💡 Important to know:
Little Hotelier Payments is our official payment processing solution.
This article explains how to use Little Hotelier Payments’ Auto top up feature to prevent your Little Hotelier Payments account balance reaching zero or below, which will help you continue being able to process reservation refunds.
To access Little Hotelier Payments, go to My Apps > Payments.
If you need help with billing, read the billing and subscription guide.
This article explains how to use Little Hotelier Payments’ Auto top up feature to prevent your Little Hotelier Payments account balance reaching zero or below, which will help you continue being able to process reservation refunds.
How Auto top up works (when activated)
If your Little Hotelier Payments account balance reaches zero or below, you will be unable to process refunds until you add more funds to your account balance. But if Little Hotelier Payments’ Auto top up feature is enabled, the necessary funds will be automatically transferred from your bank account to your Little Hotelier Payments account automatically — provided you have the sufficient funds — and you can continue processing refunds via the Transactions tab.
Here is how it works: once Auto top up has been activated, if your Little Hotelier Payments account balance reaches zero or below, you will receive an email notifying you that your bank account will be debited within 48 hours. The email will also clarify how your account balance reached zero or below (likely due to a refund) as well as the amount that needs to be debited. Then once those 48 hours have elapsed, the funds will be automatically transferred from your bank account to your Little Hotelier Payments account.
What happens when Auto top up is not activated
If Auto top up is not activated, however, when your Little Hotelier Payments account balance reaches zero or below, you will need to manually add the requisite funds to your account.
There are multiple ways to do this:
Activate Auto top up.
Process more guest payments (so that you have more funds available in your Little Hotelier Payments account).
Switch from a daily to weekly payout schedule (again, so that you have more funds available). For assistance with this please contact our support team.
Manually transfer funds to your account. For assistance with this, please contact our support team.
⚠️ You will not be able to process refunds while your Little Hotelier Payments account balance is zero or below — if you have not done so already, we recommend activating Auto top up as soon as possible.
Activate Auto top up
If your property is located in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or Asia, Auto top up is already set up on your Little Hotelier Payments account; you do not need to activate it.
If your property is located in the EMEA region, however, you will need to complete a direct debit authorisation to activate Auto top up. There are two ways to do this: 1) the first time you log in and open the Little Hotelier Payments dashboard, you will be invited to sign up to direct debit (that is, Auto top up) and asked to follow a series of steps, and 2) after setting up your Little Hotelier Payments account, you will receive an e-mail containing a button that you can use to activate Auto top up, and all you need to do is follow these steps:
Click on the button in the e-mail to open the Direct Debit Authorisation page.
Confirm your details and enter any additional details that are required.
Confirm that you agree to the Terms and Conditions.
Once complete, Auto top up will be activated (provided that the authorisation is successful).
⚠️ Auto top up is not available to properties in Mexico due to local regulations.
Failed payouts
Funds received from the guest are not issued as individual payouts; instead, they are stored in your Little Hotelier Payments Account balance, which is the sum of all funds received from all guests on the present day, including adjustments but minus refunds. This balance is then paid out to your property’s linked bank account once per day.
A failed payout can result from either of the following:
A failed deposit (payout) into your bank account, which is often caused by incorrect bank account details. (View your property’s linked bank account in Payments > Payouts > Linked account column. To make changes to your linked bank account, please contact our support team).
A failed debit from your bank account (assuming that Auto top up is active).
When a payout or Auto top up fails, you will receive an e-mail explaining why.
All other payouts will not be processed until a failed payout has been resolved; to do this, check that your bank account details are correct (via Payments > Payouts > Linked account column) and there are funds available in your bank account. If your bank details are incorrect, contact our support team and ask them to correct the details so the payout can be attempted again.
Frequently asked questions
My Little Hotelier Payments account says that I have unavailable funds to process a refund — what should I do?
You have two options: 1) activate Auto top up, or 2) manually add more funds to your Little Hotelier Payments account balance.
For more information about this, see the section above titled ‘What happens when Auto top up is not activated’.
💡 To reduce the risk of the above occurring, try switching from a daily payout schedule to a weekly or fortnightly payout schedule in your Little Hotelier Payments account — this will help you accumulate more funds, which you can then use for refunds.
My Little Hotelier Payments account says I have available balance in my Little Hotelier Payments account but unavailable funds to process a refund — why?
This can occur while a payout is being initiated from your Little Hotelier Payments account balance (and has the status ‘In Transit’). The payout amount will be deducted from your Little Hotelier Payments account balance soon, and as a result, you will be unable to use the pending payout amount to process a refund.
Learn more about a payout’s status in the section titled ‘Review payout details’ in Little Hotelier Payments, our official payment processing solution: payouts for guest transactions.