Hospitality payment processing

A reservation can be merchant-collected by the property, collected by an online travel agency, guaranteed by card but paid at the property, or settled through a virtual card. Record who quotes the price, takes the credential, appears on the statement, owns the guest contract and refund, and receives settlement.

Keep each property's legal entity, acquiring account, descriptor and location aligned. A hotel group, franchise, management company, booking engine and restaurant may share a brand but remain different merchants. Centralizing checkout does not automatically permit one entity to process every property's revenue.

Visa MCC 7011 covers lodging businesses such as hotels, motels and resorts and can include certain central reservation services and short-term accommodation when a more specific code does not apply. Camps, timeshares, restaurants, spas, event venues and travel agencies can fall under other codes.

The acquirer assigns the code from the merchant and principal activity. Explain whether room, food and beverage, minibar, spa, parking, events, memberships and retail are settled on one folio or through separate outlets, and which charges the signed accommodation agreement permits.

For eligible lodging transactions, an estimated authorization can cover an amount that is not yet known, followed by incremental authorizations when the estimate changes. The guest must be told the estimated amount; the final transaction must remain within the authorized amount or receive the additional approval required by current network rules.

Link the initial estimate, increments, reversals and final capture with the identifiers required by the acquirer. Reverse unused authorization promptly. An incidental hold is not revenue. Potential damage and other delayed charges should follow the network's and acquirer's approved separate-charge procedure; do not treat the estimate or stored credential as blanket consent.

For US short-term lodging within scope, the FTC's unfair-or-deceptive-fees rule requires the advertised total price to include known and calculable mandatory fees. Taxes and genuinely optional additions are treated separately under the rule. The payment page, confirmation and property systems should use the same price components.

No-show, delayed, minibar, damage and other post-stay charges need their own contractual and card-network basis. Preserve the reservation terms, guest acknowledgement, folio, itemized evidence, notices and authorization trail. Do not rely on a stored card as blanket consent for any later amount.

A booking can pass through the website, central reservation system, property-management system, point of sale, call center and channel partner. Tokenize the credential at an approved boundary and document which system can initiate guarantees, increments, final charges and refunds.

PCI SSC states that card verification codes cannot be retained after authorization, even if encrypted. Staff notes, scanned forms and property systems should not keep the code for later incidentals. Use the provider's approved stored-credential and travel transaction flow instead.

Join every authorization and money movement to the reservation and folio. Reconcile estimated holds separately from captured revenue, agency virtual cards, refunds and chargebacks, so an open hold or a missing reversal is visible before the guest complains.