The Choice Hotels credit card authorization form lets you pay for a guest’s stay when you won’t be at the front desk to present your card in person. To get one, book the room under the guest’s name, then call the specific hotel property where they’ll be staying and ask the front desk to send you their form. Every Choice location is independently franchised, so the form comes from that property, not from a corporate office.1Choice Hotels. Support and Common Guest Questions
Getting the Form From the Right Property
Look up the hotel on choicehotels.com, open its detail page, and call the phone number listed there. Tell them you need a third-party credit card authorization form. The front desk or office manager will typically email it, fax it, or send you a secure upload link. You can also ask at the time you book.
Choice operates more than 20 brands, including Comfort, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Radisson, Cambria, Clarion, and Econo Lodge, and each property may use a slightly different form.2Choice Hotels. Hotel Brands Don’t download a generic form from an unrelated website. Hotels routinely reject anything that doesn’t match their own template, which usually has the property’s name, address, and fax number pre-printed on it.
Information You’ll Need Ready
Missing or illegible entries are the most common reason an authorization gets kicked back. Gather everything before you start writing.
Your Cardholder Information
Write your full name exactly as it appears on the card, the card number, expiration date, and the security code. The billing address your card issuer has on file is required too, because the hotel’s payment processor checks it against the bank’s records. Add a daytime phone number and email so the hotel can reach you if the pre-authorization fails.
Some forms ask for the card type (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) and whether the account is personal or corporate. A company card may have a separate field for the business name.
Guest and Reservation Information
Enter the guest’s full name, the confirmation number, and the arrival and departure dates. Many forms also ask the guest’s relationship to you — relative, friend, or business associate. The guest’s name on the form must match the name on the reservation exactly. A mismatch can hold them up at the front desk.
Choosing Which Charges to Authorize
This is the section that controls what you’ll actually pay. Most forms list charge categories and let you check only the ones you agree to cover:
- Room and tax only, which limits you to the base rate plus hotel taxes and leaves everything else to the guest.
- All charges, which covers the room, taxes, and incidentals like parking, room service, phone, and minibar.
- Specific categories, where you pick individual add-ons such as parking or restaurant charges and exclude others.
Most forms also have a field for a maximum dollar amount you’re willing to authorize for the whole stay. Set this cap even if you selected “all charges.” It keeps the total from running past what you expected. If the guest’s charges exceed your cap, the hotel will ask them to cover the overage with their own payment method. And if the guest extends past the departure date on the form, the hotel won’t charge your card for extra nights without a new authorization.
Submitting the Form Safely
Fax the form to the number printed on it, or use whatever secure method the hotel provides. Some properties accept submissions through an online portal or an encrypted file-sharing link. PCI Data Security Standards prohibit sending unprotected card numbers through regular email, instant messaging, or text.3PCI Security Standards Council. PCI DSS Quick Reference Guide If the hotel asks you to email the form, confirm they’re using an encrypted channel first. A standard Gmail or Outlook message does not qualify.4Western Illinois University. Sending Credit Card Information over Email FAQ
Send it well ahead of the guest’s arrival. Two to three business days gives the front office time to verify your card and place a hold on the estimated total. If the form arrives too late, the guest may have to put down their own card at check-in while the hotel works through your authorization, which can temporarily tie up funds on both cards.
After the hotel processes the form, you should get a confirmation by phone, email, or through the portal. If the card is declined during the pre-authorization, they’ll contact you for a corrected number or an alternative. Save the confirmation and keep a copy of the completed form.
What the Guest Should Expect at Check-In
The guest checks in under their own name and shows a valid government-issued photo ID. Because your authorization is already on file, they don’t need to hand over a credit card for the charges you agreed to cover. Most hotels will still ask the guest for a card or cash deposit for incidentals you didn’t authorize. If you selected “room and tax only,” they should come prepared to pay for extras themselves.
Tell the guest the authorization exists before they arrive. If something has gone wrong at the property’s end — the form wasn’t processed, the name doesn’t match, the hold didn’t go through — the guest is the one who’ll be standing at the counter trying to sort it out.
Holds, Final Charges, and Your Statement
When the hotel runs the pre-authorization, it places a temporary hold on your card for the estimated total. The hold reduces your available credit but is not an actual charge. After checkout, the hotel settles the final amount based on what the guest actually spent within your authorized categories. The hold usually drops off within 24 hours of checkout, though it can take up to a week depending on your card issuer.
Check your statement once the stay ends. The final charge should match the room rate, taxes, and any incidentals you authorized, and it should not exceed the dollar cap you wrote on the form. If something looks off, contact the hotel’s billing department directly. Resolving it with the property is faster than filing a dispute with your card issuer.
Why the Form Exists
When a cardholder isn’t physically present, the hotel can’t match the card to a photo ID at the front desk. Card networks apply stricter chargeback rules to these card-not-present transactions, and if a cardholder later disputes the charge, the hotel can lose the revenue without signed written authorization on file. The form protects you too: it documents exactly which charges you agreed to, the dollar ceiling, and the dates of the stay, so you have written proof if a bill shows up that goes beyond those limits.
Protecting Your Card Data After the Stay
Your completed form contains your full card number, expiration date, and security code. Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, businesses holding consumer financial information must dispose of it using reasonable measures, such as shredding paper so the data can’t be reconstructed.5Federal Trade Commission. FACTA Disposal Rule Goes into Effect Hotels that use secure portals often delete the uploaded file automatically once the transaction settles.
If you faxed the form, the paper copy is out of your hands. It’s reasonable to ask the hotel what its retention and disposal practices are. A property that shreds authorization forms after checkout and final billing is doing it right. One that leaves paper copies in an unlocked cabinet is not.