How do I refund a guest?

Open the booking and choose to refund. You can return the full amount or part of it — a partial refund is the normal answer when you are keeping a cleaning fee or a first night under your own cancellation terms.

The money comes out of your Stripe balance, because that is where it went in the first place. The guest never paid Stayolo, so Stayolo has nothing to give back. If your balance is short, Stripe takes the difference from your next payout or your bank account.

The booking keeps both numbers: what was paid, and what was refunded. Nothing is zeroed out and nothing is deleted. A refunded booking is still a booking that happened, and you will want that history at the end of the tax year.

Refunds usually reach the guest's card in five to ten days. That is the card networks' timetable, not ours, and no one can shorten it. Tell the guest the number of days rather than "immediately" — the follow-up email asking where their money is arrives on day three otherwise.

Your subscription is separate. Refunding a guest does not touch what you pay us, because we never took a commission on the booking to begin with.