Stored cards and charging a card

A guest can store a card with your payment provider so that anything still open at the end of their stay — the balance, extras booked on site, a no-show or damage — can be settled without asking them for card details again. Nothing is charged when the card is stored. Later, staff charge it from the booking.

The card itself is held by your payment provider, not by Gurita. What Gurita keeps is a reference to it, the brand and last four digits, the expiry, and the record of the guest's consent.

Who can access this: Storing a card and charging one both require the right to create booking payments — the same permission that issues a payment link, so ordinary front-desk staff have it. Deleting a stored card needs its own separate right. A payment provider that can store cards (currently Stripe or FlyWire) must be active, with the Inline payment form and Allow saved cards switches on — see Plugins and integrations.

How a card gets stored

There are three ways, and in all three the guest types the card themselves. Staff can never enter a guest's card number — the fields belong to the payment provider and the number never reaches Gurita.

1. A card link

On the booking's Payments card, open Payment Link and switch to the Store Card tab.

A card link collects no money. The guest stores a card that you can charge later for the balance, a no-show or damage.

Pick a payment provider — a bank transfer cannot store a card, so the option is refused with a note if you leave it on bank details. The footer reads No amount — this link only stores a card. Press Create Card Link and send it exactly as you would a payment link.

The guest opens the same public page as an invoice, but in card mode: the header reads Card for incidentals and Nothing to pay today, and instead of charges it explains what the card may be used for:

• On-board extras — bar, nitrox, laundry — charged after they are posted
• A damage deposit, only if something is broken
• Every charge is e-mailed with a receipt before it is taken

They tick the mandate, type the card, and the page confirms Card saved — "Your card is stored securely · nothing was charged".

Placeholder image04-guest-store-card.pngThe card link a guest opens

2. At the desk

For a guest standing in front of you, the same Store Card tab offers Capture a card at the desk.

1. Read the mandate to the guest and tick the consent box together with them.
2. Press Open the card form. The provider's card fields appear inside the dialog.
3. The guest types the card and presses Save card. The dialog confirms Card stored.

If the provider cannot store cards you are told so — "The selected payment provider cannot store cards. Choose one that can, or send a payment link instead." — and switching provider closes an open card form, because the form belongs to the session it was opened with.

3. On the pre-arrival guest form

The guest form has a Store a card step with the same mandate and the same result. See Guest forms.

Warning: Consent is not a formality. The mandate the guest agrees to is recorded with a timestamp, its wording version, the IP address and the device. A card with no consent on record can never be charged, whatever else is right about it.

Charging a stored card

On the booking's Payments card, open Payment Link and switch to Charge Stored Card.

Charging a stored card

1. Pick the card. Each row shows the brand and last four digits, valid until, and — where the provider ties a token to one currency — chargeable in EUR only. A card that cannot be charged is greyed out with the reason: no consent on record, expired, removed, or not confirmed yet.
2. Enter the amount, in the booking currency. A quick button fills in the amount currently due; another clears the field.
3. Enter the reason. This field is required — an off-session charge takes money with nobody present to be told why, and the reason is the only record of the intent. It is what staff read back afterwards, and it travels to the payment provider as the description that appears on the guest's statement. Write what it is actually for ("minibar and room damage"), not a placeholder.
4. Press Charge Card and confirm. The confirmation repeats the amount, the card and the reason, and warns: "The guest is not present — this cannot be undone here."

The amount is deliberately not capped at the open balance — a damage charge is by definition not in the calculation. Above the open balance you get a warning ("Only 320.00 is open. 500.00 will be charged in full — the surplus is recorded as a credit") and must confirm it explicitly.

What can come back

Outcome	What it means	What to do
Card charged.	The money was taken and recorded as a payment on the booking.	Nothing.
The guest has to confirm with their bank	The card needs a 3-D Secure confirmation. A link has been created and is waiting for the guest. This is not an error.	Send the guest the link; the payment completes once they confirm.
The card issuer declined the charge.	The bank said no. Nothing was taken.	Ask the guest for another card, or send a payment link.
The charge could not be completed.	It failed before the bank was reached.	Try again, or use another route.
The outcome is unknown	The provider did not answer clearly — the card may still have been charged.	Do not charge again. The result is checked with the provider automatically and resolves itself within about two hours.
Another charge is already running	A charge for this booking has not finished.	Wait for it to finish before trying again.

Warning: A charge is real money off someone's card and cannot be undone from this dialog. A refund is a separate step with your payment provider.

Note: A double-click cannot charge twice — a repeated attempt is recognised as the same charge and ignored.

Note: A successful charge is recorded as an ordinary payment on the booking and raises the usual Payment received notification — which reaches the guest only if your company has switched on the notify the booking contact about their payment option. A failed charge raises a Card charge failed notification for staff instead, under the Payments category, carrying the amount, the card and the reason the provider gave. Both are configured on the Notification settings page.

Cards on file for a guest

Every card a guest has stored is listed on their customer record, on the Payment methods tab, under the heading Cards on file. Use it to see what you can charge, to check consent, and to remove a card.

Cards on file on a customer record

Each card shows:

• The brand and last four digits, a Default pill on the one the provider prefers, and Valid until.
• Chargeable in EUR only, where the token is bound to one currency.
• Its state — Pending, Active, Expired or Removed — and, for a removed card, when it was removed.
• Why it was stored: Guarantee — charged by staff, or Saved by the guest for faster checkout.
• The Consent record: when the guest agreed, which version of the wording they saw, the IP address and the device. If it reads "No consent on record — this card can never be charged", the card is unusable and should be removed.

Delete card detaches the token at the payment provider so it can never be charged again. The consent record is kept. If the provider refuses, you are told the card is still active — it has not been removed, so try again rather than assuming it is gone.

Note: A guest cannot remove their own stored card — that control is switched off on the payment provider's page. Deleting it here is the only way, so honour a request to remove a card promptly.

Note: If the list cannot be loaded it says so explicitly — "This list is incomplete, not empty". Never read a failed load as "this guest has no card".

Related chapters

• The guest payment page — the page a card link opens, and payment links.
• Payments on the folio — where a successful charge lands.
• Customers — the customer record that holds Cards on file.
• Guest forms — the pre-arrival form's card step.
• Plugins and integrations — switching on a card-capable payment provider.

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