This article provides further information on the key benefits of this, how to configure this, and some common scenarios of interest.
Booking.com is an online travel agency (OTA) for reservations which has a direct connection to Guestlines' Distribution Hub.
We have several articles specific to the Booking.com channel, including:
Overview
Properties with a direct Booking.com integration with Distribution Hub can process full payment at the room level for Non-Refundable rate bookings, including upsells.
The key benefits of this include:
Save staff time – eliminates the need to manually update sensitive data in multiple systems.
Improve property cash flow – Reduce human error, prevent missed payments, and enable upfront charging with no misunderstandings.
Secure reservations – guests not only guarantee the booking but also secure their payment details, reducing the likelihood of no-show or last-minute guest cancellations.
Why only Non-refundable rates?
All other policies will be ignored because:
Some policies state that they can only be charged on Cancellation. Some can be charged on creation. However, there is nothing to differentiate these policies, creating a risk of inappropriate charging. The Non-Refundable policy is the only one where we can guarantee that we should charge when we receive the booking.
For properties using virtual credit cards (VCC), the only policy where the virtual card is active on booking creation is Non-Refundable. For all other policies, the virtual card is only active on the day of arrival.
📌 Note: This is for the Booking.com direct connection to the Distribution Hub only. Where Booking.com reservations are delivered via a 3rd party, this feature is not supported - for example, Best Western CRS.
Practical Example
Non-refundable policy: The guest will be charged a prepayment of the total cost of the stay when we receive the reservation from Booking.com.
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How to configure
To configure Booking.com deposits, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Set up Booking.com cancellation policy
To enable deposit collection for specific Rate Plans, properties must configure Pre-Payment Cancellation Policies through their Booking.com portal, follow the steps below:
Log in to Booking.com extranet for the desired property.
Click on Property in the main navigation menu, then select Policies.
Select Edit to check the settings on your Non-refundable cancellation policy, or select Create new cancellation policy if required.
Once the policy is configured, your property will be able to receive deposits according to the settings you've established.
Step 2: Booking.com rate plan configuration
After setting up your Cancellation Policy, you must apply it to your Rate Plans within the Booking.com extranet following the steps below:
Within Booking.com navigate to Rates & Availability.
Select Rate Plans and apply the cancellation policy to your rate plans as required.
The desired Rate Plan will also need to be mapped in Rate Plan Conversions for Booking.com in the Distribution Hub.
Payment processing
Distribution Hub will identify if a deposit is required to be taken, based on the Cancellation Policy received with the reservation from Booking.com.
When the reservation is received in the Distribution Hub, if the policy on the reservation is identified as the Non-Refundable policy, payment will be taken for the total cost of the stay.
Should a deposit be required, Distribution Hub will request this from the properties' payment provider and in return, will send the tokenised card details along with the deposit value to Guestline Rezlynx PMS.
Once delivered into Guestline Rezlynx PMS, the deposit can be seen under Deposits on the reservation. A summary of the reservation can also be seen on the Distribution Hub Notes within Notes & Logs.
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Troubleshooting
Below are some common scenarios to help you better understand how this feature works:
Virtual Card Handling
For reservations where payment is made directly to Booking.com, the reservation is delivered with a virtual card, which has an activation date. Distribution Hub will handle virtual cards in the following way:
When Virtual Card Activation Date is After Current Booking Date:
Distribution Hub will ignore the card and will not attempt to take payment or authorisation.
To charge these virtual cards, the hotel will need to log on to their Booking.com portal to retrieve the card details.
This will need to be manually processed at the property.
When Virtual Card Activation Date is Equal to or Before Current Booking Date:
Distribution Hub will charge or authorise the virtual card as appropriate when the reservation is created.
The token and payment will be delivered to Guestline Rezlynx PMS.
For reservations made on a Non-Refundable rate, where payment is completed to Booking.com, the activation date of the virtual card delivered with the reservation is always the day the reservation is made.
⚠️ Important: Please be aware there is a 'Grace Period' setting on the Booking.com extranet which populates the activation date as the next day.
If the card is active when we receive a non-refundable reservation, we will charge the virtual card the requested deposit payment amount and deliver this with the reservation to Rezlynx PMS.
For multi-room reservations, we will apply the appropriate deposits to each individual room reservation.
Guest Card Handling
When guests book in Booking.com with their own card, the deposit payment will be taken for Non-Refundable rates based on the total amount of each room stay in the reservation.
Upsells/Add-ons
On the Booking.com extranet, you can configure Upsells, also referred to as Add-Ons or Services. These Upsells can either be included in the rate or charged as an additional cost on top of the booked rate, depending on how you have configured them.
Upsells that have been configured not to be included in the rate on the Booking.com extranet will affect the total cost of the reservation. These types of upsells are included in the requested deposit amount or in the total section on each room stay when we receive a non-refundable rate reservation, and are therefore included in the amount we charge for both payments made by virtual or guest cards.
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Managing Modifications
Should the prepaid booking be modified, resulting in an increase in price, you have two ways to manage this.
The first one is to log in to the Booking.com extranet to retrieve the card details and charge the card, remembering to alter the deposit amount in the reservation in Rezlynx.
The second would be to take the additional payment from the tokenised information in the Guarantee tab in Rezlynx.