Important to know:
To enable SiteMinder Payments, go to Payments.
SiteMinder Payments is our official payment processing solution, and it includes our official payment gateway, SiteMinder Pay.
To view payment and refund transactions made through SiteMinder Payments, go to Payments > Transactions tab.
About processing refunds
You must have a SiteMinder Payments account in order to process payments and refunds. If you do not have an account, you can register for one via your SiteMinder platform.
Refunds must be issued within 90 days of processing the original payment.
You must process a guest’s refund no later than seven days after they check out, at which point the guest’s payment card details will be permanently deleted from SiteMinder Payments, as required by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Once a refund has been processed, it cannot be reversed.
Note:
Reservation refund transactions are initiated immediately, however they can take up to seven days to settle in the recipient cardholder’s bank account, depending on what bank they use and where they are located. If the refund is successful, the funds will be returned to the same payment card used for the original payment.
In some scenarios, the cardholder may not see the refund on their bank statement:
If the refund appears as a reversal — the original payment will be removed from their bank statement.
If the payment is refunded during its authorisation period — the original payment will be adjusted to either a lower amount (for a partial refund) or zero (for a full refund). The transaction may also be marked as ‘Pending’ on their bank statement.
Refund a payment processed via SiteMinder Pay
There are two ways to Refund a payment.
Via Transactions:
Go to Payments > Transactions tab.
Use the filters to search for a transaction, then click to open its details.
On the transaction details page, click on the Refund button to open the refund page.
On the refund page, enter the Amount to refund — for a full refund, enter the total Available to refund amount; for a partial refund, enter less than that.
Click on Process refund.
Via Reservations:
Go to Reservations.
Use the filters to find a reservation, then click on its booking reference to open its details.
On the reservation details page, click on Manage payments (this will open a new process payment window).
In the process payment window, click on Past payments and refunds. All refundable past payments will have a Refund button — click on Refund to open the refund page.
On the refund page, enter the Amount to refund — for a full refund, enter the total Available to refund amount; for a partial refund, enter less than that.
Click on Process refund.
Refund a payment processed via a third-party payment gateway
To refund a payment via a third-party payment gateway (such as PayPal), you will need to log in and use the third-party’s payment gateway portal. Contact their support team if you require assistance.
Refund a payment processed via the Payment terminal
The Payment terminal can only be used with our official SiteMinder Pay payment gateway; it is not compatible with third-party payment gateways.
To refund a payment processed via the Payment terminal:
Go Payments > Transactions tab.
Search for a transaction, then click it to open its details.
Click on the Refund button.
Enter the Amount to refund, whether full or partial.
Click on Process Refund.
Note:
A refund cannot be cancelled once it has been processed.
If the payment card that you have refunded the payment to is expired or cancelled, then the refund should be credited to the guest's new payment card (depending on their bank and card issuer). But if the guest does not have one, the bank will likely send the refund to their bank account instead.