Hotel Card Guarantee for No-Show Protection

A card guarantee lets a hotel charge a no-show or late-cancellation fee to a card held against the booking. Frontdesko covers OTA virtual or guest cards and cards guests save on your website, charged into your own Stripe account without storing card numbers.

By the Frontdesko team • Last updated 31 October 2026

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How does a card guarantee protect a no-show?

An illustrative scenario at a 14-room guesthouse. The property, amounts and guests are invented to show how the screens work; they are not a customer account.

Time	What happens	Where in Frontdesko
Thursday 10:00	A guest books a room on the guesthouse website. The hotel has set card guarantee to Optional, so after booking without paying online the confirmation screen offers “Guarantee your booking with a card”, shows the cancellation policy text and a consent checkbox, and sends the guest to Stripe’s hosted card page. Back on the site the guest sees “Card saved as guarantee” and that nothing has been charged.	Booking engine confirmation screen
Friday 09:00	The receptionist opens a Booking.com reservation for a non-refundable rate. Its Card Guarantee panel shows “Card on file” and a Virtual card tag, with a note that an OTA virtual card can only be charged from the activation date the OTA stated.	Reservation screen, Card Guarantee panel
Friday 21:40	The guest never arrived and did not answer two calls. She types the first-night amount, adds a description that will show on the guest’s statement, and clicks Charge card. A toast confirms “Card charged and posted to the folio” and the ledger lists the charge.	Card Guarantee panel: Amount, Description, Charge card
Saturday 09:10	The guest emails with a screenshot showing they cancelled on time. The manager agrees to refund half. In the same panel she clicks Refund, which allows up to the amount charged, and the refund is mirrored on the folio.	Card Guarantee panel: Refund
Saturday 18:00	A direct-booking guest cancels after the free-cancellation window. The desk charges the fee against the saved card. The policy text the guest ticked at booking is stored with the card as a record of what they agreed.	Same panel, direct-booking card
Saturday 18:20	For a late arrival the desk first places a Pre-authorize hold on the saved card, which reserves the amount without taking it and posts nothing to the folio. When the guest turns up they click Release; if they had not, Settle would collect it.	Card Guarantee panel: Pre-authorize, Release, Settle

Notice what never happens: nobody types a card number into the PMS, and nothing is charged automatically. A card guarantee gives the desk the ability to charge what the guest agreed to; a person decides when. That is deliberate, because the right amount depends on the policy, the rate and the story behind the no-show.

How does the card guarantee work for OTA and direct bookings?

There are two sources of cards, and one panel on the reservation screen serves both. Frontdesko is not PCI certified and never stores card numbers: in both cases the card stays with a payment provider and Frontdesko only sends “this amount, this booking”.

	OTA bookings (Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb)	Direct bookings (your website)
Where the card lives	In the channel manager’s PCI vault, supplied by the OTA as a guest or virtual card.	In your own Stripe account, saved by the guest through a Stripe SetupIntent at booking time.
Who charges it	The channel manager’s Payment Application, into your own Stripe account.	Your Stripe account, using the saved card off-session.
One-time setup	Hotel admin → Booking Engine · Payments → “Connect Stripe”. You sign in to or create your Stripe account, then return.	Booking Engine · Payments with Stripe as the gateway and keys entered; set card guarantee to Off, Optional or Required and write the policy text.
What the guest sees	Nothing extra. The OTA already collected the card.	A policy, a consent checkbox, then Stripe’s hosted card page. Optional mode sits beside “book without a card”; Required uses firmer wording.
Operations on the panel	Pre-authorize, Charge card, Settle, Release, Refund.	The same five.
Folio	Charges and settled holds post as a credit card payment; refunds mirror on the folio; a hold posts nothing.	Same behaviour.
Who can use it	Admin, manager, front desk and finance roles, subject to custom access settings.	Same.

What the card guarantee does not do

It does not charge automatically. Marking a reservation as a no-show does not trigger a charge; staff choose the amount and click.
It cannot charge more than the provider allows. For OTA cards, an amount above the booking’s due amount or the virtual card’s balance is rejected, and the panel shows the channel manager’s own wording.
OTA virtual cards can only be charged from the activation date the OTA stated, usually arrival day.
A hold on a direct-booking card is a card authorisation, which Stripe lets expire after about seven days. Settle or release it before then.
Direct-booking guarantees need Stripe. Other payment gateways are not supported for this feature, and switching the gateway away from Stripe turns the guarantee off.
The card offer appears where the booking engine does not already require online payment. If the guest pays online, there is nothing to guarantee.
The panel is hidden when it does not apply: a direct booking with no saved card, or an OTA booking with no card, or no channel manager connection. Until Stripe is connected the OTA panel is read-only.
It does not replace a clear cancellation policy. Only charge what the guest agreed to. Set non-refundable or peak-season policies on your OTA listings before relying on charges; see hotel cancellation policy for how to write one.

What does a card guarantee cost?

Charges run through your own Stripe account, so Stripe’s standard card fees apply, and payouts and disputes are handled in your own Stripe dashboard. For OTA cards the channel manager also takes a small per-charge fee, deducted from your payouts. The OTA card guarantee settings screen states that Frontdesko adds nothing on top of those two fees.

On plans: the direct-booking guarantee runs on the direct booking engine, which is part of the free PMS. Charging OTA cards needs a channel manager connection, which is a paid add-on priced from $35 to $54 a month, banded by property size. See pricing for the bands.

How do you set up a card guarantee?

Decide the policy first: the free-cancellation window and the fee, written as one or two plain sentences. This becomes the text the guest agrees to.
For direct bookings, open Booking Engine · Payments, confirm Stripe is the gateway with keys saved, choose Optional to start, paste the policy text and save.
For OTA bookings, click Connect Stripe in the “Card guarantee on OTA bookings” card and complete Stripe’s sign-in. Press “Check connection” afterwards. A new Stripe account takes about ten minutes. If the card is not offered, ask support to confirm card charging is enabled on your channel connection.
Make a test direct booking with a Stripe test card and look at the Card Guarantee panel on the reservation before you go live.
Write down who may charge a card and when. The panel is available to admin, manager, front desk and finance roles, and it is worth limiting it further with custom access; see custom staff roles.

For the wider picture on reducing no-shows, the booking management guide covers reminders and policies alongside guarantees.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a card guarantee in a hotel PMS?

A card guarantee is a payment card held against a reservation so the hotel can charge a cancellation fee or no-show fee later, without taking payment up front. In Frontdesko it works for OTA bookings that arrive with a card and for direct bookings where the guest saves a card.

Does Frontdesko store guest card numbers?

No. Frontdesko is not PCI certified and never stores card numbers. OTA cards stay in the channel manager’s vault, and direct-booking cards are saved by Stripe in your own account. Frontdesko only sends an amount and a booking reference.

Can I charge a no-show automatically?

No. Charging is always a staff action. Someone with the right role opens the reservation, enters an amount and clicks Charge card. Marking a reservation as a no-show does not charge anything by itself.

What is the difference between Pre-authorize and Charge card?

Pre-authorize places a hold that reserves the amount on the card without taking it, and posts nothing to the folio. Charge card takes the money now and posts it to the folio as a credit card payment. A hold can later be settled to collect it, or released.

Can I refund a card guarantee charge?

Yes. The panel lets you refund part or all of a charge, up to the amount that has not already been refunded, back to the same card. The refund is mirrored on the guest’s folio so balances and reports stay correct.

Which payment gateway does the direct-booking card guarantee need?

Stripe. The guest saves a card through Stripe in your own account, and your Stripe keys must be saved in the booking engine payment settings. If you switch the gateway away from Stripe, the card guarantee is turned off.

Can OTA virtual cards be charged any time?

No. A virtual card can only be charged from the activation date the OTA stated, usually the arrival day. Charges above the booking’s due amount or the card’s balance are rejected, and the panel shows the reason given by the channel manager.

Does Frontdesko charge a fee for card guarantee?

Charges run through your own Stripe account, so you pay Stripe’s standard card fees. For OTA cards the channel manager also takes a small per-charge fee deducted from your payouts. The OTA card guarantee settings screen states that Frontdesko adds nothing on top of those fees.

Stop Absorbing the No-Show

Look at the Card Guarantee panel on a demo reservation, then decide the policy your own guests would agree to.

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Related Guides

Policies, bookings and payments