Under the Payment section of the report, the totals by payment type will be displayed. Use these totals to compare against the totals printed from you Credit Card Processor.

If any totals are not matching on the reports, we then need to go through each transaction to see what one is missing.

To do this, we could look at each of the Clerk Audits that were printed that day, or we can run the following:

Reports => Financial => Transaction Register Balance => Detail => With Guest Names

Using this detailed view, compare the totals for the individual credit card transactions to the detailed report from the Credit Card processor. Using this method, it should be easy to identify the discrepancies between the two systems.

In this example, the Credit Card processor's pre-batch report is short in VISA by $93.53. In the PMS, we can see that there are three reservations that have a payment amount of $93.53.

The pre-batch report from the Credit Card Processor should show the amount of each transaction, the time the transaction was processed, and in most cases, only the last 4 digits of the Credit Card number.

In the example below, the Card Holder Name is displayed, however your processor may not display that information.  Consider too that the room may be under a different person's name. In this case, using the Credit Card number is the most accurate way to match up the transactions between systems.

The report shows there are only two VISA transactions in the amount of $93.53, where as the detail report from the PMS is showing that we have three VISA Transactions in the amount of $93.53.

Using the detail report from the PMS, we can identify the three reservations with Visa postings in the amount of $93.53 as Res ID 1966, 1967, and 1968.

Using Advanced Search (F3) in the PMS, we will search for Res ID 1966, and compare the Credit Card number to the report from the processor. Using the Folio view for this guest, and right-clicking on the Payment line, the credit card number will display.

Looking at Kurt Anderson’s Credit Card number and comparing it to the Processor Report above, we see that it is his Credit Card that is missing from the report; thus we know this is the missing posting.

As the majority of properties will authorize credit cards upon check-in, a copy of this Pre-Authorization slip should be retained for internal records. In many properties, this slip may be attached to the Registration Card at check-in.

The first step is to try and locate the original Pre-Auth slip, as we do not want to charge the guest a second time if we are still holding money on their card from the Pre-Auth at check-in. If it is not attached to the Registration Card, try looking at any open Pre-Authorizations on your Credit Card Processor (please consult your Payment Processor's manual for this procedure). If we find the original Pre-Auth, it should be closed by posting the $93.53 as a payment.

If you are unable to locate the original Pre-Auth, it will be necessary to post this transaction to the Credit Card processor as a sale. To do this, the full credit card number and expiry will be required, and will need to be manually punched into the processor.  

1. To get the full credit card details, you will need to select the reservation (make sure the black arrow is pointing at the right reservation) and click on the Post Payment button.
2. The Payments box will open up, and the full card details should be displayed. Use this information to process the Credit Card on your Payment Processor. (If you do not see the card details, please consult with your system's administrator, as the Reservation Management Permission "1541-Do Not Show Credit Card Number" may be enabled on your PMS Clerk profile).
3. Once you have the details for the Credit Card, click Cancel on the Payments box, as you do not need to post the payment again in the PMS.

At this point, the Credit Card totals between PMS and the Processor should balance. Repeat the above steps for any other Card type imbalances you may have.