Take the deposit. Let the balance collect itself.

Yes. Keydesk can email or text a secure payment request, and the guest pays on their own device. It is useful for balances, for phone bookings where you would rather not take card details verbally, and for anyone who wants to pay later that day.

You can set a deadline on the request and have Keydesk cancel the booking automatically if it passes unpaid. The dates go back on sale without anyone having to remember to chase, which matters most on the busy weekends where a held-but-unpaid booking is expensive.

No. A booking-office reservation can be completed in four ways: take payment now, send a payment request, confirm without payment and record what is owed, or save it as provisional while something is still being decided.

Yes. You set the payment required at booking, and guests can pay that deposit by card through Stripe during the Keydesk Direct booking journey. Keydesk records the payment against the reservation and shows the remaining balance.

Yes. Keydesk supports a payment-in-full option as well as taking a deposit with a balance due later, so the rule can reflect the booking policy you have configured.

The booking record keeps the payment history, amount paid, amount still due and the applicable due date together. That gives the booking office a clear view without maintaining a separate payment spreadsheet.

Card payments are processed through Stripe, the payment provider Keydesk currently uses. Stripe payment-processing fees are separate from Keydesk software pricing.

Yes. Keydesk schedules reminders before the balance due date, and sends an upcoming-payment notice before any automatic collection. The due amount and date remain visible on the booking so the team can see what is outstanding. All guest messaging sits behind an account-level switch, so a test or demonstration account never emails a real guest.

Yes, where the guest has agreed to it. At checkout you can offer “deposit today, balance collected automatically”. The guest sees the exact amount and date, consents to that future payment separately from the booking terms, and their card is stored securely with Stripe for that purpose. On the due date Keydesk takes the payment and updates the booking and financial records. Guests who did not authorise it are handled the old way: the balance stays visible and outstanding until it is paid.

Yes. Weekly, fortnightly and monthly plans are supported, with amounts calculated to exact pennies and scheduled so the stay is paid for by your contractual deadline. You control which schedules are offered, the minimum booking value that qualifies and the minimum instalment amount, so a two-night midweek break does not turn into a payment plan.

Keydesk follows controlled retry rules rather than hammering the card. If the payment needs the guest to authenticate, or the card is declined outright, the guest is asked to act and given a secure link to fix it. You can review every attempt, pause or resume a plan, and send a recovery link. Protections are in place to make sure a balance or instalment cannot be taken twice.

Yes, and they can do it without phoning you. Every guest on an automatic plan gets a secure Manage Payments area where they can see the schedule, replace their card, pay early or stop future automatic collection. Anything they change is visible to you on the booking.

Stripe is the payment provider Keydesk currently describes and supports for online card payments. No alternative payment gateway is claimed on this page.

Keydesk is £49 per month, per site, with no Keydesk booking commission, and automatic balance collection and instalments are included rather than charged as an upgrade. Stripe processing fees remain separate, and a deposit, a balance and each instalment are separate payment transactions, so a payment plan means more processing fees than a single payment. Review the current provider fees for your card mix and business.