Payment Statuses Explained
Every booking payment goes through a series of statuses. Understanding these helps you know exactly where a payment stands and whether any action is needed on your part.
Payment Lifecycle
Here's what each status means:
Authorized — The guest's card has been checked and funds are reserved, but no money has been charged yet. This happens the moment a guest completes checkout on your booking engine.
Pending Capture — The reservation is being confirmed with your PMS. Once your PMS confirms the booking, the payment will be captured automatically. This status is usually brief — most confirmations happen within minutes.
Captured — The guest has been charged. Funds will appear in your Stripe balance and be paid out to your bank account according to your payout schedule.
Refunded — The full amount has been returned to the guest. This happens when a booking is cancelled and a full refund is issued.
Partially Refunded — Part of the payment has been returned to the guest — for example, after a partial cancellation or a goodwill gesture.
Failed — The payment could not be processed. Common causes include: card declined by the guest's bank, insufficient funds on the card, or 3D Secure authentication not completed by the guest.
Expired — The authorisation window closed before the payment could be captured. The guest's card was never charged. This can happen if your PMS takes too long to confirm the reservation.
Most payments move from Authorised → Pending Capture → Captured automatically. You don't need to take any manual action — OnSeason handles the capture once your PMS confirms the reservation.
The Manual Capture Window
When a guest's card is authorised, the authorisation is valid for up to 7 days (the exact duration varies by card issuer and bank). During this window:
Your PMS confirms or rejects the reservation
If confirmed, OnSeason captures the payment automatically.
If the reservation can't be confirmed within this window, the authorisation expires, and the guest is not charged. This protects both you and the guest — no one gets charged for bookings that can't be fulfilled.
3D Secure (Strong Customer Authentication)
Some cards require extra verification during checkout through 3D Secure — also known as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). This is a security measure required by banks in many countries.
The guest sees a pop-up or redirect during checkout asking them to verify the payment (usually a code sent to their phone or a banking app confirmation).
OnSeason handles this automatically — there's nothing you need to configure.
If the guest doesn't complete the 3D Secure challenge, the payment status shows as "Failed".
Viewing Payment Status
You can check the status of any payment in a few places:
Booking detail page — open any booking in the Bookings section to see its payment status
Bookings > Payments tab — see payment statuses for all your bookings in one place
Financial Dashboard — see an overview of all payment activity across your bookings
If a payment is stuck or shows an unexpected status, see Payment Troubleshooting for help.