What Payment Alerts & Reminders Does Houfy Send?
Houfy sends automatic email alerts for every payment event — upcoming charges, successful payments, failed attempts, security deposit holds, and overdue reminders. Both you and your guest are kept in the loop at every step. You ne
Última atualização 25 de agosto de 2026
How Payment Alerts Work
Houfy’s automated payment system sends emails at specific moments throughout a reservation’s payment timeline. Which emails are sent depends on whether the guest agreed to auto-charge at checkout or will pay manually.
Auto-charge guests (guest checked the auto-charge agreement box at checkout): Houfy sends advance alerts before each charge and confirmation emails after each charge succeeds or fails.
Manual-pay guests (guest did not agree to auto-charge): Houfy sends payment reminders asking the guest to pay, with increasing urgency as the due date passes.
All payment alerts are sent automatically. You don’t need to track due dates or send reminders yourself — Houfy handles it.
Three Categories of Payment Alerts
Every payment alert falls into one of three categories:
Auto-Charge Alerts
When it’s used: Guest agreed to auto-charge. Houfy will charge their saved card automatically.
Who receives it: Both host and guest receive alerts before, and confirmations after, each charge.
Manual Payment Reminders
When it’s used: Guest did not agree to auto-charge. Houfy reminds them to pay on their own.
Who receives it: Guest receives reminders. Host receives the final urgent alert only.
Security Deposit Alerts
When it’s used: Security deposit is enabled on the listing. Covers the full hold lifecycle.
Who receives it: Both host and guest at each phase of the deposit lifecycle.
Auto-Charge Alerts (Guest Agreed to Auto-Charge)
When a guest agrees to auto-charge at checkout, their card is saved and Houfy handles all payments automatically. Here are the alerts sent during this process:
Before the charge
3-Day Advance Notice — Sent 3 days before the scheduled charge date to both guest and host. Informs both parties that an automatic charge is coming. Shows the amount, date, and reservation details.
1-Day Advance Notice — Sent 1 day before the scheduled charge date to both guest and host. Final heads-up that the charge will be processed tomorrow. Last chance for the guest to ensure their card has sufficient funds.
Houfy will not process a charge until the 1-day alert has been sent. This ensures both you and the guest always have advance notice before any money moves.
After the charge
Charge Successful — Sent immediately after the charge is processed successfully to both guest and host. Confirms the payment went through. Includes amount charged, payment method, and updated remaining balance.
Charge Failed — Sent immediately after a charge attempt fails, to both guest and host. Notifies both parties that the charge was declined. Houfy does NOT retry the charge. The scheduled payment stays failed until someone acts: the guest can pay the balance from the payment link in their reservation email, or you can collect it manually. Houfy sends follow-up failure reminders 1 day, 3 days and 6 days after the failure, but these are reminders only — no further charge is attempted.
A failed charge is not retried, so the balance will stay unpaid until it is collected another way. The reservation remains active. Contact the guest and ask them to pay from the link in their reservation email, or collect the balance manually.
Auto-charge alerts apply to all types of automated charges:
Balance due payments — The remaining balance after the initial deposit, charged before arrival.
Split payments — Host-defined installments spread across multiple dates before check-in.
Each split payment or balance due charge gets its own set of 3-day, 1-day, success, and failure alerts.
Manual Payment Reminders (Guest Did Not Agree to Auto-Charge)
When a guest doesn’t agree to auto-charge, Houfy can’t charge their card automatically. Instead, it sends a series of reminders asking the guest to log in and pay. These reminders get progressively more urgent. Houfy checks for due reminders every hour, so a reminder goes out shortly after the stage it belongs to becomes due.
The reminder sequence
Balance Due Reminder — Sent on the payment due date to the guest only. Standard urgency. Tells the guest their balance is due today and includes a link to make the payment.
Deposit Due Reminder — Sent on the security deposit collection date to the guest only. Standard urgency.
Follow-Up Reminder — Sent 3 days after the due date if still unpaid, to the guest only. Elevated urgency.
Overdue Reminder — Sent 7 days after the due date if still unpaid, to both guest AND host. The host is told the payment is 7 days overdue so they can follow up.
Pre-Check-in Reminder — Sent 7 days before check-in if still unpaid, to both guest AND host.
Final Urgent Reminder — Sent 1 day before check-in if still unpaid, to both guest AND host. Urgent.
Manual reminders are sent only once at each stage. Houfy tracks which reminders have been sent to avoid duplicate emails.
Which stages you are copied on
You are copied on two of the five reminder stages. The due-date reminder and the 3-day follow-up go to the guest alone. You are emailed when the payment is 7 days overdue, again 7 days before check-in, and again the day before check-in — the points at which you may need to contact the guest yourself.
If a guest pays their balance at any point, the manual reminder sequence stops and no further reminders are sent for that payment. If an automatic charge failed and the balance was then settled another way, tell us at info@houfy.com so we can clear the failed charge — otherwise the failure reminders may continue.
Security Deposit Alerts
If you have a security deposit enabled on your listing, Houfy sends alerts at every stage of the deposit lifecycle. These are separate from balance due and split payment alerts. Important: a security deposit is only taken as an authorization hold when the whole window fits inside 7 days — that is, the days before check-in you collect it, plus the nights of the stay, plus your release days after checkout. If that total is more than 7 days, or if you collect the deposit at booking, Houfy charges the deposit to the guest's card instead and refunds it afterwards. Most stays fall into the charge case, so tell guests their card will be debited and the money returned after checkout, not merely held.
3-Day Pre-Hold Notice — Sent 3 days before the hold date to guest and host. A security deposit hold will be placed on the guest’s card in 3 days.
1-Day Pre-Hold Notice — Sent 1 day before the hold date to guest and host. The hold will be placed tomorrow.
Hold Successful — Sent when the hold is placed, to guest and host. Confirms the hold is active and no money has been taken. If the deposit was collected as a charge rather than a hold, a Deposit Charged email is sent instead, and a Deposit Refunded email follows when it is returned.
Hold Failed — Sent when a hold or deposit charge attempt fails, to guest and host. It couldn't be placed (card declined or insufficient funds). Houfy does not retry it — ask the guest to sort the card out and arrange the deposit another way.
Hold Expiring — Sent to the host only, the day before an existing hold expires. Card authorization holds last 7 days on every payment processor. If the hold is still needed, Houfy re-authorizes it automatically. The guest is not emailed about a renewal.
Pre-Release Reminder — Sent before the hold auto-releases after checkout to host only. Reminds you to inspect your property and decide whether to release or capture the deposit.
Deposit Released — Sent when you release the hold (no damage) to guest and host. Confirms the deposit hold was released. The guest was never charged.
Deposit Captured — Sent when you capture the deposit (damage found) to guest and host. Confirms how much was captured and the reason for the capture.
Security deposit alerts work the same way whether the guest agreed to auto-charge or not, because security deposit holds require a saved card regardless.
Alert Timeline: A Typical Booking
Here’s what the full alert timeline looks like for a typical reservation with a Deposit + Balance payment policy and a security deposit, where the guest agreed to auto-charge:
Booking confirmed: Guest pays the initial deposit. Remaining balance and security deposit hold are scheduled internally. Booking confirmation email sent.
Balance due date − 3 days: 3-day auto-charge alert sent to guest and host for the upcoming balance payment.
Balance due date − 1 day: 1-day auto-charge alert sent. The charge will process tomorrow.
Balance due date: Houfy charges the remaining balance to the guest’s saved card. Charge success (or failure) email sent.
Deposit hold date − 3 days: 3-day security deposit alert sent to guest and host.
Deposit hold date − 1 day: 1-day security deposit alert sent.
Deposit hold date: Houfy places the authorization hold on the guest’s card. No money charged. Hold success (or failure) email sent.
During stay (if needed): if the hold expires before checkout, Houfy re-authorizes it automatically and emails the host the day before it expires. No email is sent to the guest.
After checkout: Host receives pre-release reminder to inspect property and decide on the deposit.
Host decides: Host releases the hold (no damage) or captures it (damage found). Released or captured alert sent to both.
If the guest did not agree to auto-charge, the balance due alerts above would be replaced by the manual payment reminder sequence instead.
How Alerts Are Delivered
Email: All payment alerts are delivered by email. Houfy uses the email address each user has on their Houfy account.
Timing: Houfy checks for auto-charge alerts every 5 minutes and for manual payment reminders every hour, so each alert goes out shortly after it becomes due. Success and failure notifications are sent immediately after the charge is processed.
No duplicates: Houfy records each alert it sends against the charge, so the same stage is not emailed twice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I turn off payment alerts?
Payment alerts are part of the automated payment system and cannot be turned off individually. They’re designed to keep both you and the guest informed about every payment event. However, you can manage their email notification preferences in their Houfy account settings.
What if the guest doesn’t read the alerts and the charge goes through?
Auto-charge alerts are informational — the charge will still be processed on the scheduled date regardless of whether the guest reads the email. The alerts give the guest advance notice so they can ensure their card has sufficient funds.
Why didn’t my guest receive a reminder?
Manual payment reminders are only sent to guests who did not agree to auto-charge. If the guest agreed to auto-charge, they’ll receive auto-charge alerts instead (3-day notice, 1-day notice, success/failure). Also, each reminder is only sent once — check whether the reminder was already sent for this reservation.
What happens if a charge fails and the guest doesn’t respond to the alert?
Houfy does not retry a failed charge. Both you and the guest receive a failure alert straight away, and Houfy sends follow-up reminders 1 day, 3 days and 6 days later — but no further charge is attempted. Contact the guest and ask them to pay from the link in their reservation email, or collect the balance manually.
Do split payments each get their own alerts?
Yes. Each split payment installment is treated as a separate charge with its own complete set of alerts: 3-day notice, 1-day notice, and success or failure confirmation. If you have three split payments scheduled, the guest and host will receive three separate sets of alerts.
Does Houfy send alerts for the initial booking payment?
The initial booking payment (the deposit or full payment at the time of booking) triggers a standard booking confirmation email, not the auto-charge alert sequence. Auto-charge alerts only apply to future scheduled charges like balance due payments, split payments, and security deposit holds.
Complete Alert Reference
Here’s every payment-related email alert Houfy sends, organized by category:
Auto-charge alerts
Auto-charge 3-day notice (guest) — Sent to guest, 3 days before scheduled charge
Auto-charge 3-day notice (host) — Sent to host, 3 days before scheduled charge
Auto-charge 1-day notice (guest) — Sent to guest, 1 day before scheduled charge
Auto-charge 1-day notice (host) — Sent to host, 1 day before scheduled charge
Auto-charge success (guest) — Sent to guest, charge processed successfully
Auto-charge success (host) — Sent to host, charge processed successfully
Auto-charge failed (guest & host) — Sent to both, charge attempt failed
Auto-charge failure reminder 1-day (guest & host) — Sent 1 day after a failed charge
Auto-charge failure reminder 3-day (guest & host) — Sent 3 days after a failed charge
Auto-charge failure reminder final (guest & host) — Sent 6 days after a failed charge
Extra verification required (guest) — Sent when the guest's bank asks for 3-D Secure or a one-time code. The charge cannot complete until the guest follows the link in this email.
Auto-charge cancelled (guest & host) — Sent when the host cancels a scheduled auto-charge
Manual payment reminders
Balance due reminder — Sent to guest, on the payment due date
Deposit due reminder — Sent to guest, on the deposit collection date
Follow-up reminder — Sent to guest, 3 days after due date if still unpaid
Final urgent reminder (guest) — Sent to guest, 1 day before check-in if still unpaid
Final urgent reminder (host) — Sent to host, 1 day before check-in if still unpaid
Overdue reminder (guest & host) — Sent to both, 7 days after the due date if still unpaid
Pre-check-in reminder (guest & host) — Sent to both, 7 days before check-in if still unpaid
Security deposit alerts
Security deposit 3-day notice — Sent to guest and host, 3 days before hold date
Security deposit 1-day notice — Sent to guest and host, 1 day before hold date
Hold successful — Sent to guest and host, hold placed on card
Hold failed — Sent to guest and host, hold attempt failed
Hold renewed — Sent to guest, hold renewed for longer stays
Pre-release reminder — Sent to host, before auto-release after checkout
Deposit released — Sent to guest and host, host releases hold (no damage)
Deposit captured — Sent to guest and host, host captures deposit (damage)
Deposit charged (guest & host) — Sent when the deposit is taken as a charge rather than a hold
Deposit charge failed (guest & host) — Sent when that charge fails
Deposit refunded (guest & host) — Sent when a charged deposit is refunded after checkout
Deposit refund stopped (guest & host) — Sent when the host stops the automatic refund to make a damage claim
Deposit capture failed (guest & host) — Sent when a capture attempt fails
Hold expiring (host) — Sent to the host the day before an existing hold expires
Important Notes
Alerts are automatic — no action needed from you. Houfy tracks every payment event and sends the right email at the right time. You don’t need to set up, schedule, or send any payment emails.
The 1-day alert is a safety gate. Houfy won’t process an auto-charge until the 1-day advance notice has been sent. This means your guest always gets at least one day’s notice before being charged.
Failed charges trigger alerts, but not retries. When a charge fails, both you and the guest are notified immediately, and reminders follow at 1, 3 and 6 days. Houfy will not attempt the charge again — you do need to get involved.
Manual reminders escalate gradually. For guests who didn’t agree to auto-charge, Houfy starts with a gentle reminder on the due date, follows up 3 days later, and sends a final urgent alert to both you and the guest the day before check-in.
Related Help Posts
How Do Automated Payments Work on Houfy? — A high-level overview of the entire automated payment system.
How Do I Set Up Auto-Payment for Balance Due & Split Payments? — Configuring the Deposit + Balance payment policy and split payment schedule.
How Do Automated Security Deposit Holds Work? — The full security deposit lifecycle from scheduling through release or capture.