Originally Posted by
Points Scrounger
How do these hotels manage to "swipe" a chipped card at check-in, yet use the chip at check-out? Is it a matter of sticking the chip in a different terminal? Sounds confusing!
It's simple. At check in you stick your card in the terminal. An amount of money pops up (which is the authorization amount) and then you enter PIN or sign a receipt, depending on your card. It looks exactly the same as a regular purchase, but it's a pre-auth.
When you check out you go through the same exact process, except this time the dollar/euro/whatever amount on the terminal is the final amount you'll be charged.
It's basically the same exact process as swiping, except you're inserting.