Payment Processing

Understanding how payment processing works in Haven helps you manage your finances and provide a smooth booking experience for guests.

Who Is Selling the Stay?

You — the host — are the provider and seller of the stay. The rental agreement at booking is between you and your guest. Haven is the platform you use to list, market, and accept bookings, and Haven facilitates the guest's payment securely through Stripe on your behalf. Booking funds settle to your connected Stripe account net of Stripe's payment processing fees.

Guest Payment Options

Guests can pay using a variety of methods, including:

Cards — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and more
Apple Pay & Google Pay — One-tap checkout on supported devices
Link — Stripe's one-click checkout for faster repeat bookings
Klarna & Affirm — Buy now, pay later and pay in installments
Cash App Pay — For US guests
Pay by Bank — Direct bank transfer (US)

Haven supports buy now, pay later and pay in installments so guests can split the cost over time. See Guest Payment Methods for full details.

Payment Flow

Booking Process

Guest selects dates - Chooses check-in and check-out dates
Views total price - Sees base price, fees, discounts, and taxes
Chooses payment method - Card, Link, Klarna, Affirm, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or other options
Payment processed - Stripe securely processes the payment
Booking confirmed - Guest receives confirmation

Payment Timing

Payments are processed immediately when the guest completes checkout:

Charged immediately — When guest completes checkout
Transferred to your Stripe Connect balance — Your share moves to your connected Stripe account right away (may show as Pending for 1–2 business days before Available)
Bank deposit scheduled — Haven schedules a payout to your linked bank account for 24 hours after check-in. Haven initiates eligible payouts every 15 minutes; Stripe deposits to your bank 1–2 business days after that

See Scheduled Payouts for the dashboard view, cancellation behavior, security-deposit captures, and how gross vs. net amounts are displayed.

Payment Components

Base Price

Your nightly rate
Multiplied by number of nights
Foundation of the total price

Fees

Cleaning fees
Pet fees, extra-guest fees, late-checkout fees
Other custom fees you configure on the property
Added to base price

Haven does not charge a guest service fee or host service fee on any plan — these are fees you configure for your own property.

Discounts

Weekly discounts
Monthly discounts
Custom discounts
Subtracted from price

Taxes

Configure unlimited tax lines per property — typically state, county, city, and any tourism / lodging / occupancy district that applies.
Each booking snapshots the active taxes on the check-in date so past reservations are never altered by later rate changes.
Each tax becomes its own Stripe line item with its own tax code, so your Stripe reports — and your accountant — see a clean per-jurisdiction breakdown.
Guests see an itemized "Taxes" line on the booking summary that expands per jurisdiction.
The Accounting tab on the host dashboard aggregates tax collected by jurisdiction, by property, and by period, and produces filing summary PDFs and CSV exports.
An optional AI Tax Assistant suggests likely rates for your address with citations to official sources — you confirm each one before it's applied.
You remain responsible for remitting lodging, occupancy, sales, and income taxes to the appropriate authorities. Haven does not file on your behalf except in the narrow set of marketplace facilitator jurisdictions where the platform is legally required to.

See Taxes for full details.

If you enable damage protection and choose Guest pays in Settings → Damage Protection, guests see a separate checkout line:

"Screen & Protect (Fully refundable on cancellation)" at $8.00/night (default rate)
Not taxed — it is not included in the tax calculation
Fully refunded if the booking is cancelled before check-in; not refundable on or after check-in

Guest screenings are free. When you choose Host pays instead, the $8.00/night fee is deducted from your payout for the booking rather than charged to the guest. See Damage protection for host-paid vs. guest-paid billing and Damage protection FAQ for common questions.

Refunds

Cancellation Refunds

Refunds processed according to your cancellation policy:

Flexible - Full refund if canceled 7+ days before
Moderate - Full refund if canceled 7+ days before
Strict - Full refund if canceled 30+ days before
Custom - Per your custom policy

Important: All guest-initiated refunds are subject to a non-refundable payment processing fee (2.9% + $0.30) which is deducted from the refund amount. This fee is charged by Stripe and cannot be recovered. Host-initiated cancellations provide a full refund to the guest (the host absorbs the processing fee).

Refund Processing

Refunds processed automatically
Processed to original payment method
Typically takes 5-10 business days
Processing fee (2.9% + $0.30) deducted from guest-initiated refunds
You'll see refund status in booking details

Chargebacks & Disputes

A chargeback happens when a guest asks their bank to reverse a card charge instead of requesting a refund through Haven. You remain the merchant of record for the stay — Haven processes the payment, but you are responsible if the bank sides with the guest.

For disputes on the main booking payment, Haven automatically submits booking evidence (rental agreement, house rules, stay dates, and pricing) and emails you when a dispute opens and when it closes. There is no separate dispute panel in the host dashboard — watch your email and use the reservation link in the notification.

Disputes on a captured security deposit are separate charges; you respond manually in your Stripe Dashboard with the photos and reason from your deposit claim.

See Chargebacks & Disputes for the full workflow, including how losses are handled and what Screen & Protect does not cover.

Payment Reporting

Viewing Payments

Access payment information from:

Host Dashboard
Individual booking details
Payment history section

Payment Details

Each payment shows:

Amount charged
Payment date
Payout date
Payment status
Transaction ID

Managing Payments

Payment Issues

If a payment fails:

Guest is notified
Booking may be pending
Guest can retry payment
You'll see payment status

Handling Refunds

There are two ways money goes back to a guest:

Cancellation — the guest or you cancel, and Haven refunds according to the cancellation policy (or in full when you cancel or override). See Managing Bookings.
Issue refund — on any reservation paid through Haven, open the booking and click Issue refund to give back a percentage of the payment, a fixed amount, or specific nights — without cancelling, before, during, or after the stay, and even on top of a cancellation refund. Add an optional message, check the preview, and confirm. See Refund a Guest After They've Paid.

Either way the refund goes to the guest's original payment method (typically 5–10 business days) and your payout for the booking is reduced by the same amount — or clawed back from your Stripe balance if it was already paid out.

Note on processing fees: Stripe never returns its processing fee (2.9% + $0.30) on a refund. If you pass the processing fee to the guest, the fee line they paid is excluded from every refund — the guest never gets it back and you're never charged for it. If you absorb the fee, the full payment is refundable and a full refund still costs you the fee already taken on the original charge — the same as when you cancel a booking yourself.

Best Practices

Set clear policies - Make cancellation policies clear
Communicate pricing - Ensure guests understand total cost
Monitor payments - Keep track of payment status
Process refunds promptly - Handle refunds quickly when needed
Keep records - Maintain payment records for accounting