Do I have to pay for a hotel at the time of booking, or can my customer pay at the hotel when they check in?

Yes, you can sell rooms that the guest pays for at the hotel, but only where the supplier offers that rate, so it will not be an option on every property. Hotel suppliers broadly give two kinds of rates. Prepaid rates are settled at the moment of booking, so the money comes out of your balance or your credit line straight away and the guest arrives with nothing left to pay for the room. Pay at hotel rates let the guest settle at the front desk on arrival or at checkout, and your agency is only involved in the commission side. Both kinds can sit next to each other in the same set of search results.

Our hotel booking API passes through whatever the supplier sends, so each rate carries its own payment terms and your staff can see which kind they are looking at before they confirm anything. If you would rather only sell one kind, we can filter your portal so that only pay at hotel rates appear, but be aware this will cut down how many hotels and rooms your customers see, because a good deal of the cheaper inventory is prepaid only.

How you actually settle the prepaid side depends on the arrangement you have with each supplier and on your plan with us. Some agencies work from a deposit balance they top up, some are granted credit terms by the supplier directly, and some pass a card at the time of booking. We cannot promise credit terms on your behalf, as that decision belongs to the supplier.

Before you go live, please check with us which suppliers are connected to your account and what each one expects by way of payment, and train your staff to read the payment terms shown against a rate rather than assume, since two rooms in the same hotel can be on different terms.