Reversing a Deposit You Kept
How to refund a previously kept amenity deposit back to the resident, when the reversal is available, and when it isn't (insufficient balance, already reversed, no permission).
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Kept a deposit that shouldn't have been kept, or agreed after the fact to give it back? Any kept amount can be reversed, refunded back to the resident, as long as the property's Stripe connected account has enough balance to cover it.
Who can do this: Any staff member, property manager, or board member with the Process refunds permission on the property.
Steps
Open the booking and go to its Payment tab (or Payment & Refunds on mobile).
Find the deposit's resolved row. If any amount is currently kept (and not already reversed), you'll see a Refund (reverse keep) button.
Click Refund (reverse keep). A note under the button reminds you this needs sufficient balance on the connected account to complete.
Confirm the reversal.
What to expect
The kept amount is refunded to the resident's original card through Stripe.
The row updates to show the reversal, for example "Kept $500.00 (reversed), refunded $500.00," and the resident is notified by email and push that the retained deposit was refunded back to them.
If the deposit was only partially kept (part kept, part already returned), reversing the kept portion is independent of the returned portion, both can carry their own state and their own reversal action at the same time.
The books update to reflect the reversal: the revenue that was recognized when the deposit was kept is reversed, and the funds move back out to the resident. See "How deposit money moves" for the accounting detail.
The reversal is recorded on the deposit's audit trail alongside the original keep action, the original record is never erased or edited.
When this isn't available
Insufficient balance. If the connected account doesn't have enough balance to cover the reversal at the moment you try, the action fails and you'll see an error. Try again once the account's balance has grown (for example, after other bookings settle), or coordinate with your finance team.
Already reversed. Once a kept deposit has been reversed, the button no longer appears for that portion, there's nothing further to reverse.
No permission. Without the Process refunds permission, the kept amount is still visible on the row, but the reversal button doesn't appear.
Reconciliation lock. If the booking shows a "Reconciliation needed" banner, reversal actions are disabled until that's resolved.