> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.superhost.world/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Collect a payment

> Send a guest a card payment link for a deposit, the balance, or tourist tax — and capture or release a security hold.

Once you've [connected a Stripe account](/properties/card-payments), the
**Folio** section of a reservation can take card payments as well as record
them. The money goes straight to your own Stripe account.

If you'd rather keep recording payments by hand, you can — nothing here replaces
**Record payment**, and a property that never turns card payments on works
exactly as it did before.

## Send a payment link

1. Open the reservation from the [Calendar](/reservations/calendar) and find the
   **Folio** section.
2. Tap **Collect payment**.
3. Pick an amount, or type your own:
   * **Full balance** — everything still owing on the stay.
   * **30% deposit** — a starting point you can edit.
   * **Tourist tax** — the amount from the
     [tourist tax](/check-in/tourist-tax) calculation.
4. Tap **Create payment link**, then **Copy**.
5. Paste the link wherever you talk to the guest — your
   [guest conversation](/messaging/reply-to-guests), an email, or the channel's
   own inbox.

The guest opens the link, pays on Stripe's own page, and sees a confirmation.
You never handle their card details.

<Note>
  A new line appears on the folio straight away marked **pending**. Once the
  guest completes the payment it becomes a paid line — or, for a hold, one
  marked **on hold** — usually within seconds. If they never pay, the line ends
  up marked **failed** so you can see the attempt rather than wondering whether
  you sent it.
</Note>

### What the guest sees

The link opens Stripe's own payment page under your property's name. Afterwards
they land on a short confirmation:

* **Payment received** — noting the charge appears on their statement under your
  property's name.
* **Your card is holding this amount** — for a hold, spelling out that no money
  has left their account and that their bank may show it as pending.
* **Payment not completed** — if they backed out, telling them they haven't been
  charged and to use the link again or ask you for a new one.

The page shows nothing about the booking or the folio, so it's safe to send to
anyone paying on the guest's behalf.

### Bookings from a channel

On a booking from Booking.com, Airbnb, or Vrbo, the sheet warns you that the
channel has usually collected the room rate already. You can still collect —
for damage, a late checkout, or anything the guest asked for at the desk — but
charging the room rate again would bill them twice.

## Deposits: charge or hold

How deposits work is set once per property, on the **Card payments** screen
under **Integrations** in your property settings (an Owner sets this):

* **Charge it** — the money is taken now and lands in your Stripe account.
  Giving it back is a refund.
* **Hold it on the card** — the amount is reserved on the guest's card without
  being taken. You capture what you need or release the rest.

Balances are always charged, whichever you pick.

If the stay runs past the hold's 7 days, the sheet says so before you create the
link — it names the date the card will be released and points you at **Charge
it** instead. You can still send the hold; it just won't cover you until
checkout.

### Capture or release a hold

A held deposit shows on the folio marked **on hold**, with two buttons:

* **Capture** — take the money. Use this when there's damage or an unpaid extra.
* **Release** — let it go. The reservation is settled and the guest owes nothing.

A hold doesn't count towards what the guest has paid, because the money hasn't
moved. It only affects the balance once you capture it.

There's nothing to refund on a hold you released or that expired — the guest was
never charged, so there's no payment to reverse. Their bank may still show the
amount as pending for a few days afterwards; that's the card issuer clearing it
on its own schedule, not a charge sitting on your account. If a guest asks, the
money is already theirs to spend.

<Warning>
  Card holds expire after about 7 days — that's the card networks' limit, not
  ours. If a hold lapses before you capture it, the line is marked **hold
  expired** and we let you know. The guest's card is free at that point, so
  you'd need to send a new hold if you still want cover. For long stays, or when
  you need cover well after checkout, **Charge it** is the more reliable choice.
</Warning>

When a hold lapses you get a notification titled **A security hold expired**.
Tapping it opens the reservation, so you can send a new hold without hunting for
the booking. It follows your **Reservation notifications** setting — see
[Notification settings](/account/notification-settings).

## Refund a payment

A payment collected by card shows a **Refund** button. Tap it to send the money
back from your Stripe account; a matching refund line appears on the folio.
Refunds you issue in your own Stripe dashboard show up here too.

Only a captured card payment can be refunded, because only that money actually
left the guest's account. A hold shows **Capture** and **Release** instead, and
once it has been released or has expired it shows neither — there is no charge
to reverse.

Payments you recorded by hand — cash, a bank transfer, a voucher — have no
Refund button, because no card payment exists to reverse. Delete or edit those
lines directly instead.

<Note>
  Lines collected by card can't be deleted from the folio — a captured one is
  refunded instead, and a failed, released or expired one stays as the record of
  what was attempted. The folio is the record of what genuinely happened, so
  removing a line would leave your books disagreeing with your Stripe account.
</Note>
