Is there a consistent incidental hold policy?
 

Seems like it varies.

I discovered (the hard way) last year that AMS Marriott has a 75Euro/night hold for incidentals, which w/ the exchange rate, ate up an extra $1,000 of my available credit. I get a reasonable hold, but I'm not eating/drinking $1,000 worth at a basic biz hotel in a week. Some of the London properties are 100GBP/night for incidentals. Heck, one time I stayed at the Ren LHR on a 55GBP rate for a single night & a 300GBP hold was put on my card. I wasn't going to eat/drink 250GBP worth. :mad: It wasn't the end of the world, but still if they put that much extra on a single night it could have created problems if they had multiplied it by additional nights.

But in the US the holds for incidentals seem to be much less. I don't recall any really that put a $75 or $100per night incidental (other than maybe for a single night) hold. I know they put holds, but I don't remember them being $500-1,000 extra.

I've also noticed that on international holds it takes more time for the hold to drop than on domestic, but that I think has something to do w/ the cc issuer? Last year I was sweating bullets at the AMS Marriott because the hold on my card was for $4,200 overall & I was afraid that if it didn't drop 8 days later when it went time to check out that I wouldn't be able to check out, as that particular card didn't have $8,400 of available credit on it but did have the necessary amount to cover the stay. It ended up clearing the night before I departed so I was ok. Otherwise I might have been washing dishes until this year ;) when they ran it through again at check-out for a double hold. Note to self - bring 2 cards next time.

Back to my topic: Sometimes it seems like the front desk clerks just arbitrarily choose amounts for holds & don't realize the havoc it can cause if they put a large additional hold on the card. I certainly understand holds for incidentals, but think they should be based on a reasonable expectation of expenditure. And again, it seems like Europe puts larger holds than the US.

So is there a consistent hold policy across the chain or by brand, or by domestic vs international? It would be nice if there was so that we could all plan accordingly.

Marriott Concierge? GM4Marriott? Socrates? Just curious.

Cheers.

The only constant I've observed is that the non-FS properties have smaller holds than the FS brands. Obviously because there's more stuff you can charge to your room at a FS.

When I've been on a long trip and the holds start becoming an issue, I've been able to call my bank, explain what's going on and get them to free up some of my available funds. I've never paid attention to the difference between North America and Europe, but I suspect that indeed it does take longer than the normal three business days for holds from there to come off.

For me personally, I find some of the car rental places holds to be a bigger problem than the hotels. Then there's the matter of the $100 that some of the gas stations in Canada like to tack on. That $20 "top off" on the way back to the airport that nicks your card for $100. Put that on top of the previous day's $100 at the gas station, plus the 40% rental car hold, the hotel holds, and....well...you get the idea.....

Or....you could always use the ol' Amex!

just b/c of this crap, I check in with my AX 100% of the time and change cards at checkout

I gave up Amex when I had so many problems w/ them. The last straw being when a card was stolen I had them replace it. Bill came due - I paid it. No worries, right? Well they couldn't figure out the transfer of the old to new, so it kept showing me not paying even though I had a cancelled check. They admitted it was their problem & said they 'couldn't figure out how to get the system to credit it appropriately w/ old & new', so they closed the new account & then sent me not only my (now 2nd new card), but 5 cards of other people via fedex :eek: I called them to let them know that they may want to let the people who were expecting cards via Amex that they weren't going to get them. They told me to cut up the cards :rolleyes: Then, when the 2nd new card arrived, I got challenged every time I wanted to use it - denied even on $50 charges & they'd do a manual authorization over the phone - each & every single time. After 10x of that I said cancel the account entirely. I had had lots of problems w/ Amex before - that was just the final straw.

But - back on topic - MarriotConcierge/GM4Marriott/Socrates - any input on consistency of holds across the chain or brands or domestic vs int'l? Speaking as a customer, consistency is good. Depending on the whims of a front desk clerk is not.

Again, FWIW I find int'l holds (even before the exchange rate) to be a lot higher than US holds. And cyberdad, I too would expect lesser brand holds to have less of a hold than FS - I get that. But I also expect holds to be within reasonable expectations & I find some of the int'l properties to be larger than that. And heck even lesser brands will do it. I attended the Freddies this year - stayed at Springhill Suites - there ARE no extra charges since bkfst & i-net is free, right? One night stay. So imagine my surprise when I checked my cc account after checking in, to find a hold $100 more than the actual room+tax rate, even though I actually asked at check-in if they were just doing the room+tax hold on my account. Again, $100 isn't going to break my bank, but still - I had only asked 15 minutes earlier & was told the hold was the amount of room+tax; nothing more. So in that case obviously a lie.

And hence my belief that in some cases there might be a hotel policy (ala Ams Marriott & some of the upper crust London hotels) & other cases it's dependent upon the whim of the clerk (aka, Springhill Suites & the Ren LHR), but also my request that there be a consistent policy. I can't - nor should I - carry extra cards 'just in case' the front desk clerk, either at discretion of local hotel management or their own who cares/let's punch in a # philosophy, punches in an extra amount that will vary.

Cheers.

I have only seen one property list clearly at the front desk the hold amounts placed on cards. The Fairfax Marriott at Fair Oaks has a placard with the amounts they place on hold for credit and debit cards. From my memory, it was somewhere around $50/night for credit cards and $100/night for debit cards. The debit cards had a higher amount, and the placard also listed how long it would take for the holds to come off the cards (somewhere between 3-5 business days).

Never saw that (sign) anywhere in 20 years of traveling & part of the reason I started this thread. I just noticed the inconsistency w/in the last year. But at least the hotel you mentioned put it out there. Of course someone checking in w/o additional cards and/or credit could be a bit toast, hence my wondering why not a consistent policy up front.

It could easily be added to a hotel confirmation - this hotel requires a XX incidental/hold per night. If they're doing the normal cancel/confirmation blah-blah they could add that.

Just out of curiosity I wonder why the higher hold on a debit? The initial request has to be approved (or not) even at a debit & it comes out of someone's checking account and debits actually clear same night (ie, midnight transfer by bank). Actually faster than a cc, which usually takes the proverbial 2-3 days (or in the case of int'l seems to be 7 days).

Marriott Concierge/GM4Marriott/Socrates - input? (realize you're probably all asleep right now LOL). Cheers.

Sorry for digressing back to the AmEx topic, but what is this AmEx talk? Do they not hold the authorizations against it? I have two and have never noticed it as any different than a Visa, MC, or Discover, but then again I don't really pay attention to it either. I have noticed that my bank has started dropping the authorization holds off every night at midnight though from my checking account so I usually just checkin with my debit card.

First let me just say I quickly scanned this topic (running out quickly)

it is up to the specific hotel to set their own policy but it is typically the total will take the total room & tax charges for the stay plus a base amount for incidentals (typically the base amount for incidentals isn't a per day base amount, it's a total and the system updates throughout the stay and places additional holds if your room charges have eaten too far into the incidental base amount)...in this day and age it's all computerized (at least in the US) and there is zero manual entry into the process

I took it to mean the AMEX charge products with no official preset spending limits. No limit = lower risk of declining transactions although it does still happen.
I would never personally use a debit card for travel. I use my Citi Premier Pass with a "revolving line of credit" but I usually never get close to it.

Does the card you use tell you specifically the hold that is placed? I can just see available credit vs balance and I have to do some subtractions, but that's aggregate.

for me this is what I meant

No limit that any kind of hold even thousands of dollars does not affect me. I do not know/care what kind of phantom charge they put on there as long as the outgoing bill is correct. At marriott, i just switch at checkout to my MR Visa and the only charge to stick is the folio amount. The only issue with this and its immaterial is that it forces me to check out at the front desk where at a property that I use my AX, i take the folio under the door (assuming its correct) and just leave.

I have seen (albeit not very often) the signs at the front desk stating the hold policies. I can't even say they were Marriott properties but just that I've seen them once in a blue moon

One of my debit cards shows all pending authorizations in nearly real time - it's one of my favorite features of that particular card/account. Another does not, and I see available vs. actual balance and have to do the math myself while waiting for things to post or drop off.

Why? Doesn't Marriott dictate SOP's for just about everything? Seems like a natural to have a policy for such a sensitive issue as this?

At least with limited service properties I know that they can dictate at the front desk the amount of the authorization hold. At the Fairfield Inn St. George, Utah, the manager manually set my authorization hold at $10 because I had a BB coupon that covered all but about $7 of the bill. At the Residence Inn Wilmington Landfall they set my payment method to cash (was paying with points) and no authorization hold was held at all.

My checking account shows all transactions in real time (Bank of America) and as mentioned before drops off all Marriott authorization holds at midnight on weekdays (used to not do this, and when I mention it to the hotels when they give me the spiehl about debit cards they seem surprised, maybe BOA does this because I travel with Marriott so often?)

Bingo - we have a winner. It SHOULD be SOP to have a consistent policy, even if it's not currently in place. It shouldn't be guess or have to call the hotel in advance or depend on what a clerk punches in or what individual hotels dictate dependent on location or brand.

And socrates I don't believe the there is zero manual entry into the process part. My real-life experience has shown me otherwise & that it varies, which is one of the reasons I started this thread, and others mention manuals in their responses as well.

Cheers.

First of all, I'm in complete agreement as to a consistent SOP (perhaps the room charge with a multiplier (% of rate?) X the number of days in the reservation.)

But in addition, any SOP should also contain a caveat as to the property's responsibility to have all unexpended/held funds released within a specified time following checkout.

Of course, all of the above should be revealed in the Rate Rules governing reservations made online as well as email confirmations..

Question (as this issue is not going to be addressed overnight and this just occured to me):

For obvious reasons my black MR Visa card is now my cc of choice noted in my profile.

I'm wondering -- if, when I check in and the FD requestsz a CC to swipe, if I handthem my AMEX would that cover the "hold" but still leave the Visa as the card charged on my folio?

Up until recently I've been using AMEX so this never was an issue.