Payment failed — what to tell your guest
Payment failures at checkout can be caused by several factors. Here's how to diagnose and help guests through it.
Most common causes
• Card declined by the bank (insufficient funds, card frozen, or fraud alert)
• Incorrect card number, expiry, or CVC entered
• Card does not support online or international transactions
• Billing address mismatch
What to tell the guest
1
Ask them to retry with the correct details
Have the guest double-check the card number, expiry, CVC, and billing zip code.
2
Suggest a different card
If retrying fails, ask the guest to try a different card.
3
Suggest calling their bank
The guest's bank may have blocked the transaction. They should call the number on the back of their card.
4
Take payment manually
If the guest is on-site, process payment through your in-person system and create the reservation manually from the admin dashboard.
Updated May 12, 2026
Was this helpful?