Give a refund

Give a refund when the customer cancels, pays too much, or a payment was recorded by mistake. Every refund is a record of its own with a receipt number; the original payment stays in the history.

Before you start

• You need permission to refund payments. Without it the refund buttons are greyed out, and the window says You do not have permission to give refunds. Ask a manager.
• Only money that was paid can be refunded: up to what the booking has received, and for one payment, up to that payment less earlier refunds of it.

Refund one payment (to the card, by hand or to credit)

1. Open the booking and its Payments tab.
2. Next to a payment taken online, press Refund to card. The window Refund this payment shows the payment, what was paid and what was already refunded.
3. Under How to refund, choose:
   • Back to the card: the gateway returns the money to the card the customer paid with.
   • Record a manual refund: you already returned the money another way (cash, transfer). Choose it in Returned by and type the Reference (optional), for example the transfer or cheque number.
   • To customer credit: the amount is kept as the customer's credit and can pay a later booking. Shown only when the agency uses customer credit.
4. Check Amount to refund. It starts with everything still refundable; a smaller amount makes a partial refund.
5. Type the Reason (optional), for example Trip cancelled by the customer.
6. Press Refund to card via …, Record refund or Refund to customer credit.

Refund an amount on the booking by hand

1. Open the booking and press Give a refund in the More actions menu (the three dots), or Refund at the top of the Payments tab.
2. Type the Amount (it starts with everything paid), choose Refunded by, and type the Reference, Date received and Reason.
3. Press Record refund. The message Refund of … recorded appears with Print receipt.

After the refund

• Refunded to the card: the gateway finished it. Banks usually show it on the card within 5 to 10 working days.
• … is processing the refund: the gateway accepted it but has not finished. The system checks it again by itself. If the gateway later turns it down, an urgent task asks you to refund the customer another way.
• Refund recorded: a manual refund or credit is recorded.
• The refund shows in the booking's Payments tab and Payment panel as Refund, in red, and in Payments → Received (filter Kind: Refunds). The booking's paid amount and balance change at once.
• A refund does not change the invoice. To correct the tax invoice, issue a credit note: see Issue a credit note or a debit note.

If something goes wrong

• Refund to card is missing: the payment was not taken online through a gateway, so refund it by hand.
• This payment was not taken online, so it is refunded by hand: use Record a manual refund.
• This payment went through …, which is no longer connected. Refund it from that dashboard and record a manual refund.: the agency or branch changed gateway. Refund in the old gateway's own dashboard, then record a manual refund here.
• … cannot refund automatically. Record a manual refund instead.: this gateway does not support refunds from the system.
• You can refund up to …: lower the amount.
• Stripe refunds … in steps of 0.010. Use an amount like ….: with Stripe, amounts in BHD, KWD, OMR or JOD must end in 0.
• Tap declined the refund (…)., BENEFIT declined the refund. or Stripe could not refund (…).: the gateway refused. Refund another way and record a manual refund. More in Online payment problems and fixes.