Are hotels allowed to store credit card details?

According to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), hotels are not allowed to store your card information once the authorisation has taken place, ensuring that the onus of keeping your information secure lies with the hotel.



Hotels are allowed to store credit card details, but they must strictly adhere to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to do so legally and safely. When you make a reservation, the hotel typically "captures" your card information to guarantee the booking or to process a pre-authorization for incidentals. In 2026, most reputable hotels use "tokenization," where your actual card number is replaced by a unique digital identifier (a token) in their local database. This way, if the hotel's system is hacked, the criminals only find useless tokens rather than your actual financial data. Under data protection laws like the GDPR in Europe or the CCPA in California, hotels must also have a clear privacy policy stating why they are storing your data and for how long. You have the right to ask a hotel to delete your stored payment information once your stay is completed and all charges have been settled. However, many hotels keep a "guest profile" on file to make future bookings easier, which often includes your preferred payment method. It is always recommended to use a credit card rather than a debit card for hotel stays, as credit cards offer much stronger legal protections against unauthorized or fraudulent charges.

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Generally speaking, it is not legal for a hotel to photocopy your credit card without your permission, as this constitutes an invasion of your privacy and could potentially lead to identity theft. If, however, you have provided written consent to the hotel for them to photocopy your credit card, then it is allowable.

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PCI DSS also mandates that verification codes like CVVs can't be stored at all. Therefore, Sertifi only transmits this information; we cannot and do not store it.

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At most hotels it's not a major problem to not return your room key to the hotel. However, lots of hotels reuse or recycle room key cards so it's always a good practice to leave the key card in your hotel room or to return it to the front desk at the end of your stay.

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Additional cardholder data including cardholder name, service code and expiration date must be protected if stored with the PAN. All sensitive authentication data (CVV, PIN and everything on the MAG stripe) must never be stored.

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Credit card details: Of course, your CCA form must include a section to input credit card details, including the card holder's name, card type (Visa, Mastercard, etc.), credit card number, CVV, expiration date, and billing address.

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Hotels typically require a credit card when making a reservation because it provides them with the assurance that payment will be made. A debit card does not offer this same level of security, as there may not be enough funds in the account to cover the cost of the stay.

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