Understanding when your virtual credit cards are activated

When guests choose to pay online, they can do so using their preferred payment method. If you receive your payouts via virtual credit card (VCC), then we load the received guest payment onto a VCC, which serves as the reservation payout. You charge it like a regular credit card, and each VCC has its own activation date (which is when you can charge it). 

It's important to know when your VCCs can be activated and why your VCC might be activated before or after check-in.

What’s in this article:

When a VCC can be charged

Virtual credit cards can be charged the moment the reservation becomes non-refundable (according to the reservation policy). This is standard for all properties (according to your GDTs).

If you meet the following criteria, you can charge VCCs as soon as the reservation becomes non-refundable: 

• You have no outstanding VCCs older than 60 days and requiring a guest refund
• You’ve paid your invoices on time for the last 12 months, according to the payment due dates
• You’ve been working with us for at least six months, and you have validated guest stays and reviews

We’ll review whether or not you meet these criteria on a regular basis and we'll email you if anything changes. If your property switches status and it’ll no longer be eligible for early activation, only future reservations will be adjusted.

If the booking consists of multiple room reservations with different policies (for instance, two non-refundable bookings and one flex booking), the activation date is according to the most flexible policy in the reservation. For the example above, the virtual card won’t have early activation. 

What happens if you don’t meet the criteria

If, during our periodic review, you don’t meet the criteria, we can consider this an additional financial liability for us. Consequently, to limit our financial exposure, you can charge the VCCs later – one day after check-in (or at check-in for US properties).

We'll notify you via email if you qualify to charge your virtual credit cards before check-in.