A useful reconciliation answers two separate questions: what happened to the money and what happened to the travel booking? Keep both visible. This guide sets out a suggested checking process, using Stripe documentation as a provider example rather than assuming every payment system behaves the same way.

Start with your own provider’s reports, supplier records and bank statement. Agree which person owns each part of the review so an unmatched transaction has somewhere to go.

Separate the statuses before matching amounts

Where separate authorisation and capture are supported, an authorisation reserves an amount for later collection and has an expiry. It does not by itself establish that the supplier has confirmed the travel arrangement. Check the provider’s actual flow and deadlines. Source: Stripe: separate authorisation and capture

Use separate fields for the booking reference, supplier status, payment reference and payment status. A record can then show, for example, that a supplier request is unresolved while a payment has been authorised. That is an illustrative state to investigate, not a recommended promise to the customer.

Agree the action for each unresolved combination. Who checks with the supplier? Who checks the payment? When will the record next be reviewed? These decisions make the exception list usable during a busy handover.

Gather the right payout report

A bank credit may represent a batch of transactions. Stripe’s payout reconciliation report connects automatic payouts to their underlying activity, including gross amounts, fees and net amounts. Its documentation distinguishes this from manual and other payout arrangements. Use the report that fits your setup. Source: Stripe: payout reconciliation

Record the payout reference, reporting period and currency before comparing totals. Match transaction references to booking records, then review any unmatched lines. This avoids treating two identical deposit amounts as if they must belong to the same booking.

Keep a separate explanation for adjustments. If a fee or refund does not have a booking reference, record the relevant provider reference and the reason rather than forcing a match.

Work through a simple example

Consider a fictional batch with £1,200 of captured payments, a £100 refund and £20 of fees. Assuming no other adjustments, the calculation is £1,200 minus £100 minus £20, giving a £1,080 net payout.

These figures are a teaching example, not Stripe pricing or a typical travel agency result. The purpose is to show why the customer payment total and the bank credit need not be identical.

For your own batch, reproduce the calculation from the actual report. If it does not match, check the included transactions and reporting period before deciding there is a missing payment. Record the explanation so the same difference does not have to be investigated again next month.

Check refunds as their own process

Stripe distinguishes cancelling an uncaptured payment from refunding a captured payment. Refunds can also remain pending or fail. Use the current provider result when describing what has happened. Source: Stripe: refunds and cancellations

Keep the refund reference and amount beside the original payment. Record the supplier cancellation outcome separately. This gives the team enough information to investigate a cancelled trip with an unresolved refund or a payment adjustment that did not require a supplier cancellation.

Read refund status before writing customer updates. The wording should describe the event you have checked, with a clear next step for any unresolved case.

Close the review with evidence

Use a small review record containing the payout reference, matched transactions, unexplained differences, owner and next action. Save the relevant report and the time of the check. A completed record should explain the total and identify anything still outstanding.

As a final handover test, ask a colleague to trace one payment from the booking to the provider report and bank payout using only the record. If they need an unwritten explanation, add it to the process. The aim is a repeatable check that another person can follow, not a spreadsheet only its creator understands.

Written and updated by Travelgenix. Sources checked on 16 October 2026. Worked examples and checklists are editorial illustrations and recommendations, not customer results.