Pilot: Migrating from auto payments to payment automations

Payment Automations is a robust tool that allows you to:

• Configure payment rules at the account level (instead of only per listing).
• Set conditions based on listing, channel, length of stay, or advanced notice (for manual bookings), providing you with greater flexibility.
• Automatically schedule one or more charges - for example, 50% at booking and 50% before check-in.

This system streamlines revenue collection, minimizes manual intervention, and can reduce missed payments.

If you’re already using auto payments, you can seamlessly switch to the new payment automations feature to enjoy a more flexible and powerful way to manage payment schedules.
This feature streamlines revenue collection, minimizes manual intervention, and can reduce missed payments.
Payment automations run alongside your existing auto payment rules until you switch. Set up the new payment automations without impacting your current payment processing. You can test or configure your automations before deactivating old rules.

Differences between auto payments and payment automations

Start using payment automations

To begin using the new feature, create a payment automation. New automations are created as inactive, so test or configure the automation before activating it.

In the pop-up, choose whether to apply the automation to existing reservations that meet the conditions.

• No, apply to future reservations only: Existing reservations will continue to use your old auto payment rules until all reservations with the old rules have checked out.
• Yes, apply to existing reservations: The new automation will apply to existing reservations with a future check-in date that have not yet been paid or partially paid. All other existing reservations will continue to use the old auto payment rules.

Create a new payment automation

Step by step:

1. Sign in to your Guesty account.
2. In the top navigation bar, click the Mode selector and select Operations.
3. Click Automations and select Payments.
4. Click Add payment automation and select one of the following:
   • Click Add on the desired automation payment template
   • Click Create custom automation.
5. Name your automation by providing a clear name like “50% at Booking for Booking.com” or “Full payment for direct reservations”.
6. Choose conditions:
   • Listing: Select whether this automation applies to all listings in your account or only specific listings.
   • Channel: Choose channel(s), such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, or manual.
   • Additional conditions (for manual bookings):
     • Length of stay: e.g., “Only apply this rule for stays over 7 nights.”
     • Advanced notice: e.g., “Apply this rule only if the reservation is made at least 72 hours prior to check-in.”
7. Add one or more steps to your schedule. For each payment step, specify:
   • Timing: “At booking,” “X days before check-in,” “X days after booking,” etc.
   • Amount: Percentage of total reservation cost or fixed amount.
8. Click Save (Automation is saved as “Inactive” by default).

Activate an automation

Once you finish creating all the automations you need:

1. Sign in to your Guesty account.
2. In the top navigation bar, click the mode selector and select Operations.
3. Click Automations and select Payments.
4. Review all the relevant automations:

• • Double-check names, conditions (channel, listing, manual booking criteria), and payment schedules.
  • Make changes as needed. By default, any changes you make are saved to the inactive state, so they won’t affect live reservations yet.

5. Click Activate All or toggle on individual automations if available. 
6. A confirmation prompt will appear, explaining that:

• • All future reservations that match your automation criteria will follow the new Payment Automations.
  • Existing reservations (booked before activation) will continue to use your old auto payment rules.