The following article outlines how to use Stripe Payments to process a credit card authorization. A credit card authorization confirms that the card holder's account has sufficient funds and is approved to purchase from the hotel. An authorization does not process funds, but rather it places a temporary hold on a specified amount; once the guest reservation is checked out in RoomKeyPMS, this temporary hold is released.
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Authorization Expiration: Unsettled credit card authorizations typically expire after 30 days. If a guest stays 30 days or more, you can choose the following options:
- OPTION 1: Manually settle the authorization before the 30 day expiry date, then take a new authorization
- OPTION 2: Allow the authorization to expire, then take a new authorization after the 30 day expiry date
All computers at the property, regardless if they will be using the interface to process credit cards or not, MUST be updated to Version 11.0.0.29 or above.
How to Process an Authorization at Check-In
- Locate the applicable reservation in the Arrivals screen, Reservations screen, or by using the Search/Advanced Search tools
- Select Check In, the Guest Check-In window will appear and allow the user to review the check in details
- By default, the PMS will process an authorization equal to the room and tax payment for the full guest stay; if incidentals are authorized at the same time, the user can enter the amount for incidentals in the Available Credit field
To authorize a custom amount for the guest stay, enable the Override default credit checkbox and enter the total amount to be authorized in the Available Credit field
- Once the check in details have been reviewed, select Check-In
- A Stripe window will appear; enable the Use Terminal checkbox and select Post
- Insert the guest credit card into the credit card terminal and follow the prompts that appear on the terminal screen
- Once the authorization is completed using the credit card terminal, a Fullsteam window will appear in the PMS with an Approved message and transaction information
Select the Close button to complete the process; if the Print Receipt checkbox is enabled, a receipt will be printed
How to Increase an Authorization for In House Guests
Authorizations can be increased by processing an additional amount, however authorizations cannot be decreased. Alternatively, users can void an original authorization and process a lower authorization amount if desired.
The following instructions are valid for Mastercard, Visa, Discover, Diners, China Union Pay ("OTHER" TC). However incremental authorization increases are not applicable to American Express / AMEX.
There are two options to increase an authorization for American Express:
- OPTION 1: Settle the existing authorization and then take a new authorization for the desired amount.
- OPTION 2: Use the Post Payment button to process payment for the new charges, but leave the existing authorization unchanged so that it will cover the remaining room charges at check-out.
Click below for more information:
- Locate the guest reservation in the In-House screen, or by using the Search/Advanced Search tools
- Once located, access the Transactions drop-down menu and select Guest Folio Credit Limit. A Guest Folio Credit Limit window will appear
- Enter the additional amount to be authorized in the "+" field (located beside the Available Credit field)
- Select Post to proceed
The original authorization will be modified by the new total amount authorized (it will not take another full authorization; it will just add the additional amount – this is called “incremental authorization”)
- A Stripe window will appear allowing the user to review the total authorization (original authorization + incremental authorization) displayed in the Amount field and the applicable credit card information
- Select Post to complete the process
You can use the Incremental Authorization module to review & increase authorizations for In House Guest Reservations all in one area.
Clerk Permission 5031, Incremental Authorization is required to access this module.
For more information about using this module, please see the following support article: Incremental Authorizations Module
Open the Incremental Authorizations module found in Reports -> On-Line Processing -> Incremental Authorizations
The following filters appear at the top:
- Excluded House Accounts: checked by default this removes any House Accounts from appearing in the In House list below
-
Exclude Unauthorizable Reservations: checked by default this removes any reservations whose authorization cannot be increased for one of the below reasons. When unchecked, these reservations will appear in light gray:
- the reservation does not have an authorization under Transactions -> Authorized Transactions
- the reservation is setup as a Guest Share and one of the Shares has "Use Folio" setup for split billing
- the reservation is setup with Routing either to another Folio or another Reservation
- Available funds: drop down menu includes an option to view "Exceeded Funds Only". This option will only display reservations whose "Available Funds" is at 0 or lower.
- Status: after authorizations have been processed, this filter allows you to view All transactions, Success Only or Failures Only
All the columns are sortable, however, the report default opens to sort alphabetically by Guest Name. Most columns are self explanatory, those that warrant an explanation are:
- Nts Remain: this is the nights remaining on the guest reservation. 0 means they will be checking out today and a negative number means the reservation is an Overstayed Reservation.
-
Card Code: will display "N/A" if there is no authorization found under Transactions -> Authorized Transactions.
- it is important to note that the guest may have a Credit Card on their Reservation but if no authorization has been taken this field will show N/A as it represents the Authorized Card and not the card on file
- if a reservation has a different card on file then what is authorized, the card reflected in this module will be the Authorized Card and NOT the card on file. If increased, it will be the Authorized Card that is increased.
- Auth On CC: the current authorization on the Credit Card found under Transactions -> Authorized Transactions
- Payment: all Payments posted to the Guest Folio (ie: Cash, Credit Card, Gift Certificates, etc..) excluding payments on Folio 8.
- Total Funds: Auth on CC + Payment
- Stay Charges: Room Charges + Incidentals Charges that have posted or are scheduled to post on the Guest Folio, excludes those posted to Folio 8
-
Available Funds: Stay Charges - Total Funds
- If this number is 0 it means that you have just enough funds to cover all the Stay Charges on the Guest Folio. No additional funds have been secured for future incidental charges.
- If this number is a negative it means that you need to increase the authorization on the Guest Credit Card in order to secure funds to cover the Stay Charges on the Guest Folio.
- If this number is a positive it means you have enough money to cover the Stay Charges on the Guest Folio and some extra for Incidentals.
- Additional Auth: the amount entered here is how much you wish to increase the "Auth on CC" in order to cover the Stay Charges. So, for example, a hotel has a policy to secure enough funds to cover Room + Tax as well as an extra $100 per stay to cover incidental charges. If the "Available Funds" shows $30.00, this means an additional auth of $70.00 is required in order to have the $100 to cover incidental charges. Therefore $70.00 would be entered into this field.
- Status: this column will display if the Authorization is a success (Green box) or a failure (Red box) after processing is complete.
- Logs: clicking on this icon will display a list of all attempted authorizations done on this reservation via this module. This icon is color coded to represent the Status of the last authorization taken (Green = Success, Red = Error). If no icon appears then no authorization has been attempted on the Credit Card via this module.
To increase an authorization, enter the amount you wish to increase into the "Additional Auth" column. As amounts are entered into "Additional Auth" if the down arrow is selected to move to the next folio, the "Selected" box will automatically check.
Once and amount has been entered and the Selected box has been checked, the entire line will then highlight in red to show it has been selected. Once all amounts have been entered, select the "Process" button at the bottom of the screen to begin processing.
Remember, the Logs file color represents the status of the most recent attempted authorization for this reservation, so, looking at the grid below, I can see that my previous attempt to increase the authorization on Res ID 1334 failed as the box appears in red. If I click on my "Logs" icon, I can see the reason why the authorization failed and I can decide if I can going to attempt the increase again or not.
If you choose to sort by "Available Funds" please note that as increases are successful, the location of the reservation will sort to it's correct spot in the list. So what was once on top of the list could then end up at the bottom of the list.
As the authorizations are processing a few things will happen:
- a "Processing Bar" will appear at the bottom of the screen indicating how many authorizations are being attempted and a count as each one has completed.
- the "Status" column will update with the result of the increase request
- Success = GREEN
- Error = RED
- lines will highlight in light blue once processing is complete
Once all authorizations have been processed a message stating "Incremental Authorizations Complete", along with a tally of Success vs. Failure Messages, will appear on the screen.
Select the OK button and a report will appear with a list of the authorizations that were just completed. You can choose to print or save this report.
This specific report, with these authorizations ONLY, will only appear immediately after authorizations are completed. If the Client forgets to print/save and wishes to re-print they would select the "Print Processing Results" button located at the bottom of the screen, HOWEVER, this report will include ALL authorizations that occurred on the selected date and not those that were just authorized.
Each time you exit & enter the Incremental Authorizations Module the "Status" column will reset to blank and the "Logs" column will update the color of the log icon with the most recent Status for that reservation.
How to Disable Authorization at Check-In
- Locate the guest reservation in the Arrivals screen and select Check In
- Within the Guest Check-In window, enable the Disable on-line processing checkbox
- Review the remaining details and select Check-In
Because online credit card processing has been disabled, the Stripe processing window will not appear and the guest credit card will remain unauthorized.
- To view unauthorized transactions, access the Transactions drop-down menu and select Unauthorized Transactions. A Credit Card Authorizing window will appear
- To process a credit card authorization from this list of unauthorized transactions, select the applicable transaction (one or more transactions may be selected at the same time) and select Authorize
How to View a List of Authorizations
- Locate the guest reservation in the In-House screen, or by using the Search/Advanced Search tools
- Once located, access the Transactions drop-down menu and select Authorized Transactions
- A window will appear displaying all authorized transactions for the applicable reservation
How to Void an Authorization
- Locate the guest reservation in the In-House screen, or by using the Search/Advanced Search tools
- Once located, access the Transactions drop-down menu and select Authorized Transactions. The Authorized transactions window will appear
- Select the applicable transaction and select Void
- A Stripe window will appear; review the details and select Post to complete the process
How to Settle an Authorization
- Locate the guest reservation in the In-House screen, or by using the Search/Advanced Search tools
- Once located, access the Transactions drop-down menu and select Authorized Transactions. The Authorized transactions window will appear
- Select the applicable transaction and select Settle
The amount to be settled must be the same as the folio. If the amount authorized is less than the folio, a warning message will appear.
- The Stripe interface window will appear and allow the user to settle the authorization. If authorization was lower than the folio, it will settle for the higher amount.
How to Check-Out a Reservations with an Authorization
- Select reservation and click on “Check-Out”
- Click again on “Check Out”
- Stripe interface will appear, click on post
- You will get an approval message (the Transaction ID remains the same as the original authorization)
