Guaranteed Reservations for Merchants - Making It Easier to Do

Guaranteed Reservations for Merchants

Making It Easier to Do Business with Visa

Eligible Merchant Types

• Lodging(currentlyallowed)

• Carrental*

• Equipmentrental

• Truckandtrailerrental

• Trailerparkorcampground

• Boatrental

• Motorhomerental

• Aircraftrental

• Motorcyclerental

• Bicyclerental

Inresponsetoevolvingmerchantbusinesspractices,Visais

expandingmerchanteligibilityforguaranteedreservationsto

includeadditionalmerchanttypes.Aguaranteedreservation

ensuresthatacardholder’sreservationwillbehonoredwhena

Visacardisusedtomakeit,andallowsamerchanttochargea

no-showfeeforonedayifthecardholderdoesnotcancelthe

reservation.

EnhancedRules,GreaterFlexibility

Eective for transactions processed on or after 16 October

2015,eligiblemerchanttypesmayguaranteeareservation

andchargeano-showfeeforonedayifthecardholderdoes

notcancelwithinthemerchant’sproperlydisclosed

cancellationpolicy.Inaddition,Visaisrevisingtherulethat

allows cancellation of a guaranteed reservation to allow

merchantstosettheirowncancellationpolices.Thischange

isbenecialtomerchantsthatreserveinventorybecauseit

accommodatestheneedforgreaterexibilityinpoliciesand

improvesinventorymanagementaswellasthecardholder

experience.

*CarrentalsarecurrentlyallowedtoguaranteereservationsinVisaEuropeandlimitedinstancesintheUSincludingpeak-timereservationsandspecializedvehicles.

How to Guarantee a

Reservation

• Provideproperdisclosureof

cancellationpolicyandother

termsandconditionsfor

reservation

• ObtainVisaaccountnumber

fromcardholdertoguarantee

reservation,butdonot

completeanauthorizationat

thetimeofbooking

• Sendconrmationto

cardholder that includes

reservation details and

appropriatedisclosuresof

reservationconditionsattime

ofbooking

©2015Visa.AllRightsReserved.VBS18.AUG.15

GUARANTEEDRESERVATIONSFORMERCHANTS

AdditionalRequirements

Theserequirementsprovidereservationassurancesfor

cardholders,includingcleardisclosureofrateandcancellation

policies,whileallowingmerchantstobettermanage

inventoryand,ifneeded,chargeno-showfees.Consistent

guaranteedreservationrulesareapplicableacrossalleligible

merchanttypes.

• Cancellations.Merchantsmaysetthecancellationpolicy

thatmeetstheirbusinessneeds.Visaonlyrequiresthat

merchantsoeratleasta24-hourcancellationperiodafter

thereceiptofthecancellationpolicytothecardholder.

Cancellation/return/refundpoliciesmustbeproperly

disclosed to the cardholder.

• No shows.Eligiblemerchanttypesmaychargeano-show

feeforonedayifcardholderdoesnotcancelwithinthe

disclosedcancellationterms.Merchantsareprotectedfrom

no-showdisputeswhenpoliciesareproperlydisclosedto

the cardholder.

• Availability. Ifthegoodsorserviceisnotavailableatthetimespeciedinthereservation,the

merchantmustprovidethepromisedserviceatacomparableestablishmentandtransportation

tothatestablishment.Amerchantmustholdinventoryavailableforonedaytoaccommodate

cardholderarrivaldelays.

ProperDisclosure

Amerchantthatproperlydisclosestheircancellationpolicytothecardholderatthetimeofa

reservationcanimprovecardholdersatisfactionandreducepotentialdisputes.TheVisarulesfor

properdisclosurehavebeenrevisedtoallownewoptionsforclarifyingreturn/refund/cancellation

policiestothecardholder.Forexample:

• Writtennoticetobeprovidedthroughmail,email,ortextmessageforguaranteedreservations

madebyphone

• eCommercemerchantshaveachoiceofwherethedisclosurecanbelocatedwithintheir

websiteorapplicationwitheitherofthefollowing:

– Inthesequenceofpagesbeforenalcheckout,includinga“click-to-accept”orother

acknowledgementbutton,checkbox,orlocationforanElectronicSignature

– Onthecheckoutscreennearthe“submit”button

Itisimportantformerchantstoknowissuersretaintheirdisputerightsifthemerchantfailsto

properlydiscloseorprovethecardholderreceivedtheirpolicyorthecardholdercanprovethey

canceledaccordingtotheagreeduponpolicy.

For More Information

Foradditionalmerchant

resourcesorquestions,please

contactyourmerchantbankor

visit www.visa.com.