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How does Card Guarantee work?
How does Card Guarantee work?

In this article, learn how card guarantee works. When does your guest gets charged? When can you charge your guest?

Updated over a week ago

To find out more about Card Guarantee click the following links:

Even after creating Card Guarantee tickets, it is important to know how to card guarantee works so that you can use the features to the best ability. In this article, we’re going to explore how restaurants can use Card Guarantee tickets to charge/not charge their customers:

  1. Cancellation window

  2. Charge window

  3. Act on email summary

  4. Video tutorial on how to manage charges

Cancellation window

Cancelling reservations is common and can be a stressful process for both you and your customers. To prevent last-minute cancellations, merchants will have to set up a cancellation window.
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A cancellation window is a period in which reservations can be cancelled without incurring any fees or charges. This cancellation window is set when creating a card guarantee ticket.
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⏰ Scenarios

You have set the cancellation window to be 3 days before the reservation date. The guest has made a reservation for the 10th of January 08:00 pm on the 6th of January.

What happens if the guest cancels late?

  • Not within the cancellation window

  • Time period: 10th, 9th and 8th January [3 days]

  • The guest gets charged automatically

  • When cancelling, the guests will be informed of the charge

  • You can refund the customer if need be

What happens if the guest cancels early?

  • Within cancellation window

  • Time period: 6th and 7th January

  • The guest does not get charged automatically

  • When cancelling, guests will be informed of the no charge

Charge window

For guests who make a reservation and decide not to show up, merchants can now charge a fee known as a "no-show fee". This ensures that the guests are held accountable for their commitment to the restaurant. Merchants will only be able to charge the guest during the charge window.


A charge window is a predefined period in which merchants can decide whether or not to charge their guests. This charge window is set at 7 days after the reservation date.
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⏰ Scenarios

The reservation date is 10th January.

What happens if the guest turns up to the reservation? You want to not charge your guest.

  1. In the Oddle Reserve Host V3 app, click on the reservation and change the status to "Completed"

  2. You will need to not charge the guest. There are 2 ways to do so:

Method 1: How to not charge your guest?

  1. Click on the reservation

  2. Click on the View Full Transaction button in the Payment details section

  3. Click on the No Charge button in the Transaction details section

  4. Add the No Charge reason/note and click on the Not Charge button

Method 2: How to not charge your guest?

  1. Head over to the Transactions page

  2. Search for the reservation that you want using the filter. Alternatively, you can toggle the reservations with a card guarantee

  3. Click on the No Charge button

  4. Add the No Charge reason/note and click on the Not Charge button

What happens if the guest does not turn up to the reservation, no show? You want to charge your guest.

  1. In the Oddle Reserve Host V3 app, click on the reservation and change the status to "Completed"

  2. You will need to charge the guest. There are 2 ways to do so:

Method 1: How to charge your guest?

  1. Click on the reservation

  2. Click on the View Full Transaction button in the Payment Details section

  3. Click on the Charge button in the Transaction Details section

  4. Add the Charge reason/note and click on the Charge button

Method 2: How to charge your guests?

  1. Head over to the Transactions page

  2. Search for the reservation that you want using the filter. Alternatively, you can toggle the reservations with a card guarantee

  3. Click on the Charge button

  4. Add the Charge reason/note and click on the Charge button

⭐ Things to note
​The charge might fail if the guest's card has been:

  • Reported stolen

  • Expired

  • Lack of sufficient funds

  • Requires additional form of verification for a charge

during the time of the charge or booking

What happens if you don't do anything during the charge window?

  • Transaction status will remain as Guaranteed.

  • You will be able to charge or not charge your guest for that reservation during the charge window

    • If charged, you will be able to refund the guest, anytime after

    • If not charged, you will not be able to charge the guest anymore

  • After the charge window, you will not be able to charge your guest for that particular reservation and transaction status will remain Guaranteed

When a restaurant sets a $30 credit card hold for bookings without a cancellation period, here's what happens in different scenarios:

Customer cancels the reservation

  • The customer's card is charged $30.

  • The merchant receives $30 minus the payment gateway fee.

Restaurant cancels the reservation

  • The customer's card is charged $30.

  • The merchant receives $30 minus the payment gateway fee.

No-show or completed reservation

  • The merchant decides whether to charge the customer.

    • If the merchant chooses to charge:

      • The customer's card is charged $30.

      • The merchant receives $30 minus the payment gateway fee.

    • If the merchant chooses not to charge:

      • The customer's card is not charged.

      • The merchant will not receive anything.

If I process a refund for a paid ticket, will it incur a payment gateway fee once or twice?

The payment gateway fee will only occur once. There’s no payment gateway fee applied to the processing of a refund.

If the customer pays a 2nd time for the same booking, then the payment gateway fee will be charged again.

Act on Emails

You can opt-in to receive a daily email summary. The email summary is sent every day at 7:00 am. It provides you with an overview of all the reservations with card guarantees that are within the charge window. You can immediately click on the resolve to address and decide whether to charge or not charge these reservations.

How do I opt-in for the daily email summary?

  1. Head over to the Settings > Notifications page

  2. Scroll down to the Your Notification section. Under the For Reservations with a Card Guarantee section, toggle the Summary of Reservations with Card Guarantee updates ON.

  3. Under the Notification Recipients, click on Manage. Add the relevant email address and click Save Changes. A successful message will be displayed if the notification recipients have been updated successfully

  4. To delete any notification recipients, click on Manage and cross out the intended email address

What does the email summary include?

  • Table summary of the reservations that happened yesterday

    • Date: Yesterday

    • Ticket names with card guarantee

    • Number of reservations guaranteed

    • Number of reservations charged

    • Number of reservations not charged

    • Number of reservations refunded

    • Total number of reservations

  • Table summary of the reservations that happened during the charge window

    • Date: (Yesterday - 7 days) till yesterday

    • Ticket names with card guarantee

    • Number of reservations guaranteed

    • Number of reservations charged

    • Number of reservations not charged

    • Number of reservations refunded

    • Total number of reservations

  • Resolve link

💡If you are not able to receive the email, check your spam/junk folder. You will be able to find the email there and move the email to your inbox. This would allow you to click on Resolve as well.

What do I do with the email?

Only during the charge window, you can charge your guest. Hence, it is important to review those reservations that need to be addressed. Ideally, all reservations that are guaranteed should be addressed immediately to either charge or not charge them. To do so:

  1. Click on the resolve link found in the email

  2. Redirected to the Host App, Transactions page with the relevant filters in place

  3. Find the exact reservation and click on the Charge or No Charge button, depending on what you want to do

  4. Add the reason/note and click on Charge or Not Charge button

Video tutorial on how to manage your charges

FAQ

Is Card Guarantee compatible with Reserve with Google?

Currently, card guarantee and other payment-related tickets are not compatible with Reserve with Google.

Is Card Guarantee available in the Host app v2?

Card Guarantee is only available in the Host app v3. If you want to use the feature, do consider upgrading to v3

Can a merchant modify the number of guests on a card guarantee reservation that has already been booked?

For existing card guarantee reservations, the number of guests cannot be modified. If changes are needed, payment must be adjusted accordingly. Increasing the guest count will incur additional charges while decreasing the guests will result in a refund.
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If the guest count needs to be modified for a card guarantee reservation per pax, the guest can cancel the existing reservation and submit a new one. The guest will not be charged automatically if the request is made within the cancellation period.

Refunds and payment gateway fees

When a restaurant refunds a paid reservation, payment gateway fees will still apply.

Cancelling reservations without fees

Restaurants can avoid charging customers or incurring payment gateway fees by:

  1. Changing the reservation time to the current moment and marking it as a no-show or completed. This frees up the slot and is ideal for restaurants without cancellation windows.

  2. Moving the reservation to a past date outside the cancellation window, then cancelling it.

Booking utility fee for restaurants

Every online booking transaction incurs a utility fee for the restaurant. This applies to all bookings, regardless of their final status:

  • Completed reservations

  • Canceled reservations

  • No-show reservations

The fee is charged because the restaurant has used the booking facility, even if the reservation doesn't result in a customer visit.


What’s Next?

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