How to choose how customers pay for bookings (online, on arrival or their choice)

In TeleportHQ, a booking with a price is paid online, on arrival, or the way the customer chooses. Add a payment provider, such as Stripe or PayPal, under Payment Providers at the top of the Bookings panel. Then open Booking Settings → Payment Settings and pick one under Customers Pay: Online, when they book, When they arrive or Customers choose (the default). A customer who pays online goes to the provider's payment page right after booking, while their time is held for them.

Before you start#

• Payment only applies to items with a price. A free item is booked without paying.
• To take payments online, you need an account with a payment provider that takes bookings: Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Razorpay, Square or CoinGate, and its keys. Paddle never takes bookings: it sells digital products only.
• The payment providers are your project's. If the project also has a store, the store and your bookings use the same ones.
• Bookings never go through a cart or a checkout page: the customer pays on the provider's page right after booking, then comes back to their booking.

1. Add a payment provider#

1. In the editor's left sidebar, click Bookings.
2. At the top of the Bookings panel, in Payment Providers, click + (tooltip Add Payment Provider). With no provider yet, the section says No payment providers configured, and you can also click the Add Payment Provider button below it.
3. In the Add Payment Provider panel, click a provider, for example Stripe.
4. Paste its keys, click Test Connection, then Save Configuration. For where to find the keys, see How to accept payments with Stripe or PayPal.
5. If a line above the list says, for example, "Razorpay needs its webhook: until it is connected, bookings paid there stay pending.", click Set up next to it. See How to set up the payment webhook (so orders are marked paid).

When your bookings can take payments, a message says "Your bookings can now be paid online: customers pay on the payment provider's page right after they book."

Notes below the list tell you when a provider can't take bookings:

• "Paddle sells digital products only, so bookings are never paid through it."
• "Square cannot charge in EUR, so bookings are not paid through it." A provider that can't charge in your bookings' currency is skipped. Square charges only in its location's currency.
• "Your store keeps its orders in another database than your bookings, so bookings are not paid online."

2. Choose how customers pay#

1. At the top right of the Bookings panel, click the gear (Booking Settings). The Bookings Setup drawer opens.
2. On the Payment row, click Payment Settings. The Payment Settings panel opens beside the list.
3. Under Customers Pay, click one:
   • Online, when they book: "Customers pay when they book, on the payment provider's secure page. The booking keeps its time while they pay."
   • When they arrive: "Nothing is charged when they book; they pay you when they arrive."
   • Customers choose: "Customers pick "Pay online now" or "Pay on arrival" when they book."
4. In Hold While Paying (minutes), type how long a booking keeps its time while the customer pays online, for example 20. It takes 5 minutes to a day (1440 minutes). It starts at 30.
5. At the bottom of the panel, click Save Payment Settings. The message "Saved. Your site uses it from now on." appears.

The Payment row then reads, for example, "For priced items: customers choose. Your payment providers are in the Bookings panel, above your items."

What customers see#

On your published TeleportHQ site, an item's page shows how it's paid under Good to know → Payment: "Online, when you book", "When you arrive", "Online now, or when you arrive" or "Free of charge".

• Customers choose: the booking form asks "How would you like to pay?", with Pay online now and Pay on arrival.
• Paying online: the button reads Continue to payment ("You will not be charged until the next step."), and the form says "You pay on the next page. Your booking is held for you while you do." After paying, the customer comes back to their booking page, where View invoice opens their invoice once it's issued (see Give customers invoices).
• Paying on arrival: the button reads Book now, and the form says "You pay when you arrive. Nothing is charged now."

What happens to a booking that isn't paid#

• While the customer pays online, the booking is Awaiting payment and holds its time.
• Once paid, it's Confirmed, or Awaiting confirmation if you approve each booking. See What can I change in Booking Settings?.
• If the hold runs out before the payment arrives, the booking is released. Its status becomes Not paid in time, its time is free again, and the customer's booking page says "This booking was released because its payment did not arrive in time." Expired holds are released whenever someone opens an item's calendar, and every hour by your published site's Booking Reminders run (on Trial, Pro and Premium).
• If the payment arrives after the release, TeleportHQ gives the booking its time back when it's still free. If someone else booked that time meanwhile, the booking becomes Needs attention: contact the customer, or refund them. The customer reads "Your payment arrived after your booking was released. The business will contact you."
• To stop a booking that's still waiting for its payment, open it in Growth → Bookings and, in its Payment section, click Cancel Booking. Its payment page closes, and its time can be booked again.

See What do the booking statuses mean?.

Refunds are never automatic#

TeleportHQ never refunds a booking by itself: not when you decline a paid request, not when you cancel a paid booking, and not when the customer cancels online. After such an action, the message says "It was paid online — refund it under Payment."

To refund, open the booking in Growth → Bookings and, in its Payment section, click Refund. See How to find and manage bookings in Growth.

Give customers invoices#

1. In Bookings Setup, switch on Invoices. "Each booking paid online gets a PDF invoice, made out to the invoice details the customer gave, with the tax its price includes at your invoices' tax rate."
2. Click Invoice Settings. While it loads, the panel says "Preparing your invoices…". Then the Invoice Configuration panel opens: set the invoice prefix, the tax rate and your company details, and click Save Changes.

Invoice settings are shared: if you also have a TeleportHQ store, it uses the same ones. See How to set up invoices and VAT for your store.

• On the booking form, customers can click Add invoice details ("For an invoice made out to a company or to another address.") and fill in Name or company, Tax or VAT number, Address, Town / City, Postal code, State / Region and Country. Without them, the invoice is made out to their own name.
• To open an invoice, open the booking in Growth → Bookings. Its Payment section shows Invoice with the invoice number: click it.
• Customers open theirs on their booking page. Once the payment is confirmed and the invoice is issued, the booking page's Payment box reads "Paid online" with Invoice · View invoice under it. View invoice opens the PDF in a new tab, for guests too. The line shows when your site keeps its invoice PDFs in its file storage.
• Customers get the invoice by email too. With Invoice Email Delivery on, the customer of a booking paid online gets their invoice by email, with the PDF attached, in a separate email from the booking confirmation. The first time you save an email service in Customer Emails while Invoices is on, TeleportHQ switches Invoice Email Delivery on with that service and sender. A message says, for example, "Invoices will also be emailed to your customers, through Resend from bookings@seasiderooms.com. You can turn this off in the invoice settings." To stop it, click Invoice Settings, switch off Invoice Email Delivery and click Save Changes. If you switched it off yourself, it stays off.
• Bookings paid on arrival get no invoice.
• Invoices share your store's numbering. If you also have a TeleportHQ store, bookings and orders take their numbers from the same INV- sequence.

If your booking pages already took online payments before this line existed, the Bookings panel offers Rebuild the booking pages. Rebuild them, then publish, to add the View invoice line.

Test before going live#

Pay a booking with your provider's test keys before you switch to live keys. See How to test payments before going live.

Check that it worked#

• In Bookings Setup, the Payment row shows no orange warning icon.
• On your published site, an item with a price shows your choice under Good to know → Payment, and the Payment section of a test booking paid online, in Growth → Bookings, reads "… · paid online through" your provider, for example Stripe.

Troubleshooting#

"No payment provider takes bookings yet, so customers pay on arrival. Add one in the Bookings panel to take payments online." None of your providers can take bookings, so every booking is paid on arrival. Add Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Razorpay, Square or CoinGate, with its keys.

"No payment provider takes bookings, so priced items cannot be booked. Add one in the Bookings panel, or let customers pay on arrival." Customers Pay is Online, when they book, and no provider can take the payment. Add a provider, or choose When they arrive or Customers choose.

"Your booking workflow was changed in the editor, so it was not set up to take payments. Rebuild the booking pages from scratch to let customers pay online." Click Rebuild Booking Pages. See How to design your booking pages (layout, filters, previews and rebuilding).

"Bookings can no longer be paid online" This window opens when you remove your last provider that takes bookings: "Bookings can no longer be paid online once you publish: customers pay on arrival, and items that must be paid online cannot be booked until you add another provider."

Bookings paid online aren't confirmed Your provider can't tell your site about payments yet: the Payment Providers section says "… needs its webhook: until it is connected, bookings paid there stay pending." Click Set up next to the webhook line in Payment Providers, and publish. See How to set up the payment webhook (so orders are marked paid).

Good to know#

• Publish after adding or removing a provider. Payment providers and invoice settings reach your live site when you publish. Customers Pay and Hold While Paying (minutes) apply as soon as you save.
• A booking paid online is an order too. If your project also has a store, you find it in Growth → E-Commerce → Orders, with a Booking section. See How to find and manage orders.
• No deposits. A booking paid online is paid in full when it's booked; deposits and part payments aren't available.