when guests pay for your apartment: in full, a deposit or a card authorisation
Late deposits and bookings held on a promise are costly. In Livvi you decide once when guests pay, and the rule applies to all your properties.
A booking agreed by message is safe right up until the guest stops replying. If you have ever waited for a deposit to land, sent your IBAN for the third time, or not known until the final week whether the guest is actually coming, you know how draining that is. And the rule for when a guest pays is usually made up on the spot, slightly different for every guest.
what “we'll sort it out” payment costs you
First, risk. Until the money is paid, the booking is really just a promise. If the guest drops out at the last minute, the dates stay empty, and it is often too late to find someone new.
Second, time. Payment reminders, checking your bank account, messages asking “did you get the transfer?”. Every guest turns into a small project of its own.
Third, uncertainty. When there is no rule set in advance, the guest doesn't know what is expected of them, and you don't know where you stand.
how livvi solves this
In Livvi you set a payment policy, a rule that decides when the guest pays for the booking. You set it once and it applies to all your properties. Guests pay online through Stripe, and the payment goes to your Stripe account, linked to your bank account. Livvi does not hold the money. We explain how this works in the article Booking money goes straight to you, not through us.
You choose between three options:
| Option | How it works |
|---|---|
| Full payment at booking (recommended) | the guest pays the full amount straight away |
| Deposit at booking | the guest pays part of the amount straight away, and the rest is charged automatically a few days before arrival |
| Card authorisation now, charge before arrival | the amount is reserved on the guest's card at the time of booking and actually charged a few days before arrival |
With all three options, you never chase payments by message. Even the balance after a deposit is charged on its own.
which option to choose
At Livvi we recommend full payment at booking because it is the simplest and safest option for you: once the booking is made, the money is paid. A deposit or card authorisation is gentler on the guest because they don't pay everything at once, but you only receive the full amount a few days before arrival. Which option suits you better is your business decision.
It is worth looking at your payment policy together with your cancellation policy, which decides how much a guest gets back if they cancel. You set that one separately for each unit, and we covered it in the article Cancellation policy for your apartment: rules agreed before a guest cancels.
how to set it up
- If you haven't already, connect Stripe: My account → Stripe payouts → Start setup. The steps are in the guide How to edit My Account and connect your Stripe account.
- In My account, find the Payment policy section.
- Choose one of the three options.
- Click Save policy.
Two things to keep in mind:
- A change only applies to new bookings. Existing bookings keep the policy that applied when they were made.
- The rule applies to your whole account, not to a single property. You are offered the same choice when you add your first property, in the “Payment rules” step.
The full process is in the guide How to set a payment policy.