Collect an optional refundable deposit alongside recurring guest payments to protect properties during long-term stays. A refundable deposit charges the guest's payment method directly as an actual transaction rather than placing a temporary authorization hold on their card. The deposit exists alongside standard security deposit functions and does not change your installment rent calculations.
This article explains how to manage automated and manual refundable deposit workflows, view transaction statuses, and process guest refunds.
Understanding deposit rules
Review these baseline behaviors to manage deposit tracking successfully:
The system scopes refundable deposits exclusively to payment installments.
Deposit transactions collect on top of the reservation total and do not affect the installment collectible base.
Successful deposit collections create a unique "Refundable deposit" line item on the guest invoice.
Set deposit configurations
Define your deposit parameters during the installments automation setup process.
Amount: Set the deposit as a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the reservation total.
Charge timing: Choose when the system collects the deposit, such as booking confirmation, pre-confirmation, check-in, or a set number of days before check-in.
Automatic refund timing: Set the number of days after checkout for the system to automatically return the deposit to the guest, up to a maximum of 30 days.
Manage refund actions
The system schedules an automatic refund as soon as a deposit charge succeeds. You can modify this timeline or process funds manually depending on property inspection outcomes. Follow the steps below to a
Cancel an automatic refund
Cancel a scheduled automatic refund if a property sustains damage during a stay or if a guest violates house rules.
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the side navigation menu, click
Reservations. - Select the relevant reservation.
- In the left submenu, click Payments.
- Click the payment line with transaction type "Refundable deposit".
- In the side panel, click Cancel scheduled refund.
- In the pop-up, enter the reason for canceling the refund, then click Confirm cancellation.
Process a manual refund
Issue full or partial manual refunds at any point before the scheduled automatic refund date.
Manual refunds cannot exceed the total remaining refundable deposit amount.
Processing a manual refund automatically deactivates the upcoming scheduled automatic refund to protect against duplicate payouts.
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the side navigation menu, click Reservations.
- Select the relevant reservation.
- In the left submenu, click Payments.
- Click the payment line with transaction type "Refundable deposit".
- In the side panel, click Issue refund.
- In the pop-up, enter the amount and an optional note, then click Issue refund.
Track deposit statuses
Monitor upcoming, processed, or failed deposit transactions by adding the column "Refundable deposit" in a reservations report, or use a prompt to view refundable deposits in the desired state and timeframe.