With the pre-authorisation feature in Little Hotelier Pay, hoteliers can now securely hold funds on a guest’s credit card. This helps you secure payments, reduce cancellations and cover incidental costs.
Little Hotelier Pay customers can now pre-authorise payments, allowing them to reserve a specific amount and charge it at a later time, such as prior to check-in or during a guest's stay. This means you can reliably confirm your guests have sufficient funds for their booking, while also protecting your property from potential incidental charges.
For clarity, all details regarding pre-authorisation should be added to your booking confirmation, check-in policy and terms and conditions.
Pre-authorise an online payment
Find and open the reservation
On the Details tab, click Pre-Authorise Payment
Click the Online option
(Optional) For a deposit, tick the Deposit checkbox
Enter Amount
If card details are available, select the Card number or Enter card details
(Optional) Add a Note and tick the Show note on pre-authorisation email checkbox to display the note on the confirmation email
(Optional) Tick the Email pre-authorisation checkbox to send a confirmation email to the guest
Click Authorise
Pre-authorise a terminal payment
Find and open the reservation
On the Details tab, click Pre-Authorise Payment
Click the Payment terminal option
Select payment terminal from drop-down
(Optional) For a deposit, tick the Deposit checkbox
Enter Amount
(Optional) Add a Note and tick the Show note on pre-authorisation email checkbox to display the note on the confirmation email
(Optional) Tick the Email pre-authorisation checkbox to send a confirmation email to the guest
Click Authorise
View pre-authorisations on the reservation
Once the card has been authorised, navigate to the Payments tab on the reservation to see the pre-authorisation. A new Authorised Hold notification will appear in the Booking Summary.
To process the authorised amount: Click Charge
To release the authorisation hold and return funds: Click Release, then confirm by selecting Release hold
What is the auto-release timeframe?
Little Hotelier Pay offers extended pre-authorisation of up to 30 days for the hospitality industry. If the guest’s card issuer doesn’t support this, holds will expire in:
2–5 days for payment terminal transactions
5–7 days for online transactions
The expiry date will be shown next to the authorised hold and all holds will auto-release 7 days after check-out if no action is taken.
You can have multiple active authorised holds on a reservation. All active holds will be displayed in both the Pre-authorisations section and the Booking Summary.
Notes:
Each authorised hold must be charged or released individually
If the reservation includes a scheduled payment, the scheduled payment notification will still appear in the Booking Summary
Pre-authorisation confirmation email
To send a confirmation email of the pre-authorisation to your guest, tick the Email pre-authorisation checkbox before processing the authorised amount.
To add any specific notes regarding the pre-authorisation, add a Note and tick the Show note on the pre-authorisation email checkbox.
Email template example: