Connect Stripe to charge your guests, with no middleman
By GuestChat Team ·
To get paid for direct bookings you need a way to take card payments. In the dashboard you do that with your own Stripe account: the money goes from the guest's card to your account, without passing through ours and without us taking a commission. Connecting it takes a few minutes, but it's worth understanding each status.
Where to connect it
In Settings, in the Payments section, under Charge your guests (Stripe). Click Connect/activate payments with Stripe.
Don't have a Stripe account? Click the button anyway: creating one is the first step of the same process, and you carry on from there.
How it goes
- Stripe's secure form opens in another window.
- You fill in your details there: your business details, the bank account where you want to receive the money, and whatever verification Stripe asks for.
- When you're done, you go back to the dashboard. The page checks with Stripe how it went and updates on its own.
Stripe keeps the payment details; we don't see them.
The statuses you might see
- Ready to charge: everything's in order.
- Half done: Stripe won't let you take payments yet and is asking for something else. Go back to its window and finish what's missing; it's usually a document or a bank detail.
- We couldn't check this with Stripe right now: Stripe didn't respond. Your account is still connected; check again in a little while.
- That Stripe link had expired: the link can only be used once and expires within minutes. Click the button again to get a new one.
What turns on once it's connected
- On your website: in My website, in the Bookings step, you can now turn on Accept bookings and payments. Until then, the website shows the calendar but nobody can book online.
- In manual bookings: when you create one, you can tick The guest has to pay and they get a payment link.
- Refunds: if you cancel a booking from your website and the policy says a refund is due, the refund is made in your account without going into Stripe.
Who can change it
Only the account owner can connect or disconnect Stripe, because it's the business's bank account.
Disconnecting
If you disconnect, you'll no longer be able to request payment when you create a manual booking. Bookings that are already paid aren't affected, and you can connect it again whenever you want. If you have bookings waiting for payment, the dashboard won't let you disconnect until they're sorted out, so no guest is left halfway.
Common mistakes
- Connecting and not finishing the verification. The account shows as connected but can't take payments. Check that the status says ready to charge.
- Turning on the website before testing. Make a test booking with dates far ahead and cancel it: you'll see the whole journey.
- Using your personal bank account when your business runs through a company. Stripe pays wherever you tell it to.
Where to start
Connect Stripe today, even if you're not opening the website yet. The day a returning guest asks to book direct, you'll have the payment link one click away.