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Change Auto Messages regarding Security Deposits

Feature requestssecurity deposits

An auto message goes out sometimes regarding the collected security deposit that reads, “Hi XXX, with the recent change to your reservation, the $XXX.XX refundable security deposit will now be collected as a charge, rather than a temporary hold. The full amount will be refunded automatically after check-out, if no issues are reported.”

This has caused some guests to ask what change has happened to their reservation, since we haven’t made any visible changes. This makes me look unprofessional, when I cannot explain what change has occurred, yet it appears that the message was sent from me. Can Hospitable provide us with a better explanation of what change cause the security deposit to go from hold to charge? Or better yet, change the auto message to a better explanation, not requiring a manual follow-up. Thank you.

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Comments3

  • Tim Parry

    Team•

    Mar 6

    Hi @Hosted Havens

    This should only occur in two cases:

    1. When an alteration extends the stay, or

    2. On Direct bookings where a debit payment method is used.

    Security deposit holds can only remain active for a limited period. If a change to the reservation would require the hold to remain longer than that maximum duration, we switch the deposit from a temporary hold to a charge instead. This ensures the deposit can still be held for the full duration of the reservation.

    In the guest’s banking app, this usually appears as a new charge from Hospitable on that day, which can understandably be confusing without context. The purpose of this message is to explain why that change has happened.

    Are you seeing this message go out in situations other than these? & are you seeing this message lead to confusion?

    • Apricot Berry

      •

      Mar 6

      Yes, it's happening on longer bookings which are probably longer than the maximum duration of the hold. Understandable, but that's not a change. It was booked that long from the start. So the auto message should say it's based on a change or booking duration longer than X days. Yes, it's caused some confusion and some worry when it only says it's based on a change, but no changes have been made to the reservation.

      • Tim Parry

        Team•

        Mar 6

        Yeah agreed - Looks like it’s firing where it shouldn’t be then. I’ll take a look into this and come back to you