Hotel prepayment

Paying for accommodation at the time of booking. Prepaid rates are often offered at a discount compared with pay-at-hotel rates, in exchange for the traveller committing to the booking upfront. The trade-off is usually less flexibility, since prepaid bookings are more likely to be non-refundable or carry cancellation penalties.

Prepaid rates are common across hotel booking channels. The payment is taken at the time of booking, either from a card or from the company's account with its travel provider, and the hotel receives confirmation that the stay has been paid for. Some prepaid rates can still be cancelled free of charge up to a certain date, while others are fully non-refundable. Prepayment is also used when a hotel requires a guarantee for a booking, such as for peak dates or group stays.

For companies, prepayment has clear advantages: the cost of the stay is known in advance, employees do not have to pay at the hotel and claim the money back, and invoices can be matched to bookings easily. The main risk is flexibility. If the trip is cancelled or shortened, the company may lose some or all of the payment. That is why many travel policies allow non-refundable prepaid rates only for trips with confirmed dates, and require free cancellation for others.

Tumodo gives companies flexible ways to pay for accommodation. The company can prepay or use postpayment, so employees do not need to pay at the hotel themselves, and all related documents are generated automatically. The travel policy can restrict bookings to rooms with free cancellation, and bookings can be cancelled in one click. If a non-refundable booking needs to be cancelled, Tumodo contacts the hotel and requests a refund on the company's behalf, although the final decision rests with the provider.