Increase the authorised amount on a pre-authorised card payment after the initial hold — without asking your customer for a new payment. Incremental Authorisation is now available for merchants whose final charge amounts aren't known at the time of booking.
Industries like hotels, car rentals, and cruises routinely face the same problem: a customer's total charge isn't known until service ends. The traditional workaround — pre-authorising a large buffer and hoping it covers everything — is both inaccurate and poor UX. Requesting an extra card payment mid-service is even worse.
Incremental Authorisation solves this. You start with a reasonable initial hold, then increase it in real time as charges accumulate, all within a single pre-authorised payment. The customer sees one authorisation on their card statement, and you capture the exact final amount when service is complete.
How it works
Incremental Authorisation builds on pre-authorisation. Once a customer's card is in authorised state, you can call the new Increment authorisation endpoint to raise the total:
POST /orders/{order_id}/increment-authorisation{
"amount": 12500,
"reference": "CHG-67890",
"line_items": [
{ "name": "Minibar", "type": "service", "quantity": { "value": 1 }, "unit_price_amount": 1500, "total_amount": 1500 },
{ "name": "Room service", "type": "service", "quantity": { "value": 1 }, "unit_price_amount": 1000, "total_amount": 1000 }
]
}The amount value is the new total to authorise (not the delta). The order enters processing state while the card network processes the increment, then returns to authorised with the updated amount — or stays at the current amount if the issuer declines.
What's included
| Capability | Detail |
|---|---|
| Increment limit | Up to 5× the initial authorised amount |
| Increment count | Up to 10 increments per order |
| Clearing windows | Mastercard: each increment extends the window by 30 days; Visa: window does not extend |
| Line items | Optional itemised breakdown per increment, useful for receipts and audit trails |
| Decline handling | If an increment is declined, the previous authorised amount remains valid |
| Webhook events | ORDER_INCREMENTAL_AUTHORISATION_AUTHORISED, ORDER_INCREMENTAL_AUTHORISATION_DECLINED, ORDER_INCREMENTAL_AUTHORISATION_FAILED |
| Supported payment methods | Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay (Revolut Pay A2A and Pay by Bank are not supported) |
Use cases
| Industry | Scenario |
|---|---|
| Hotels & lodging | Authorise a room deposit at check-in; increment for minibar, room service, and incidentals; capture total at checkout |
| Car & vehicle rental | Hold a deposit at pickup; increment for fuel charges or damage assessment; capture at return |
| Cruise lines | Authorise voyage deposit; increment for onboard purchases and excursions; settle when voyage ends |
| Equipment rental | Hold estimated cost; increment for extension fees or additional equipment; capture actual usage |
| Service providers | Reserve funds for estimated work; increment for additional materials or labour; capture on completion |
Get started
- Follow the Incremental authorisation guide for a complete walkthrough from order creation to capture
- Read the Introduction to advanced authorisation for an overview of pre-authorisation and incremental authorisation together
- See the Increment authorisation API reference for full request and response schemas