This development allows the hotelier to make charges on reservations automatically according to the penalties configured in the cancellation policies linked to the conditions.Likewise, it will also allow for the possibility of charging the penalty during the reservation process when expenses have already been incurred at the time of confirming the reservation.
On the other hand, it will also allow viewing the forecast of charges, executed charges, and the status of each one. If any charge could not be executed automatically, it will be notified on the “Automatic Charges” screen as well as via email.
Prerequisites
Each time we integrate a new platform that tokenizes cards, it must be requested to be added to the automatic charges development. Once we have integrated it from Witbooking it can be used with automatic charges.[Text Wrapping Break]
There is a list of corrections/improvements that will be made: List of Automatic Charges Bugs.docx
How to activate automatic charges
To activate the possibility of having automatic charges, we will find a checkbox in “Integrations > Configuration Manager > Gestores”. There we will find the checkbox with the following copy:
Enable automatic charge configuration according to cancellation policy
--> It will bedisabled by default, therefore, if someone wants to activate it, it will beby request.
Once this checkbox has been activated, we will see that in Configuration > Cancellation Policies, two new columns appear: “Automatic Charges” and “Online Charge Expenses”:
This way, both when editing a policy and when creating a new one, we will see two new checkboxes:
Enable automatic charge according to cancellation policies
If we activate this option, the reservation will be charged according to the deadlines defined in the cancellation penalties.
Execute first online charge - upon incurring expenses at the time of booking
By activating this second option and if expenses are incurred at the time of booking, the deposit for the policy will be charged.
Important: only the first checkbox can be activated, or both. But the second checkbox cannot be activated alone (BO currently allows it, but it will be fixed so that only the second checkbox can no longer be selected).
BO Updates
If we activate the checkbox in “Configuration Manager” for “Enable automatic charge configuration according to cancellation policy” we will see the following changes in BO:
In Reservations List / Extended Reservations List we will see a new button called “Charges List”.
In the actions column we will see a new icon that, when clicked, redirects to the automatic charges list screen with the reservation (Pxxxxxx) filtered, and only the charge lines generated for that reservation will be listed.
In view reservation details we will also see a new button “Automatic Charges” and when clicked, it redirects to the automatic charges list screen with the reservation (Pxxxxxx) selected and filtered, and only the charge lines generated for that reservation will be listed.
List of automatic charges: this is a new screen where we find all the information related to the charge orders that are being generated. Please note:
Res.Status = this is the status of the reservation.
Concept = this is the ID of the cancellation policy.
Estimated charge date = it is pre-calculated and the time is indicated according to the property's time zone.
Charge attempt date = date when the charge is attempted successfully or not.
Charge date = date when the charge becomes effective.
Charge status = indicates the status of the charge and will be updated as orders are executed according to the charge date.
Attempts = indicates the number of charge attempts. A maximum of 3 automatic charge attempts will be made. If they are unsuccessful attempts, when the third one is reached, a new icon will appear in “actions” to retry the charge.
In the actions column we will see:
Charge Order Behavior
Option 1: we only have the first checkbox enabled in the cancellation policy
Engine: indicates the deposit amount corresponding to the reservation condition.
BO List: when accessing the charges list, I see the orders generated for that reservation according to the cancellation policy enabled, the automatic charge will be charged based on the penalties configured at the time of reservation confirmation.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE:
Condition: cg (0% deposit charge)
Cancellation Policy: “semi”, the penalty ranges are:
First range: from reservation date to 14 days before check in = 0%
Second range: from 13 days before check in to 3 days before = 20%
Third range: 2 days before check in at 11 a.m. = 100%
Reservation:
Case 1: today 10/24/2025 I make a reservation for 11/25/2025 for €195 (without considering taxes):
We are within the first range, therefore, two charge orders will be created:
Estimated charge date 11/12/2025 11:59 PM = €39 (corresponding to 20%)
Estimated charge date 11/23/2025 11:00 AM = €156 (corresponding to 100%, but considering that we have already paid 20%).
Case 2: today 10/24/2025 I make a reservation for 11/1/2025 for €195 (without considering taxes):
We are within the second range, therefore, two charge orders will be created, but one with a date prior to today:
Estimated charge date 10/19/2025 11:59 PM = €39 (20%), it will be charged more or less within the hour following the reservation made.
Estimated charge date 10/30/2025 11:00 AM = €156 (corresponding to 100%, but considering that we have already paid 20%).
Case 3: today 10/24/2025 I make a reservation for 10/25/2025 for €195 (without considering taxes):
We are within the third range, therefore, two charge orders will be created, both with a date prior to today:
Estimated charge date 10/12/2025 11:59 PM = €39 (20%), it will be charged more or less within the hour following the reservation made.
Estimated charge date 10/23/2025 11:00 AM = €156 (corresponding to 100%, but considering that we have already paid 20%). It will be charged more or less within the hour following the reservation made.
Option 2: we have both checkboxes enabled in the cancellation policy
Engine:
If on the reservation date no expenses are incurred → The deposit amount corresponding to the reservation condition is indicated.
If on the reservation date expenses are already incurred → The deposit amount corresponding to the cancellation policy is replaced, and it is charged during the reservation confirmation process.
In this case, a charge order for that penalty period that has already incurred expenses will not be created.
BO List: reservations with the cancellation policy that has automatic charging enabled will be charged based on the penalties configured at the time of reservation confirmation.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE:
Condition: cg (0% deposit charge)
Cancellation Policy: “semi”, the penalty ranges are:
First range: from reservation date to 14 days before check in = 0%
Second range: from 13 days before check in to 3 days before = 20%
Third range: 2 days before check in at 11 a.m. = 100%
Reservation:
Case 1: today 10/24/2025 I make a reservation for 11/20/2025 for €195 (without considering taxes):
We are within the first range, therefore, at checkout the deposit for the condition (0%) appears, and the following two charge orders are created:
Estimated charge date 11/7/2025 11:59 PM = €39 (20% second range).
Estimated charge date 11/18/2025 11:00 AM = €156 (corresponding to 100%, but considering that we have already paid 20%)
Case 2: today 10/24/2025 I make a reservation for 10/30/2025 for €195 (without considering taxes):
We are within the second range, therefore, at checkout the deposit for the second range cancellation policy appears, as we are already incurring expenses (at checkout it shows €39). A single collection order is created for the third penalty range:
Estimated collection date 10/28/2025 11j = €156 (corresponding to 100%, but considering that we have already paid 20%)
Case 3: Today, 10/24/2025, I make a reservation for 10/25/2025 for €195 (without taking into account the fees): account for fees):
We are within the third range, therefore, at checkout it shows the deposit for the third range cancellation policy as we are incurring expenses (at checkout it shows €195, the total without taxes). NO collection order is created, as we have already collected everything.
Payment methods available for “Automatic Collections”
The payment methods currently available for “Automatic Collections” are:
PaynoPain_v3
Stripe
Addon
Adyen
Paycomet
FreedomPay
Sipay
Septeopayments
POS
IMPORTANT FOR AUTOMATIC COLLECTIONS WITH POS: automatic collections cannot be activated on any engine that has a POS and requests it.
They must previously check with their bank that the POS DOES allow tokenization.
For other payment methods not on the list, collection orders will not be created, even if they have a cancellation policy with automatic collections enabled. For now, the icon will appear in the booking list and the “automatic collections” button within “view booking”, although if we click it redirects and there is no data (it is planned to fix this so that neither the icon nor the button appear in these cases).
General considerations
Booking modification: modification from the BO or as a client from the booking, future collections are canceled, the cases are:
change of checkin or checkout
Inventory change
Amount change
Deposit amount change
Change in extras
Cancellations: when there is a cancellation, the booking status column is updated, and the status of unexecuted collection orders changes to Canceled. On the other hand, collected orders for canceled bookings remain in the "collected ok" status.
IMPORTANT: both in cancellations and modifications, the same behavior must be followed = that is, at the time of modification / cancellation, it must be considered whether the collection orders have been collected or not (NOT the estimated collection date).
Emails:
Once the 3 automatic collection attempts have been made and fail, an email is sent with the subject:Automatic Payment Failure - {ticker_motor}, Mxxxxxxx | Pxxxxxxx
For modified or canceled reservations, the email sent has the subject:Automatic Payment Cancelled - {ticker_motor}, Mxxxxxxx | Pxxxxxxx
The email is sent to the reservation confirmation recipients and currently also sent as a CC to alert@witbooking.com so that we receive a copy.
Cancel payment button: it should only appear for future orders. It currently considers the estimated date; if the date is before today, the cancel button does not appear, but it SHOULD appear as the collection has not yet been executed.
Section “Process collection / refund”in “View booking”: when a collection order is executed, it will appear in the transaction list section of the booking’s “view details”. Charges and refunds can be made from there.
Example:
In cases where there is an “M” with several “Ps” and the estimated collection date matches, we will group the collection order and issue a single order (it will not be done per reservation).
This is because the payment gateway may block it if it sees too many transactions, preventing them from being issued.
If the automatic collection is attempted 3 times, the following will occur in these cases:
The “retry” button will appear along with the “failed collection” alert = when I click on one of the retries the modal appears stating that I will collect all P reservations that can be grouped with the same M. It can result in KO or OK (if KO, the retry button reappears with the 5-minute timer); if OK, the button disappears for all P reservations linked to the same estimated date.
When we click the RETRY button and the process results in OK or KO, the message we will see is the following:
ES: The collection request has been sent. Check it in a few moments.
ENG: The payment request has been sent. Please check again in a moment.
FR: The payment request has been sent. Please check again in a moment.
VIDEO: Download explanatory video
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