aleno Pay No-Show Feature: Frequently Asked Questions

This article answers the most frequently asked questions around the aleno Pay feature.

What can I use the aleno Pay No Show feature for?

Our aleno Pay No Show feature is a tool that allows you to easily and securely request credit card information for no-show prevention. If the guest doesn't show up, you can use it to charge the no show fee.

Can I use aleno Pay No Show for online reservations via the widget as well as backend reservations?

The credit card query works both, for online reservations via the widget as well as for manual reservations in the backend. So you can securely and privacy compliant request the credit card data of your guests for reservations by phone, too.

What does the online booking process look like for the guest?

The guest is informed during the online reservation that a no show fee in the amount of [AMOUNT defined] will be charged if he does not show up or does not cancel by [time] before the reservation. Only when the customer accepts this condition, the booking process can continue.

In order for the No Show fee to be charged, if applicable, the guest must enter their credit card information. After that, booking is completed and the reservation is confirmed.  

If the credit card details have not been entered, the reservation is only provisional and the guest will receive an email stating that the reservation will be cancelled if the credit card details are not entered by [HOURS defined] using the link in the email.

If the credit card details haven been entered, the reservation will be confirmed. If not, the provisional reservation will be automatically deleted and the customer will be informed about it.

What does the booking process look like for the guest for reservations in the backend (telephone, on site)?

When the reservation is entered, the guest will receive an automatic email with all information about the reservation and the notice that a no-show fee will be charged in case of no-show or late cancellation. For this and so that the reservation is definite, the guest must still provide the credit card details via link in the mail. Only then will the guest receive a confirmation. Also here a process can be activated that reservations are automatically rejected, should the guest not provide his/her credit card details within a set time.

Can I activate the credit card query only for certain events, days of the week, shifts, group sizes, etc.?

The configuration options of aleno Pay are diverse. You can set up the credit card query specifically for individual events or days of the week. You can link the query to a certain group size, for example, to have security only for reservations of 5 or more people. Or you can even link the credit card requestuery to specific queries.

Will the guest's credit card be charged in advance of the visit in the restaurant?

No. When the credit card is deposited, it is tokenized and not charged. This means that only the authenticity of the data is checked and the credit card is stored in encrypted form in the form of a token for a possible later charge.

Which methods of payment are available to the guest?

Credit and debit card providers are particularly suitable for tokenization. This classically includes VISA, Mastercard & AMEX. Unfortunately, payment methods such as PayPal or TWINT do not usually offer tokenization.

What does this feature cost me as a restaurant?

The following conditions apply for aleno Pay:

Tokenization of credit cards: 0.12 CHF/EUR

Payment transactions: 0.30 CHF/EUR + % commission acquirer

One-time SetUp fee: 299 CHF, whereby this varies depending on the number of outlets.

Your advantage: You use your existing acquirer - with your conditions. These conditions are usually much more attractive than the current eCom solutions. Nothing changes in your process - you don't need another bank account in your accounting and with low fees you can protect yourself against no-shows.

If the guest does not comply with the no-show conditions, will the no-show fee be automatically charged?

No. The no-show fee is not debited automatically. You must actively charge the no-show fee.

How do I charge a no-show fee?

In order for charge a fee, you must set the status of the reservation to No Show, e.g. in seatIn.

After that, the No Show will appear in the aleno dashboard in the section "Payments".

Click on the arrow to the right of the heading "Payments" to get to the list of No Shows and to decide on the No Show fee. 

Now click on "Charge" to charge the No Show fee in full or in part, e.g. if only half of the guests of a group came or if you were able to resell a part of the freed-up seats.

A pop-up will open. You can now enter any amount up to the announced no-show fee and charge it by clicking "OK".

How are the now-show fees paid out to us?

The payment is made directly to the restaurant via your acquirer.

What is a PSP and which PSPs does aleno work with?

A PSP is a payment service provider. We currently work with the Payment Service Providers Datatrans and Wallee and can thus interface with countless acquirers and other payment services.

Our acquirer asks for a test url or test access. Is there such a thing?

A test URL, e.g. for a webshop, cannot be provided for the reservation widget. In most cases the reservation widget is already in productive use, therefore a change of the configuration would be directly visible for the guests. However, the procedure is always the same and as follows.

First, the aleno reservation widget is integrated as a link into the page of the restaurant/hotel and linked with a "Reserve" button.

Second, after the guest has selected the reservation time, he must accept these conditions to complete the reservation:

Third, if the e-com interface is enabled and Datatrans is set up as the PSP, the credit card information is subsequently entered via the Datatrans widget (It is only tokenized, not authorized). Here using our demo system as an example:

 

Finally, if the guest does not show in the restaurant, the credit card can be charged by the restaurant for the maximum agreed amount as accepted by the guest in the terms of conditions. Nothing further happens.

 

Are there any recommendations from aleno for the design of Terms and Conditions?

On the website where the widget with credit card function is integrated, a correct imprint and corresponding general Terms and Conditions are required. You can find wording suggestions from aleno here.

What is an acquirer and which acquirers does aleno Pay support?

The acquirer is your contractual partner for electronic means of payment. These acquirers support aleno Pay among others:
Adyen, BS PAYONE, card complete, Chase Paymentech Europe, Concardis, Elavon Merchant Service, European Merchant Services, EVO Payments International, Lloyds Bank Cardnet, LogPay, Nets Holding, Worldline (formerly SIX Payment Service), Société Générale, Worldpay.

What is the SetUp process for this feature?

The requirement for using aleno Pay is that you have an acquirer, e.g. Worldine, and an e-commerce interface (this can be requested from the acquirer).

It also requires a Payment Service Provider (PSP) such as Wallee. As soon as you apply for the interface to the PSPs we support on our Marketplace, we will set up the interface for you. To do this, we need information about your acquirer. 

Once all interfaces are active, the feature can be configured in aleno, activated and used for pre-payment or debiting of No Show fees.

We wanted to charge a No-Show fee to a guest, but the transaction was not successful. What could be the reason for this?

We check the credit card when the reservation is made. Now no it is possible that the credit card loses its validity or is blocked in the time until the reserved date in the restaurant. Then it is no longer possible to make a charge. 

In addition, there may be very temporary technical problems with one of the providers, e.g. the credit card company, acquirer, payment service provider.

Can I exclude certain guests, for example our regular guests, from the credit card query?

Yes, this is possible. On the guest profile you can uncheck the box "Credit card required" on the top right and click on the button "Update profile" next to the box (see below). When making a reservation, the guest will then not be asked to enter credit card information. So the reservation is possible without entering the credit card data and prepayment.

Can I exclude certain reservations from the credit card query and decide individually for which reservations I want to query credit card data?

When manually entering reservations in the backend, you can set the status of the reservation to "Confirmed" right away. The reservation is then valid even without entering the credit card data.