Cloudbeds Payments - How to authorize incidentals

Incidental charges are the costs of items and services not included in the main bill. The guest must provide a credit card to cover any incidental charges, such as phone calls, room service, service fees, or costs incurred in addition to the primary services.

The ability to authorize incidentals is a common practice for properties to perform. This article will walk you through the steps to charge these incidentals using Cloudbeds Payments.

How to Authorize an incidental

If you do not have the credit card details saved in the reservation:

1. Inside the reservation, click on the Credit Cards tab.
2. Click +ADD to add the card manually.
3. Click Add with Terminal if you use Cloudbeds Payments terminal or a physical card.

If you have the credit card details saved in the reservation:

1. If the reservation has multiple credit cards on file, choose the desired one first.
2. Click Authorize.
3. Type in the Amount for authorization — you can edit the amount to hold a partial amount.
4. Click Authorize to complete.
   

• Authorizing the amount will not process the payment; it will only check if the card has funds and will hold the specified amount for some time (30 days).
• The minimum amount for an authorization is USD 0.50. The amount authorized will be a pending charge on your guest's credit card and affect their available balance.

Actions for a credit card that has been authorized

When the credit card has already been authorized, you will see two buttons next to it:

1. Capture

• Will capture the funds of the existing authorization. A field will appear to enter the amount, which can be less than or equal to the authorization amount.
• If a smaller amount is entered, the remainder will be voided. If a larger amount is entered, the transaction will fail.

2. Void

• Will void the existing authorization and release the hold.
• The void is processed when requested on our end, but it can take up to 14 days to release the hold on the side of the financial institution that issued the card.