If you’ve received card details from Booking.com or Expedia, then we have a solution for you.
What types of cards might I receive?
You can receive two types of cards from Booking.com or Expedia:
- You can receive the customer’s card details directly
- You can receive a Virtual Card (this is where Booking.com or Expedia have already charged the customer and is a way of them paying you)
If you’re not sure, you can use the information here to work out which card you have.
Some POS systems will allow you to charge cards remotely, but you should check how much they charge you for this. Virtual Cards in particular can be very expensive.
Charging customer card details
If you have a Tab account, you can charge secure customer card details provided by the OTA using our Advance Booking feature. You simply enter the customer details, including their card details, and click on ‘Take Payment’!
Charging customer card details when you receive them has lots of advantages - it can reduce no shows and payment disputes, and helps you filter out booking fraudsters. We always recommend that you charge the card details when you receive the booking, securing the payment with your refund policy. For any unsuccessful payments, you can always send the guest a payment link. If they don’t pay, you know to cancel the booking and make the space available for legitimate guests.
With Tab, you can easily manage refunds too (both in full and partial) - it’s easy, free, and we refund all fees.
We charge 2.9% + 1 USD to process Advance Bookings. Like with our other payments, we charge a small customer fee because we convert the payment into a local payment for the customer, saving them expensive international fees from their bank. This means that Tab is usually cheaper for your customer too. Read more about why here.
Charging virtual cards
Charging Virtual Cards is even easier. Tab has a specific feature to charge Virtual Cards from a number of providers, not just Booking.com and Expedia. Simply enter the cards details and charge the card.
This feature costs 5.9% per transaction (there is no customer fee) as Virtual Cards are more expensive to process, so we do recommend sticking to customer card details if you are given the option!
