Direct Invoices in Trips run on Stripe Connect — your own Stripe account, linked once, managed entirely from inside Trips. This article walks you through the connection from the first click to your first payout.
Before you start
Have these ready and onboarding takes about 10 minutes:
Legal business name and address. What the IRS / your state knows you as — not a DBA unless that DBA is registered.
Tax ID. EIN for an LLC or corp; SSN for a sole proprietor.
Owner identity. Date of birth, home address, and the last four of your SSN for KYC.
Bank account. Routing + account number for the account that should receive payouts.
A working phone number for SMS verification.
Step 1 — Open the Payments page
From the Trips sidebar, click Payments. The landing page is titled Direct invoicing with a setup checklist on the left and a Status panel on the right. On your first visit Trips creates a fresh Stripe account in the background — you do not have to click "Get started" or sign up at stripe.com. The account is yours; Trips just hosts the form.
Above the checklist sits a yellow notice that reads "Agency fees only. Do not use it to collect funds intended for a supplier." Read it. Direct Invoices are for your planning fees, consultations, change fees, cancellation penalties — never for cruise deposits or anything that's passing through to a vendor.
Step 2 — Work the checklist
The left side shows up to five rows. Each one opens a side drawer where Stripe asks for what they need in plain English:
The rows
Business info. Legal name, address, what you sell.
Verify bank account. Where Stripe sends your payouts.
Personal info. Your identity as the account holder.
Terms and conditions. Accept Stripe's Connected Account Agreement.
Additional info Stripe needs. Only appears if Stripe asks for something extra.
Row badges
Not started — grey, you haven't opened the row yet.
Needs info — amber, Stripe is waiting on you.
Under review — sky blue, Stripe is verifying what you submitted.
Done — green, this section is complete.
Click Start (or Continue, or Resolve — the button label changes with the row's state) and fill out what Stripe asks. The form lives inside the Trips drawer; you never leave the app. Close the drawer when you're done and the row's badge updates within a few seconds.
Step 3 — Watch the Status panel flip to green
The right column shows your overall state. While you're still filling things out it reads Setup in progress with a percent-complete bar. Once Stripe has everything and has finished verifying, the panel header switches to Accepting payments on an emerald gradient and the bar turns green. That's the signal you can start sending Direct Invoices.
If Stripe is still reviewing identity documents you may sit at Under review for a few hours to a couple of days. The page lazy-refreshes on every visit, but you can also click Refresh status at the bottom of the checklist to force a fresh check.
Payouts — when the money actually shows up
Once you're accepting payments, Stripe runs payouts to the bank account you verified. The defaults:
Card payments settle into your Stripe balance instantly.
Bank payouts typically arrive in 5–7 business days for the first payout, then on a rolling 2-business-day schedule after that.
Instant Payouts are available for an extra Stripe fee — useful when you need the funds same-day.
Open the Payouts tab in the Payments section to see your payout history, change your schedule, or trigger an instant payout. Everything renders inline — no separate stripe.com login.
Apple Pay and Google Pay on your domain
When you set up your agency's custom domain (or use your default your-agency.urtravelpro.com portal), Trips registers it with Stripe so Apple Pay and Google Pay buttons render on client invoice pages. The registration is per-agency — each connected Stripe account has to authorize each hostname.
You don't click a button for this — it happens the first time a client loads an invoice on your portal. If wallets aren't showing up after a domain change, the troubleshooting article has a one-step re-register command.
Troubleshooting
The setup form (drawer) is blank or shows a spinner forever.
An ad blocker or network filter is most likely blocking Stripe's embedded form. The Payments page has a hosted fallback — see the dedicated Stripe Connect troubleshooting article for step-by-step recovery.
My status says "Setup in progress" but I filled everything out.
Click Refresh status at the bottom of the checklist. If a row still shows Needs info or Under review after that, open it and look at the message Stripe shows inside — usually a document needs to be re-uploaded or a name needs to match an ID exactly. The troubleshooting article covers the common stuck states.
Payouts say "Enabled" but I haven't received any money.
First payouts take 5–7 business days. Open the Payouts tab to see the scheduled payout date. If a payout shows as failed, Stripe will surface the reason inline (usually a bank account mismatch) — see the troubleshooting article for resolution steps.
Can I use an existing Stripe account I already have?
Not today. Trips creates a Stripe account specifically wired to your Trips organization so payments, refunds, payouts, and disputes can all be managed inline. Bringing in a pre-existing account would require a separate import flow we haven't built yet.