Setting up Payment Gateways Rules

• In the Main Menu go to Settings - Payment Rules:
  
  
• Stay on the tab Rules:

 

• Click on + New Rule:  
• In the pop up screen that appears fill out the details:

 

To illustrate this feature, let's consider a booking scenario:

• Reservation coming in by a Channel (Booking.com).
• The Booking is Non Refundable, and therefore Pre Paid (this Pre Paid determination will be set up in the Rate Plan settings on the appicable rate plan).
• Payment for the full reservation amount is collected two days prior to the arrival date.
• A VCC (virtual Credit Card) is applicable.
• Only VAT taxes are included in the charge.
• The amount to be charged is always greater than 50 euro.
• A discounted Rate plan is booked (condition is: 10 euro discount if guest is not cancelling the booking). 

 

To start, give your rule a name and specify the timing for when the credit card charge should occur:

• Choose an defining Name for your rule. Using the example above, the name could for example be  Channel Non Refundable:
• In the 'When section', select the appropriate rule timing. For this example, you will want to charge the card as soon as it becomes active. 
  
  *Note that with OTA bookings, the card typically becomes available for charging a certain period before the guest’s arrival—often closer to the arrival date. If a booking is made several months in advance, the card may not yet be active. Choosing “Booking Date” to process the charge may result in failed payments.
  
  In this case it is therefore best to choose Arrival Date, as the card will be active and charged in the early hours on the date the guest will arrive:
• Using the Rule Shift option will allow you to determine a more precise time of charging. 
  By keeping Rule Shift set to No Shift, the system will process the payment on the Arrival day:
  If you select Add, you can schedule the payment collection several days and/or hours after the Arrival Date:
  
  
  
  Conversely, choosing Deduct allows you to set up the payment collection several days and/or hours prior the Arrival Date:
  
  

• Let's opt for the payment to be collected 2 days prior the Arrival Date, as in some cases a Refundable booking will become Non - Refundable 2 days prior the arrival date:

 

• Click on Next to continue with the tab Conditions:
  
  

Define the conditions of the reservation that the rule should be applied to. The system uses these conditions to filter all new bookings and select the appropriate reservations:

• Use as many conditions as possible to ensure that only the reservations that truly match the criteria set by the rule are selected.
   
  For instance, referring to the example above:
  
  
  
• Define the Conditions choosing the applicable criteria in each section:
  
  
• In the Balance Conditions set up a Greater than amount (>), a Less than amount (<) or an Equal to amount (=) :
  
  
• If so, set the Balance Value to determine the minimum base amount to be charged, and specify whether the rule should apply to reservations with to be charged amounts greater than (>), less than (<), or equal to (=) this value.
  Reservations with a booking amount less than €50 will not be charged. 
   
  
  In this example, the Balance Condition is set to “More Than €50,” meaning the rule will apply to all reservations where the amount to be charged exceeds €50:
• Select the appropriate Currency if the system supports multiple currencies:
  
  

• Click on Next to continue with the tab Settings:
  
  

Determine the amount you intend to charge.

• Select the specific amount type this rule will apply to. 
  Since in the example above we use the Non Refundable rate, the Full Amount will be charged (Mind you that this may vary, as multiple conditions could influence the outcome):

 

• Taxes can be included or excluded in the charge, choose the applicable setting:
  
  (*Mind you: In most cases (if not all) the VAT will be included. Sometimes the Tourist Tax and/or City Tax need to be included in the to be charged amount as well.  Depending on how the Tax names are set up in your account, choose the applicable one):
  
  
  
  
  

• Click on Next to continue with the tab Shift Amount:
  

Set the amount specified in step 3, and explore additional options as needed.

• None if you will not want to choose an additional option:
• Add if you want to add an amount (Absolute) or percentage (Relative) on top of the amount set up in Step 3, which might be the case if you would like a deposit to be charged or authorised (for guaranteeing any incidentals for example)
• Deduct if you want to deduct an amount (Absolute) or percentage (Relative) off the amount set up in Step 3, which might be the case if there is a discount at play (rarely the case) for example when guests book a certain discounted Rate plan that states the discount is applicable if the guest will not cancel:

 

• Select which action should be taken in the Action field. Would you like to Charge, Authorise, or sent a Payment Link?

• Click on Next to Continue to Payer options:

 

• Click on Next to continue with the tab Select Payer:

• In this case, using the example above, we will select the Channel to be the payer, as it is concerning a VCC (Virtual Credit Card, which typically is issued by an OTA (Online Travel Agent/ Channel):
  
  
  

 

• Click Save to finalize your payment rule and begin processing the actions you have configured right away.

.