How do Credit Card Swipes Work?

Using a credit card swiper can save you money and time.

To Find an Existing Reservation

If you have purchased a credit card swiper from BookingCenter, you can swipe the card from the Front Desk's 'Active Search' field. If a reservation exists in the system with the last name of the card holder, it will pull the reservation to the fore and allow you check the guest in (if the card swiped was the same one the reservation was 'guaranteed' with). Or, it will ask if you would like to enter the new creit card and guarantee the reservation with the new credit card swiped. Either way, the 'swiped data' will remain with the card and the 'swiped rate' guaranteed.

When Checking in a Guest

When checking in a reservation, it is important to swipe the credit card in the credit card swipe field. This will insure that your property collects the lower “swipe rate” for credit card discounts. It will save the hotel approximately _% of the total dollar value settled. When checking a guest in, from the Guest Data page, click the “Payment” hyperlink to enter the credit card data page. If you would like to process the less expensive swipe rate, then, when the cc# entry field has focus, the cursor is flashing in the text entry field, swipe the customers card. This will collect the swipe information. Press “DONE”.

For information about how to manage authorizations and folios, click here.