What causes chargebacks at hotels?
4 disputes cause the most chargebacks at hotels:
- No-show charges the guest says they cancelled
- Cancellation fees outside a disclosed policy window
- Card-not-present fraud on direct and phone bookings
- Incidental or damage charges posted after checkout
Our hotel chargebacks guide maps each one to its Visa and Mastercard reason code.
How do hotels win chargebacks?
Hotels win chargebacks by proving the guest agreed to the policy and received the stay. A winning evidence packet holds 4 documents: the reservation confirmation with the policy shown, the signed or accepted registration card, the itemized folio, and any guest communication.
What is the chargeback threshold for hotels?
Mastercard places merchants in its Excessive Chargeback Merchant program at 100 chargebacks and a 1.5% chargeback-to-transaction ratio in a month. Visa monitors merchants through its Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program, which counts both fraud reports and disputes. Crossing either program adds fines and can end the account, so we track your ratio monthly.