How do I mark a credit card as invalid?

Note: To make sure you’re not charged commission on reservations where you couldn’t charge the guest, we’ve added flexibility to the procedure for marking invalid credit cards. You’ll be able to mark a credit card as invalid, even if a reservation is already cancelled.

This is especially useful for non-refundable reservations because it ensures that we know you were unable to collect payment. For non-refundable reservations, you can mark a credit card as invalid before the arrival date, and up until the monthly commission invoice is generated.

Note: You can mark credit cards as invalid in both the extranet and the Pulse app.

If the guest’s card is showing as invalid, take a look at the steps below:

1. Open the Reservations tab on the extranet and click on the guest name or reference number.

2. Select 'Mark credit card as invalid' on the right-hand side of the page. (If you are using the Pulse app you can go to the ‘Bookings’ section, click on a reservation then scroll down and tap ‘Mark credit card as invalid’).

3. After you mark the card as invalid, the guest will automatically receive an email and a text message requesting new card details within 24 hours.

4. You’ll get an email when the guest updates their details, but if you don’t receive these within 24 hours, or the guest provides invalid credit card details again, you can cancel the booking through the Reservations tab. 

Cancelling guest bookings in the case of invalid credit cards

- If you don’t receive updated credit card details within 24 hours, or the guest provides invalid credit card details again, you can cancel the booking through the Reservations tab in the extranet or on the 'Reservation details' screen in the Pulse app. You can also cancel bookings until 3 pm (local time) on the day of arrival.

- For bookings made within 48 hours of check-in, if the card is invalid, the customer will have 12 hours (or until 3 pm, whichever is earlier) to update these details (instead of the usual 24 hours).

- The customer is always given at least 2 hours to update these details, i.e. if the booking is made after 2 pm on the day of arrival.

- For last-minute bookings of 10 or more room nights, partners can cancel two hours after marking the credit as invalid.

Note: For some reservations, we’ll proactively ask the customer to provide new details. You won’t need to request these yourself or report the invalid credit card. If no new details are provided, you can decide how to continue with the booking.

- We send a daily email showing your most recently received and updated credit card details. You can see an overview of invalid credit card statuses by using the "updated" and "pending" filters in the Reservations tab.

Learn more about marking credit cards as invalid in Pulse