This Policy describes when payouts to restaurants and to Zuta Stays hosts become eligible for disbursement, and the controls Zuta applies before releasing funds. It is a draft pending legal review and should be reviewed by counsel before publication.
1. Payout Eligibility Is Not Immediate Arrival
"Eligible for payout" means Zuta has cleared a payout to be sent, not that the funds have already arrived. Once a payout is eligible, the actual time it reaches your bank account or mobile-money wallet depends on your payout provider and their processing times. Zuta does not guarantee instant arrival.
2. Restaurant Payouts (Zuta Eats)
A restaurant payout becomes eligible after the order is delivered and the applicable review hold has passed. The standard hold is 1 hour after delivery, unless the order is held for fraud, dispute, refund, or operational review.
After an order is marked delivered (or picked up by the customer), the funds enter a short review hold. When that hold passes, the payout becomes eligible and is released on the next payout run. A restaurant flagged for elevated risk, or with an open dispute or refund, may have its payout held longer while Zuta reviews the order.
3. Stays Host Payouts (Zuta Stays)
For stays, a host payout becomes eligible 24 hours after the guest successfully checks in, unless the booking is cancelled, disputed, under no-show review, subject to a host cancellation request, or held for risk or support review.
Payout eligibility is based on the guest's actual, verified check-in, not the scheduled check-in date. If the guest never checks in, no host payout is released on this basis; the booking is instead handled under the Zuta Stays No-Show Policy, and any host payout for a no-show is only released after Zuta resolves the no-show review.
4. Holds and Review
A payout may be held, delayed, or withheld where Zuta reasonably believes it is necessary, including for: suspected fraud, an open or pending dispute, a refund or chargeback, an open guest issue or support case, a pending host cancellation request, a compliance or account review, or a legal or regulatory requirement. Where a hold is lifted, the payout becomes eligible again under the rules above.
If a guest issue, dispute, or refund is resolved in the guest's favor after a host or merchant has already been paid, Zuta does not automatically reverse the eligible payout. Such cases are routed to finance review, and Zuta may recover the refunded amount from the host or merchant — for example, by offsetting it against future payouts or recording an amount owed.
5. No Double Payout
Each order or booking results in at most one host or merchant payout. Once a payout has been released for an order or booking, it is not released again.
6. Automatic and Manual Disbursement
Eligible payouts are normally disbursed automatically. Zuta may also disburse, suspend automatic disbursement for, or manually record a payout for an account where required for operational, risk, compliance, or support reasons.
7. Snapshotting
The version of this Policy in effect at the time an order is delivered or a booking is confirmed governs the related payout. Older orders and bookings are evaluated against the Policy version in effect at that time, not a later edited version.