What the booking fee is
The booking fee is a charge per room by ITS, for using the housing booking platform. On most tournaments it's $12 per room. The exact amount is always shown before you confirm, and on your confirmation.
- It is not a deposit and doesn't come off your hotel bill.
- It's separate from the hotel's charges. The hotel bills you for the room, taxes and any hotel fees itself, at check-in or checkout.
- It's non-refundable, and the booking page says so before you confirm.
When it's charged
The fee is charged to the card on the room, at the moment the room becomes yours:
- Booking one room: charged to your card when you click Confirm these rooms.
- Claiming a room in a team block: charged to your card when you click Confirm this room.
- Booking several rooms for a group: nothing is charged for a room until a family claims it. Each family pays the fee for their own room when they claim it. Any room still unclaimed after the hotel's cut-off date is charged to the person who booked the block, and only after they've been emailed a warning.
- The housing team put your name on a room: the fee is charged when you add your own card to the room, from the link in your confirmation email or the card code page the housing team gives you over the phone.
Before you confirm online, you're asked to tick a box saying you understand the fee will be charged. If your housing company uses one card for the booking fee and the hotel, the box also says that the same card is passed to the hotel. See Your card and the hotel.
If your card is declined
- When you book or claim online, the booking or claim doesn't go through and you're asked for a different card. Your rooms stay held for you while the hold timer runs.
- If you were booking several rooms and some fees had already gone through before the decline, those fees are refunded automatically, because the booking didn't happen. The page tells you.
- If your room page says "The booking fee did not go through", your room is confirmed and unaffected. Open your room link and add a different card to settle it. That card also becomes the card the hotel holds for your room.
If our payment provider doesn't confirm a charge straight away, we check what happened before trying again, so you won't be charged twice for the same room.
Refunds
The booking fee is non-refundable, including when you cancel a room or change your plans.
The exception is a booking that never completed: fees charged for it are refunded automatically, as above. For anything else, message the housing team through Need help?. Refunds go back to the card that paid and can take a few days to appear on your statement.
Receipts
Your booking page and your room page have a Receipt for the booking fee link. It shows each fee charged and any refund, with Print and Download PDF buttons. A receipt appears once the fee has been taken. See Your links for managing your booking.