If your SiteMinder 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 SiteMinder Payments’ Auto top up (direct debit authorisation) feature is enabled, the necessary funds will be automatically transferred from your bank account to your SiteMinder 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 SiteMinder 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 SiteMinder Payments account.

If Auto top up is not activated, however, when your SiteMinder 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:

⚠️ You will not be able to process refunds while your SiteMinder 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 (direct debit authorisation)

If your property is located in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or Asia, Auto top up is already set up in your SiteMinder 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 in order to activate Auto top up.

There are two ways to do this: 1) the first time you log in and open the SiteMinder Payments dashboard, you will be invited to sign up to direct debit (that is, Auto top up) and asked to follow the necessary steps, and 2) after setting up your SiteMinder 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:

⚠️ Auto top up is not available to properties in Hong Kong, Mexico, or Singapore due to local regulations.

Funds received from the guest are not issued as individual payouts; instead, they are stored in your SiteMinder 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:

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 that 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 that the payout can be attempted again.

If your SiteMinder Payments account says that you have “unavailable funds” to process a refund, you can either activate Auto top up, or manually add more funds to your SiteMinder Payments account balance.

💡 To reduce the risk of the above occurring, try switching from a daily payout schedule to a weekly or fortnightly payout schedule in your SiteMinder Payments account — this will help you accumulate more funds which you can then use for refunds.

My SiteMinder Payments account says I have available balance in mySiteMinder Payments account but “unavailable funds” to process a refund — why?

This can occur while a payout is being initiated from your SiteMinder Payments account balance (and has the status ‘In Transit’ ). The payout amount will be deducted from your SiteMinder Payments account balance soon, and as a result, you will be unable to use the pending payout amount to process a refund.