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SOP - đź’¶ Payments đź’¶

Anthony Essberger
Updated

All you need to know about payments, compensation from the hotel or supplier and VCCs.

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Contents

What happens when a customer books on Revolut Stays

When a customer makes a booking through Revolut, their credit or debit card details are shared only with Revolut.

The customer’s card details are never shared with:

  • NuitĂ©e
  • The property (hotel, apartment, etc.)
  • The provider

This means Nuitée and our providers do not see or store the customer’s card information.

How payment works with most providers (credit line system)

Most of our providers work with us on a credit line basis.

This means:

  • There is no virtual credit card (VCC) between NuitĂ©e and the provider.
  • There is no real-time payment when a booking, change, or refund happens.
  • No money is moved immediately.

Instead, all bookings, changes, earnings, and losses are recorded internally.

Our finance team calculates the final amounts later, usually on a monthly basis.
These calculations are then reviewed and settled monthly or annually, depending on the provider’s contract.

So, for most providers, payments and refunds are accounting adjustments, not instant bank or card transactions.

Exception: DC bookings and Booking.com

DC bookings and Booking.com are different.

They do use a Virtual Credit Card (VCC).

This means:

  • Real money is involved.
  • When DC or Booking.com approve a refund, the refunded amount should actually appear on our VCC as a real transaction.

These cases are not just accounting adjustments — they are real card refunds.

You will be able to see whether a VCC is involved by going to:

  1. Back Office
  2. Enter the Booking ID
  3. Scroll down and you will see the 'VCC History' (as the below example):
Screenshot 2026-01-21 at 15.12.13.png

Pay At Property (PAP)

We have a small percentage of bookings that are known as Pay At Property bookings due to the customer understanding that payment for the booking will only be requested at or after check-in and not before. This policy exists only with:

  • Provider: Booking.com
  • Client: Revolut

Pay at property bookings represent 4% of all Revolut - Booking.com bookings at Nuitee.

Whose card is on file for PAP bookings

This is the only instance when the end-customer's credit/debit card is used to secure the booking by the property. 

What the property is actioning before check-in

While PAP mentions to the customer that they only need to pay for their reservation at the property from check-in, many properties do want some sort of guarantee that they will be able to receive payment for the booking, for example, if the guest is a no show or attempts to cancel the booking when inside the cancellation policy.

How much the property is trying to validate 

Based on our experience, most properties attempt to verify (pre-authorisation) or charge the guest's card for:

  • the first night of a booking (or the full amount for one-night reservations), or;
  • the cancellation fee of the booking, or;
  • the total amount of the booking

Process - PAP not yet cancelled

For PAP bookings that are not yet cancelled, please follow the below steps:

  1. Call and inform the property that the booking is PAP and whether they are willing to hold the booking until the guest arrives.
  2. If they cannot maintain the booking without guarantee, ask them how much they are attempting to verify.
  3. Slack a Supervisor/Team Leader so they can create a new VCC with the amount requested by the property in order to temporarily hold the booking.

Exception

If there is a lead time of 2+ days, email the client to inform them that the guest's card has been marked as invalid and that they need to ensure that they have enough funds on the provided card in order to secure the booking otherwise the property may cancel the booking

Process - PAP already cancelled

For PAP bookings that have already been cancelled, please follow the below steps:

  1. Call the property to see whether they are willing to reinstate the booking if we pay for the required pre-authorisation
  2. If the above is not possible, check whether the original property still has availability on GSA, Booking and/or the hotel's official website. 
  3. Email the client, Revolut, in order to inform them that the booking has been cancelled by the hotel as the customer's card came back as invalid and inform of availability and offer the guest to booking again or self-service at an alternative property with a refund the difference of up to 100% of the original booking

Payment flowchart

DC Slack group: #dc-cs-collaboration

Flowcharts (1).png

Why written confirmation is very important

For most providers, money movement is based on email confirmation and written approval, not automatic payments.

Because of this:

  • We must always get written approval (usually by email) for refunds, changes, or special cases.
  • These written confirmations are the official proof used by our finance team to calculate balances correctly.

This is why getting clear, written confirmation is critical for almost all scenarios.

Hotel wants to give compensation / refund

If a hotel wants to give a refund or compensation, we can ask them to send the offer via email and include the following:

  • Booking details
  • Booking ID
  • Supplier ID
  • Amount that they are refunding

Once we have their email detailing the refund, we can process the refund as compensation on Back Office and forward the hotel's email to the supplier informing them that we withholding some or all of the payment for the booking in question. 

It is vital that we have the hotel's compensation offer in writing as our Finance Department will invoice the hotel the correct amount based on the amendments and agreements between us and the property. 

Hotel - VCC on Back Office

If the hotel wants to give a refund or compensation, we can ask them to refund the VCC on file. Always ask for this in writing, even if the discussion first happens by phone. After the hotel refunds the VCC, we can refund Revolut from our side by adjusting the rates in Back Office.

We can check the status of the VCC on Back Office in order to check whether the Hotel has made a refund. 

Provider wants to give compensation / refund

Sometimes the provider opts to give compensation back to the guest in accordance with their SLAs, for example, if the provider fails to honour the booking. 

If the provider wants to give a refund or compensation, we can ask them to confirm it by email. The email should say how much they will pay. 

It is vital that we have the provider's compensation offer in writing as our Finance Department will invoice the provider the correct amount based on the amendments and agreements between us and the provider. 

Once we have the provider's refund offer via email, we can then action the refund in Back Office, processing the compensation to the client, informing them and solving the case. There is no need to reach the hotel or wait for action for action from their side unless the case requires it (for example a complaint). 

Provider - VCC on Back Office

If the provider wants to give a refund or compensation, we can ask them to refund the VCC on file. Always ask for this in writing, even if the discussion first happens by phone. After the provider refunds the VCC, we can refund Revolut from our side by adjusting the rates in Back Office.

We can check the status of the VCC on Back Office in order to check whether the provider has made a refund. 

Good to know! Booking.com is the only provider that charges our VCC then provides their own VCC directly to the property.

Nuitee Travel Ltd invoice details

  • Entity Name: NuitĂ©e Travel Limited
  • VAT/TAX Reference: IE3388031IH
  • Address: 4 Waterloo Rd, Ballsbridge, Dublin, D04 A0X3, Ireland
  • CRO Reference: 570685
  • Contact: hello@nuitee.com

Article created on Wednesday 21st January, 2026

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