Things change. When a client cancels or you need to issue a refund, Brindlechute makes it simple.
Which option should I use?
If you're refunding a booking without making any changes to it, use Option 1.
If you need to change the booking first — removing a date, experience, or guests, or overriding the price of an experience (for example, offering a discount) — use Option 2.
Option 1: Refund Without Changing the Booking
1. Find the Booking
You can locate the booking from:
Bookings tab – Opens directly to the booking details.
Calendar or Trips tab – Click the trip, then select Manage Booking to open the full booking details.
2. Open the Refund Option
Scroll to the Payment Summary box.
At the bottom-left, click Refund.
3. Choose Your Refund Method
Reverse a charge (affects invoice balance)
Use this to reverse a payment made through Brindlechute in full. To refund only part of a payment, use Refund and adjust balance instead, which reduces the outstanding balance by exactly the amount you refund.
A charge that has already been partially refunded can't be reversed.
Because processing fees aren't returned by the payment processor, reversing a charge that included fees deducts those fees from your account — Brindlechute shows the exact amount in a warning before you confirm.
Refund and adjust balance
Refund a specific amount and reduce the outstanding balance by that same amount — without reversing a charge in full.
If you're also changing the booking, click Edit booking in this step so Brindlechute calculates the correct refund automatically.
To enter an amount directly instead, check "No, I just want to provide a refund and decrease the invoice balance," then continue to enter the refund amount for each payment method.
Refund as compensation (does not affect invoice balance)
Refund any amount you choose. The invoice — balance paid and outstanding balance — stays unchanged; the refund appears in your payment totals as a refunded amount.
Use this for courtesy refunds or amounts you're settling outside the invoice.
4. Confirm the Refund
Review the amount and refund type.
Click Confirm Refund.
Note: Refunds are processed on the original payment methods. It may take 5–15 business days for the funds to appear on your guest's account.
Option 2: Edit the Booking, Then Refund
Use this when you need to change something about the booking before issuing a refund — removing a date, experience, or guests, or overriding the price of an experience (for example, offering a client a discount without changing what they're booked for).
Open the booking and click Edit Booking.
Make your change — remove a date, experience, or guests, or override the price of an experience — then save.
If the change lowers the price, the Confirm update to booking window opens. Choose how to handle the difference: Refund price difference and adjust balance to $0, or Don't refund and adjust balance to $0.
If refunding, Brindlechute suggests an amount — the price difference, excluding fees. Click Set to $0, or enter your own amount for each payment method. Entering less than the suggested amount triggers a warning that the shortfall is settled rather than refunded, and your organization keeps it.
For cash or other custom payments, Brindlechute reminds you that refunds must be sent to the client manually — nothing is charged or refunded automatically.
Scroll down and choose how to finish:
Confirm update & Refund $X.XX — notifies the client and logs the amount as a Refund. If the confirmed amount is $0 — either because you chose Don't refund above, or set the amount to $0 — this logs a Settlement instead: a $0 entry confirming the price changed with no money moving.
Skip refund and don't notify client, proceed with change — updates the booking with no client notification and no transaction history entry at all. Use this only if you don't need a record that the price changed.
Note on guide assignments: Removing an entire date or experience drops that day's trip units and unassigns their guides automatically. Reducing the guest count works differently: the surplus trip units stay in place. If the group no longer needs as many guides, open the booking, click Edit, expand Per-unit details, click the X on the unit that's no longer needed, redistribute Persons across the remaining units, and Save. Clearing a guide off the unit won't reduce the slot count — see Understanding Per-Unit Details When Creating or Editing a Booking.
Need Help?
Most refunds process smoothly. If something doesn’t look right—like the balance not updating or a payment not processing—reach out to our support team and we’ll help you sort it out quickly.