Managing an Amenity Deposit: Keep, Return, or Split

When a booking's deposit is ready to be resolved, one popup handles every outcome, keeping it in full, returning it in full, or splitting it between the two. This article walks through the popup itself. For the fields specific to keeping part of a deposit, see "Keeping part of a deposit." For a pure return, see "Returning a deposit in full."

Who can do this: Any staff member, property manager, or board member with the Process refunds permission on the property.

Opening the popup

1. Open the booking and go to its Payment tab (or Payment & Refunds on mobile).

2. Find the deposit line item. If it hasn't been resolved yet, it shows the charged amount and a Manage deposit button.

3. Click Manage deposit. This opens the popup titled "Manage deposit."

Setting the keep amount

The popup has one control: Amount to keep, which can be set anywhere from $0 up to the full charged deposit amount.

As you change it, a live summary line updates underneath: "Keep $X, refund $Y to [resident]." The refund amount is always the charged amount minus whatever you set to keep, calculated for you. You never enter the refund amount separately.

• Set it to $0 for a pure return. See "Returning a deposit in full."

• Set it to the full charged amount to keep everything, with no refund. See "Keeping part of a deposit," which also covers a full keep.

• Set it to anything in between to split the deposit.

Fields that appear based on the amount

• Keep amount is above $0: a category, a reason (minimum 20 characters), optional evidence photos, and an acknowledgement toggle appear. These are required before you can submit. See "Keeping part of a deposit" for the full detail.

• Keep amount is $0: those fields are hidden. Only an optional internal note is shown, which is not seen by the resident.

Evidence limits: up to 10 photos per action, each up to 10MB, in JPEG, PNG, or WebP format. If you hit the limit, remove a photo before adding another.

Submitting

The submit button's label always tells you exactly what will happen:

• "Keep $X, refund $Y" for a split.

• "Keep deposit" when you're keeping the full amount (no refund).

• "Return deposit" when the keep amount is $0.

While the action is processing, the button reads "Saving..." If something goes wrong, an error banner appears in the popup (for example, "Could not save this deposit action, please try again") and nothing has been resolved yet, so you can correct the issue and resubmit.

Undoing an action

• A kept deposit can be reversed at any time the connected account holds enough balance, refunding it back to the resident. See "Reversing a deposit you kept."

• A refund that is still pending can be stopped with Cancel refund on the resolved row, as long as it has not finished processing in Stripe. See "Canceling a pending deposit refund."

• A return that has already settled cannot be undone here. URBI does not re charge a resident's card to reverse a completed return. If a correction is genuinely needed, raise it as a new charge through the booking's standard billing tools.

Invoice, ledger, and payouts

• Any time less than the full deposit is kept, whether a partial keep or a full return, the booking's invoice picks up a credit line for the returned amount and the total recalculates. A full keep with nothing refunded adds no credit line.

• Every action is written to an append only audit trail recording who did what, when, and from where.

• Accounting is not required. Deposit actions work the same either way. If Accounting is enabled (KORE or PREMIUM) a journal entry posts automatically; if it is not, the action still completes and simply does not post to a ledger.

• Properties that collect deposits are automatically kept on manual Stripe payouts, so held deposit funds are not paid out to the property's bank before you have resolved them. There is nothing to configure.

What to expect

• A blue notice at the top of the popup tells you the resident is always notified, by push notification and email, when the deposit is resolved, including any amount kept, the amount refunded, and the category or evidence attached (when applicable). This is one combined notice covering the whole outcome, not separate emails for each part. See "The resident's view."

• If you're keeping any amount, an amber notice reminds you that the kept portion stays reversible while funds remain on the connected account, see "Reversing a deposit you kept."

• Once submitted, the deposit line item on the booking updates to a resolved row reflecting the outcome. It no longer disappears the way a fully kept or fully returned deposit used to.

• The Stripe dashboard link (external link icon) stays available on the row after resolution, so you can always check the underlying charge or refund in Stripe.

Notes

• Mobile: the same popup is available on the mobile booking detail page's Payment & Refunds tab, as a full-screen mobile-native flow rather than a shrunk desktop popup. All the same fields, gating, and live summary behavior apply.

• Permission required: without the Process refunds permission, you'll see resolved amounts on the row (if the deposit is already resolved) but no Manage deposit button and no reversal actions. A note explains that refund permissions are required.

• Reconciliation lock: if the booking has a "Reconciliation needed" banner (a rare case where a prior action posted to Stripe but not yet to the ledger), Manage deposit and all reversal actions are disabled until that's resolved. This is not specific to deposits, it applies to refund actions across the booking.