Hilton HHonors - Pre-Authorisation of £60 - Nottingham Hilton (UK)?

During a trip up to Newcastle this past weekend, we stayed at the Nottingham Hilton twice - once on Friday night, once on Sunday. Due to prices/availability, the first stay was booked through hilton.co.uk and the second stay was booked through Expedia. Am Hilton Gold

The first stay was fine. Took at imprint of my Amex card. Everything was normal.

The second stay a different woman check us in. I handed over my Amex card (for an impront) as usual. She said, "I will be charging your card £109". Errrr??? I asked why. She said "£49 for the room rate and a £60 pre-authorisation for incidentals". I argued over this (had already paid for the room in full with Expedia! No idea where she got the £49 room rate from... :rolleyes: ). I also argued about the £60.... although my card was "swiped" I did not have any such amount pre-authorised during the stay at the same hotel two nights before. Nor at the Marriott the night before, nor at any other hotels recently. Anyway, she insisted that she would take this £60 or I would have to "pay as I go". I was not impressed by the lady at check-in or the whole way that she dealt with the situation.... :(

It struck me afterwards that MAYBE the Hilton took a pre-authorisation for £60 because we were on an expedia rate? But that doesn't seem to make sense, since originally she thought that we were on a £49 rate (presumably with Hilton directly).

Alternatively is this pre-authorisation for "some amount" (the lady at check-in implied that different people get charged different amounts of pre-authorisation...) quite normal? Is it that each time my card is swiped at check-in, that a certain amount is pre-authorised (and that this is just not explained to me normally)? Regardless of the explaining, on this occassion I was given a printed credit card receipt at the time of the pre-authorisation (or £60) - that certainly doesn't normally happen...

Thanks,
Boo
(a bit confused!)

I've been asked to leave a deposit for incidentals if paying by cash, and have noticed, when using a debit card, that there is an amount, higher than the room charge, posted as a current transaction on the day of check-in. It then drops off after a day or two, replaced by the final bill amount.

I'd have stated that I'd pay as I went, in that situation.

I have stayed at the Hilton Nottingham twice in the last few months (both prepaid rates) and on both occasions they swiped my credit card for a pre-authorisation of I think £50 per night, they did inform me of this. However this has also happened when I stayed at the London Metropole. On my on line account it showed up as a recent unbilled transaction, I wondered what on earth it was, I had not been informed that they would be doing this but it dropped off the unbilled transactions within a few days.

I usually charge everything to my room rather than pay as I go for drinks etc so that I get the points.

I just returned from the Hilton Cancun. When I checked my credit card charges I noticed 8000 pesos (about $700)charged to my American Express on the day of checkin. When I contacted the hotel I was told that this was a preauthorization so that I could charge to my room. Was told that an 8000 peso credit would appear on my card 21 days after the the transaction. I dont think they told me this at check in.

Most hotels (of all chains) do a pre-authorization of a 'set' amount when you check in. If you logged into your cc (or debit) account immediately after checking in, you'd see it.

It obviously ties up your credit for a few days, but then usually drops off & when you check out the 'real' amount is charged to your cc or debit. If you didn't know it though, it could possibly cause difficulties.

Usually it's just $50/Euro/GPB night for award stay, or room amount (which varies) + $50-100 per night for paid stays. Not normally Expedia ++. But I had an instance where a UK hotel put a $400 hold on my cc for a $90 US stay - that was an unexpected (unpleasant) surprise.

The credit doesn't normally take 21 days after posting to clear, as the cc's & debit co's have a set amount of time the vendors are allowed to post the charge or the 'hold' drops. For example, I was recently at the Vienna Hilton & there was a $700 pre-auth for an award stay (70Euros/night). It dropped off 4 days later. The real charge (incidentals) of $50 posted about 3 days after I checked out.

If there's every a question/you're tight on credit or heck, just want to know up front, call the hotel in advance & ask the front desk their policy. I did that in Feb when I was in London so I'd know how much I had to spend on shopping/wouldn't get caught short.

Cheers.

Thanks everyone - very useful! :)

I think it caught me a bit by surprise (especially since she originally quoted me "£109 - £49 room rate + £60 pre-authorisation" which was clearly wrong, since I had already pre-paid the room with Expedia).

The tying up of my credit limit wasn't a problem at all, but I could see the possibility of it being a problem (i.e. on a much longer trip, when there are a lot of other expenses around that time too....). That is a very good point Sharon and I will bear it in mind for future, longer stays...

Thanks for all of your experiences and advice - I will be fore-warned for the future :)

Best Wishes,
Boo

I thought this was a well known fact.... :confused:

It's a normal practice in US and it's pretty much normal in Europe, South America.

The weird one (at least for me) was during my recent stays at the Hiltons in Tokyo and Osaka. They both put a hold for $1. :D

I guess they still trust people in some parts of the world....or possibly their credit laws are different and the CC would have to pay regardless if I skip on the bill or not.

Full service hotels allow you to sign for food/drinks/services, so why would it be a surprise that they want to protect themselves in the event you decided to disappear in the middle of the night???

The standard authorization for U.S. Hiltons is (usually) about $50 USD per day to cover potential incidental charges, though that might vary by region. The time it takes for these "credit holds" to disappear depends not on the hotels but on the credit card companies. Not surprisingly, authorization holds (debits) are instantaneous. But the timing of authorization releases (credits) depend on the issuing bank for the particular card that one presents. While domestic (same country as cardholder bank) releases might automatically occur within a few days of checkout (adjusted to actual expenditures), international releases can take much longer. I guess banks are just trying to protect themselves. In any event, knowing this is a standard practice, the prudent traveler might suggest to the front desk clerk to place a specific authorization hold on their card (based on anticipated spending) and thereby budget their credit more wisely, especially for longer trips. The front desk clerk would probably be sufficiently impressed that they would follow those instructions implicitly.

The problem comes with the obsurd amounts that properties try and insist on reserving against your credit. The standard amount in the UK is about £50 per night! Now, for me £50 a stay is probably what I would spend! Certainly not £50 a night! I'd have to live in the Hotel 24/7! And then there are some properties (Hilton Dartford Bridge) that want to reserve £80 a night! Oh come on! They must be joking (and I tell them that).

On top of that there is usually the nonsense of trying to get the hold released (especially if you then settle with a different card or cash). Some properties don't even put a hold on for incidentals.

The lower end properties (of which there are far too many in the UK) tend to be the worse for wanting stupid amounts put on hold. And these are the ones with no mini bars in your room and dreadful menus!

I thought this was a well known fact.... :confused:

It's a normal practice in US and it's pretty much normal in Europe, South America.

The weird one (at least for me) was during my recent stays at the Hiltons in Tokyo and Osaka. They both put a hold for $1. :D

I guess they still trust people in some parts of the world....or possibly their credit laws are different and the CC would have to pay regardless if I skip on the bill or not.

Full service hotels allow you to sign for food/drinks/services, so why would it be a surprise that they want to protect themselves in the event you decided to disappear in the middle of the night???
\
They have caught on to the fact that a pre-auth for $1 can be converted to up to $150 (i think). It is the same priciple the "pay at the pump" programs. If you swipe your card at the pump it olny hits you for $1 (and goes away the first midnight of the following business day) but no matter what you will be charged the full amount in 1-5 business days. The retailer can not lose...only you if you have an over the limit charge on your card.