Much like that nasty little gas station problem we talked about awhile back, hotels just love to slap holds on your debit or credit card accounts for “incidental charges.” There’s nothing wrong or uncommon about the practice, but its difficult or impossible to tell exactly how much the hold might be — and for some consumers who aren’t expecting it, the holds can cause big problems. Reader Eric recently got slapped with a $253.13 hold from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kansas City, and he’s a little irked because they didn’t disclose the hold when he was checking in, and they only refunded $160 of it when he checked out.
Eric says:
I recently stayed in a suite at the “Crowne Plaza Hotel In Kansas City” for a wedding. I made my reservations long in advance and everything seemed fine. I arrived and checked in, gave my card for any liabilities I incurred while staying there. Got to my room and was very happy with the cleanliness and space the suite offered. I almost immediately left after dropping my bags, running around town with the groom to be.
I have my checking account setup to send SMS messages to my phone for any purchases over 50 dollars. My wife likes to spend a lot of “little money”, but I digress. I get an SMS message saying I had a pending charge of 547 dollars. Well through the package the new couple had setup with the hotel the suites were 89 dollars a night with taxes and such my bill was supposed to be 311.87 (per the reservation line l called to confirm the price). When I finally got back to the hotel I asked for the manager and inquired about the additional 235.13 pulled from my checking account. She stated it was for incidentals and that it would be placed back in my account after my stay. I’ve stayed at some pretty high-end hotels and never have heard of such a thing. Usually the hotel keeps your account on file and then charges you at the end of your stay your room and any room service, additions etc.
I didn’t make a huge deal out of it because it wasn’t really about the money, I had plenty of money in the account to account for, well honestly a 235 dollar purchase I didnt plan on. Because when it comes down to it, that was money that was not available in my account. If for some reason I came with only 311.87 in my account, the hotel would have overdrawn me.
I’ve heard of gas stations doing this to the tune of a few bucks, but 235 dollars? I was never told this would occur, even though the front desk is supposed to tell you about this before check in.
Really what it comes down to, is how much power do these companies have over our own money. Money we don’t even designate them to take or “hold” in the first place. Ironically 30 mins after I left the desk, I get another SMS saying 160 dollars had been deposited into my account. Still not the whole amount just really odd. Something to think over.
Eric, you’re not alone in being upset about this. We found a thread over at FlyerTalk where people are debating whether or not these types of holds should be standardized or disclosed to the customer. The problem, as the Marriott Concierge explains, lies in the fact that each hotel (even within a chain of hotels) calculates the incidental hold amount differently:
The hold is determined by sum of three factors, the length of stay, room rate and tax, and something called the incidental factor. The first two are simple math, you take your room rate and tax and multiple it by the number of nights you will be staying. However the incidental factor is less constant. This amount is based on the typical spending habits of the property’s guests. This means you can expect to have a much larger hold at a resort location than you would typically have at an Airport location because guest tended to spend a lot more on incidentals. Likewise guests typically spend more at certain international locations than at many domestic locations.
Once the incidental factor is created, like Socrates said, there is no human determination of what the hold amount will be. The hold is determined and processed by the hotels system based on the factors mentioned above.
As far as we can tell, the best thing to do is to ask how much the hold will be when you check in. Then, if you can, give the hotel a credit card, rather than a debit card, to use for incidentals. That way you’re less likely to run into overdraft fees and other debit card related nuisances.
Of course, if the hotel doesn’t end up returning the correct amount to your checking account within a reasonable period of time, you should contact your bank and dispute the charge.
Is there a consistent incidental hold policy? [FlyerTalk]
(Photo: Chrispitality )
More From Consumerist
-
Priceline Books Me In 3.5 Star Roach Motel, And There’s No Refunds
-
Making A Booking Mistake On Priceline.com Not As Disastrous As I Expected
-
Silly Trojan! Boston Mayor Doesn’t Want Any Of Your Free Vibrators In His Public Plazas
-
How Three People Died Of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In The Same Motel Room, Six Weeks Apart
-
Would You Risk A $200 Ticket To Save $2 In Bridge Tolls?
I went to a Microsloth seminar at this very hotel this spring and was very impressed by how nice it was. This is very disappointing to hear.
@AbbyNormal: customers shouldn’t have to “ask up front”. The hotel should have to “tell up front”. It’s perfectly understandable that a hotel might want to have a cushion in case a guest decides to empty out the minibar. What’s not acceptable is failing to tell the guest the policy and how long the hold will last.
@simplegreen: You can do it without specifically calling it SMS if you know your email SMS address (ie phone#@tmomail.net) and have it send email alerts for over a certain amount. Most banks with online banking/billpay features have this.
A couple things on this:
- Hotels ALWAYS authorize more than room and tax, it is the only way they can guarantee they will get the money for anything charged to the room. Don’t take your anger out on the desk clerk, it’s not his fault. The computer is set up that way.
-It is better to use a credit card. However many banks release the holds on the funds after only one business day.
@trojanjustin: Again, the issue isn’t that they do it, it’s that they don’t tell you.
And when you use a debit/check card, the “authorization” is really a deduction of amount from your checking account, making those funds unavailable. You might as well give them cash.
With a credit card, they authorize the same amount but to verify the credit limit. You can still use your charge card. The final charge is made upon check out.
I agree, the computer is set up that way: to charge the full amount to a debit/check card NOW and to charge the full amount to a credit card LATER.
And I agree it is best to use a credit card when traveling. But not everyone has that option.
And it has always amazed me that banks can take money OUT of your account in a matter of seconds, but it takes DAYS or WEEKS for them to put it back IN.
I call shenanigans on the “it takes XX days/weeks for a credit” bullshit banks/hotels spew.
I’ve never had that happen to me, but if I was in a jovial mood I think I’d probably respond by letting them know that if they were putting a hold on my account, I was putting a hold on whatever crappy vase they have in the lobby. Grab vase, exit right.
Is this really even reasonable as a business practice in the first place? To charge you ~165% of the agreed price before you consume any of the service? And then take their own sweet time to undo the excess?
Their staff is in each room every day, and can notify the manager of damage.
Headline news, folks….anytime you charge your meal at a restaurant, the amount authorized is greater than the pre-tip total. I hope you aren’t counting on that extra 20% in your checking account or available credit limit when you leave the establishment.
The reason hotels, such as Holiday Express who offer no amenities, authorize more than the anticipated bill is for potential damage and leakage. (Don’t think plumber, think theft)
I’ve had similar problems though not with Crown Plaza. I stayed at a Hilton in Philadelphia in 2006, and they put a hold on my credit card for something close to three weeks for about $250. I called multiple times to see when they’d release the hold, and nobody had any information about the charge or even the policy of puting a hold on the card.
What was equally confusing was a billing snaffoo that they charged my CC when it should have been my work CC for the room, and had to remove that… and so the hold that lingered there for 3 weeks just caused extra confusion.
@hamsangwich: haha. I’d take one of those industrial starbucks carrafes. Sounds fair to me
I work at a Crowne Plaza in a different state. At the front desk there is a big notice about debit card purchases and it warns about overdraft fees. They also recommend not using your debit card.
I was blindsided with the exact same kind of charge at Jury’s Hotel in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC and it took more than a full business week for ANY of the hold to be released. Thankfully it was not a problem for me but I was never told that any hold would be put on my card at all. In fact, their exact words were that they would be keeping my card info in case of incidental charges. To me, this did not employ a hold of $240.
The hotel I work for holds an additional $150 above the total cost of the guest’s stay. That additional is released upon checkout. It is to cover possible long distance charges to the room, meals billed to the room, and any possible damages incurred.
The registration for has this printed on it in 18 point bold text- I know it does; I designed them myself. Whenever a guest checks in, I point that area out to the guest and ask them to read and initial the part that says “no smoking or pets in the room” and then read through the bottom and sign. The bottom part talks about the $150 additional charged, as well as that while the amount is released by our hotel upon checkout, it can take 2-3 weeks for the money to be returned to the guest’s account, depending on their bank’s policies, and as such, we prefer that debit cards are not used. If they are, our hotel will not be responsible for the length of time it takes for the bank to return the money.
95% of the guests checking in don’t read that area before signing, even when it’s pointed out.
And a great number get very upset that we prefer something other than a debit card, and argue with us that it “works just like a credit card,” refusing to listen to our explanation.
I can’t speak for every hotel, but I know the one I work for isn’t out to screw over the people who chose to stay with us, no matter what they may assume.
In addition, our policies are printed and displayed on the front desk counter in the two places where guests are checked in. Most people don’t even notice them, and I don’t know how to make them more noticeable without using neon.
the hotel that i work for has a similar policy of holding for incidental charges, in case someone smokes in a room, orders something, or has any other extra charges. the only people that ever complain about it are the debit card users.
@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich:
I DON’T want to have a hold put on my debit card, but with all these crazy policies, it just seems like I HAVE to get a credit card, even if I don’t want one. Even if I can’t afford one. It makes me want to cry.
I will hold out as long as I can! >:|
I work at a hotel. This is true we do hold money for incedentals. But after you check out we release the funds from our side. Anything after that has only to do with your bank. Once you have checked out in the system the money is taken and its up to the bank to release the hold when they want or when you call.