Automated security deposits help protect your business against damages and last-minute cancellations. Automating security deposits through payment automations removes the need to manually add them to every reservation.
The automated security deposit works with any booking channel as long as a payment method is available.
Understand prerequisites and limitations
Before setting up automated security deposits, review the following requirements and functional constraints:
Payment automations: Ensure payment automations is set up in the Guesty account.
Processor support: Verify that the payment processor supports security deposit holds.
Manual charges: Automated security deposits are held and released automatically. To collect funds for damages, manually charge the deposit before the hold is released.
Virtual Credit Cards (VCC): Guesty can't add a security deposit using a Virtual Credit Card.
Hold duration: Security deposits can be held for a maximum of five days due to payment processor limitations.
Channel syncing: Security deposits in payment automations are separate from the security deposit fields in listing settings and don't sync with booking channels.
Set up an automated security deposit
Follow the steps below to automate the collection of security deposits for reservations.
Step by step:
Sign in to your Guesty account.
In the left-side menu, click Payment Automations.
Click an existing automation or click Create automation to start a new one.
Click Add payment.
Under "Payment type", select Security deposit.
Set the deposit amount as a Fixed amount or Percentage.
Configure the timing for the deposit.
Click Save.
Once configured, Guesty automatically schedules security deposits for all applicable reservations. To charge for damages, access the specific reservation and manually charge the deposit before the hold period ends.
Optimize security deposit settings
Use these best practices to manage security deposits effectively across different listings and channels:
Timing: Configure deposit holds to begin five days before check-out. This ensures the hold remains active throughout the guest's stay.
Targeted rules: Use payment automation rules per listing or channel to align with specific channel policies.
Guest communication: If a booking channel doesn't display the deposit amount, use automated messages to notify guests of the deposit requirements.