Collect a security deposit from your guests

Smoobu has no built-in security-deposit feature, so a deposit or damage deposit is collected in one of three ways: as a required extra at your own checkout, as a Stripe payment link you send yourself, or through a Marketplace partner that automates deposits. Which one fits depends on where your bookings come from.

Before you start

Have this in place before you set up the checkout route below:

• Your Booking Engine live on your website, since the required-extra route only exists at your own checkout. See .
• An online payment method at checkout, so the deposit is actually paid at booking. See .

Three ways to collect a deposit

• A required extra at your checkout. You add the deposit as a required Additional Item, and guests pay it as part of the booking total. Works only for bookings made through your Booking Engine or Smoobu website; guests booking on channels like Booking.com or Airbnb never see it. The deposit is really charged, and giving it back after the stay is a manual refund by you.
• A Stripe payment link you send yourself. You create a payment link in your Stripe account and send it to the guest, for example pasted into a message template. Works for bookings from any source; requesting and refunding are manual.
• A Marketplace partner: Swikly or ChargeAutomation. Both automatically send guests a deposit link after booking and let the deposit be released or refunded after check-out. They work with pre-authorization, a temporary hold on the guest's card instead of an actual charge. ChargeAutomation covers bookings from all sources, including channel bookings.

Steps

To add the deposit as a required extra at your checkout:

1. In Smoobu, open Configuration > Booking Engine and go to Accommodation settings.
2. Next to Additional Items, click the + icon.
3. Name the item so guests understand it, for example "Security deposit (refunded after your stay)".
4. Select the properties it applies to and enter the amount.
5. Set the item to Required field, so every guest pays it with the booking.
6. Save.

From now on, every booking through your Booking Engine or website includes the deposit in the total. After the guest checks out, refund the deposit manually through the payment provider the guest paid with, for example from your Stripe account.

Check it worked

Open your own checkout and start a test booking (): the deposit appears as a required line item in the price summary, and the booking total includes it.

Send the deposit as a Stripe payment link instead

If you don't want the deposit inside the booking total, or the booking came from a channel, request it separately. Create a payment link for the deposit amount in your Stripe account, then send it to the guest, for example pasted into one of your message templates. There is no deposit placeholder for message templates, so the link sits in the message as a normal written-out link. Releasing the deposit afterwards is a manual refund in Stripe.

Automate deposits with a Marketplace partner

Swikly and ChargeAutomation connect to Smoobu through the Marketplace. After a booking comes in, they send the guest a deposit link automatically, hold the deposit as a pre-authorization on the guest's card, and release or refund it after check-out. ChargeAutomation works for bookings from all sources, including Booking.com and Airbnb. Setup and pricing are handled with the partner.

One thing to know with Swikly: it picks up a booking's deposit data only when the guest clicks the deposit link, not for every booking automatically. The deposit amount or paid status shown in Smoobu can therefore lag behind or look wrong even when the deposit itself is fine on Swikly's side.

Common problems

I want deposits on Booking.com and Airbnb bookings

The required-extra route can't do that: it only exists at your own checkout. For channel bookings, use ChargeAutomation (it covers all booking sources) or send the guest a Stripe payment link manually.

The stay is over and I need to give the deposit back

Where the money goes back depends on how you collected it. A deposit charged as a required extra or paid through a payment link is refunded manually from your payment provider, for example your Stripe account; Smoobu has no deposit-refund flow of its own. A deposit held by Swikly or ChargeAutomation is released or refunded through the partner after check-out.

The deposit amount or status in Smoobu doesn't match Swikly

Smoobu's display updates when Swikly transmits the data, and Swikly only syncs a booking once the guest clicks the deposit link, so a mismatch doesn't mean the deposit failed. Check your Swikly account first: it holds the authoritative status. If Smoobu and Swikly still disagree, contact Smoobu Support and include a screenshot of the deposit in your Swikly account.

Related articles

Still stuck?

If these steps didn't fix it, contact the Smoobu team: open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner. To get the fastest answer, please include:

• Your Smoobu User ID (in the profile-icon menu, top right).
• The property name or ID, if it's about one property.
• The Booking ID, if it's about one booking (Bookings, then View more).
• The channel name, if it's about channel sync (Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, and so on).
• A short step-by-step: what you did, what you expected, and what happened.
• Screenshots or a short screen recording of the problem.
• Your browser and operating system, if something looks wrong on screen.