Sometimes, when booking a hotel accommodation with your Payhawk card, your charges won’t appear on your card immediately after booking.
While your Payhawk card can show an authorized amount, funds aren’t deducted until the merchant processes the payment from authorized to settled according to their policies, as follows:
Authorization at the time of booking - When you make a hotel booking, the merchant can authorize your Payhawk card to confirm that funds are available. This authorization doesn't deduct any funds but places a temporary hold on the necessary amount. Once the authorization is successful, a booking confirmation is typically issued; however, no payment is finalized at this stage.
Settlement during checkout - The actual charge to your Payhawk card typically occurs on the day of the employee’s checkout, when the merchant processes the final settlement and deducts the funds. Until then, the charge remains in a pending state, which means funds can be held but not yet debited from your account.
The timing of these transactions is determined by the merchant’s policies, and Payhawk is neither involved in nor able to expedite the process. Each merchant follows its own settlement schedule, so funds can remain in a pending state for several days, typically 3-5 business days or longer.
Keep your booking confirmation as proof of your reservation until the transaction is settled.
Resolving issues with missing transaction records
To resolve any issues related to missing transactions:
Verify the transaction by checking the transaction history of your card for any record of the payment in your Payhawk account.
Contact the merchant and use any proof of payment, such as an email confirmation, to find out:
Whether the payment has been fully processed and settled on their side.
Whether the email confirmation is based on a successful transaction (completed payment) or an authorization hold (temporary hold on the funds).
Resolve based on the information from the merchant:
If the merchant confirms no successful charge, and there is no record of the transaction in Payhawk, the transaction can be considered incomplete.
If the merchant confirms a successful charge, request additional details, such as a transaction reference number, and share this information with Payhawk Support for further investigation.