Connect your Stripe account
Make a restricted key in Stripe with exactly the access Travel Orbit needs, paste it in, and know what happens if the key stops working.
How-to guide4 min read
Travel Orbit takes payments through your own Stripe account. Travellers pay into your account, Stripe pays out to your bank, and Travel Orbit takes no fee on bookings. Card details go straight from the traveller to Stripe and never reach Travel Orbit.
You give Travel Orbit a restricted key: a key that can only do the things you tick, which you can remove in Stripe at any time. Only Admins can connect, change or remove the key, under Stripe in the sidebar. You need to be an administrator of the Stripe account.
Make a restricted key
- In the Stripe Dashboard, open Developers, then API keys. The Stripe screen in Travel Orbit has buttons that open your Live keys and Test keys directly.
- Select Create restricted key. If Stripe asks how you will use the key, choose the option for your own integration, not the one for another website, so you can set the access yourself. Name it Travel Orbit, so you recognise it later.
- Give it these permissions and leave everything else at None. Copy the list on the Stripe screen copies them for you.
| Resource | Permission | What Travel Orbit uses it for |
|---|---|---|
| Customers | Write | Saves each lead traveller, so later instalments can be taken from the same card. |
| PaymentIntents | Write | Takes deposits, instalments and balances. |
| SetupIntents | Write | Saves a card for later when nothing is due at booking. |
| Refunds | Write | Refunds travellers from Travel Orbit. |
| Disputes | Write | Shows disputed payments on the booking. |
| Webhook endpoints | Write | Lets Stripe tell Travel Orbit when a payment succeeds, fails or is refunded. |
| Charges | Read | Reads payment details to match refunds and disputes. |
| Balance | Read | Reads your Stripe balance for reports. |
| Payouts | Read | Reads payouts to your bank for reports. |
- Select Create key and copy it. It starts with
rk_live_orrk_test_. - Copy your publishable key from the same page too. It starts with
pk_live_orpk_test_, and the booking pages use it to show Stripe's payment form.
Paste it in
On the Stripe screen, paste the restricted key under Secret key and the publishable key under Publishable key, then select Connect Stripe. A full secret key, starting with sk_, also works, but it can do anything in your account, so a restricted key is safer. Travel Orbit then:
- checks each permission with a harmless request and lists any that are missing
- reads your account's name, country and default currency
- creates a webhook endpoint in your Stripe account, named after your organisation, so Stripe can tell Travel Orbit about payments
- stores the key and the webhook's signing secret encrypted, and never shows the key again
The screen then shows your account, whether it is Live or in Test mode, and whether it is Taking payments. Under Payment updates it says whether Stripe can tell Travel Orbit about payments straight away.
If a permission is missing, the screen says which one. Without PaymentIntents or Customers, nobody can pay online and bookings arrive as requests. Without Webhook endpoints, Travel Orbit can't hear about payments straight away, so give it that permission too. To fix the access, edit the key in Stripe, then choose Use new keys and paste the keys again.
Test and live keys
Use test keys first. With rk_test_ and pk_test_, bookings go through as usual but no real money moves, and you can pay with Stripe's test cards, such as 4242 4242 4242 4242.
When you are ready, choose Use new keys and connect your live keys the same way. A live secret key only works with a live publishable key, and a test key with a test key. Bookings made in test mode stay in Travel Orbit; cancel them before you sell for real, so they don't take places on your departures.
When a payment is missing
If a payment shows as paid in Stripe but not on the booking, open the booking and select Check with Stripe under Payments and refunds. Travel Orbit also checks by itself when the traveller comes back from paying, and every minute for bookings still waiting for a payment, so this is rarely needed.
If the key stops working
If someone removes the key in Stripe, or Stripe stops accepting it, Travel Orbit marks the connection as Not working when it next tries to take an automatic payment. The Stripe screen and the Overview say so. Until you connect a working key:
- automatic payments pause, and travellers get reminders to pay instead
- new bookings arrive as requests, without payment, so nobody is charged by mistake
- travellers can't pay from the traveller portal
- card payments can't be refunded, but you can still record payments made outside Stripe
Bookings, travellers and payment records all stay. Choose Use new keys, connect a new key and everything carries on.
Remove the connection
Disconnect removes the webhook Travel Orbit made in your Stripe account and forgets the key. Nothing else in Stripe changes: customers, payments and payouts stay where they are. Without a connection, new bookings arrive as requests.
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