Visa CPS Lodging and Car Rental Interchange

Optimize your payment setup to meet Visa CPS lodging and rental standards — and secure the lowest possible interchange rates.

Visa has established special interchange categories for hotels, lodging, and auto-rental merchants due to the nature of how these industries process payments. In hospitality and rental services, cards are frequently authorized before a final total is determined, like when a room or vehicle is booked, but the total later needs to be modified to account for any extra charges. These are referred to as extended authorizations.

Extended authorizations allow merchants to hold the funds until the stay or rental is complete, but Visa also requires additional transaction details to qualify for these CPS (Custom Payment Service) lodging and car rental interchange rates.

These programs assist qualifying merchants to reduce processing costs by complying with Visa lodging and rental requirements.

Visa Hotel/Car Rental Interchange Rates

Visa Hotel/Car Rental Card Type	Interchange Rates
CPS Lodging / Car-Rental Debit	Swipe – 1.19% + 10¢ Key – 1.70% + 15¢ Downgrade – 1.75% + 20¢
Visa Regulated Debit	Swipe – 0.05% + 22¢ This card does not downgrade
CPS Lodging / Car-Rental Prepaid	Swipe – 1.15% + 15¢ Key – 1.75% + 20¢ Downgrade – 1.80% + 20¢
CPS Lodging / Car-Rental (Credit)	Swipe – 1.54% + 10¢ Downgrade – 2.30% + 10¢
CPS Rewards 2	Swipe – 1.95% + 10¢ Downgrade – 2.30% + 10¢
Signature Preferred Electronic	Swipe – 2.40% + 10¢ Downgrade – 2.95% + 10¢

Why Do These Rates Exist?

Both the Visa CPS Hotel and CPS Car Rental categories only apply to hotels and auto-rental agencies that run “card present” transactions with debit, prepaid, or credit cards. Visa also applies this scheme for CPS Passenger Transport (airline, cruises and rail) because they are part of the same travel and entertainment industry category with similar transaction requirements.

“CPS” is short for Custom Payment Service, which is Visa’s rules for transactions that include certain data and timing parameters. If a transaction meets all standards, the payment becomes CPS qualified — in other words, it qualifies for lower interchange rates. If not, it downgrades to a higher-cost category.

Card Present Transactions

These are the primary conditions to meet to receive CPS Hotel or Car Rental interchange for hotel, lodging and car rental merchants:

The merchant must have one of the following Merchant Category Codes (MCCs):

The transaction must include magnetic stripe or EMV chip data and a customer signature.

Hotels can settle within 15% of the authorized total, including incrementals and reversals. The transaction must include:

Car Rental merchants can settle within 15% or $75 (whichever is greater) and must include:

Transactions must be settled within one day of the check-out or return date.

Card Not Present Transactions (E-Commerce / Keyed)

For online or keyed transactions to qualify:

The merchant must still fall under MCC 7011 (Hotels) or MCC 7512 (Auto Rentals).
A Cardholder Authentication Verification Value (CVV) must be performed with an ECI indicator of 5 or 6.
The same 15% or $75 settlement tolerance applies, and all required data (check-in date, folio number, duration, etc.) must be transmitted.
Transactions must be settled within one day of the guest’s check-out or vehicle return.

Downgrades and How to Avoid Them

A downgrade occurs when a particular sale falls short of Visa’s CPS qualifications. For example:

While occasional downgrades are normal, continual downgrades bring higher expenses and should be reviewed. Host Merchant Services makes sure your POS and Property Management Systems send all necessary data to support transactions that are CPS qualified and avoids you getting downgraded.

Let HMS Help You Capture the Best Rates

Hotels, car rental agencies, and travel companies can save significantly when transactions are properly qualified under Visa’s CPS lodging and rental categories.

Host Merchant Services ensures that your system setup, data submission, and settlement process all meet Visa’s strict requirements, so you always qualify for the lowest possible interchange rates and never overpay due to missed criteria.