If you're creating a booking on the fly and need your customer to pay, you can send them a unique payment link. They'll receive the link, open it, and pay right from their phone or computer — no need to take a card over the phone or wait for them to arrive in person.
When to use booking payment links
You can send a payment link in these two scenarios:
You manually create a booking on the Admin side. For example, a customer calls to book, and you add the booking to the calendar yourself.
Your facility has "Reserve and Pay in Person" enabled, and you'd rather have the customer pay online instead of collecting payment when they show up.
How booking payment links work
Create the booking on the Admin Calendar as you normally would
Add the participant to the booking
Select Add & Pay Later (not Next), and then click Save
On the Manage Participants and Payments panel, click on the 3 dots menu icon next to the participant's name and select Copy Payment Link
The unique payment link will be copied to your clipboard
Send the link to your customer — by email, text, or however you'd normally reach them.
Customer pays by opening the link and completing payment. They will be required to sign into their Swift account first.
Booking updates automatically once payment goes through, so you'll know it's paid without following up. You will see the booking is marked with a green tick on the Calendar.
What customers see when opening a booking payment link
After opening the payment link, customers will be taken to a secure payment page where they can choose how they'd like to pay.
Available payment methods include:
A new credit or debit card
A card already saved to their Swift account
Wallet balance (if available)
A GiftUp gift card
After payment is completed, no additional action is required from your staff.
Customers can also pay for a booking from their Swift account
Sending a payment link isn't the only way customers can pay.
Customers can also sign into their Swift account, navigate to the Activity page, and view all of their bookings.
Any unpaid booking will display a Pay Now button. Selecting this button opens the same payment page as the booking payment link, allowing customers to complete payment whenever it's convenient.
Good to know about booking payment links
Each booking has its own unique payment link. If a customer has multiple unpaid bookings, you'll need to send a separate payment link for each one, as multiple bookings cannot currently be combined into a single payment link.
Payment links are tied to a specific booking and customer, so they cannot be used to pay for any other booking. To create a booking and generate a payment link, you'll need at least the customer's email address. For security, customers must sign into their Swift account using that same email address before they can complete payment.
FAQs on Booking Payment Links
Can I send one payment link for a customer's multiple bookings?
Not currently. Each booking has its own individual payment link, so you'd send one link per booking.
What happens if the customer doesn't pay right away?
The booking will stay on your calendar as unpaid until the customer completes payment through the link, or until you take another action on the booking such as processing payment through Admin.
Does this work for bookings created by the customer themselves?
This applies to bookings you create manually on the Admin side, or bookings made by the customer who selects "Reserve and Pay in Person" at checkout.
How can customers pay for their bookings through their own Swift account portal?
With the introduction of booking payment links, your customers can also log into their own Swift accounts and pay for each individual booking.
They will find their bookings listed under the the Activity page in their account. For any unpaid bookings, click the Pay Now option and it will also take them to the same payment page.