Payment options for Book on Google

This article explains the three payment integration options for the Book on Google checkout flow.

Explicit payment card Information: Use this option if you want Google to send the user’s raw credit card information.
Tokenized payments: Google sends you a token representing the user’s credit card information. You send the token to your payment processor, who in turn processes the payment. Please note that you must use a payment processor from the list of supported processors.
Paymentless booking: This is for fast, easy checkouts without a credit card.

Explicit payment card information is the default integration option. If you’re interested in using tokenized payments, you can reach out to our technical support team for more information. The requirements and setup process may vary depending on the type of integration you choose.

Before you begin

When deciding on which payment integration option you want to use, check to make sure you meet the requirements below. If you want to use tokenized payments, you will need to take the necessary steps to qualify and configure the integration for this feature.

Set up your payment processing method

Explicit payment card info

You don’t need to take any steps to enable this. Proof of PCI compliance and a third-party penetration test will be requested at integration.

Vendor Security Assessment (VSA) is required for explicit credit card payments. VSA includes a PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance and passing a suitable third-party penetration test.

Tokenized payments

When tokenized payments are selected for the account, Google will send a payment token instead of explicit credit card info in the booking request.

To redeem the token, you’ll need to either execute the gPay-specific method in your payment processor’s software development toolkit (SDK) or issue a gPay-specific API request to the payment processor's server. Your payment processor may have instructions on how to do this.

Integrate tokenized payments

Note: These steps need to be completed in addition to the general integration process.

Configure a payment account with a payment processor that supports tokenized payments. You can skip this step if you’re already working with a supported payment processor.
Once your payment account has been configured, reach out to our technical support team or contact your Google account manager directly to let Google know that you have integrated a supported payment processor by providing the following information:
- Payment processor’s name
- Gateway Merchant ID (assigned by your payment processor)
Google will configure your Hotel Center account to use tokenized payments.

Paymentless booking

Book on Google’s paymentless booking feature allows for easy checkout without the use of a credit card. Customers will be able to book hotels instantly and follow up with payment details later, ensuring your booking and securing the reservation immediately.

Paymentless rates

Paymentless bookings don't require a deposit, and can be used for specific rates, all rates globally, or rates in specific countries.

Providing paymentless rates for customers in a specific country is especially useful if payments cannot be processed through Google for customers in that country. If paymentless booking is enabled for all countries, the requirement for PCI compliance and third-party penetration testing is removed, as the partner will not be receiving sensitive payment data from Google.

Implementation

If you’re interested in using paymentless rates, you can reach out to our technical support team for more information. The setup process may vary depending on the type of partner integration and how the paymentless rates will be used.