To take payments from your travelers, connect your own Stripe account. Money from bookings goes straight into it — Samba never holds your funds. You connect once with a few clicks; there are no API keys to copy or paste.
How to connect
Go to Settings → Connect Stripe.
Click Connect with Stripe.
You'll land on Stripe, which shows exactly what Samba is asking permission to do. Review it and approve.
Stripe sends you back to Samba, and your account shows as Connected. You're ready to take payments.
That's it — you only deal with Stripe at connect time. Samba keeps the connection secure and never stores a Stripe password or secret key.
Checking your connection
The Connect Stripe page shows your connection at a glance:
Connected — payments are working.
Live or Test — which Stripe mode you connected. On the live site you need to connect a live Stripe account; a test account is turned away with a note asking for a live one.
Reconnect required — Samba's access to your Stripe account stopped working (for example, the connection was removed from your Stripe dashboard). Bookings will fail until you reconnect, so you'll also see a reminder at the top of the app with a Re-verify now link.
Reconnecting
If you see Reconnect required, click Reconnect and approve again on Stripe. This restores access without changing any of your settings.
Offering Apple Pay and Google Pay
Once your Stripe account is connected, you can let travelers pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay at checkout. Both options appear in the Payment wallets section on Settings → Connect Stripe.
Each wallet has its own toggle — turn them on or off independently.
After enabling a wallet, it shows one of three statuses:
Status | What it means |
Active | Travelers see this option at checkout. |
Pending verification | Stripe is still validating your checkout domain. Wait a moment, then click Re-check status to refresh. |
Off | This wallet isn't enabled. |
Wallet buttons only appear on fixed-date, full-pay bookings. They don't show up for on-request bookings or when a traveler selects a payment plan.
Wallet troubleshooting
Toggle is disabled with a message to reconnect. Your current Stripe connection is missing the permission Samba needs to manage wallets. Click Reconnect and approve again — this adds the required permission without changing your existing setup.
Wallet stuck on "Pending verification". Click Re-check status to ask Stripe for the latest result and re-trigger validation.
Both wallets went inactive after a Re-check. If the payment domain was removed or disabled in your Stripe dashboard, re-enable either wallet from the Samba settings page to restore it. Samba will register a new domain (if removed) or re-enable the existing one (if disabled).
"Could not disable that wallet. Please try again." Samba couldn't reach Stripe to complete the change — your toggle stays on and nothing was saved. Try again once the issue is resolved.
Switching to a different Stripe account
Each workspace connects to one Stripe account. To move to a different one, Disconnect first, then connect the new account. While you're disconnected Samba can't charge your travelers, so reconnect promptly.
If something goes wrong
"Connection was denied or cancelled." You closed the Stripe window or didn't approve. Nothing changed — click Connect with Stripe to try again.
"Please connect a live Stripe account, not a test account." You're on the live site but approved a test-mode Stripe account. Switch to your live account and connect again.
"We could not complete the Stripe connection." Something interrupted the handshake. Try Connect with Stripe once more.
Is this the same as my Samba bill?
No. This is your Stripe account, for charging your travelers. The card Samba charges you on (your subscription and commission) is separate — see Plans and what's included.
If this is the first live payment gateway you've connected, it also switches on customer-facing emails for your workspace — see Why can't I message my customers yet?