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We explain pay-at-hotel, special rates, virtual cards, prepay and more.
AmTrav offers multiple payment options for paying for hotels booked through AmTrav, designed to meet your specific traveler needs and payment program. Please review the options below, then reach out to your AmTrav Relationship Manager for a deeper dive into which option best meets your business and traveler needs.
Pay at hotel
The standard and most common process for hotel bookings is that hotel reservations are secured with a credit card, then the traveler presents a card at check in for the room rate, taxes and any incidentals. While this is the most popular option, this requires that travelers have company cards that they can use or their own cards that they’re willing to use – which not all companies and travelers can do. Travelers can present most any major credit card (Visa, Amex, Mastercard, etc.) and receive a folio from the hotel for their expenses.
Merchant rates
AmTrav also offers merchant rates whose room rate and taxes can be paid at booking with a central card (labeled “Pay Now”) through AmTrav, or paid at checkin ("Pay at Hotel") – we call them “Leisure Rates.” These rates can be paid with most major credit cards already stored in AmTrav, include both refundable (partially or fully) and non-refundable rates, clearly in the rate results displayed. Importantly these rates and payment don’t cover incidentals so travelers must present a card at check in for incidentals, and they often come with restrictions like not giving travelers loyalty points or elite program benefits.
Virtual cards: Edenred Pay (fka CSI) and Conferma
What if your travelers don’t have company or personal cards to put down at checkin? Virtual cards are a secure alternative. Virtual cards issued by AmTrav partners Edenred Pay (fka CSI) and Conferma are one-time use cards issued for a specific reservation, including a set authorized value and use (so they can’t be used at a liquor store), limits on whether the card can be used to cover extras like resort fees, incidentals and parking. Bookers can select a virtual card at booking for the hotel reservation, then AmTrav will have Edenred Pay or Conferma issue and send the virtual card to the hotel in advance of the reservation. When the traveler checks in, the hotel takes the virtual card as payment for room rate, tax and incidentals (as configured by the company). In addition to being secure and preventing fraud, virtual cards can offer additional data for reconciling exact charges.
Virtual cards have a few drawbacks. First, companies must sign up for them – but your AmTrav Relationship Manager can help with that. Second, not all hotel staff know how to use virtual cards, which is why AmTrav Travel Advisors are ready to help 24x7 with any issues, and AmTrav has features like allowing travelers to display or resend a Conferma virtual card.
Edenred Pay requires that companies pre-fund the card or offers a prefunded line of credit for qualifying accounts, Edenred Pay cards are free to use but do not work with a company’s existing card program. Conferma cards work with certain types of existing company Amex, Visa, Mastercard and Diners cards (or can be funded separately), there is a small fee charged for every Conferma card issued.
Prepay
Finally AmTrav may be able to send a preauthorized charge on a company’s card to hotels in advance of checkin. This preauthorized amount can cover room rate, tax and incidentals, and can use the company’s existing major credit card. Because this is manual work for AmTrav Travel Advisors to send these preauthorizations, AmTrav charges a fee for each hotel reservation with a preauthorization sent.
And beyond
AmTrav is continually looking for new ways to securely pay for hotel reservations with card not present, from additional virtual card solutions to advanced payments like Emburse Cards to hotel direct connects and secure pre-authorization methods. We hope to have more solutions to add to this pay soon.
Next step for you
Please reach out to your AmTrav Relationship Manager to discuss your options, find the hotel payment option that works best for your travelers’ and business needs.