Credit Card Guarantee
A valid credit card is required to make a reservation, but is not charged at the time of booking. It is simply used to secure your reservation. Most hotels charge an advance deposit to the credit card when they receive our reservations in mid to late February. Other hotels check the credit card’s creditworthiness and hold it as a guarantee of payment.
If you’d like to change the credit card number on file you must provide that number to SXSW no later than February 15. After the deadline, we cannot guarantee that the new credit card information will be updated by the hotel before the deposit is charged.
Payment
Guests are required to present a credit card at check-in for payment of room, tax and incidental charges. If you will be traveling without the credit card to be charged or the credit card is not in your own name, you must supply a credit card pre-authorization form directly with the hotel before arrival. If you must pre-pay for your hotel room, contact housing@sxsw.com for more information.
Credit Card Pre-Authorization
Guests may provide their billing information and authorization to the hotel in advance. The hotel will allow guests to pre-authorize room & tax, incidentals or both.
Please note that the hotel does not receive reservations made with SXSW Housing until the end of February. When the hotel processes your reservation you will receive another reservation confirmation containing your confirmation number. Once you receive your confirmation number you are able to provide the hotel with the Pre-Authorization form. Hotel pre-authorization forms will be available to you in early January, so check back to download your credit card authorization form.
Pre-Payment
While credit card pre-authorization is the recommended method, you may also elect to pay room & tax in advance. Please note that the hotel will still require a card to guarantee incidentals at check-in.
If pre-payment of your hotel reservation is necessary, please contact housing@sxsw.com for further instruction.
Deposits
Most hotels charge a deposit to the card on file when they receive the SXSW reservations from us in late February or early March. This information is outlined under the reservation agreement section of your reservation confirmation email.
The deadline to change the card number on file is February 15. After February 15, we cannot guarantee that the the new credit card information will be updated by the hotel before the deposit is charged.
You can update it via the link to make changes in your reservation confirmation, your SXSW Social Account, or the same Shopping Cart used to purchase your registration.