| Purpose | Refund a guest's card payment through the payment gateway (online refund), or add a refund entry to the folio without sending money (offline refund). |
| Best for | Users who process guest refunds. |
| Use this when | You need to return money to a guest's card, or record a refund that was already paid another way. |
| Requirements | For an online refund, the payment gateway must be enabled in Cloudbeds PMS, and the original transaction must have been made in your Cloudbeds account. |
| Expected result | An online refund sends the amount to the guest's card and appears in the folio. An offline refund adds an entry to the folio only. |
| Limitations | You cannot refund more than the amount charged. Not all gateways support partial refunds, and some limit how long after a transaction you can refund it. |
Introduction
An online refund for a transaction made through the payment gateway on Cloudbeds PMS sends the refunded amount to the card that was previously charged. This article walks you through the options for refunding a payment.
An offline refund only adds a refund entry to the folio and does not send money to the card. To add a refund as a record for other payment types, or for payments that were not made through the payment gateway, see How to Add/Post Refund to Reservation as a Record (Without Using Payment Gateway Processing).
Wording update: We are renaming some labels in the folio and payments portal. Credit card is now Card. Refund Payment Gateway Transaction is now an online refund, and Capture/Note existing refund is now an offline refund. While this update rolls out, you may still see the previous labels in your account. The steps are the same.
Notes
- To refund a transaction through your payment gateway, the gateway must be enabled in Cloudbeds PMS, and the transaction must have been made inside your Cloudbeds account.
- Some gateways limit how long after a transaction it can be refunded. For example, Authorize.net only allows a transaction to be refunded within 180 days of its settlement. For more information, contact your payment gateway's support team.
- If you use Cloudbeds Payments, see Cloudbeds Payments - How to Process Refunds.
Online and offline refunds
| Online refund | Offline refund | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Sends a real refund to the card on file through the payment gateway | Adds a refund entry to the folio only |
| Sends money to the card | Yes | No |
Offline: This will add a refund entry to the folio, but it will not send money to the card. To send a real refund to the card on file, do an online refund.
How to refund a payment
Expand the option that matches where you want to start: refund directly from a payment in the folio, or use +Add to add a refund.
Option 1: Refund the transaction
- Open the reservation and click the Folio tab.
- Click the three dots next to the payment.
- Click Refund Transaction.
Clicking Refund Transaction for a real charge (a payment processed through the gateway) deletes the transaction from the folio and refunds the amount to the guest.
- Enter the amount to refund. By default, this is the full amount of the charge, but you can change it to refund a partial amount.
- Select the payment method.
- Select the refund type: an online refund through the payment gateway, or an offline refund (previously Capture/Note existing refund).
- An online refund sends the money to the guest's card.
- An offline refund does not send money to the guest's card. It only adds a refund entry to the guest's folio.
Offline: This will add a refund entry to the folio, but it will not send money to the card. To send a real refund to the card on file, do an online refund.
Option 2: Refund using +Add
- In the folio, click +Add.
- Select Refund.
- Select the room.
- Select the folio you want. See Split folio configuration.
- Enter the amount to refund.
- If you are refunding a partial amount, note that not all payment gateways support partial refunds.
- You cannot refund more than the amount charged.
- Select the payment method.
- Select the refund type:
- Online refund (previously Refund Payment Gateway Transaction): sends the refund to the guest's card through the payment gateway. If you select a card that was already charged, this option is selected by default.
- Offline refund (previously Capture/Note existing refund): does not send money to the guest's card. It only adds a refund entry to the guest's folio.
Offline: This will add a refund entry to the folio, but it will not send money to the card. To send a real refund to the card on file, do an online refund.
- Enter notes if needed.
- Click Next.
How refunds appear in the folio
The new Online and Offline wording applies to the buttons and options you see when you add a refund. Folio transaction descriptions and reports keep the same wording as before. For example, an offline refund still appears as a recorded refund in the folio.
More information about refunds: Payment Gateway Refunds - Frequently Asked Questions.
Next Operational Step
After you add the refund, review its entry in the reservation folio. To check whether an online refund reached the guest's card, see How to confirm if a refund was processed to the guest's card.
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