Hoteliers know that managing OTA relationships is complicated. Commissions are top of mind for many operators, but one of the biggest and least visible drains on profit isn’t commissions at all. It’s OTA virtual card leakage — and it’s costing hotels millions every year.
On average, about 1% of OTA virtual cards go uncharged or undercharged. At first glance, that may sound small. But for a property doing $1 million in OTA virtual card bookings annually, that’s a potential $10,000 silently lost. For multi-property groups, the losses can easily add up to six or even seven figures per year.
And unlike many other forms of leakage, this problem isn’t usually the result of fraud or theft. Instead, it comes down to a simple but devastating mismatch: the PMS folio shows one amount, while the OTA prepaid the guest stay at a higher amount. Because hotels often rely on PMS data to process payments, they never realize a virtual card balance was left uncharged or not charged at all.
The Silent Nature of Virtual Card Leakage
Why does this happen so often?
The problem stems from how OTA virtual cards interact with hotel PMS systems. When a guest prepays through an OTA like Expedia or Booking.com, the OTA issues a virtual credit card to the hotel for the prepaid amount. The hotel charges this card through its PMS, usually at or after checkout.
But here’s where the trouble begins:
- Folio mismatch: The PMS may show a lower folio balance than what the OTA prepaid, causing the hotel to undercharge the card.
- Double payment confusion: Sometimes, the guest pays the hotel directly at checkout, not realizing the OTA already charged them in advance. The hotel accepts the payment, closes the folio, and never charges the virtual card — leaving the full OTA payment unclaimed.
- Discounts and adjustments: Folio adjustments (like room moves or rate overrides) can lower the PMS balance without reflecting the original OTA charge, again resulting in undercharging.
In every scenario, the PMS appears accurate. Staff see a closed folio, a paid balance, and move on. But in reality, money was left uncollected.
Why Hotels Rarely Catch It
Most hotels don’t realize how widespread this issue is because there’s no report, invoice, or OTA bill that shows the missed funds. The OTA already collected from the guest, so there’s nothing “owing” from their perspective. If the hotel doesn’t charge the full card balance, the OTA simply keeps the difference.
At the property level, the PMS reinforces the illusion: it shows the folio as balanced and the guest stay as closed. Accounting teams reconcile what they see in the PMS, unaware that thousands of dollars could be sitting unclaimed on expired virtual cards.
This isn’t an occasional mistake — it’s systemic. And because there’s no obvious trail, hotels can go years without realizing six figures of revenue quietly disappeared.
Common Misconceptions About Virtual Cards
- Virtual cards are automated, so they’re always correct.
Not true. Virtual cards are only as accurate as the data the PMS feeds them. If folio data is wrong or incomplete, the charge is wrong too.
- Our team charges every virtual card, so we don’t have an issue.
Charging isn’t the problem — charging the right amount is. Many hotels diligently process every card, but still undercharge because the PMS folio amount was lower than what the OTA actually prepaid.
- This isn’t a big enough issue to worry about.
On paper, 1% sounds small. But across high OTA volumes, it compounds fast. Even a 200-room hotel can be losing $50,000+ annually without ever seeing it in their books.
Want to know all the reasons hotels are overcharged by OTAs?
Download our in-depth Complete Guide of How Hotels Are Overcharged by OTAs to see every hidden profit leak — and how to stop them.
A Smarter Way to Detect Leakage
x·quic’s Virtual Card 360 takes a different approach.
Instead of relying on folio data, we pull OTA payment records directly and compare them to actual card charges. Our system runs an automated daily audit across every OTA reservation, flagging any balance that wasn’t fully claimed.
- If a guest folio shows “paid” but the OTA records show a remaining balance, we catch it.
- If a card was never charged because the guest double-paid at checkout, we catch it.
- If the PMS amount was less than the OTA prepaid, we catch it.
The result: hotels stop leaving money behind.
Real-World Results
Take Hotel Californian, part of Foley Entertainment Group. In just 11 months, the property saved $73,412 through x·quic’s AI-driven automation, which detected both missed OTA virtual card payments and OTA commission overcharges.
According to Warren Nocon, Executive Vice President, Hotels – Foley Entertainment Group:
“The technology behind x·quic is incredibly smart. It finds things that would normally go missed. Their ability to truly reconcile data between different systems is incredible. The numbers don’t lie. We saw real financial results immediately.”
Why It Matters Now More Than Ever
Margins in hospitality are tighter than ever. Labor costs, insurance, interest rates, and guest expectations are rising. Hotels can’t afford to leave money uncollected — especially when the solution is available today.
Virtual card leakage isn’t a rare exception. It’s happening at scale across the industry, and the hotels that act now will gain a critical financial advantage.
Our Mission
Together, these solutions protect the bottom line, reduce manual work, and give hotels the confidence that every dollar earned is a dollar collected.
Related Blogs in This Series
- Complete Guide: How Hotels Are Overcharged by OTAs
- OTA Commission Accuracy: Stop Overpaying OTAs
- No-Show & Cancellation Fee Automation: The Hidden Revenue Hotels Miss
- Credit Card Dispute Management: Winning More Chargebacks in Hospitality
- CLC® Automation: Streamlining Billing & Check-Ins for Hotels
Take Back What’s Yours
And unlike manual processes, it requires no added staff, no new systems, and no learning curve. Just recovered revenue, day after day.
Order your free one-year OTA Virtual Card Audit today and see exactly how much your hotel could be recovering.