The Benefits of Refunds and Voids for Hotels

What is a void on a card payment?

When a guest uses a credit or debit card to make a payment to a hotel or accommodation, the details can be stored securely through the Hotel’s Property Management System (PMS) with embedded payments.

If that transaction needs to be reversed before the hotel’s account has been settled for the day, i.e. sent the transactions through to the payments provider, the payment can be voided and won’t ever be debited from the customer.

What is a refunded card payment?

A lot of the time, a guest will ask a hotel for a refund days or weeks after the payment was processed. The hotel will have already settled the payment and possibly even had the cash in its bank account.

In that case, a refund needs to be processed by the hotel to return the money to their guest. This can take around three to five business days to process.

What are the benefits of voids and refunds for hotels?

In a post-pandemic world, hotel guests want and expect contactless payments during their stay. As well as seamless payments, hotels need to satisfy guests with refunds and voids that are as simple as making a payment.

Being able to easily process a refund can also reduce the issues associated with chargebacks. Many chargebacks come from a previous guest not recognising the transaction on their statement — this can lead them to contact the hotel to confirm the charge. When the hotel is able to refund any incorrect payments, it negates the need for the customer to request a chargeback.

Refunds and voids are a standard process for any business that can process card payments. Having a simple administrative process that can be accessed via a PMS with embedded payments through Kovena streamlines refunds and keeps a clear audit of all refunds issued.