Cancelling isn't the only way to give money back. Once a guest has paid, Haven lets you refund part or all of the payment straight from the reservation — without cancelling the stay, and as many times as you need up to what was paid.
Use it the way you'd use a goodwill gesture at a hotel front desk: something went wrong during the stay, the guest left a night early, an amenity wasn't available, or you simply promised a discount after they'd already paid.
Before payment, use Adjust price instead — that changes what the guest is charged. Refunds are for after the charge has gone through.
- A guest had a problem during the stay (broken hot tub, noisy construction, a late clean) and you want to make it right
- The guest checked out early and you'd like to refund the unused nights
- One night was unusable (power outage, plumbing) and you want to refund just that night
- You agreed a discount with the guest after they'd already paid
- A guest cancelled and your policy only refunded part of the payment — you'd like to give more back than the policy required
- Open the reservation — from Home → Reservations, the calendar, or the confirmation email link.
- Click Issue refund. On a confirmed booking it sits next to Cancel Reservation; it's also available while the guest is staying, after check-out, and on a cancelled booking that still has a refundable balance.
- The dialog shows what the guest paid, what has already been refunded (including any cancellation refund), and what's refundable now.
- Pick how you want to refund:
- % of payment — a percentage of what the guest paid for the stay (e.g. 25%). Percentages are calculated on the refundable base — what they paid minus the non-refundable fees described below.
- Amount — a fixed amount in the reservation's currency, up to what's still refundable.
- Nights — tick specific nights. The guest gets back each night's price plus the tax charged on it. Handy for early departures.
- Optionally add a message to the guest — it's included in their email and threaded into your conversation.
- Check the preview: "Guest receives", "Deducted from your payout", and what will still be refundable afterwards.
- Click Continue, then Refund now to confirm. Refunds can't be undone.
- The refund goes back to the guest's original payment method, typically within 5–10 business days.
- The guest receives an email ("Your host issued you a refund for Property") with the amount, the nights (if you refunded specific nights), and your message.
- The reservation's payment summary — for both you and the guest — shows a Refunds list with each refund's amount, date, and status, and your payout figure drops by the refunded amount.
- If the property is connected to Guesty, the refund is mirrored into the reservation folio.
- The refund is recorded on the reservation (who issued it, when, and how it was chosen) for your records.
The card processor (Stripe) keeps its processing fee when a payment is refunded — it is never returned, on any refund, in any setting. Haven handles this exactly the way it does for cancellations, and which way depends on the "who pays the processing fee" choice on your Payouts tab:
- You pass the processing fee to the guest — the guest paid a separate "Processing fee" line at checkout. That line is never refundable: it is excluded from the refundable base, so "100%" means everything except that fee, and the dialog shows the fee amount that stays with the processor. You are never out of pocket for the fee.
- You absorb the processing fee — the guest paid no fee line, so everything they paid is refundable. A full refund still costs you the processing fee that was taken on the original charge — the same as when you cancel a booking yourself.
Two other items are also never refunded here, again mirroring cancellation: the guest verification fee (the service was already rendered) and Screen & Protect (Haven's fee — it's only refunded when a booking is cancelled before check-in).
- If the booking's payout hasn't been released yet (release happens the day after check-in), the pending payout is simply reduced by the refund.
- If the payout has already been sent to your bank, the refund is clawed back from your Stripe balance — usually against your next payout. If there isn't enough there, Stripe recovers it per your Connect account's balance settings.
See Scheduled Payouts for how payout timing works.
- Several refunds are fine. Each one is capped by what's still refundable; the dialog shows the running balance. Once everything refundable has been refunded, the button explains there's nothing left.
- Percent refunds are calculated on the original refundable base, not on what's left — so "50%" always means half of what the guest effectively paid for the stay, capped by the remaining balance.
- Nights refunds use each night's final price from the reservation's price breakdown (after any discounts) plus that night's share of tax. Cleaning and other fees aren't included — use Amount if you want to refund those too.
- Taxes are prorated on every refund and recorded against the reservation's tax lines, so your tax summaries reflect what you actually kept.
- Refunds work during and after the stay — unlike cancellation, which stops once the stay begins.
- It does not cancel the reservation or free the dates. To unwind a whole stay before check-in, cancel the reservation instead — that also refunds Screen & Protect when applicable.
- It does not apply to manual bookings, PMS/external bookings that weren't paid through Haven, or multi-room group bookings.
- It cannot be reversed — double-check the preview before confirming.
- It does not change the reservation's price breakdown or your listing's prices.