What Are Virtual Credit Cards?
A Virtual Credit Card (VCC) is a powerful digital tool, revolutionising how online transactions are made. It's a payment method that offers the convenience of traditional credit cards without the need for a physical plastic card. VCCs have a card number, expiry date and CVV, just like a physical card. One of the primary advantages of using VCC is the ability to control the card's value and terminate it at will, providing enhanced security.
Virtual Credit Cards provide unparalleled control, security, and peace of mind to account holders, which is why OTAs are increasingly using VCCs to secure online accommodation purchases.
Virtual Card Automation is now available for GuestPay customers as discussed in this article, and supplementary FAQs, should you still have any further questions on this feature.
Card Store
Guestline identifies VCCs by certain words or phrases within reservations from all direct channels (excluding Extended Channels) and passes this information into Rezlynx. The card is then tokenised using Card Store, which reduces failed and declined transactions when capturing a VCC.
When a Virtual Credit Card (VCC) is identified on a supported OTA (Booking.com & Expedia), the card will be captured using Trust Payments Card Store and then displayed in the reservation on the Guarantee tab.
Virtual Card Automation
GuestPay customers have access to a feature called Virtual Card Automation for Booking.com and Expedia channels.
For channels other than Booking.com and Expedia, when the VCC is initially received, the system captures the card details.
Once a card has been processed, this will be reflected in the VCC panel on the reservations' Guarantee tab. Users will be able to see the resulting payment token, which will also be reflected in the Payment Gateway panel.
⚠️ Important: It's important to note that VCC handling will only work for these channels when they are connected directly to Distribution Hub. If they are going via a 3rd party channel manager or a CRS such as Booking.com via Best Western, they cannot be identified as VCCs and will not be handled using this new logic.
OTA Specific Logic
Not all VCCs are equal. The processing of cards depends on a number of different factors. For example, the channel they are received from and the Effective Date supplied.
Booking.com
The table below shows the functionality of VCC's from Booking.com:
Expedia
The expected behaviour of VCC's from Expedia is as below:
VCC's where the Effective Date matches the Current Date. These will be processed immediately as AUTH payments. They will appear in both the VCC grid and the Payment Gateway grid.
VCC's where the Effective Date is in the future. These will be processed using Trust Payment's Card Store feature and will appear in the VCC grid within Rezlynx. At 5am (moved to 7pm) on the effective date, they will be charged. The resulting Payment AUTH will appear in the Payment Gateway Grid.
📌Note: there is a 1 hour tolerance
Why 7pm? Guests are able to cancel on the day dependent on cancellation policy. The earlier time of 5am meant that sites had a lengthier process which included having to refund the payment.
The change from 5am to 7pm will mean sites, for a short while, will have a mix of the 2 types on future bookings. The time is captured/stipulated at the initial capture of each VCC.
If the booking is pre-arrival when payment is taken, a deposit will be added. If the booking is Resident, Payment will be added to Room Billing.
What if the automation fails?
If the automation of charging a VCC fails, this will be captured as a failed tokenisation within Tasks. An example of a failure is when a user has already manually processed the card within Trust Payments.
There are other instances where processing may fail. Booking .com advises that this can sometimes occur and recommends waiting and trying again after a few hours.
With this in mind, there is also a manual 'charge' option that displays within the Virtual Card panel. This can be used in the aforementioned scenarios, but also in some cases where you wish to charge the card earlier than the processing schedule listed above.
If processing manually and a successful payment is achieved, the same rules for automation will be applied. If the booking is pre-arrival when payment is taken, a deposit will be added. If the booking is Resident, a payment will be added to Room Billing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Virtual Card Automation is now available for GuestPay customers, and this article provides further information based on customers Frequently Asked Questions.
Which OTAs will this work with?
The VCC handling flow will work with Expedia and Booking.com.
Will any more channels be added?
If we see enough volume then we can extend VCC automation to other channels. The vast majority of VCC transactions come through the two dominant channels. Agoda would most likely be the next one to consider- we'll continue to monitor demand.
I have both Expedia and Booking.com channels, can I activate it for just one channel?
No, there is only one feature toggle.
The Best Western CRS interface is enabled on my site, will it still work?
This depends on how the OTAs are connected. If they are connected directly to Roomlynx, then yes it will work. However, most are actually connected to the BW CRS. In that case we are unable to process the VCCs. It is Best Westerns policy that these OTAs connect via their CRS rather than direct to the PMS.
How will I know if a VCC payment fails to process?
A notification will be created in Tasks.
Why would a VCC Payment fail to process?
There could be a number of reasons. Usually it would be down to timing - for example, the payment was taken too early or too late. Or perhaps the booking was cancelled and the cancellation failed to reach the PMS. With the automated process, it's unusual for a VCC to fail. We have seen some occasions where users manually process cards outside of the Guestline system. Given that the VCCs are usually one time use and for the stated value, any further attempts would fail.
If a VCC payment fails, can I trigger a second attempt?
Yes. In the VCC grid on the Guarantee page of the reservation, users will see a ‘charge’ button. This will only show once the effective date has been reached. This allows the user to attempt to take payment earlier than would otherwise be automated.
What Payment Type will the successful Payment Type be mapped to?
VCCs will behave as with any other successful payment processed. They will be mapped using the MOTO Payment Type mapping within Payment Configuration.
What else happens once a VCC is successfully processed?
A deposit or Room Billing payment will be added to the booking, dependent on the status of the booking.
If resident, which Bill Split will the payment be added to?
Typically they will be added to the active Bill Split. However, for Expedia Collect bookings, they will be added to an undisclosed Bill Split. This is because the Invoice in that case is issued by Expedia and these payments and associated charges need to be hidden from the guest.
A site has just gone live, but VCCs are not processing. What have I done wrong?
Keep in mind that we will only capture VCCs in this new service at the point the module is activated. So any existing bookings will still need to be processed manually in the same way that they did before the activation of VCC capability.
What happens if a booking cancels after the VCC has been charged?
If the guest is permitted to cancel then card should be refunded as per any other payment. If the cancellation policy period has been entered then the payment may be retained.
Can VCC be disabled?
VCC cannot be isolated or disabled, as it is part of the GuestPay product package.