How to set up Amenity Payments for facility reservations
Amenity Payments lets residents pay to reserve a community facility, such as a clubhouse, a pool cabana or a tennis court. A facility can also require a refundable security deposit, which is placed as a temporary hold on the resident's card, and a cancellation policy that decides when the fee is refunded. Residents book and pay in the web portal or in the mobile app; the steps below are for the community manager who sets it up.
Before you start: accounting setup
Facility payments need two accounting settings before any facility can collect a payment. Residents do not see a pay option until these are in place.
- Open the community's Accounting Settings and choose Facility Settings.
- Set the Posting code. It decides how facility charges are categorised in the ledger, and it applies to every facility payment in the community.
- Set the Transaction account. It decides where collected amenity payments are deposited. A dedicated transaction account for facility payments keeps amenity activity separate from other payments and makes reconciliation simpler.
- Save the facility settings.
Enable payments on a facility
- Open the facility for editing. Its booking rules come first: how many days in advance it can be reserved, the booking type, and the booking hours.
- Turn on Require Payments to collect a fee for each reservation.
- Turn on Security Deposit if the facility should hold a refundable deposit, and enter the deposit amount.
- Set the Cancellation Policy: the number of days before the booking date by which a resident must cancel to receive a full refund.
A facility that collects payments shows a dollar sign next to its name in the facilities list.
Choose a pricing model
| Pricing model | Best used for | How the charge is worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | Facilities booked in variable time blocks, such as courts or rooms reserved by the hour | The rate multiplied by the number of booked hours |
| Daily rate | Facilities reserved as a full day, such as a clubhouse for an event | One price for the day, whichever hours are used |
| Flat fee | Facilities with a single fixed booking cost | One charge per reservation, whatever its length |
How the security deposit works
The deposit is an authorisation hold, not a charge, much like the hold a hotel places on a guest's card. The resident sees a pending amount on their card and is not billed for it unless you capture some or all of it for damage.
- The hold is placed 24 hours before the reservation. If the reservation is made less than 24 hours ahead, the hold is placed at once.
- The hold is released automatically 6 days after the reservation unless you capture it sooner.
- If nothing is captured, the hold simply drops off and the resident is never charged. Banks can take a few business days to show a released hold.
How the cancellation policy works
- A resident who cancels at least the set number of days before the booking date receives a full refund of the fee.
- A later cancellation is non-refundable: the fee is kept.
- Convenience fees are never refunded, even on an early cancellation.
- If the number of days is 0 or left unset, a cancellation on or before the booking day is refunded in full.
Residents see the policy at checkout as "Full refund N or more days before booking date. Late cancellations are non-refundable. Convenience fees are non-refundable."
What the resident sees
From Community Reservations, the resident picks a facility and sees its pricing, rate and deposit before choosing a date and duration. The checkout page shows the cancellation policy, the cost breakdown including the convenience fee, the payment methods on file and a notice that a security deposit hold will be placed. Only card payments are accepted for amenity reservations.
Approving a reservation and when the resident is charged
How a facility is set up decides when the fee is charged.
- A facility that confirms reservations instantly charges the fee at booking.
- A facility that requires approval puts the reservation in a pending state. The fee is not charged while it is pending, although the resident may see a temporary pending authorisation. When you approve the reservation, the payment is captured at that moment, whatever the reservation date, and the reservation becomes approved. A confirmation step says so before you approve. If you reject it, nothing is charged and any deposit hold is released.
Approval and the deposit are separate. After approval, a reservation more than 24 hours away still shows its deposit as upcoming, because the hold has not been placed yet.
Managing the deposit after the reservation
While a deposit hold is active, open the reservation and choose Manage Deposit. You can release the whole hold when there was no damage, capture part of it and release the rest, or capture the whole hold. A captured amount appears as its own amenity charge in the Payments dashboard and posts to accounting as a separate entry. The deposit then shows as captured on the reservation.
| Deposit status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Upcoming | The reservation is booked and the hold has not been placed yet |
| Held | The hold is active on the resident's card |
| Released | The hold was removed and the resident keeps the money |
| Captured | Some or all of the deposit was claimed for damage, which is a real charge |
| Expired | The hold dropped off on its own because it was not captured |
| Cancelled | The reservation was cancelled, so the hold was removed |
| Authorization failed | The hold could not be placed, for example because of a card problem, and the reservation time arrived |
Cancellations and refunds
When a resident cancels, the system shows them what will happen before they confirm: the refund amount, the cancellation of any scheduled deposit hold, and the change to the original charge. A fee refunded within the cancellation window shows as refunded; because the convenience fee is kept, it can appear as a partial refund even though the whole reservation charge was returned. A fee that was never captured is simply voided. The deposit hold is always released on cancellation unless it had already been captured. Refunds and released holds can take a few business days to reach the resident's bank.
Where amenity payments appear
- In the Payments dashboard, filter by payment type and choose Amenity to see facility payments on their own. An approved reservation shows as a succeeded amenity payment, and a captured deposit as its own line.
- On the resident's ledger, a payment creates two matching entries: a credit for the amount paid, and a facility charge dated to the reservation date rather than the payment date. Both use the posting code and transaction account set up above.
- On a cancellation, the ledger is updated automatically: the original payment credit and the facility charge are both reversed, labelled as a facility reservation cancellation. No manual ledger cleanup is needed.
Questions residents often ask
- "There is a pending charge I did not make." That is the security deposit hold for their reservation. It is a temporary hold, not a charge, and it is released after the reservation.
- "My booking still says pending." The facility requires manager approval. The fee is charged only when the reservation is approved.
- "I was charged twice." One amount is the fee, which is a real charge; the other is the deposit hold, which is released later. They are not being charged twice.
- "Where is my refund?" It depends on when they cancelled. Within the cancellation window the fee is refunded and reversal lines appear on their account; a late cancellation keeps the fee and releases only the deposit hold.