my in-laws live in denver...
seriously though, I would try a different hotel. Ask to remove your stuff and take your business to a place that appreciates your business

Always have $500 in your wallet while traveling.

Been there done that at a nightmare hotel in Canada. Can't the husband do a payment by phone with the credit card? All they should need is the number and maybe a faxed statement from the husband. She should pay her balance and get out of there and into another hotel though.

Has Rebecca not stayed in a hotel before? If you're paying by cash, you need to pay beforehand, and if you're paying by credit card, the hotel will pre-authorize for the entire amount.

Where does she get the idea that a cash-paying customer can just run up a bill and "settle" it later?

Now would be the time to call your husband and have him fax you a copy of his signed credit card, along with a written authorization for them to charge it and a phone # where he can be reached.

Was there a reason why she couldn't call her husband that morning and have him give the desk a cc number over the phone? Or wouldn't the hotel believe that either?

@kbarrett:

man you travel in fantasy land, $500 cash let me know next time you go on a trip so i can roll your ass

FedExing the stuff is a good plan. Something similar happeed to a friend of mine when we went to Vegas, and that worked out pretty well.

There are many different options.

1. Wire transfer funds and get them immediately instead of waiting for your husband to put them in tomorrow?
2. Call COLLECT to your husband, or anyone else who can help?
3. Bank branch in Denver to cash a check or go to a check cashing service?
4. Ask someone from the convention to let you use their phone?
5. Your hotel room was authorized with a CC number. Can they use that number?
6. American Express - Don't leave home without it?

@kbarrett: No offense, but it states in the post that she forgot her wallet and cell phone in her husband's car. Even if she did have $500 in her wallet, it would do her no good.

I'm with bsalamon. Sure, she forgot her wallet. This happens all the time in hotels and their responsiveness separates the good from the bad. Congratulations, you have found the bad, now go find a hotel that appreciates your business (even with it's faults).

@kbarrett: Great advice for when your wallet gets lost or stolen, or in this case, you forget it. It's insane to carry that kind of cash around.

At least they didn't ask to see her receipt!

Also, in regards to your need for the stuff in your room... maybe they can at least let you in to get your stuff?

Find a maid and tell her you locked yourself out of your room, or steal a maids card to get into your own room.

Okay, I am at work at a hotel right now. You would not believe how many people rip off hotels. They leave without paying, they take anything that is not nailed down, etc... However, the Hotel Monaco must have some idiots working for them. You authorize a guests card the moment they give it to you, not some random time later in the day. If they had run the auth at her check-in, then she would have been well aware of the issue and dealt with it faster, making everyone happy. However, at this point, she is dealing with people who just don't care about her or her problem. I suggest she contact her company (is she self employed?) and have them arrange a third party credit card authorization or payment. If this is not an option, I would suggest having the staff locate the staff member who made the verbal agreement with her regarding the 5pm deadline for authorization. If she can remember EXACTLY who told her 5pm and make them agree to verify that they said 5pm, then she should be fine. But if they are pig headed, and insist that she is a scammer without giving her a chance to rectify the situation, she should just leave and find smaller, friendlier hotel that might be willing to accept her word. It's not a nice thing, what the Hotel Monaco did to her, but if I were the desk agent and had not been informed by any other staff member of the 5pm agreement, I would be forced by policy to do the same thing. No card, no cash, no check... no room.

Aren't enough items left behind in rooms without strongarming guests? This is wrong, just wrong.

I would definitely try to get your husband to do a credit card over the phone with them. I doubt you could go to a check cashing store, seeing as there is no money in the account for the authorization on the debt card to go through. Credit card over the phone is your best bet.

Umm, I'm thinking that they're committing a crime by taking her property. That is, by not letting her regain her belongings in the room, they're technically "taking" it from her, so I'd say they're committing a theft, says the ex-cop.

Didn't she say she wrote a check to pay for it? They lock her out of her room the next day after it was paid? If there was a problem with the check they should have at least notified her about it. What the hell is going on with that hotel?

Definitely they have to let you in to get your stuff. Call the police and say you're being robbed if they give you a hassle. Then take your junk to another hotel and settle in.

If she's hungry tell her to go to Sam's #3. Its a diner at 1500 Curtis - at Curtis and 15th.

My company does some work with them. I know them and will call in a meal for her.

Shoot me an e-mail if she wants to take me up on it. I'll be at work for another hour. Seriously.

james@futuregringo.com

Normally A hotel will accept a faxed copy of the credit card front and back along with a copy of the person's ID. Simply have her husband fax a copy of another CC and then show them your her ID. They can verify the info with her CC company.

I'm in the "has this woman never stayed at a hotel before?" camp. It's not unusual for them to run a card to make sure you can pay for any charges. Yeah, it's shitty and rude of them to insinuate that you'd run away without paying, but it happens all the time. And from their perspective, it looks suspicious that you're staying at a hotel and your card won't authorize.

@jamesdenver: I salute your generosity.

uh - yeah why aren't the police involved? Call them from the lobby, get in there and grab your photo ID.

Then go over to the Magnolia Hotel a few blocks away.

[www.magnoliahotels.com]

Add me to the choir singing her other options. Call the company, call the husband, call your credit card. Don't just assume that you can write a check or use a debit card with 'money that will be deposited later'.

I couldn't find contact info for Niki Leondakis, who is the CEO of Kimpton Hotels (who owns the Hotel Monaco), but I didn find this. Hope it helps.

Kimpton Hotels
222 Kearny Street, Suite 200
San Francisco, CA 94108
Allison Goldstein, Director of Hotel Public Relations
(415) 955-5407
Allison.Goldstein@kimptongroup.com

I'd at least try and call that number.

Hotels are not in the business of extending lines of credit. Rooms have to be paid for (or CC authorized) if you want to stay. Most front desk managers (myself included) have been burned by situations like this. The hotel could have stepped up a little though. They could have sent the husband a CC authorization form which is extremly common. I would offer 1 piece of advice. Do not use the debit card. When the hotel gets it they will authorize the card for the room and tax and upwards of $50 per night for incidentals. On check out day they charge the card for the amount but the original hold will not drop off for several days keeping you from getting your money. I've seen that happen often.

Don't pay the bill. On your way out, say "you guys were TOTALLY RIGHT!"

Didn't she have to reserve the room with something? Like a credit or debit card? Most hotels ask to reswipe when you show up with the card. But couldn't they possibly just use the info from the reservation? I try to use the same card for the reservation AND the actual room costs and keep my other purchases on a different card. That seems to help avoid any headaches from hotels capturing a bunch of your funds and then being slow to release them back.

I am still trying to fathom how you lose your cell phone AND wallet on your way out of town. I usually double check for both about ten times and keep both somewhere they are not going to leave me or get dropped. They can lose my luggage for all I care as long as I have money sources and a phone I can figure it out.

The hotel has handled this all wrong. They should have told her right from the beginning that her husband need only fax authorization to bill the proper credit card. That point, in and of itself is the reason I am black listing Hotel Monaco.

That said, Rebecca seems to be a travel novice. Checks and debit cards are not well received at hotels. Even having money in your account doesn't impress hotels. They will still usually require a deposit. By not having the money in the account to cover the costs makes her look like a scammer.

I am still on the fence as to whether or not she actually is a scammer.

@jamesdenver: You are awesome. Awesome!

That's disgusting. I mean, really, she ate at Arby's???

Very simple answer: Western Union. Get all the money for your stay and pay them in full.

@Ben Popken: up to this point, and find another hotel who won't be rude about the situation.

If you have an American Express card, phone them and tell them you lost the card and explain the situation. They'll take care of the hotel (billing it to your account of course) and get a new card issued and delivered.

Call any credit card, they'll give you the number of your account and any other information the hotel needs. But I would personally pay for the previous day's fees, and find another hotel pronto.

If they're like this now, don't wait for them to screw up your trip even more later.

If she's having trouble with her debit card, why can't she call her bank and ask what's going on? Although the hotel was wrong in saying she had until 5 pm and then changed their minds and locked her out at noon, it seems as if it might be her debit card that is causing the problem (since it won't go through).
Just a thought. Perhaps I'm wrong though.

@jamesdenver: Dude, kudos to your generosity. However, in case of spammers, I would've typed out the @ and . in your address.

Did she take you up on it?

She is taking being locked out of her Hotel room very seriously.

I don't really have any snarky remark for a woman that leaves her wallet behind.

After all most female attire does not have much in the way of pockets. Alot of your higher class motels do not like cash and they do not like debit cards. Which is why I stay at cheaper places like Best Western all the time.

If this is a business trip though, shouldn't the company be paying for this? Or do you have to expense it later? I wouldn't know being self employed.

@MrEvil: It vaires company-to-company, but in most cases it is probably pay now, get your money back later. I haven't heard about many companies that do this the other way, though they do sometimes.

The Wyndham in the Denver Tech Centre is very nice and has always gone above and beyond for us.

I wish I had more specific advice.

@Fry:

Nope - I'm sure she's busy hopefully finding a better hotel.

If I were her I wouldn't be hanging around the convention center writing e-mails - I'd be in their face demanding my personal property back - WITH the authorities if needed.

Also aren't there CAMERAS there? if she was ALREADY there they could see her enter and exit her room - and verify she was a guest - some some shifty shuyster off the street.

I'm headed to Europe on Wednesday. I've already called my bank to make sure my card isn't stopped for fraud, and called me three credit cards to make sure I can withdraw cash from THOSE if needed, - should something happen to my debit card.

And I keep one credit card outside of my wallet in case I lose that. Oh and I have a copy of my drivers licence and pasport on my E-MAIL - so if I lose my photo ID I can go print it out somewhere. That would have helped her.

Anyway she doesn't sound dumb - just had a string of bad luck. But the little chains I create for backup (extra cards, email copies, extra photos,) can go a long way if needed.

Thanks for the e-mail alert - that's my e-mail for my public blog, so I don't mind it being out. I have a different personal e-mail. but yeah should have wrote AT

Try calling customer service on one of your credit cards. Let them know that you've lost your credit cards and it's an emergency, then see if the rep can have the room charged to your card.

I was under the impression that if you're staying for seven days at a hotel, they put an authorization hold on your card for the full seven days. It sounds more like they were charging her card for each individual days, which doesn't really make sense.

@jamesdenver: Cops will laugh at her. She used the hotel the night before and to this point she hasnt paid them, so they are holding her belongings. While the hotel should have worked with her to arrange another payment form, giving a hotel a debit card that has no funds behind it and a post-dated check is tantamount for fraud.

I second the "western union and get the heck out" crowd.

*to fraud

Sure, it sounds like she could have handled things a little better. But that's no excuse for the hotel staff being rude, treating her like a thief, telling her 5pm and locking her out at noon, etc. I just tried to go to the hotel's website to send them a note saying I *won't* be staying there when I'm in Denver later this year (and including a link to this Consumerist story)...apparently I'm not the only one who had that idea. I got an error message, seems like their comment system must be down...