Pre-Authorize Guest’s Credit Card Before Check-In

Stay allows users to pre-authorize the guest’s credit card associated with the reservation before check-in. This helps the users to determine the validity of the credit card provided. In case the pre-authorization fails, users can determine the next course of action, such as, contacting the guest, or cancelling the reservation.

Feature Setting

  • Name: Validate Credit Card

  • Value: Must be enabled

  • Comments: License is not required

Permission

The following permission must be assigned to use this feature.

  • Stay_ValidateCC

    • Allow users to pre-authorize the credit cards.

    • Applicable for the following gateways:

      • FreedomPay

      • Shift4

      • Elavon

      • 3C

      • Eigen

      • Adyen

When the feature setting is enabled, users with the permission assigned can perform $0 authorizations to validate the guest’s credit card associated with the reservation by selecting the required reservations and clicking the Perform Pre-Auth option under More in the Check-In tab of the Batch Operations screen.

When clicked, the Pre-Authorize pop-up screen appears from which users can choose the Perform Pre-Auth for $0 option to perform $0 authorization. When the authorization is completed, the status is updated in the Pre-Auth Status column.

When the $0 authorization fails, a $1 authorization is performed for the reservations automatically and the following actions are performed:

  • When $0 auth is successful, the authorization details are updated in the reservation folio.

  • When $1 auth is successful, the authorization details and the authorized amount is updated for the reservation.

  • When both $0 and $1 authorizations are unsuccessful, then the status is marked as Failed, and the next authorization is not attempted until triggered manually by the user. 

The Pre-Authorization for $0 option can be performed only for reservations associated with a credit card. The following message is displayed when users try to perform pre-authorization for reservations associated with other payment methods: Unable to perform Pre Auth since no cards are associated with the reservation.

Users cannot perform pre-authorization again for reservations for which the Pre-Authorization for $0 was already successful. Pre-authorization can be performed again only for reservations for which $0 and $1 authorizations failed.

The following fields/columns support this feature:

  • The Perform Pre-Auth for $0 option in the Pre-Authorize pop-up screen appears when users select the Perform Pre-Auth option under More in the Check-In tab of the Batch Operations screen. This option allows users to perform $0 and $1 authorizations for the guest’s credit cards.

  • The Pre-Auth Status column in the Check-In tab of the Batch Operations screen displays the following status for the reservations:

    • When pre-authorization is not performed, the status column is left blank.

    • When pre-authorization is successful, the status is updated as Success.

    • When pre-authorization fails, the status is updated as Failed.

    • This column can be sorted.

    • Users can filter records using this column.