Background
Before we dive in: we’ve worked very closely with travel industry lawyers to develop these tools, but the information we give should not be seen as legal advice.
Always consult with your legal counsel for specific questions.
Why does credit card authorization matter?
Credit card authorization is important to establish trust and transparency with your clients, and to protect your business from chargebacks.
Clients should know exactly how their card will be used, and what charges they can expect on their credit card statement. In the case of a chargeback, a supplier may ask you for specific information to prove you were authorized to make the charge. If you are unable to supply this information, you may be liable for the payments.
What do you need to protect yourself in the case of chargebacks?
If you have a supplier who comes after you for proof of authorization you need to have these things in writing for each and every charge:
Amount of charge: this should be the exact amount you plan to use the card for
When it was authorized: which should be within 30 days of making the payment
What it was for: the activity, the specific supplier you are booking through, and any relevant dates
What credit card was authorized to make the charge: with a signature sign-off from your client
During the pandemic, credit card companies changed their standards for resolving chargeback disputes. They now require that you call your clients’ attention to the cancellation and refund policy in your terms and conditions at the time that a charge is authorized. This means that you should
Also have clients agree to your own Terms & Conditions agreement every time they make payment authorizations
Call attention to the supplier-specific Terms & Conditions and Cancellation Policy
Note that you don't need these things "in ink" - having your client check a box via an online form and sign with an e-signature is completely fine!
If you are new to the industry or looking for a refresher on protecting your travel agency from a lawsuit, we recommend this fantastic video by Tom Carpenter.
Overview
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 (formerly 'Pricing Groups')
Before jumping in, we wanted to call your attention to a few updates to "Trip Packages" (formerly 'Pricing Groups'). These changes were important to allow you to get credit card authorization for activities grouped together under a single price point. We recommend pausing to read that announcement 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 to allow access to client credit card information.
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 Security
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.
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. Finally, make sure you complete the following fields under Credit Card Authorization & Payment
Choose the payment schedule for this activity.
Make sure to add a deposit amount - otherwise it won't show up for authorization.
If you would like to exclude an amount from client authorization you can do so at any time using the checkboxes below.
Note: for lodging, you can also select a "credit card hold" schedule - learn more below.
Add Booking Supplier details. We strongly recommend including supplier Terms & Conditions and Cancellation Policies.
Credit Card 'Holds'
On 'lodging' activities, you will also see the option to set payment as a 'credit card hold'.
This will allow you to get authorization to use the credit card to hold a room/lodging activity, and will notify the client that their card will not be charged until they arrive.
A note on Trip Packages
Trip packages have all the same fields outlined above - just fill them out normally, like you would for a regular activity. Make sure the supplier and price point match the charge you plan to make on your client's credit card for the entire Trip Package (including any activities you've added to that package).
Managing credit card authorizations & statuses
After completing all necessary fields, you should notice that the authorization status for this activity has automatically updated to "ready" - good job! More below on how to track & manage these statuses.
Authorization statuses & definitions
Excluded from authorization: clients will not see this amount for authorization at all, until you uncheck this option.
Not ready: payment amount is not ready for authorization. This is because it is missing a key detail (like the activity date, price, or booking supplier).
Ready: payment is ready for client authorization. The next time you publish your trip, it will be available for them to authorize.
Authorized for [30] days: after a client authorizes a payment, it will be authorized for 30 days.
Click 'View Card' to access credit card information.
After paying, click on the right to 'Mark as Paid'.
Tip: if you need to reset the authorization at this stage, you can always adjust the price amount. This will automatically change the authorization status back to "ready", and it will appear again in the client form to authorize.
Expired: after the 30 day period, the authorization status will automatically update to 'expired'. If you forgot to pay within that period, you can always reset back to ready - which will re-prompt the client to authorize the amount.
Using the new Authorizations tab
In this new tab, you can easily review all authorizations 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 & full amounts can be authorized separately by your client, those will be automatically split into two line items in this table
In the action menu on the right, you can:
Reset expired authorizations back to 'ready' (which will re-prompt your client to review them)
Exclude anything from authorization - if you don't want your client to see that payment when reviewing authorizations
Changing required fields after authorization
To protect you from chargebacks, Tern will automatically reset the authorization status to "ready" (to prompt the client to re-authorize a charge) - if you change any important fields after an authorization has occurred:
The activity date(s) on the General Info tab
The 'Booking Supplier' or the 'Price' on the Booking & Pricing tab
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 will Full Access permissions will see items pending from their trip
Authorizing payments
1. Once they click to review, they will be taken to a page to review all "ready" payments for authorization.
Credit card holds are clearly marked as 'holds' and excluded from the total authorization amount at the bottom of the table.
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. If your client is not ready to make a payment, or wants to pay a full amount, they can use the action menu
If they choose to skip, this authorization will appear again if they return to the page later
If they authorize the full amount, the activity amount will automatically update to the full price
4. Finally, your client will add (or select) their credit card, agree to the authorization terms & conditions, sign & submit.
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).
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? Not yet! We plan to release an upgrade to allow this in the next few weeks.
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.
