Handling Partial Payments and Failed Transactions in Hostaway

Managing payments effectively is crucial for ensuring smooth operations and accurate owner payouts in Hostaway. This article explains how to address partial payments, failed transactions, and refunds while leveraging automation settings to prevent future issues.

Common Scenarios and Solutions

1. Ensuring Accurate Status for Partially Paid Reservations

If a reservation is partially paid and a refund has been processed, it's essential to ensure that the reservation's status remains listed as 'Paid' for accurate owner payouts and accounting.

2. Handling Modified Reservations with Outstanding Balances

When a reservation is modified but the corresponding charge is not added, leaving an outstanding balance, follow these steps to resolve the issue:

1. Open the reservation
2. Scroll down to the Payment section
3. Click Add Charge
4. Enter the correct amount, select Credit Card (Online) as the payment method, and set the schedule to Charge Now
5. Click Add Charge
6. Once the charge appears under Payments, click the three dots (⋯) beside it and select Charge Now to process the payment

This method ensures all modifications are accurately billed without discrepancies.

3. Addressing Partial Payment Failures

If a guest's payment partially fails, use the following process:

1. Retry the Payment:
   1. Access your Hostaway dashboard
   2. Locate the guest’s reservation
   3. Go to the Payments section and click “Retry” on the failed payment
   4. Note any error messages for troubleshooting
2. Contact the Guest:
   1. If the retry fails, request the guest to update or re-enter payment details via the Guest Portal link
   2. You can send this link from the reservation page
   3. Inform the guest that the outstanding balance must be settled promptly
3. Manual Collection:
   1. Attempt another payment if the guest updates their payment details
   2. Escalate the issue if payment failures persist or the guest is unresponsive

To avoid such issues, enable automation settings to withhold check-in instructions until full payment is received. This ensures guests meet payment obligations before access is granted.

Automation Settings for Payment Verification

Implementing Hostaway's automation features for payments can help prevent partial payment issues during guest check-ins. For instance:

• Use autopayment schedules that attempt to collect balances on predetermined dates, such as booking confirmation or a few days before check-in.
• Enable settings that restrict sending check-in details to guests until reservations are fully paid. For further assistance in configuring these features, Hostaway technical support is available.

Processing Refunds

If you've processed a partial refund, confirmation can typically be found in the Payments section of your Hostaway dashboard. Verify that the refund status is updated to reflect that it has been processed successfully on the guest’s credit card.By following these structured steps and leveraging automation settings, you can minimize payment-related issues and ensure seamless operations in Hostaway.