Guarantee card charged before Check In

[Jrpaulsanel]

Dear Concur Community,

In our organization we have added a central AMEX card that is used to guarantee the hotel bookings made via Concur Travel; since this is mandatory. As per our policy, the employee must pay onsite upon check in or check out and claim in their upcoming expense.

We're facing issues where some hotels are charging our guarantee card prior to the arrival of the employee. While speaking with the hotels they have informed us that the booking did not mention that the card should only be used as guarantee and not to be charged.

I'm looking for a solution on how to fix this.

Thank You in Advance!

[KevinD]

@Jrpaulsanel I'll ask around about this. What I would be a little concerned about is why the hotels are charging the cards before the traveler even arrives. Have you asked the hotels why they are doing this?

[Jrpaulsanel]

Hi Kevin,

Thank You for looking into this!

In my interactions with various hotels, I consistently received a response explaining that the credit card was charged based on the hotel's standard policy, which includes a pre-authorization to secure the reservation. Also, the reservation did not request that the credit card not be charged and it is only for guarantee.

My travel agency confirmed that the booking details on sabre confirms the card is for guarantees only.

[KevinD]

@Jrpaulsanel that is odd. I'll have to see if my Travel contact has come across this before or not.

[KevinD]

@Jrpaulsanel Alright, my Travel contact said she has never come across this scenario and she has been in the Travel industry for more years than she would like to admit. Plus, SAP Concur has been using cards to reserve hotels for years without this. 

The only thing she could possibly think of is if the rate for that room required a deposit or some sort of pre-payment. I know many customers don't even allow those rates to be booked, but is it possible that is what is happening?

If not, she said you should submit a Support ticket to Concur Support so they can look into it.

[Jrpaulsanel]

Hi Kevin,

It makes sense that it's part of the booking rules to be charge on the day of arrival. It's the local practice to book on the lowest price among the convenient options.

I've shared some of the bookings with our concur support team. I'll revert when I hear back from them.