every payment.

What you see on a reservation

In the reservation detail there is a Payment block:

Payment statuses: Deposit paid online, Paid online, Payment in progress, Payment failed, Refunded (full amount), Partially refunded.

In the Payment attempts block you also see unsuccessful attempts. That is useful when a guest claims they paid.

Recording a payment received away from the website

When a guest pays in cash, by card terminal or by transfer:

1. In the reservation detail click Mark as paid.
2. Choose the Payment method: Cash, Card or Bank transfer.
3. Enter the Amount paid, or click Full balance.
4. Optionally add a Note - for example a receipt number or who took the payment.
5. Click Record payment.

This cannot be undone. If you have an accounting system connected, an invoice and a receipt are created in it.

If the guest paid more than the price of the stay, the system warns you about the overpayment and you can then refund it.

Refunds

There are two ways, depending on how the guest paid.

A refund through the payment gateway

When the guest paid online by card:

1. In the reservation detail click Refund.
2. The system suggests an amount according to your cancellation terms - for example "Under the cancellation policy the guest gets 50 % back".
3. You can overwrite the amount. For example 0 for a no-show, or the full amount as a goodwill gesture.
4. Fill in the Refund reason. It is required.
5. Click Refund.

You cannot refund more than the guest paid. You can see the maximum next to the amount field.

Recording a refund made outside the gateway

When you are returning money from the till or by transfer:

1. Click Record refund.
2. Choose the Refund method.
3. Enter the Refunded amount.
4. Fill in the Reason for refund.
5. Click Record refund.

You are the one returning the money to the guest. This only records that it happened.

Cancellation terms

They are set in Settings, in the Cancellation terms block. The guest sees them when booking and in the confirmation e-mail.

1. Turn on Automatic cancellation rules.
2. In the Refund bands enter how much the guest gets back depending on how long before arrival they cancel. The percentage is of the total price of the stay.
   An example: 7 days → 100 %, 3 days → 50 %, 0 days → 0 %.
3. Optionally fill in an additional explanation for the guest - free text with no calculation.
4. Save.

The actual refund is always limited by the amount the guest paid online. If they only paid a 30 % deposit, you cannot refund more than that.

If you leave the automatic rules switched off, only the free text applies - no refund calculation is made and you decide.

Proof of payment

After an online payment a PDF document is created automatically. The guest gets it by e-mail, and you find it in the reservation detail to download and on the Documents screen - see Documents and accounting systems.

Common problems

I cannot turn on online card payment. You first have to connect a payment account. Until then the toggle is inactive.

A guest claims they paid but the reservation is unpaid. Look at the Payment attempts block. A declined payment will be visible there. Through the link to your payment account you can also see the detail - that is evidence in a dispute.

I cannot refund the money. The reservation has no online payment that can be refunded. Use Record refund.

The system will not let me refund the amount I want. You cannot refund more than the guest paid.

I marked a payment by mistake. Recording a payment cannot be undone. Use Record refund and give the reason.

The refund does not match the cancellation terms. The suggestion is only a suggestion. Check what you actually entered in the field.

I cancelled a reservation and the guest did not get their money. Cancelling does not make a refund - it is a separate action.