Understanding Payment Holds on Houfy

1.Booking Request Hold :

If your listing requires you to approve a booking before it is confirmed, Houfy may place a hold on the guest’s payment when they submit the booking request.

The guest is not charged immediately.

What happens next?

• If you accept the booking: The payment hold is captured and becomes an actual charge.

• If you decline the booking: The hold is released and the guest is not charged.

• If no action is taken: The authorization eventually expires, the booking request is cancelled, and the hold is released automatically.

While the payment hold is active, the guest cannot submit the same payment again. If they return to the payment page, they may see a “Payment Hold Exists” message instead of another payment form. This helps prevent double charges while the booking request is pending.

2.Security Deposit Hold :

Houfy can also place a temporary authorization hold on a guest’s card for a security deposit.

Requirements:

• Your listing must have a security deposit amount greater than $0.

• Charge with Houfy must be selected (the alternative is Collect by host).

• The feature works with supported payment processors including Stripe, Square, and PayPal.

When is the security deposit collected?

You can configure this under Edit listing → Pricing → Additional Pricing Options → When do you collect this deposit?

At booking - Houfy authorizes the deposit when the guest pays. If your listing requires you to approve the booking, that authorization is captured into a real charge when you accept - unless the whole window (days until check-in, plus the nights, plus about 2 days to release) already fits inside 7 days, in which case it simply stays a hold until after checkout.

• If On check-in is selected, the amount is collected on the check-in date.

• If 1 day before check-in is selected, it is collected one day before check-in.

• If 3 days before check-in is selected, it is collected three days before check-in.

• If 7 days before check-in is selected, it is collected seven days before check-in.

Do not pick 2 days before check-in. The option appears in the dropdown, but the payment scheduler does not yet handle it and treats it as 7 days before check-in, so the deposit is taken five days earlier than you chose. Use 1, 3 or 7 days before check-in, or On check-in date, until this is fixed.

Hold or charge — how does Houfy decide?

Choosing a date before check-in does not always mean the security deposit will be placed as a hold. Houfy checks how long the authorization would need to remain active:

Days before check-in + number of nights + days after checkout before release

Total of 7 days or less: Houfy can use a temporary authorization hold.

• Total of more than 7 days: The security deposit is charged instead and can be automatically refunded after checkout if there is no damage claim.

Example:

Suppose you have:

• Security deposit collection: 3 days before check-in

• Stay length: 5 nights

• Release period: 5 days after checkout

3 + 5 + 5 = 13 days

Because this is longer than the authorization window, the security deposit would be charged rather than held.

Your collection setting decides when Houfy places a hold. If the total window is longer than 7 days, Houfy charges the deposit instead - and that charge is always taken on the check-in date, not on the date you picked. It is refunded automatically after checkout if you make no damage claim.

What happens when a security deposit hold is placed?

1. Houfy attempts to place the authorization on the guest’s saved payment method on the scheduled date.

2. The host and guest are notified when the hold is successfully placed.

3. If the authorization fails, such as because the card is declined, both parties are notified and the guest can update their payment method.

4. The hold remains active during the stay.

5. The host receives a reminder before the scheduled automatic release.

6. If no action is taken, the hold is automatically released based on the configured release period.

After checkout: release or capture :

No damage: If there is no damage, you normally do not need to do anything. The authorization will be released according to your security deposit settings, and the guest will not be charged.

Damage found: If you need to collect money for damage, you must capture the authorization before it is released.

From the reservation’s Security Deposit section, you can:

• Choose Capture

• Enter the amount you want to collect

• Capture the full deposit or only part of it

• Provide a reason for the charge

The captured amount becomes an actual charge. Any remaining amount that is not captured is released. The guest is notified when the deposit is captured.

Collecting the deposit as a manual hold

If you turn on the manual damage-deposit hold setting for a listing, Houfy stops scheduling the deposit automatically. Instead you send the guest a deposit link yourself, the guest places the hold, and you capture it later from the reservation’s Security Deposit section. If you have this switched on, none of the automatic collection timing above applies to that listing.

3. Manual Payment Request Hold:

When sending a guest an additional payment request from a reservation, you may have the option to either:

• Charge now — collect the payment immediately

• Place a hold — authorize the amount without collecting it immediately

A payment request hold can be useful when you want to reserve funds for a possible charge without collecting the money right away.

You can capture the authorization later if the payment is needed.

Holds only apply to extra charges. The "Place a hold" option is available for extra/side charges (like a pet fee or damage charge) that sit outside the reservation total. It is not available for a payment request applied toward the reservation balance — since a hold collects nothing, it can never reduce what the guest still owes, so balance payments can only be charged.

Authorization periods:

For a manual payment request hold, the window depends on the processor: Stripe about 7 days, Square about 6 days, PayPal up to 29 days - but PayPal only guarantees to honour an authorization for about 3 days, so capture a PayPal hold within 3 days or treat it as unreliable.

For a security deposit hold the window is 7 days on every processor, whichever one you use.

If the hold is not captured within the processor’s authorization period, it can expire and the reserved funds become available to the guest again.

Payment Hold Statuses:

Status Meaning

Pending The authorization is scheduled but has not been placed yet

Processing The authorization is currently being processed.

Held / Uncaptured The authorization is active; no money has been collected

Captured The authorization was converted into an actual charge

Charged The deposit was taken as a real charge instead of a hold, because the window exceeded 7 days

Released The hold was released without charging the guest

Cancelled / Voided The authorization was cancelled

Failed The attempt to place the authorization was unsuccessful

An automatically refunded deposit does not show a distinct status yet - check the reservation’s Security Deposit section for the refund date.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Does a payment hold mean the guest has been charged?

No. A hold reserves the amount on the guest’s card, but the money has not been transferred to the host. The amount becomes an actual charge only if the authorization is captured.

Does a hold affect the guest’s available balance or credit?

Yes. While the authorization is active, the reserved amount may be unavailable to the guest, even though it has not been charged.

What does “Payment Hold Exists” mean?

It means a payment has already been authorized for the reservation. This commonly occurs while a booking request is waiting for the host to accept or decline it. The guest does not need to submit another payment.

What happens if the guest’s card is declined?

If Houfy cannot place the authorization, the host and guest are notified. The guest can update their payment method from the reservation page. A host may also send another payment request when appropriate.

Can I capture only part of a security deposit?

Yes. You can capture an amount up to the full authorized security deposit and release the remaining amount.

Why did a payment hold disappear? For a security deposit, it was probably renewed rather than lost. When a deposit hold is about to expire, Houfy releases the old authorization and immediately places a new one for the same amount. The guest sees the old hold drop off and a new one appear; no money was collected and nothing was double-charged. For a manual payment request hold there is no renewal - if it is not captured before the processor’s window ends, it expires and the funds are released.

What if I need more time to inspect the property?

For security deposits, make sure any required amount is captured before the authorization is scheduled to release. If you regularly need more time after checkout, consider adjusting your security deposit release period for future reservations.

Important Notes:

• A hold is not the same as a charge.

• Security deposit collection operates separately from the automatic payment schedule for the reservation balance.

• If Charge with Houfy is disabled for your security deposit, Houfy will not automatically manage the security deposit hold or charge. You will be responsible for collecting and managing it separately.

• Security deposits set to collect at booking are charged rather than placed as authorization holds.