Razorpay Submerchants

Collect payments in chats — with every paid rupee tied to the right brand, outlet, or property.

TL;DR

• What it is — a one-click Razorpay connection that lets you send payment links straight from chats, with payment status flowing back onto the conversation automatically.
• Who it's for — India-based operators taking payments on Razorpay. Admins connect; team members send links in conversations.
• Top outcome — guests pay without leaving WhatsApp, Email, or Web Chat — and your team sees payment status (pending, paid, failed, refunded) directly on the conversation.

At a glance

How to find it

Breadcrumb: Settings → Razorpay Submerchants.

Direct URL: https://app.lodgestory.com/crm/settings/razorpay

[SCREENSHOT: razorpay-nav.png — Settings sidebar with Razorpay Submerchants highlighted]

What is Razorpay Submerchants?

The problem it solves

Most chat-first payment flows end up out-of-band — "I'll send you a link separately" — or held together with a personal Razorpay account and copy-paste. Both lose the paper trail. Without in-product payments, refund reconciliation becomes a group-chat scavenger hunt, settlement summaries arrive in the operations inbox, and attributing a payment to a booking requires spreadsheets.

Razorpay Submerchants puts payment collection right inside your chats. Your team member generates a payment link from the composer, it sends through the same conversation as any other message, and when the guest pays, the status flows back onto the conversation in real time. The full lifecycle — authorised, captured, failed, refunded, settled — appears on the conversation's timeline.

What you get

• One-click connection. Your admin clicks Connect, approves the access in Razorpay, and the connection is live. No pasting of keys or secrets.
• Multi-account support. Your workspace can connect as many submerchant accounts as you need — one per outlet, one per brand, one per property. Each has its own KYC status and its own settlement flow.
• Live KYC and business-profile display. Each connected account shows the business name, contact info, and current KYC state from Razorpay. One click refreshes the snapshot.
• Payment links from the composer. Every team member replying to a conversation can open a Payment link action, set an amount, description, optional guest info, and expiry, and drop the link into the chat.
• Automatic status updates on the conversation. Authorisation, capture, failure, refund, and settlement events flow back onto the conversation timeline so your team sees exactly where each payment is.
• Store linking. Each Store can be linked to one connected payment account, so payments for products in that store settle into the right account automatically.
• Always-fresh connection. Behind the scenes Lodgestory keeps each connected account authorised so payment links and payment events keep flowing with no admin action on your part.
• Clean disconnect. One click retires a connection, deregisters webhooks at Razorpay, and stops new events flowing for that account.

How it's different

• A Partner connection, not a key-paste. You don't copy keys around. Your admin logs into Razorpay through a normal approval page, grants access, and Lodgestory receives the connection. Revoking access is equally clean — revoke at Razorpay's end and nothing in Lodgestory needs to change.
• Multi-account, multi-brand by design. Most CRMs wire a single merchant account to the whole workspace. Lodgestory treats each submerchant as its own connection, so multi-brand operators keep settlements clean.
• Payment status on the conversation, not an email. When the guest pays, the next time your team member opens the conversation they see the status right there. No separate email, no third-party dashboard to check.

Customer scenarios

• Post-booking deposit. A guest confirms a booking on WhatsApp. Your team member opens the Payment link action in the composer, enters the deposit amount with a short description, and sends. The guest pays; the conversation timeline updates with Payment captured; the booking is locked in.
• Multi-brand operation. Brand A and Brand B use different Razorpay submerchants. Both are connected to Lodgestory. Conversations scoped to Brand A's WhatsApp channel generate payment links against Brand A's submerchant; Brand B's conversations against Brand B's. Settlement stays clean per brand.
• Refund tracking. A guest disputes a charge. Your accounts team processes the refund in Razorpay. The refund event flows back onto the conversation automatically, so your support team sees the refund without anyone cross-referencing.

How it fits with the rest of Lodgestory

• Store Management — each store can link to one payment account, so product payments settle into the right place automatically.
• Home / Unified Inbox — the payment link action lives in the composer. Payment status appears on the conversation timeline.
• Tickets — you can wire payment failures or refunds into ticket creation rules, so a support ticket opens automatically when an expected payment doesn't land.
• Bot Journeys — a journey can generate a payment link as part of an automated flow, for example on a booking confirmation step.

Core concepts

Quick Start — connect your first payment account in five minutes

Step 1 — Open Razorpay Submerchants

Settings → Razorpay Submerchants.

[SCREENSHOT: razorpay-qs-1-list.png]

Step 2 — Click + Connect Razorpay Submerchant

A new tab opens with Razorpay's approval page.

Step 3 — Approve in Razorpay

Log into Razorpay, pick the submerchant you want to connect, and approve the access scope Lodgestory requests.

[SCREENSHOT: razorpay-qs-3-approve.png]

Step 4 — Land back in Lodgestory

Razorpay redirects you back to Lodgestory automatically. Lodgestory finishes the connection, pulls the business profile, and registers for payment events.

Step 5 — Your new account appears

The connection shows up in the list with the business name, KYC badge, and a green indicator that payment events are flowing.

[SCREENSHOT: razorpay-qs-5-list-with-account.png]

Step 6 — (Optional) Link the account to a store

Go to Store Management, open the store you want to link, and pick the payment account in its settings. Save. Payments for products in that store now settle into this submerchant.

What's next

• Send a test payment link to your own number from a conversation in Home.
• Automate a payment-link step inside a Bot Journey for post-booking deposits.

How it works

Connecting a payment account is a normal approval flow — your admin goes through Razorpay's page once and Lodgestory receives the authorisation.

1. An admin clicks Connect in Settings → Razorpay Submerchants. Lodgestory sends them to Razorpay's approval page.
2. The admin picks the submerchant they want to connect and approves Lodgestory's access.
3. Razorpay sends the admin back to Lodgestory. Lodgestory records the connection, pulls the business profile, and registers for payment events from Razorpay.
4. The account appears in your list, active and ready to use.
5. A team member replying to a conversation opens the Payment link action in the composer, enters an amount and description, and sends. Lodgestory generates a Razorpay payment link and drops it into the chat.
6. When the guest pays (or doesn't), Razorpay notifies Lodgestory. The payment status updates on the conversation timeline in near real time.
7. Refunds and settlement events flow the same way — they appear on the conversation as they happen.

Behind the scenes Lodgestory keeps each account's authorisation fresh, so payment links keep generating and events keep flowing without an admin re-authorising every few days.

Features in depth

The payment-account list

Each connection shows up as a card with:

• Business name — as registered with Razorpay.
• KYC badge — current verification status.
• Events indicator — green when payment events are flowing, amber when something's amiss.
• Created date.
• Actions — Refresh (pull latest business profile and KYC from Razorpay) and Disconnect.

Creating a payment link from a conversation

In the inbox composer, the Payment link action opens a modal with:

• Amount — minimum ₹1.
• Description — shown to the guest on the payment page.
• Guest info (optional) — name, phone, email. Pre-fills the checkout.
• Expiry (optional) — a time when the link stops working.

Submit and a Razorpay-hosted payment link drops into the conversation as the next message. The guest taps, pays, and Lodgestory's conversation timeline updates with the status.

Payment status on the conversation

As the guest moves through their payment, the conversation timeline reflects each state:

• Authorised — the guest's bank has approved the charge.
• Captured — the funds have been taken.
• Failed — the payment attempt didn't succeed.
• Refunded — you (or your accounts team) issued a refund from Razorpay.
• Settled — the money has moved into the submerchant's bank account.

Everything surfaces without anyone opening the Razorpay dashboard.

Refresh account

The Refresh action on each connection pulls the latest business profile and KYC status from Razorpay on demand. Useful after an admin updates business info directly in Razorpay and wants it reflected in Lodgestory immediately.

Disconnect

Clicking Disconnect on a connection:

1. Stops new payment events flowing for that account.
2. Removes the connection from Lodgestory.
3. Clears the event subscription at Razorpay's end.

Historical payment links are preserved on their conversations; new events after disconnect are ignored.

Roles and permissions

Connections

• Store Management — each store can link to one connected payment account. Products sold through that store settle into the linked account.
• Home / Unified Inbox — the composer's payment-link action uses your connected accounts. Payment status shows up on the conversation timeline.
• Bot Journeys — automate payment-link generation as part of a conversational flow.
• Tickets — wire payment failures or refunds into automatic ticket creation for follow-up.

Limits a user will run into

Errors and FAQ

You might see

• "Amount below the minimum" — payment links must be at least ₹1. Increase the amount.
• "Submerchant already connected" — you've already connected this submerchant to your workspace. Use the existing connection rather than adding a new one.
• "Couldn't generate payment link" — the payment account may have lapsed authorisation or been suspended at Razorpay's end. Open the account, click Refresh, and if the error persists, disconnect and reconnect.
• Amber badge on a connection — the connection's authorisation needs attention. The most common cause is an admin revoking Lodgestory's access at Razorpay's end. Click Reconnect to redo the approval.

FAQ

Do I need a Razorpay account to use this?
Yes. Razorpay Submerchants connects an existing Razorpay submerchant account to Lodgestory. If you don't have one, set it up at razorpay.com first.

Can I connect the same Razorpay submerchant to two different Lodgestory workspaces?
Yes across different workspaces. Within a single workspace, the connection is unique — you can't connect the same submerchant twice.

Is this the same as my Lodgestory subscription billing?
No. Razorpay Submerchants is for your workspace to collect payments from your guests. Your Lodgestory subscription billing is separate.

What happens to existing payment links if I disconnect an account?
The conversations keep the historical status they had at disconnect. New payment events from Razorpay for that account are ignored once the connection is removed.

Can the guest pay in a currency other than INR?
Razorpay Submerchants is set up for INR. Multi-currency options depend on your Razorpay account and setup; if you need this, contact support.

Can I enable partial payments?
Partial payments are off by default. Contact support if your setup needs them enabled.

Why do I see an amber badge on a connection sometimes?
Lodgestory keeps each connection's authorisation fresh automatically. If the background refresh fails — typically because an admin revoked access at Razorpay's end, or Razorpay had an outage — the badge turns amber. Click Reconnect to redo the approval once.

Can a bot journey generate a payment link automatically?
Yes — a bot journey can include a payment-link step, so for example a booking-confirmation journey can send a deposit link without a team member stepping in.

API

Razorpay Submerchants is available via the Lodgestory partner API for organisations that want to manage connections and payment links programmatically. Ask your Lodgestory point of contact for credentials and the current reference; endpoints cover the connection lifecycle, listing accounts, refreshing KYC, generating payment links, and reading link status.

Changelog

• April 2026 — General availability. One-click Razorpay Partner connection, multi-account support, payment-link action in the composer across every text channel, automatic status on conversation timelines, per-store payment-account linking.

Related modules and next steps

• Store Management — link each store to a payment account.
• Home / Unified Inbox — where payment links are sent and status appears.
• Bot Journeys — automate payment-link generation in conversation flows.
• Tickets — open a ticket automatically on payment failures or refunds.