How to Fill Out the Holiday Inn Credit Card Authorization Form

The Holiday Inn credit card authorization form is how someone who will not be at check-in gives the hotel written permission to charge their card for another person’s stay. Each Holiday Inn property has its own version of the form with that hotel’s fax number and address already printed on it, so you need to pull the right one, complete every field, attach a copy of the card and a photo ID, and fax it to the hotel at least three days before the guest arrives.1IHG Hotels & Resorts. Payment Card Authorization Form

Get the Form for Your Specific Hotel

There is no single universal form. IHG generates a separate authorization form for each property, keyed to a code called a “mnemonic,” and the fax number and address printed on it belong to that one hotel.2IHG Hotels & Resorts. Payment Card Authorization Form Go to the IHG reservation forms page for the exact Holiday Inn where the guest is staying. If you cannot locate it online, call the hotel’s front desk and ask them to email or fax you a blank copy along with their submission instructions.

Using the wrong property’s form sends your authorization to the wrong fax line, which is a quiet failure: nothing comes back to tell you it didn’t arrive.

Fill in Every Field

The form is a single page. Staff will reject it if anything is missing or hard to read, so write legibly and leave no blanks. The fields are straightforward:

  • Today’s date.
  • Name on the card, exactly as it appears on the front.
  • The full card number and the expiration date.
  • The billing address and phone number your card issuer has on file. This one trips people up most often, because the hotel’s payment processor checks what you write against the bank’s records. An apartment number in a different format can be enough to fail verification.
  • The guest’s full name, address, and phone number, and a company name if the stay is being covered by a business.
  • The reservation confirmation number. The form has room for up to four, so one authorization can cover several reservations for the same guest.
  • The arrival date and the number of nights.
  • Your handwritten signature. An unsigned form has no legal effect, and the hotel cannot process it.3IHG Hotels & Resorts. Payment Card Authorization Form

The standard IHG form does not ask for the card’s three-digit security code (CVV). Some individual properties may request it through a separate channel, but it is not part of the form itself.

Choose Which Charges You Are Authorizing

This is the section with the most financial consequence, and the one worth slowing down for. The form lists four categories, and you check only the ones you intend to cover:1IHG Hotels & Resorts. Payment Card Authorization Form

  • Room and tax, covering the nightly rate and applicable hotel taxes.
  • Incidentals, covering extras like room service, minibar, parking, and phone charges billed to the room.
  • Banquet charges, typically used for corporate events or meeting rooms.
  • Other, a write-in line where you can describe a dollar cap or name specific services.

Check only what you mean to pay for. If you want to cover the room and nothing else, check “Room & Tax” and leave the rest blank. When a cardholder later disputes a charge, the hotel points back to the boxes you checked as evidence of consent, so treat each one as a spending commitment.

Attach the Supporting Documents

The IHG form tells you to include “all requested documentation” without listing specifics on the form itself.3IHG Hotels & Resorts. Payment Card Authorization Form In practice, most Holiday Inn properties want two attachments:

  • A copy of the cardholder’s government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, so staff can match the name and signature.
  • A copy of the front of the credit card showing the cardholder’s name and card number. Some properties also ask for the back of the card to compare signatures.

One Holiday Inn property’s FAQ describes the common expectation: the hotel will accept a third-party card only when the payee’s name is visible on the card copy, the payee’s identification is attached, and the completed authorization form is faxed in.4Holiday Inn Express & Suites Morgan Hill. FAQs Requirements vary by location, so call the specific hotel before you send anything to confirm exactly what they need. Sending everything in one submission avoids a back-and-forth that eats into your three-day window.

Submit the Form by Fax

Fax is the primary submission channel. The property’s dedicated fax number is pre-printed on its version of the form, and IHG asks that you send the completed form and all supporting documents at least three days before the guest’s check-in date.1IHG Hotels & Resorts. Payment Card Authorization Form If you are inside that three-day window, call the hotel directly for other options. Some properties can take the information over the phone or accept a scanned copy through a secure method.

Fax is preferred because standard email is not a safe channel for card numbers; the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which applies to any business storing or transmitting cardholder data, does not consider unencrypted email adequate.5PCI Security Standards Council. PCI DSS Quick Reference Guide If you don’t own a fax machine, shipping stores and office supply chains offer fax services by the page, and online fax services can send from your computer.

Why Forms Get Rejected

Most rejections come from a short list of avoidable mistakes. Check for each before you send:

  • Billing address that doesn’t match what the card issuer has on file. Even a small formatting difference can fail address verification.
  • Missing signature or missing date. Both are required for the form to count as a binding authorization.
  • Illegible copies of the card or ID. Use a scan rather than a phone photo in dim light.
  • A card that expires before the stay ends. Use one that stays valid through checkout.
  • Blank fields. Skipping the confirmation number, arrival date, or number of nights leaves the hotel no way to link the payment to the reservation.

A rejection means the guest will need to produce their own card at check-in, or the cardholder will have to resubmit. Both options burn through what’s left of the three-day processing window.

Canceling or Changing an Authorization

If plans change, call the property. There is no IHG-wide online portal for revoking a form you’ve already sent. Reference the guest name and confirmation number and ask the hotel to void the authorization on file. The hotel can reverse a completed charge, but only your card issuer controls when a pending hold drops off your account.6IHG Hotels & Resorts. Mobile Check-In Terms

To change what’s covered rather than cancel outright, submit a new form with only the categories you want and ask the hotel to replace the original. Verbal changes may not hold up in a later billing dispute, because the hotel’s records are built around the signed document.