Guides

Open tabs

Open tabs are for businesses where the final amount is not known upfront: restaurants, bars, hotels, tours, rentals, usage-based services, or any operation where the customer starts with an intent to pay and the final total is known later.

With an open tab, you can identify the customer, save or select a card, add items during the visit, and close the tab through Recurrente’s normal payment channels.

This feature is available for accounts with Open tabs enabled. If you do not see it in your account, contact the Recurrente team.

When to use an open tab

Use an open tab when you need to:

  • Keep an account active for minutes, hours, or days.
  • Add products, packages, or custom charges as the customer consumes.
  • Save a card at the beginning without charging immediately.
  • Charge the final total with a saved card, payment link, in-person card payment, or cash.
  • Keep an audited history of opening, item changes, closing, payment, and voiding.

Examples:

BusinessFlow
Restaurant or barOpen the tab when seating the customer, add food and drinks, and charge the total at the end.
Hotel or lodgeOpen the tab at check-in, add nights, tours, or room charges, and charge at checkout.
Variable-price serviceSave the card or record an estimate, add the real charges, and charge when the service is done.

How this differs from manual authorization and capture

Manual authorization and capture, often called a card hold, reserves funds on the card and lets you capture them before the authorization expires.

Recurrente open tabs are broader than that:

  • Today: they save or select a card and charge the final total when the tab is closed. The opening estimate helps staff operate and communicate risk, but does not reserve funds by itself.
  • Coming later / gated: the preauthorization strategy should only be used when Recurrente has confirmed a real provider authorization, including authorized amount, expiration, capture, void, and final-amount rules.

Do not treat an opening estimate as funds on hold. If you need a real hold, wait until the preauthorization strategy is enabled for your account and review its expiration rules.

Ways to open a tab

When opening a tab, choose an opening commitment. This does not replace the final charge; it defines how strong the payment signal is at the beginning.

Opening commitmentWhat it meansWhen to use it
Save card onlyInitial amount 0; a card is tokenized or selected without charging.Restaurants, bars, or services where you do not want to block an amount upfront.
Estimated amountStore an expected amount for internal reference.Hotels, tours, or services where you know an approximate range.
Product or packageUse the current price of a product or package as the estimate.Stays, packages, preset dinners, or operational deposits.

If the customer does not already have a saved card, the tab screen lets you send a tokenization checkout. That checkout saves the card without charging it and emits the corresponding setup event.

  1. Go to Charge and open the options menu.
  2. Select Open tabs.
  3. Create a tab with the customer’s name and phone number.
  4. Choose the opening commitment: save card, estimated amount, or product/package.
  5. Save or select a card if you want to charge a saved card at close.
  6. Add items as the visit, stay, or service progresses.
  7. When the total is ready, close the tab.
  8. Charge through one of the available channels:
    • saved card,
    • payment link,
    • in-person card,
    • cash.

What happens at close

When you close a tab, Recurrente creates a final order with the tab’s active items and uses the existing payment flows.

Closing channelWhat happens
Saved cardRecurrente creates a checkout with the customer’s saved card and attempts to charge the final total.
Payment linkRecurrente creates a payable order and shows the payment link flow so you can share or complete it.
In-person cardRecurrente uses the in-person payment flow available to the account.
CashRecurrente records a cash payment through the existing order flow.

Because close reuses Recurrente’s normal payment flows, final payments keep receipts, activity, invoicing, webhooks, and payment reporting.

Tab statuses

StatusMeaning
openThe tab is open and staff can add, edit, or void items.
closingThe tab has created a final payment or order. Items are locked to avoid charging a different total.
paidThe final payment completed.
voidedThe tab was voided before there was a payable charge in progress.
abandonedThe tab was operationally closed without a final Recurrente payment.

If a tab is closing, the screen shows Continue payment to resume the pending checkout or payable order. If a saved-card attempt fails definitively, the tab returns to open so staff can correct items or try another channel.

Important rules

  • An open tab only accepts one-time items.
  • All active items must be in the same currency.
  • After close starts, items are locked; to change the total, reopen or create a new tab depending on the case.
  • Do not void a tab that already has a pending payment or payable order; resolve or cancel the payment first.
  • If a saved card requires customer authentication, continue from the pending checkout.
  • If you used an opening estimate and the final total changes, the final charge is based on the active items at close, not the estimate.

Best practices

  • Tell the customer that you are saving the card or recording an estimate to charge at the end.
  • Use the 0 commitment when you only need a card ready for later.
  • Use an estimated amount or product/package when your staff needs a visible reference for the expected value.
  • Close the tab as soon as the final total is confirmed.
  • For hotels or long stays, review the tab daily to avoid missing or duplicate items.
  • If the tab is closing, use Continue payment before creating another tab for the same customer.