Security deposit

In this article, we have tried to describe in as much detail and clarity as possible how the security deposit collection service we use works. At the beginning of the article, there is a list of the most frequently asked questions on this topic. You can read the entire article or select any of the questions and move to the part of the article that contains the answer to this question.

In this article you will find answers to the following questions:

• What technologies are used to provide guarantees against damage?
• How does the card pre-authorization process work?
• How is the reservation assigned to a guest’s guaranteed transaction determined?
• What should the link sent to guests look like?
• How can I make sure that the link being sent is not fake and leads to safe sites?
• What should the secure page of beds24.com look like, to which the received link leads?
• What should the secure stripe.com page where payment is made look like?
• How does Stripe keep the data we transmit secure?
• In what cases are funds written off to compensate for damages?
• Can I pay the deposit in cash?

Due to the lack of the sites on which we post advertisements, their own tools for compensating for damage that guests may cause while staying with us. We were forced to look for solutions from third-party services that would allow us to collect and return the security deposit.
We set the following requirements that the security deposit collection service had to meet:

• high level of protection for payment data transmitted by the user;
• reliability and stable operation of the service;
• ease of making a security deposit;
• ease of managing the funds received;
• the ability to match the security deposit made by the guest with his booking.

Technologies

As a result, the choice fell on the tools provided by the service for automating business in the hospitality industry beds24.com in conjunction with the international payment system stripe (stripe.com).

I will write a few words about the selected services.
Beds24.com is a comprehensive solution for the hotel business that allows you to manage reservations, listings, calendars, payments, guest communications and many other workflows in one place. The company is a preferred and leading channel management partner with Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia. Connectivity partner with Marriot, Google for vacation rentals and Google Hotel Ads.
beds24 has implemented a secure and automated collection of payments and deposits and is a partner of such a large international payment system as Stripe.

Stripe is a multifunctional international payment platform. It provides a high degree of payment protection, offers a wide range of up-to-date payment methods, guarantees convenience for both sellers and buyers.
Stripe offers:

• functional tools that allow you to set up online payments in an online store and a reliable payment gateway;
• invoicing and dispute resolution functions.

Stripe allows you to receive payments from all over the world in 135 currencies, works with Google and Apple Pay mobile wallets, as well as bank cards of various systems: VISA, American Express, MasterCard, Discover, etc.
The PCI Service Provider Level 1 certificate ensures information security and prevents data leaks. Thanks to it, all payment data is encrypted using TLS (SSL).
Customer support is available 24/7. The user can choose the most suitable channel for communication (in most cases, customers choose chat or email).

Description of the procedure for obtaining guarantees from guests in case of damage.

Advertisements with our rooms are posted on sites such as booking.com, airbnb.com, agoda.com, expedia.com and others. On beds24.com, all the necessary information is also entered for each of our rooms, a calendar is set up and synchronization with ads from other sites is set up. When a room is booked on any of the sites, the dates for this booking are automatically closed in the beds24 calendar and the booking is assigned a unique identifier.
Based on the booking identifier, a link to a secure payment request page on the beds24 website is automatically generated for each booking, which has the following content:

• some booking details (property name, booking number and booking period);
• fee amount;
• the “Pay Now” button, when clicked, you will be redirected to a secure page of the Stripe payment system.
  The link to the page described above must have the following structure:
  https://beds24.com/bookpay.php?bookid=[your bookingID]&g=st&capture=0&pay=[amount of payment].

When you click on the “Pay Now” button, you are redirected to a secure page of the Stripe payment system.
The page has the following content:

• a form for entering bank card details;
• information about the amount;
• information containing the name of the advert for which the booking was created in beds24 and the number of this booking in the beds24 system.
• the name of the company whose Stripe account is connected to beds24 and is used to generate the payment link. In our case, the name “bonrooms.com” is always indicated, this is our company’s website, where we also place adverts with our rooms, and we also indicated this name for the account in the Stripe payment system.

The link to the page described above must have the following structure:
https://checkout.stripe.com/c/pay/[key id]

To be sure of the security of your transactions, before entering your bank card details, make sure that the following conditions are met:

• a link to collect the security deposit was sent to you in the chat of the site where you made the reservation.
• sites where we have the ability to send you a message with a link through the internal chat of the site (booking.com, expedia.com, bonrooms.com, hotels.com)
• in the case of bookings through agoda and some sites cooperating with expedia, we do not have the ability to send a message with a link through the chat of the site where the reservation was made, in this case we send the link only via WhatsApp and at the request of the guest to his email address. When you receive a link via WhatsApp, make sure that the message was sent from our official number specified in the contact information of the reservation.
• by following the link provided to you and clicking on the “Pay Now” button, make sure that the address of the page you are on begins with “https://checkout.stripe.com/c/pay/”.
• a lock or information that the connection is secure should be displayed on the right side of the address bar (it may look different in different browsers).

Please note that the bank card details you provide are used only to cover any damages up to the maximum amount, which is currently €300. The Stripe payment system does not share your bank card details with third parties, including the company receiving the payment. All your data is securely protected and is stored and transmitted only in encrypted form. In the article at this link you can learn how stripe.com ensures the security of your payments: https://docs.stripe.com/security.

Pre-authorization is valid for 7 days. If your stay exceeds 7 days, the procedure is automatically repeated for the next 7 days.

Once the guest completes the payment form, 1 euro will be temporarily blocked on their bank card for pre-authorization.

Conditions under which funds are debited as compensation:

Funds up to the guarantee limit (€300) may be debited in the following cases:

• Damage to the accommodation or furnishings;
• Theft of things from apartments;
• Unscheduled cleaning by a third-party service required after your departure (e.g., in the event of heavy soiling);
• Failure to pay for additional services provided during your stay (including late check-in);
• The fine for smoking in an apartment is 50 euros.

Claim settlement procedure upon discovery of damage:
If compensation must be withheld, we will notify you in advance, provide photo or video evidence, and a detailed calculation. After which the write-off will be made.

In the event of a reasonable refutation of the presented facts, a refund of the compensation withheld from your account may be possible.

Alternative option to provide a guarantee:

As an alternative to card pre-authorization, you can pay a €100 cash security deposit upon check-in.
The full deposit will be refunded upon check-out, immediately after the room inspection. Please note that room inspection and cash refunds are only possible after 10:00 AM. If you check out before this time and chose to pay the deposit in cash, the refund can be transferred to your bank account. (When refunding the deposit via bank transfer, the refund amount will only be equal to the deposit amount and does not include any fees that may be charged to recipients by banks in some countries when receiving an international transfer.)

If you have any questions about the procedure, please contact us in advance. We want your stay to be as relaxing and enjoyable as possible.

I hope this article helped you find answers to all your questions about the security deposit and this will contribute to your comfortable stay with us without any worries or concerns.