Two Bad Outcomes for a Single Reservation
If you charge the full amount up front, some guests will go to a booking site where they pay only upon arrival. If you don’t charge anything, on Friday you’ll have three empty rooms and three “confirmed” names. The front desk then has to guess whether to hold the room.
What “card on file” means
When a reservation is made, the card is verified and saved. The total amount for the stay is charged according to the rules you’ve set—upon arrival, before arrival, or when the free cancellation period expires. The guest can see that this isn’t a hidden charge. You can see that the reservation is guaranteed.
This is not a pre-authorization on every portal in the world. It’s a process on your website and in the payments that Ellipse can process for the booking. The portal’s virtual card is handled by a separate system, not this same transaction for the guest.
- The guest completes the reservation without immediately paying the full amount
- You have the card details, not just an email
- You link the refund to the cancellation policy
- A no-show will no longer result in an empty room with no trace
