How is Tern's credit card authorization process unique?
Unless you're brand new to the travel industry, you've probably dealt with credit card authorization before. Typically in other systems you will build "invoices from scratch" to itemize charges, send off an email with that invoice to your client, and get authorization on each invoice you submit.
In Tern it works a bit differently. You have already done the hard work of building out your client's itinerary - why not use those same activities to get credit card authorization automatically?
Once we have all the information necessary for an authorization to occur, those authorizations will be queued automatically the next time you publish a trip.
Your client will see that they have pending authorizations they need to make directly from the trip itinerary. As long as they are logged in with "full access" permissions, they can access a streamlined authorization flow directly from there.
There are a ton of details to cover that make all of this possible - keep reading to learn more, or jump to the section you'd like to learn more about immediately
An important note on Trip Packages
Before jumping in, we wanted to call your attention to "Trip Packages". These allow you to get credit card authorization for activities grouped together under a single price point. We recommend pausing to read that information before proceeding here.
Getting your account ready for credit card authorization
Before diving in to credit card authorization, let's make sure your account is ready from a security & compliance standpoint.
1. Make sure you set up 2-factor authentication.
This is an important security measure that serves as an additional layer of security for payment processes on Tern. Two-factor authentication is crucial for ensuring secure payment authorizations and safeguarding your credit card transactions. Without 2FA, you may encounter issues completing the authorization process.
You should have been prompted to do this when signing up (or the last time you logged in).
If you decided to skip it, you can find this option in Settings, under the Security tab.
For security reasons, Tern disables payment authorization capabilities when 2FA is not active.
If payment authorizations suddenly stop working, check if your 2FA has been disabled and re-enable it to restore functionality.
When 2FA is turned off, Tern automatically disables your payment authorization setting as a security precaution. However, re-enabling 2FA does not automatically restore payment authorizations. You need to take two steps:
Go to Settings > Security and re-enable two-factor authentication.
Go to Trip Settings, scroll to the bottom, and re-check the Payment Authorizations checkbox.
Both steps are required before your clients can see and complete credit card authorizations again.
2. Verify you have your legal business name set up.
We will use this throughout the authorization process on client-facing forms.
To review and edit, go to Settings and select Business Settings.
3. Set up your Terms & Conditions waiver.
We will use this throughout the authorization process on client-facing forms.
To review or set up, go to Settings and select Waivers & Agreements
To learn more about setting up your Terms & Conditions, check out this article.
4. Controlling when clients can authorize payments (the 30-day window)
The 30-day payment authorization rule ensures that clients can only authorize payments within a sensible timeframe, typically limiting early authorizations to maintain accuracy and relevance of transaction processing. This restriction contributes to better management of payment schedules and reduces potential discrepancies.
You can find this setting in Trip Settings
To navigate to this setting, go to your Trip Settings, locate the specific option labeled "Allow authorizing payments more than 30 days before the payment due date," and toggle it as needed.
If you uncheck it, payments with a due date more than 30 days away won't show up for client authorization. You'll see a note in the payments section that they are "ready for authorization after X date." Payments will become "ready for authorization" only once they are within the 30-day window, ensuring clients are prompted for authorizations within the appropriate timeline.
The default for this setting depends on when you joined Tern. If your account was created after this feature launched in late 2025, this checkbox is off by default — clients cannot authorize payments more than 30 days before the due date unless you turn it on. If your account existed before that, the setting was turned on automatically to preserve your existing experience. Go to Settings > Trip Settings to see which state your account is in.
Getting your trip ready for credit card authorization
We don't want you running into a situation where a client makes authorizations on one itinerary, and then ends up approving a different itinerary! For this reason we only start to display authorization information after you have narrowed down to one itinerary.
Getting an activity ready for credit card authorization
Before diving in, take a moment to refresh on what you need to protect yourself in the case of chargebacks. And make sure any option blocks for the activity you'd like authorization for have been resolved.
1. First, make sure you have a clear name and dates for your activity that your client will recognize
For flights & transportation, this means a departure date
For hotels, this means a check-in date
For a cruises & other activities, this means a start date
2. Next choose how you'd like to price this activity and the total price
Set up your pricing type + amount ($0 activities won't be included for authorization).
3. Complete the following fields under Credit Card Authorization & Payment
Choose the payment schedule for this activity.
If you choose a payment schedule with multiple installments, make sure to add an amount for each installment - otherwise they won't show up for authorization.
If you leave the due date blank for a deposit, it will be due immediately when the client authorizes payment.
Add Booking Supplier details. We strongly recommend including supplier Terms & Conditions and Cancellation Policies. If you're using an agency supplier, these policies may auto-populate when you select the supplier — see Managing Agency Suppliers for details on how policies save and when auto-population applies.
A note on Trip Packages
Trip packages have their own Booking & Pricing page with the same fields outlined above - supplier, Terms & Conditions, Cancellation Policy, and payment schedule. Set these on the package itself, not on individual items inside it. When an activity is part of a package, its Booking & Pricing tab shows a "Package" card with an Edit package button that takes you to the package page where these fields live. Make sure the supplier and price point on the package match the charge you plan to make on your client's credit card for the entire package.
4. Finally, publish the trip and share with your clients!
After completing all necessary fields, you should notice that the next expected payment is now ready for authorization - good job!
When all required fields are filled in, the authorization status indicator turns from yellow to blue, signaling that the item is ready for your client to authorize. If fields are missing, the status indicator will show you which ones still need to be completed.
If the button has not changed, check that you have filled in all required fields: a start date, a price greater than zero, a booking supplier, and the supplier's terms and conditions. Cancellation policy is recommended but not strictly required for the button to activate.
Excluding a payment from authorization
If you don't need to collect credit card authorization for a specific payment, you can exclude it at any time. Open the booking's Expected Payments section, click the three-dot menu on the payment, and select Exclude from authorization. The payment is removed from the traveler's authorization form entirely — they won't see it or be prompted to authorize it, and it won't be included in the total amount displayed.
To restore the payment, click the three-dot menu again and select Include in authorization.
Common uses:
- A booking was already paid or authorized outside of Tern
- You added a new booking and want the traveler to authorize only that one
- A booking is being reworked and isn't ready for authorization yet
Making a payment from an authorization
After a client authorizes a payment, the full credit card number and CVV will be available for you to access for 30 days. The full details of what was authorized, when it was authorized, and the last 4 digits of the card will always be visible to you - even after the authorization expires. You can find card details in three places: (1) the expired authorization record in the Payments tab, (2) the PDF receipt in the trip's Documents tab, and (3) any invoice generated from the Pricing tab. When you view full credit card details and the CVV code on an active authorization, a secure session opens that remains active for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the session expires and the card data is no longer displayed. Close and reopen the card details to start a new session.
All active authorizations will be visible on the Payments tab of a trip, and within the booking and pricing details of a booking under "Past Payments and Authorizations".
Follow these steps to view the full card details and log a payment:
Click 'View Details' on the authorization to access credit card information.
After making the payment on your client's behalf, click 'Log Payment'.
Click "Save" to store the payment
You will now see a Payment within the Payment history section, if you click into this you can see the credit card authorization details.
You can also click into the three dot menu to edit the payment or delete the payment.
Tip: if you need to re-collect authorization for any reason, you can always delete the authorization. This will make that previously authorized amount "ready", and it will appear again in the client form to authorize.
Note: authorizations expire after 30 days. After the 30 day period, the authorization status will automatically update to 'expired' in payment history and that expected amount will be ready for authorization again if it hasn't already been used to log a payment.
Recording deposits collected outside Tern: To record a deposit that was already collected, go to the activity's Booking & Pricing tab and click "Log Payment." Enter the amount and adjust the date to when the payment was actually received, then click Save. There is no "Paid" status to set — clicking Log Payment and saving the entry is what records the deposit. The remaining balance updates automatically.
Logging Additional Payments
You can also log payments manually that are not connected to a credit card authorization using the "Log Payment" button.
Enter the amount that has been paid (that is not connected to an active credit card authorization) and click "Save".
This will appear as a payment in the Payment history section of the activity and on the Payments tab
You will also see that the expected payments are updated with the correct remaining amounts.
Note: The Log Payment button is on the individual activity's page, not on the main Payments tab.
Using the Payments tab
In the payments tab on the trip, you can easily review all expected payments, past payments, active authorizations and total amounts for your trip.
Important reminder: as soon as you publish your trip, any payment authorizations marked as "ready" will automatically show up to your client.
Because deposits, installments & full amounts can be authorized separately by your client, those will be automatically split into separate line items in the tables
You can click into any rows of Expected or Actual payments to see the Booking & Pricing tab of that item
From the Active Authorizations you can click into them to log a payment directly
Changing required fields after authorization
Tern will not automatically expire or delete an authorization if you change any important fields after an authorization has occurred. Instead, you will see an alert that the information has changed on the authorization to help inform you of potential chargeback risks. If the following details change, you will see a message when logging a payment from that authorization:
The activity date(s) on the General Info tab
The 'Booking Supplier' or the 'Price' on the Booking & Pricing tab
Payment Notes and Card Used
You can now add notes to payments in Tern. When you are logging or editing a payment you will see the option to Add a Note.
Notes will be visible to the client on the Pricing Tab and on any Invoices that you generate. Clients will also see the card details used for authorizations and payments on the Pricing Tab and Invoices.
Pricing Tab
Invoices
Client experience: completing the credit card authorization form
Accessing payment authorizations
As soon as there are one or more payments that are 'ready for authorization' in a published trip, any clients with Full Access permissions will see items pending from their trip. They will see an "Authorize Payments" button on their itinerary page, which they can click to proceed with the authorization process.
Authorizing payments
1. Once they click to review, they will be taken to a page to review all "ready" payments for authorization.
If an activity has a deposit AND a 'final amount' both ready for authorization, the client is only prompted for the deposit initially.
If a client has already authorized a deposit, the next time they return to the form they will be prompted to authorize the 'final amount' (unless you have excluded it from authorization).
2. Supplier Terms & Conditions and refund policy are accessible directly from this table
3. Finally, your client will add (or select) their credit card, agree to the authorization terms & conditions, sign & submit.
When your client needs to authorize additional payments on the same trip, they will not need to re-enter their full card details each time. After their first authorization, they only need to re-enter their CVV for subsequent authorizations within the 30-day window. After 30 days, the authorization expires and they will need to enter their full card information again.
Records & receipts
After a client authorizes payment(s):
You both will receive an email receipt immediately -
Attached to the receipt is a PDF confirmation -
You will also see these authorizations logged in Trip Activity - as well as a separate line item indicating your client agreed to your Terms & Conditions (which are linked in the form above) -
What happens if the price changes after authorization?
Authorizations are tied to the exact amount your client approved. If a supplier's price changes after your client authorizes payment — even by a small amount — the original authorization will not cover the new price.
To resolve this, update the payment amount in the trip, then republish the trip so your client can authorize the updated amount. The previous authorization will need to be replaced.
Tip: Before sending a trip for authorization, confirm final pricing with your supplier to minimize reauthorization requests.
Deactivating credit card authorization
If you would like to completely hide all of the functionality related to credit card information from your account (and your clients), simply deactivate it in Trip Settings:
FAQ
Can I set up partial payments or a payment schedule for my clients? Yes!
How do you handle multiple currencies? If a trip has multiple currencies, each authorization will happen in the currency you have added to the activity.
Make sure you add the currency you will actually make the booking in, so that the amount doesn't change based on conversion rate fluctuations.
In the 'calculated total' at the bottom of the client view we will convert the amounts for their reference.
Why are my clients being asked to reauthorize payments? Clients should only be asked to reauthorize payments if the authorization has expired or you have deleted an active authorization.
What are best practices for avoiding authorization issues? Finalize payment details before initiating authorization requests, provide clear instructions to clients, and communicate any necessary updates promptly to facilitate seamless reauthorization when needed.
Why are my payment authorizations no longer visible or working? This typically happens when two-factor authentication (2FA) is turned off. For security reasons, Tern requires 2FA to be active for payment authorization functionality. Simply re-enable 2FA in your account settings to restore payment authorization capabilities.
How do I manage my two-factor authentication settings? Navigate to the Settings page and select the Security tab. From there, you can enable or disable 2FA as needed. If enabling 2FA, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup process.
Troubleshooting tip: If your trip won't move to "ready for authorization," open the activity's Booking & Pricing tab and look at the authorization status indicator. If it's yellow, click or hover on it to see exactly which fields are still missing. Common culprits: booking supplier, supplier terms & conditions, cancellation policy, start date, or total price. Fix the listed fields, then publish the trip.
Why isn't my client being sent to credit card authorization after choosing options (or tapping "Choose Later")? Your client will only be directed to credit card authorization if there are items on the trip that are ready for authorization. Check the Pricing tab to make sure your activities have all the required details filled in (supplier, cost, dates) and that at least one item shows a "ready" authorization status. If no items are ready, your client will be returned to the itinerary page instead.
Why aren't my installment payment dates showing on my client's pricing tab?
Installments only display on the client-facing pricing tab when they still have an outstanding balance that hasn't been authorized. If a client has already authorized the full trip amount (or an amount that covers all installments), those installments won't appear because they're already covered by the existing authorization. To make the installments visible to your client, delete the existing full-amount authorization, then republish the trip. Your client will then see each installment individually and can authorize them one at a time.'Does "Exclude from credit card authorization" hide the installment from my client's view? No. Excluding an installment from credit card authorization only removes it from the authorization form your client fills out — they won't be prompted to authorize that specific payment. However, the installment and its due date will still appear on the client-facing pricing tab. If you want to fully hide an installment from the client, you would need to remove it from the payment schedule entirely.
If your client is being prompted for the full amount instead of the deposit, verify:
- The payment schedule is set to 'Deposit + Final Balance' not 'In Full',
- No prior full-amount authorization exists,
- A deposit amount is set on the payment schedule
Testing as a client? Open the trip link in an incognito/private window and create a Traveler account with the test email. If you're logged into your advisor account, you'll see 'Full Access Required' even with correct permissions.
My client is being asked to activate a subscription or pay for Tern when trying to authorize a payment. What happened? This typically occurs when the client's account was created as an advisor account instead of a traveler account. Advisor accounts require a subscription and additional setup steps (like two-factor authentication) that traveler accounts do not. When a client signs up using the wrong account type, they'll see subscription or onboarding prompts instead of the authorization form. Contact Tern support to have the account type corrected.
When I use the AI booking import to fill in booking details, will it also add travelers to the trip? No. The AI booking import fills in booking information such as supplier details, dates, and activity specifics, but it does not add travelers to the trip. You'll need to add travelers manually after the import is complete. After using the AI import, go to the Travelers section of your trip and add each traveler. This step is separate from the booking details.
My client already paid their deposit before I set up the trip in Tern. How do I record that without prompting them to authorize it again? If a deposit has already been collected outside of Tern, you'll need to do two things: exclude the payment from the credit card authorization queue, and log the payment manually so your records are accurate.
How to navigate there: From the trip, click Bookings in the left sidebar → click the specific activity or package → you'll see the Booking & Pricing tab on that activity's page. This is not a tab on the main trip view — it's inside each individual booking.
Step 1: Exclude the payment from authorization
Go to the Bookings and Pricing tab on the relevant activity.
Find the payment item in the Expected Payments section.
Click the three dots next to that payment item.
Select Exclude from credit card authorization.
Your client will no longer be prompted to authorize this payment.
Step 2: Log the payment
On the same Bookings and Pricing tab, click Log Payment.
Enter the amount and adjust the payment date to reflect when it was actually collected.
Save the payment.
The payment will appear in your payment history with the correct date, and your expected payment totals will update accordingly.
Note: Logging a payment in Tern records it for your own tracking. It does not charge your client's card or pay the supplier directly.
Why did my client receive a payment reminder after I marked the payment as paid? Payment reminders are recalculated when you publish the trip, when a client submits a form response, or when a client completes an authorization. Marking a payment as paid does not automatically cancel a scheduled reminder. If a reminder was already scheduled before the payment was recorded, it will still send unless the trip is republished. To ensure reminders reflect the latest payment status, always publish your trip after recording a payment.
Do sub-trips in a group trip support payment authorization? Yes. Payment authorization is fully supported on sub-trips (the individual trips created when travelers sign up for a group). The Authorize Payments button will appear on each sub-trip once the booking has all required fields filled in and - if the 30-day window restriction is active on your account - the payment due date is within 30 days. Parent group trips themselves do not support authorization directly. Authorization happens at the sub-trip level.
Why doesn't the Authorize Payments button appear even though the booking says "ready for authorization"? If the 30-day payment window restriction is active on your account (the default for newer accounts), the Authorize Payments button won't appear to your client until the payment due date is within 30 days. Go to Trip Settings and check whether "Allow authorizing payments more than 30 days before the payment due date" is turned on. If it's off and the due date is more than 30 days away, the button stays hidden until the window opens. The booking will still show "ready for authorization" on the advisor side - this is expected.
I see "preview mode" when I open the authorization page. Is something wrong?No. When you open the authorization page as an advisor, Tern always shows it in preview mode so you can see what your client will experience. The form is intentionally disabled for you. When your client opens the link, they see the full, fillable version where they can authorize their card. To see exactly what your client sees, open the trip link in an incognito/private window and log in with a test traveler account.
I accidentally logged a payment and now the booking shows as fully paid. How do I fix this? Go to the activity's Booking & Pricing tab, scroll to the Past Payments and Authorizations section, click the three-dot menu on the incorrect payment, and select Delete. The expected payment balance updates automatically.
When my client clicks "Skip" on an item during checkout, does it remove that item from the itinerary?
No. Clicking "Skip" skips the payment authorization for that item — it does not remove the activity from the itinerary. After checkout, the activity will still appear on the trip as planned.
"Skip" means: "I don't want to authorize payment for this right now." It does not mean: "I don't want this on my trip."
If you want an item to be truly optional so that a client can choose to add it or leave it off, set it as an optional add-on in the Booking and Pricing tab before you publish the trip. Optional add-ons are excluded from the main itinerary by default until the client selects them.