Not to be confused with a damage deposit or credit card pre-authorization, a prepayment deposit is when you charge a guest for their reservation in advance.
If you accept credit cards, you can charge a prepayment on the card the guest booked with. You can either charge the full amount or just a portion, but the final amount should be the same as the one listed on the booking confirmation.
How to set up a prepayment deposit:
- Click the Property tab, then Policies.
- Under Cancellation & Prepayment Policies, click Edit to update an existing policy or select Create a new cancellation policy.
If you don’t accept credit cards but want to charge a prepayment deposit, you’ll need to contact the guest to arrange payment. To keep things simple, decide on a payment deadline and inform the guest – you can even set up a message template to save yourself time.
You could also set up a cancellation policy where guests pay a set percentage if they cancel after a certain date. That way you don’t have to worry about returning money to all the guests who do stay – plus your property could be even more appealing to other potential guests who don't want to pay anything up front.
You can set up a range of cancellation policies – all of which give you control over how much your guests pay, and when.
Note: If you just recently became a Booking.com partner, there might be a temporary restriction on prepayments for your property.