Keeping a Payer’s Card on File

Sometimes a payer’s room or rental comes with incidentals: minibar, damages, extended stays, or end-of-season charges after the main bill was already paid. This article explains how to let a payer keep their card on file, and how to charge it later for those incidentals.

How it works

When a payer pays your folio online, they can also consent to leave their card on file. That payment doubles as the stored-card consent, which is what makes later, off-session charges legitimate under card network rules. The saved card is scoped to that folio only: it covers that stay, not all future stays.

Folio Anywhere never stores the full card number. We keep only display details (brand, last 4 digits, and expiry) and a token with your processor (Stripe or Square), and the merchant-initiated charge runs through your own processor account just like the original payment.

Enabling card on file

Card on file is off by default. It requires a connected payment provider with charges enabled, and only the owner can turn it on: from Settings, Payments, check “Allow payers to keep their card on file for incidentals”. While it is on, payers see a “Keep my card on file to cover incidental charges” checkbox on the payment page, under the pay button. No charge is made beyond their payment when they check it.

Charging the card later

With a card on file, staff see a “Card on file” panel on the folio. An owner or super user can charge it (full or partial amounts) for damages or extra charges discovered after the stay. The charge is added to the folio first; if the card declines or needs extra authentication, the charge stays on the folio and the payer is emailed your ordinary payment link.

Removing the card

The payer’s card can be removed at any time from the same panel. Removing it does not affect the folio balance: you can still add charges normally and use the payment link.

A note on best-effort

Every charge on a stored card is best-effort: the card issuer can always decline, months later or for an unusual spending pattern. Nothing guarantees the card works forever. That is why a declined charge falls back to a normal payment link instead of disappearing.