Payment Links let you send a guest a secure link to pay for their booking. When they pay, Preno automatically records the payment against the booking and notifies you — no manual reconciling needed.
How it works
You create a payment link and email it to your guest.
Your guest opens the link and makes the payment.
Once payment succeeds, Preno automatically adds a payment record to the booking and sends you a notification.
Before you start
You'll need Windcave connected to your Preno account. Payment Links uses your Windcave integration to process guest payments. If you haven't set up your payment gateway yet, see Integrated credit card payments.
What your guest sees. By default, the payment page shows Windcave as the payment provider rather than your property name. You can add your property's name and logo to the page if you'd like — this is arranged directly with Windcave (not through Preno), and Windcave review and approve any branding before it goes live. Otherwise, make sure your payment request email clearly comes from your property (the template below is written to do this), so guests recognise the request and pay with confidence.
How to create a payment link
Open the booking and go to Payments. From the booking view, open the Payments section.
Click Create payment link. This opens the payment link form.
Fill in the details:
Amount — the amount you want the guest to pay
Description — what the payment is for (e.g. "Deposit for booking #1234"). Your guest will see this.
Link expiry — how long the link stays valid. Defaults to 7 days.
Click Create. Preno generates the payment link.
Copy the link and send it to your guest. Click Copy link, then paste it into an email to your guest. You'll need to send the email yourself.
You can create more than one payment link on the same booking — for example, one for a deposit and another for the balance.
Example email template
Use this as a starting point for your own payment request email. Swap in your own details if you're not using Preno's data tags, or see Email templates setup to save it as a reusable template:
Hi |* first_name *|,
Please find below a secure link to complete your payment. This link takes you directly to our payment provider, Windcave, to pay securely. It won't ask you to enter details anywhere else.
< Paste your payment link here >
This link is valid for [X] days — if it expires before you've had a chance to pay, just reply to this email and we'll send you a new one.
If you weren't expecting this email or have any questions, please call us on |* property_phone *| before making payment.
Thanks,
|* user_full_name *|
|* property_name *|
Email: |* property_email *| / Phone: |* property_phone *|
What happens when your guest pays
When your guest completes payment, you'll receive a notification and a payment record will appear automatically in the Payments section of the booking.
Revoke a payment link
If you no longer want to request that payment — for example, the guest paid another way or the booking changed — click Revoke link. Once revoked, the link can no longer be used to pay.
When a link expires
Payment links are valid for the expiry period you set (7 days by default). Once a link expires, the guest can no longer pay through it — they'll see a message that the link has expired and to contact the property. If you still need the payment, just create a new link.
Refunding a payment
Once a payment is recorded in Preno, it behaves like any other Windcave payment record — so you can process the refund directly from Preno. Open the booking's Payments section, find the payment, and process the refund from there. See How to refund a payment or deposit for the full steps.