Overview
SquadTrip lets organizers issue partial refunds directly from the dashboard without canceling the traveler's booking. You can refund specific installment payments, enter a custom dollar amount, or refund everything. When you refund a payment, the 6% processing fee (paid by you or the traveler, depending on your fee setting) is also refunded proportionally. Refunds take up to 10 business days to appear on the traveler's statement.
Getting to the Refund Section
Log in to your organizer dashboard
Open the trip, go to Travelers and open the traveler
Click Process Refund (shown once the traveler has made a payment -- it stays visible even if the booking was later cancelled)
Choose Your Refund Type
SquadTrip offers three refund options:
Refund Type | What It Does | When to Use |
Full Refund | Check every payment in the list -- each is refunded together with its processing fee. SquadTrip treats this as a full refund and cancels the booking in the same step | Traveler is leaving the trip entirely |
Specific Refund | Select individual payments from the traveler's history to refund | Traveler overpaid on a specific installment or you need to reverse one payment |
Custom Amount | Enter any amount up to the Total Refundable shown | Offering a discount, price adjustment, or partial credit |
Issuing a Specific Refund
Click Process Refund on the traveler
The page opens on Select Payments to Refund
Check the box next to each payment you want to refund
The list shows Payment Date, Paid Amount, With Fee, Refunded, Fee Refunded and Type
Click Submit Refund, then enter the verification code sent to your email (and by text if your account has a phone number on file)
The selected payments are refunded to the traveler's original payment method. If you left at least one payment unchecked, the booking remains active. If you checked every payment (or enter a Custom Amount equal to the Total Refundable), SquadTrip treats it as a full refund and cancels the booking in the same step.
Issuing a Custom Amount Refund
Click Process Refund on the traveler
Click Custom Amount
Enter the Refund Amount (up to the Total Refundable shown)
Click Refund, then enter the verification code sent to your email (and by text if your account has a phone number on file)
How Fees Are Handled in Refunds
When you issue a refund, the 6% processing fee is refunded proportionally:
Example: Custom refund of $500 on a trip where the traveler paid the fee
Item | Amount |
Base refund to traveler | $500.00 |
Processing fee refund (6% of $500) | $30.00 |
Total refund to traveler | $530.00 |
This is why the traveler may see a refund amount slightly higher than the base amount you entered -- the processing fee is included automatically.
BNPL refunds: If the traveler paid with Klarna, Affirm, or Afterpay, the 4% BNPL convenience fee sits on the first (deposit) payment, so it is refunded proportionally when that payment is refunded. Later installments carry no BNPL fee. (If the traveler converted their balance to BNPL after booking, the fee sits on that pay-off payment instead.)
What the Traveler Receives
After you issue a partial refund, the traveler gets a "Trip Refunded" email showing (a full refund sends the "Trip Canceled" email instead, with the amount refunded and the same 10-business-day note):
"Trip Refunded" header with the trip name
Total Amount Paid vs Total Amount Refunded
Transaction History with each payment's date, status, and amount
A note that refunds take up to 10 business days
Important Notes
Partial refunds do not cancel the traveler's booking -- they remain on the trip. Refunding every payment (or a Custom Amount equal to the Total Refundable) is treated as a full refund and cancels the booking
You can only refund payments that have been successfully processed -- not future scheduled installments
Refunds cannot exceed the total amount the traveler has paid
Stripe's card processing fees (~2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, per stripe.com/pricing as of September 2026) are not returned to you -- this is Stripe's standard policy
SquadTrip's share of the 6% processing fee is returned to your Stripe account proportionally when the refund runs on your connected Stripe account, which is the normal case (Stripe keeps its own processing fee)
Tip: The processing-fee refund is added automatically -- there is no option to refund the trip price without it. To offset Stripe's non-returned fee, enter a smaller custom amount
Refund amounts in the traveler's email include the processing fee, so they may look higher than the base price
Troubleshooting
Problem | Solution |
Refund amount looks higher than what I entered | The displayed amount includes the proportional 6% processing fee. A $500 custom refund shows as ~$530 to the traveler because the fee is refunded too. |
Traveler hasn't received their refund after 10 days | Check your Stripe dashboard for the refund status. If Stripe shows it as processed, the delay is with the traveler's bank. Provide them with the refund date and ask them to contact their bank. |
Process Refund is missing for a traveler | On the traveler's page it appears once the traveler has made a first payment (even for a cancelled booking). The Process Refund quick action in the trip dashboard's traveler panel additionally needs edit access and a non-cancelled booking. Without edit access the refund page shows "Access Denied". |
Want to refund the deposit only | Under Select Payments to Refund, check only the deposit payment. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does issuing a partial refund cancel the traveler's booking? A: No. A partial refund returns money but keeps the booking active. The traveler remains on the trip with their remaining balance updated. If you want to remove them from the trip, cancel the booking separately after issuing the refund -- or refund every payment, which cancels the booking for you.
Q: Why does the refund amount shown to the traveler look higher than what I entered? A: The refund includes the proportional 6% processing fee. When you enter a $500 custom refund, the traveler actually receives ~$530 because SquadTrip also refunds the $30 processing fee that was charged on that amount. This is by design -- the traveler gets a full refund of what they originally paid.
Q: Do I get the 6% processing fee back when I refund a traveler? A: SquadTrip's share of it, yes -- it is returned to your connected Stripe account in proportion to the refund. Stripe's own card processing fees (~2.9% + $0.30 per original transaction, per stripe.com/pricing as of September 2026) are not returned -- that is Stripe's standard refund policy for all merchants.
Q: Can I refund a traveler who paid with Buy Now, Pay Later? A: Yes. For BNPL payments, the refund goes back through the original provider (Klarna, Affirm, or Afterpay). The 4% BNPL convenience fee sits on the first (deposit) payment (or on the BNPL pay-off payment if the balance was converted after booking) and is refunded proportionally when that payment is refunded. The provider adjusts the traveler's repayment schedule automatically.
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