This article covers the process of changing your payment processor, gateway, or both.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Step 1: Learn ThinkReservations' role in payment processing
First, it's essential to understand that ThinkReservations is not a gateway, processor, or merchant service provider. That means that ThinkReservations isn't responsible for any of the functions associated with processing credit and debit cards, including validation, charging refunding, voiding, or storing customer card data. ThinkPayments is powered by Stripe, so in that case, Stripe is the entity behind the scenes responsible for the above functions.
ThinkReservations connects to a processor or gateway to send and receive information.
Sending Data:
ThinkReservations will securely send card information to your gateway or processor so that it can be validated and retained. When you perform a transaction, ThinkReservations sends information to the gateway or processor so that card can be charged, refunded, or voided.
Receiving Data:
The connected processor gateway will send back information on the status of the transaction (submitted/settled), and if the processor runs into an error, they send us the error information. We expose the status of the transaction in the Status column of the Payments table. If there is an error sent to us, we alert you in the form of a popup.
Step 2: Understand you will lose access to retained cards
This is something we want to be very clear about. As mentioned in Step 1, the ThinkReservations property management system doesn't actually store credit card data. ThinkReservations uses tokenization, which allows us to tell the processor or gateway which card in their vault to charge. You can only be connected to one payment processor or gateway at a time. If you disconnect from your current payment processor, ThinkReservations no longer has access, and the tokens become useless.
This becomes a potential problem in two situations:
A future reservation is a no-show, not an OTA reservation, and not already prepaid. You don't have the card on file anymore to charge a cancellation fee, and they won't provide one to you over the phone to charge it.
This is mitigated by reaching out to select future reservations in advance that don't have a deposit large enough to cover the fee or that you might deem high-risk, such as reservations booked on holiday weekends or those with large balances. Run your Reservations by Payment Status Report to identify these bookings.
A past reservation needs a refund. You don't have a "linked transaction" anymore to issue the refund.
This is mitigated by giving the guest their money back via an alternate method. The most common (and least expensive) is to send the guest a check. This is because a payment processor often charges processing fees even on refunds.
If you still have access to your prior processor, you may be able to perform the refund via a virtual terminal if it's supported.
Other options include sending a gift certificate as a voucher or credit, or attempting a "blind credit" if your processor supports it.
Step 3: Decide on the Payment Processor or Gateway that you would like to do business with
It's your responsibility to understand the limitations and costs associated with your new payment processor. The best option, of course, is ThinkPayments. However, we also provide connections to Heartland, MPI, Braintree, Authorize.net, and BridgePay. It's your responsibility to understand the limitations and costs associated with your new payment processor. Navigating this can be complicated, so we advise you to do your research carefully to make sure you are getting the best deal you can while operating your business smoothly.
Step 4: Choose the best date to make the switch
You may want to perform the switch on a day of the week or at a time of year when it will have the least impact on your business. The most common is during a slow period. ThinkReservations can make the switch fairly quickly, so simply reach out to us when it's convenient.
Step 5: Sign up with your new processor.
You will be responsible for signing up with the processor you determined is the best fit for your business.
ThinkPayments powered by Stripe - sales@thinkreservations.com or (206) 641-9538
MPI - Mercantile Processing, Inc. - wynn@casablanca-ventures.com or (203) 253-7259
Heartland Payment Systems - https://www.heartland.us/resources/contact-sales
Or reach out to us, and we can have Heartland reach out to you.
Braintree - (877) 511-5036
Authorize.net - Contact your MSP/Processor to have them create the account
Authorize.net accounts must be "Card Not Present" and "eCommerce."
Step 6: ThinkReservations is notified of a new gateway or processor
If you upgrade to ThinkPayments, our team will coordinate with you during the onboarding process. Once you fill out a form, we schedule the switch. When you sign up with MPI or Heartland, ThinkReservations is automatically notified via email from them directly to alert us that your account is configured and ready to connect. Reach out to us anytime after that to get the accounts connected!
Braintree, and Authorize.net accounts require you to inform us that the account is ready to connect. Reach out to us on the date that you would like to have the switch performed. This can also be scheduled to ensure the switch happens on a specific date if that's important. Only an authorized account owner can request this change.
Step 7: ThinkReservations makes the switch
Each payment gateway and processor has a slightly different process on our side to complete.
Switching to ThinkPayments:
You will work with ThinkReservations to get onboarded to ThinkPayments.
Coordinate with us on when you would like the switch completed.
When ready, the old processor is disconnected.
All previously retained cards are removed. (This does not impact existing transactions.)
We will activate ThinkPayments for your account.
A test transaction is run to verify that a card can be retained, charged, and refunded.
Switching to MPI:
MPI will send ThinkReservations an email when the account has been created. This email is also sent to the property owner.
We ask the property to confirm via phone or email that they are ready to make the switch. We proceed at this time or schedule to pick up at a future date and time.
When ready, the old processor is disconnected.
All previously retained cards are removed. (This does not impact existing transactions.)
We will connect the MPI account to ThinkReservations.
A test credit card transaction is run to ensure a card can be retained, charged, and voided.
We confirm to the property the connection has been made.
Switching to Heartland:
Heartland will send ThinkReservations an email when the account has been created. This email is sent to the property owner as well.
We ask the property to confirm via phone or email that they are ready to make the switch. We proceed at this time or schedule to pick up at a future date and time.
When ready, the old processor is disconnected.
All previously retained cards are removed. (This does not impact existing transactions.)
We will connect the Heartland account to ThinkReservations.
A test credit card transaction is run to ensure a card can be retained, charged, and voided.
We confirm to the property the connection has been made.
Switching to Braintree:
Once the property has a "production" account, they are ready to move forward.
Please inform us at the time you are ready to switch to your new Braintree account via phone. Expect this call to last 20-30 minutes.
A ThinkReservations employee will log into your Braintree account to check settings and get the API keys.*
When ready, the old processor is disconnected.
All previously retained cards are removed. (This does not impact existing transactions.)
We will connect the Braintree account to ThinkReservations.
A test credit card transaction is run to ensure a card can be retained, charged, and voided.
We confirm to the property the connection has been made.
The property changes its Braintree password (we will not need to log in again).
Switching to Authorize.net:
Once the payment processor has created your "Card Not Present" and "eCommerce" Authorize.net account, you are ready to proceed.
Please inform us at the time that you are ready to switch to your Auth.net account via phone. Expect this call to last about 30 minutes.
A ThinkReservations employee will log into your Authorize.net account to update your settings and get the API credentials and keys.* We will generate new keys for security.
An email or phone pin will be generated that you will need to share with us to generate the new keys.
When ready, the old processor is disconnected.
All previously retained cards are removed. (This does not impact existing transactions.)
We will connect the Authorize.net account to ThinkReservations.
A test credit card transaction is run to ensure a card can be retained, charged, and voided.
We confirm to the property the connection has been made.
You will receive an email from Authorize.net confirming the transaction (and each subsequent transaction, unless disabled -reach out to Authorize.net on how to disable if you wish to do so).
The property changes its Authorize.net password (we will not need to log in again).
You may also need to update your refund or deposit policy with your staff as refunds cannot be performed more than 180 days per Authorize.net policy.
If you do not wish to share your processor or gateway login credentials, as an alternative, we can schedule a screen-sharing session where you can log in on your own computer, and we can perform the tasks needed by working on your machine.