Advance Resort Deposit

If a hotel, motel, or resort is participating in the Advance Resort Deposit service for all cards, the following procedures will apply:

1. If a cardholder calls a participating merchant wishing to make an advance deposit with his or her card, the merchant explains the terms of the reservation, cancellation, and refund policy procedure to the cardholder.
2. The merchant takes the cardholder's account number, card expiration date, name, and address and confirms the room rate and location.
3. The merchant is required to confirm the status of the card. The authorization procedure is determined by the location (region) of the lodging facility. The applicable procedure follows.
   
   • If located within the U.S. region, the merchant is required to follow the appropriate authorization procedures to obtain approval for the transaction. If authorization is not obtained, the merchant accepts responsibility for the transaction.
   • For all regions other than the U.S., the merchant is required to check the Warning Notice. (This may be done subsequent to the phone call.) If the account number is listed in the Warning Notice, the merchant should follow the usual procedures provided by the acquiring bank.
   
   The merchant is required to call for authorization if the amount of the advance deposit exceeds $50. If the result of the authorization call is denial, the merchant must advise the cardholder.


4. The merchant completes a sales ticket filling in the cardholder's name, card account number, card expiration date, reservation confirmation number, and merchant identification and writes the words "advance deposit" in place of the cardholder's signature. It is recommended that the merchant note on the sales ticket any special terms and conditions regarding its refund policy.
5. The merchant mails a letter of confirmation, a copy of the sales ticket, including the reservation confirmation number, and information concerning its cancellation and refund policy to the cardholder at the address previously provided.
6. The merchant deposits the sales ticket for the advance deposit in the usual manner. There are no special deposit requirements imposed on the merchant.
7. If a cardholder cancels his or her reservation in accordance with the agreed upon procedures, the merchant is obligated to cancel the reservation and issue a credit to the cardholder.
   
   • The merchant prepares a credit slip in the usual manner for the amount of the previously-submitted advance deposit, writing the words "deposit cancellation" in place of the cardholder's signature on the credit slip.
   • The merchant prepares a notice of cancellation issuing a cancellation number to the cardholder.
   • The merchant mails a copy of the credit slip and notice of cancellation to the cardholder.
   • The merchant records the cancellation number on the slip and deposits the credit slip in the usual manner. There are no special deposit requirements imposed on the merchant.
8. If the transaction results in a dispute, and if the account number used to make the deposit is unidentifiable as to a specific card issuer or was fictitious, the bearer of the liability will be the acquiring bank. Where the transaction is identifiable to a specific card issuer but is not identifiable to a specific account number within that institution, the bearer of the liability will again be the acquiring bank.