InterContinental Hotels: Priority Club & Inter-Continental Ambassador - Credit card denied

Have you experienced such issues (and specifically in China)?
Any advice?


Dear Madam,
I have well received your message, and I thank you for it.
I called again the American Express customer service .
1. They tell me again that the problem is not on the card (which has just been charged without difficulty on March 2nd for my reservation # XXX at FUDAN CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL SHANGHAI).
2. Any transaction, accepted or rejected, is visible in the electronic systems of American Express. No application is visible from the InterContinental Shanghai: it is therefore the system of electronic linkage of the hotel that is the problem.
3. American Express strongly advises me not to communicate by mail any credit card number, to prevent any fraud. American Express suggests the InterContinental Shanghai to call American Express services to solve the problem.
Best regards

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De: +InterContinental Ambassador [mailto:ambassador@priorityclub.com]


Dear Mr. XXX,

Warm greetings from the InterContinental Ambassador Service Center!

Please find below the e-mail correspondence of the InterContinental Shanghai Pudong concerning your credit card information.

Kindly provide them with an alternate credit card to facilitate payment of your prepaid booking. Should you wish to get in touch with them directly, you may send them an e-mail at shgha_res@interconti.com.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Thank you Mr. XXX, for your cooperation regarding this matter. Should you need further assistance, please feel free to contact us directly.

Sincerely yours,

Ria Arias
Ambassador Services

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From: SHGHA_Reservation (IHC)
Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 4:56 AM
To: +InterContinental Ambassador
Subject: RE: Ambassador Reference XXX


Dear Ria,

As your below email, our credit department has try again of the same card.But it's still bank denied.

Would you please advise Mr.XXX provide another card to be the payment?

Waiting for your reply.

Best regards,

Shirley Wei
Reservations Sales Agent

INTERCONTINENTAL SHANGHAI PUDONG
777 Zhang Yang Road
Pudong, Shanghai

Many of my credit cards frequently get denied in China. That's why I now carry 5 different ones when travelling in China. In one hotel the Visa card is ok, in the next one only the Mastercard works. Diners Club and American Express are often unknown in China. Sometimes it even happens that they won't accept a Mastercard from one European bank and a Mastercard from another European bank works.

I did not have any problem using my credit cards in China, although I do carry at least two AmEx cards and one or two Visa/Mastercards in case of problems.

My AmEx Business Platinum card routinely gives me problem at the local OfficeDepot, and the only workaround is to provide them with the 4-digit card ID from my AmEx Business Gold card (which has the same account number) for the transaction to go through. I thought this is really strange, but AmEx keep saying that it is a OfficeDepot problem, and vice versa.

Many of my credit cards frequently get denied in China.

Occasionally I run into this problem in the US as well. I find that when I check-in using a different card then what I used for booking they can run into problems.

Many of my credit cards frequently get denied in China. That's why I now carry 5 different ones when travelling in China. In one hotel the Visa card is ok, in the next one only the Mastercard works. Diners Club and American Express are often unknown in China. Sometimes it even happens that they won't accept a Mastercard from one European bank and a Mastercard from another European bank works.

I have never stayed at an international branded hotel in China that did not take Amex - 100+ stays, at dozens of hotels and I have paid every one with Amex.

Hi nicolas75,

Am I right to guess that the bank denied problem happened when IC Shanghai try to charge the payment before you arrive there (e.g. advance booking)?

One of my friend (RA) had exactly the same porblem with the same hotel couple of months ago. I believe charge to a foreign credit card from China is something very difficult for them, regardless visa, master or amex, due to system integration problem. That's the reason why most of Chinese hotels don't actually bother to pre-charge for advance booking rate. They only ask us to pay the full amount when we check out (when the card is present and go through their machine, it normally run very smooth without any trouble.

Within IHG group, I think IC Shanghai is one of very few hotels always want to charge to the card before we arrive. And they are one of the few hotels always have the same problem. I just couldn't understand why they bother to do some, and upset their customers before we even arrive there.

Don't panic, what you can do is keep asking them to try your card. Do not give them another card number through email. (That's what my friend did) One day all the sudden you will receive an email from them saying that they managed to charge to your original creadit card number on that day, and apologise to you for inconveninece.

Strange, right? But that's what they always do.

I knew, that I have sometimes problems with an advance payment rate at the IC Prague, when I use my AMEX card. I got a lot of phone calls and they asked my for another card. But I stay very often at this hotel and I use the same card on every stay. Maybe there is a problem with the advance payment at some ICs ?