Why it matters

Canceling a booking releases the seats, but it never refunds the money automatically -- that is a deliberate, separate step. This lesson is that step: how refunds actually move money back to a guest, and what happens when a customer disputes a charge instead of asking for a refund.

What you'll learn

• Where refunds live on a trip's Payments tab, and why the refund action is permission-gated.
• Full refunds versus partial refunds -- and why partial is not just for cancellations.
• The three refund-method paths: an automatic card refund, an Interac Terminal tap-back with a manual fallback, and a manual refund with a matching Refund Type for cash, check, wire, or a gift-card purchase.
• Money-mechanics gotchas: card refund timing, same-day reversals, processing fees not being returned, and how your processing balance, house credit, and Refund Reserve can block a refund.
• The gift-card wrinkle: refunding a gift-card purchase returns the buyer's money but does not touch the balance already loaded on the issued card.
• How disputes and chargebacks actually work in TripWorks, and how an Early Fraud Alert is your cue to refund proactively before a dispute happens.

Prerequisites

• Permission to process refunds on the trip's Payments tab.
• A completed payment to refund -- see Creating a Booking and Editing an Existing Booking for how that payment gets there in the first place.

Making the change

1. Open the trip's Payments tab. Refunds live right next to the payment you are reversing. Open that payment's actions and choose Refund. Like most money-moving actions, this is permission-gated, so not every login will see it.
2. Choose full or partial. A full refund returns everything the guest paid on that payment. A partial refund is not just for cancellations -- it also covers a party that got smaller, a guest who dropped out, or an add-on that did not happen, so you are only returning what is actually owed.
3. Let the refund method follow the original payment. A credit card refund goes back to that original card automatically. A payment taken on an Interac Terminal gets tapped back through the same reader, with a manual refund fallback if the terminal is not available. Anything that was not a card payment -- cash, check, wire, or a gift-card purchase -- gets a manual refund where you pick a matching Refund Type.
4. Know the money mechanics before you click Refund. A card refund typically takes five to ten business days to show up on the guest's statement, depending on their bank. Refund the same day as the charge instead, and it is just a reversal -- the charge disappears entirely rather than showing a separate refund line. The processing fee is usually not returned, even on a full refund. Every refund also draws against your available balance: your processing balance, house credit, and any Refund Reserve, so a refund can be blocked if it exceeds that.
5. Handle the gift-card wrinkle. If the original payment was for buying a gift card, refunding it returns the buyer's money, but it does not touch the balance already loaded onto that issued card -- those are two separate things.
6. Understand the real scope of disputes. If a customer disputes a charge, TripWorks notifies you with the trip, amount, reason, and deadline, and manages the process with Stripe on your behalf. There is no in-app screen to accept or counter a dispute directly -- you decide your response by email, TripWorks submits it, and the customer's bank makes the final call. A non-refundable chargeback fee applies either way.
7. Use an Early Fraud Alert as your cue. The cheapest way to handle a dispute is to never get one. When TripWorks flags an Early Fraud Alert on a trip, that is your cue to refund proactively -- refunding before a dispute becomes a chargeback costs a lot less than fighting one after the fact.

Common mistakes

• Expecting a canceled booking to refund money automatically. Canceling releases the seats; refunding the payment is always a separate, deliberate action.
• Expecting to see a Voucher refund type on a payment that was never a gift-card purchase. Voucher only appears as a Refund Type option when the original payment type was a gift card.
• Assuming there is an in-app way to accept or counter a dispute. There is not -- the operator responds by email, and TripWorks submits that response on their behalf. The bank, not TripWorks or the operator, makes the final call.
• Waiting for a formal dispute instead of acting on an Early Fraud Alert. A proactive refund on a flagged trip is cheaper than fighting a chargeback that already happened.

Expected final result

The refund shows correctly against the original payment -- full or partial, using the right method for how it was paid -- the guest's money is on its way back on the right timeline, and if a dispute ever comes in instead, you know exactly what TripWorks handles automatically and what you still have to decide by email.

FAQ

How do I refund a booking in TripWorks?

Open the trip, go to the Payments tab, find the payment to reverse, and choose Refund. Pick full or partial, and the refund method follows how the payment came in: an automatic card refund, an Interac Terminal tap-back with a manual fallback, or a manual refund with a matching Refund Type for cash, check, wire, or a gift-card purchase.

How long does a refund take to show up for the guest?

A card refund typically takes five to ten business days to appear on the guest's statement, depending on their bank. A refund issued the same day as the original charge instead shows as a simple reversal, with the charge disappearing entirely rather than a separate refund line.

Does refunding a gift card also remove the balance already loaded on it?

No. Refunding the purchase of a gift card returns the buyer's money, but it does not touch the balance already loaded onto the issued card -- those are two separate things.

Can I respond to a customer dispute or chargeback inside TripWorks?

Not directly. TripWorks notifies you of the dispute with the trip, amount, reason, and deadline, and manages the process with Stripe. There is no in-app accept or counter screen -- the operator decides how to respond by email, TripWorks submits that response, and the customer's bank makes the final call.

What should I do when TripWorks flags an Early Fraud Alert?

Treat it as a cue to refund the trip proactively. Refunding before a dispute is filed is far less costly than fighting a chargeback after the fact, and a non-refundable chargeback fee applies to a dispute either way.

Related lessons

• Editing an Existing Booking
• Canceling a Booking
• Creating a Booking

Learn more

• Refund a trip
• Can I refund a gift card?
• What happens if a customer disputes a charge?
• How TripWorks protects you from fraud

Transcript

In the last lesson, canceling a booking, we ended on this. Canceling a trip releases the seats, but it never refunds the money automatically. That is a deliberate, separate step. And it is the whole subject of this final lesson.

Refunds live on the trip's Payments tab, right next to the payment you're reversing. Open a payment's actions and choose Refund. Like most money-moving actions, this is permission-gated, so not every login will see it.

You can refund the full amount or a partial one. Full returns everything the guest paid on that payment. Partial is not just for cancellations. It covers a party that got smaller, a guest who dropped out, or an add-on that did not happen -- so you're only returning what's actually owed.

How the refund actually moves follows how the payment came in. A credit card refund goes back to that original card automatically. A payment taken on an Interac Terminal gets tapped back through the same reader. And if the terminal isn't available, there's a manual refund fallback. Anything that wasn't a card payment -- cash, check, wire, or a gift-card purchase -- gets a manual refund where you pick a refund type to match.

A few things to know before you click refund. A card refund typically takes five to ten business days to show up on the guest's statement, depending on their bank. Refund the same day as the charge instead, and it's just a reversal -- the charge disappears entirely, rather than showing a separate refund line. The processing fee usually isn't returned, even on a full refund. And every refund draws against your available balance: your processing balance, house credit, and any Refund Reserve, so it can be blocked if it exceeds that.

If the original payment was for buying a gift card, refunding it returns the buyer's money. But it does not touch the balance already loaded onto that issued card. Those are two separate things.

Now, disputes. If a customer disputes a charge, TripWorks notifies you with the trip, amount, reason, and deadline, and manages the process on your behalf. But there's no in-app screen to accept or counter it. You decide by email, TripWorks submits your response, and the customer's bank makes the final call. A non-refundable chargeback fee applies either way.

The cheapest way to handle a dispute is to never get one. When TripWorks flags an Early Fraud Alert on a trip, that's your cue. Refunding proactively before it turns into a chargeback costs a lot less than fighting one after the fact.

That closes out Managing Your Bookings. Across four lessons, you've covered editing an existing booking, canceling a booking, creating a booking, and now refunding a booking and handling disputes -- everything that happens to a reservation from the moment it's made to the moment the money moves. For the deeper mechanics of refunds and disputes, our help center has dedicated articles waiting whenever you need them.