MsEverywhere

Now you're scarin' me, guys!

My son has been out of work almost a year, and will suddenly be on extended travel for his new job. He needs to use his own credit card and then will receive a per diem check each week.

I'm not optimistic about the amount of credit he has available on his card. Would there be a way for me to compute the estimated hold so I can compare to his available credit, or would I be safer to just FAX in to pre-authorize it on my card? I've already given him a gift card to settle the bill.

joshua362

I'm thinking you might be worrying too much. Do check the limit on his card and be done with it. Unless he has destroyed his credit in the past, getting 2 cards with a 5k line is a slam dunk and probably more than adequate, especially if he is getting reimbursed so quick and can pay it off. And if he already has the cards, call the bank, explain the circumstances and ask for a credit line increase. Banks are dying to give credit away, again, if you have a decent or NO credit history.

And I won't resort to name calling here but as a CPA, it is unwise to pay for ANYTHING with cash/debit when a credit card is accepted.

You gain the convenience of the 30-60 days free float before paying it off, 2 or 3 records of your transaction, ability to download them into money management programs, speed and simplicity, ability to protest after the fact when something goes wrong, points, miles, rebates, etc.

Exceptions - when you can't manage your money and/or use the credit as income rather than a timing mechanism, you have destroyed your credit already or purposely want no record of a transaction. Basic Economics 101. But I respect people that realize this and therefore don't want a credit card.

Yes, my friend blew his credit, had to resort to a debit card and the hotel erred by "reserving" the funds of a week long AWARDS stay (as if it was a paid stay) against his checking account. To the bank, it made no difference whether the funds were "withdrawn" or "held" and the checks went a bouncing anyway and they were glad to collect their fees.

SkiAdcock

Don't necessarily agree w/ that. I stay at LHR Ren a lot - usually either 1-2 nights - at the 55GBP rate. The holds are dif each stay even if the nights/rate are the same, so to me that's a human item, not a computer item. And the one time I was using a debit due to cc being stolen was the ONLY time at LHR Ren I got a 250GBP hold on a 55GBP 1-night stay. 200GBP for a single night was, IMO, excessive. Again, I had the $$ but still, I thought it was a bit much.

I understand that holds will always be more than potential settlement; it's the way the system works. And I have no problem w/ a reasonable incidental hold, btw. But since I've had varying results lately w/ amounts at dif properties & dif chains, I'm learning to ask. It's good to know so that you can plan accordingly. Someone was complaining recently on the Hilton forum that the LAX Hilton put an abnormally high hold on a stay& it hadn't fallen off by checkout, so ate up a lot of available credit when the settlement + the hold were combined.

When I was at AMS Marriott last month, the room/tax/incidental finally fell off the morning of my last night. Phew; meant I could check out the next day when they put the settlement amount through But what was weird was that a new hold appeared on my account that same aft from AMS Marriott & it was for a strange amount that neither the concierges nor I could figure out. Didn't tie into the room rate, or room+incidentals, and since I was still on the same stay/bill had not exceeded the initial hold, no reason an additional hold was required at all. One of life's little mysteries. If it was a computer it wasn't being consistent; if it was a human, the amount made no sense. The concierges just shook their heads & said we have no idea.

I've never stayed at an extended property so didn't know about them doing multiple holds at x amount or x days. Something learned!

It's rare for me to use a debit/Visa for hotel stays as I normally use credit cards, but my bank does have a process for challenging charges (not legit ones of course). That may vary by bank. Reason I use cc is I can be traveling quite a bit/eating up a lot of credit, and even though I get reimbursed for expenses it can take a while. I wouldn't want that amount out of my checking account. Heck, I don't like it when it's eating up large amounts of my cc & is aided by high holds.

And re: award stays. Sounds like the amount put on joshua's friend's card was high, but even award stays get incidental holds. The amount can vary by property. For example, Marriott Park Lane in London does 75GBP/night. Grosvenor House does 100GBP/night. Given the exchange rate, it's good to know things like that

MsEverywhere, I'd say follow joshua's advice for your son & he'll probably be fine.

Cheers.

Italy98

I agree with Joshua362 - always use a credit card - never a debit card. I don't know of any financial institution that will intervene on your behalf for a charge to a debit card as they would for a credit card charge.

My exerience has been the hotel will charge a % of the room rate + all the taxes X the number of days for incidentals. What the % is varies on the amenities available - dining room, phone calls, lounge, etc. A Hampton Inn will add less than a Hilton or Conrad.

socrates

Dont know what to tell you....both FOSSE and PMS have an interface with the Credit Card vendor

SkiAdcock

Don't know what to tell you either The LHR Ren & AMS examples above were accurate. And I figure if a hotel's concierge says 'they have no idea' it's a pretty good guess it's not standard

Anyway, we've pretty much done this one to death. MsEverywhere, let us know how it turns out for your son. And congrats on his new job!

Cheers.

Lefty33

Not to nit pick but....

When Richie still existed at RI and TPS until about 3 years ago the FD staff could manually enter in an any amount particularly when manually creating an incidental folio.

Richie was preset to always authorize $50.00 on an incidental account but I had two or three times when desk clerks of mine accidentally authorized cards for $500.00 or even $5000.00 dollars and then we had to scramble to inform the guest and call to have the hold released.

socrates

Yes but RICHIE started to be replaced about 5 years ago and as you mentioned hasn't been around for quite some time now (FS PMS has never ever allowed this feature, not sure how FOSSE has evolved over the years)

MsEverywhere

Well, he started his journey this week. I decided to FAX the hotel my pre-authorization form, to ensure a seamless checkin. I suspect that his credit is less-than-stellar after such a long period of unemployment.

So far he's been happy with the hotel. He said it's nicer than his apartment.

Apparently his employer expects him to live in various hotels rather than live @ home with occasional travel. They won't even fly him home to allow him to close his apartment and put his stuff in storage. He's not happy about that, but I advised him to give it a couple of months at least, and that it's usually better to have a job than to not have a job.

aaupgrade

A much more important consideration... I sure hope he joined Marriott Rewards so he can start his addiction to Frequent Stay programs!

If he does this for months on end he will be Platinum in no time and be raking in the points. If his credit is still good he should consider a Marriott Signature (3 pts/$) or Premier (5 pts/$) Visa card. Have you showed him FT yet?

MsEverywhere

Well, for now saving money is paramount over collecting points. And his points certainly won't go to waste.

I typed up everything I thought he needed to know about Marriott. It even included a math comparison of the lovely, spacious room he has now with the Red Roof Inn, the cheapest thing I could find in the neighborhood on hotels.com. Now THAT was a 21-page treatise! And I mailed it to him along with a DL 10%-off Marriott gift card.

The next time he called, I heard him muttering "Next time I should just book the cheapest room!" But I'm sure by the time his gift card runs out, he'll appreciate what mom did by setting him up with Marriott.

I'll introduce him to MR and F/T along the way.

MsEverywhere

So far I've been FAXing the preauthorization form to the hotel and it's worked out OK.

Today when he checked into the same hotel where we had just wrapped up a multi-week stay, the hotel asked me to FAX them the front and back of my credit card.

Is that safe? I know folks sometimes include in the FAX a picture of their ID, but the credit card?

Italy98

It could be a new clerk who has not been briefed on how your son covers his charges. I would call and speak with either the Front Desk supervisor or the manager. Explain what you have done in the past, that the charges have always been approved and that you don't understand why now the process has changed.

Thanks 'Mom' ^

MsEverywhere

That sounds like a good idea. It was hard for me to do that when he called, since I was in the grocery store with my cell battery low and I just told him OK, I would FAX it in.

In the meanwhile, I made a copy of my CC and masked the first 12 digits of the account #. Since that's what most of the CC vendors do, that should protect my identity as much as other normal transactions.

duchy

A few times I've checked into Marriotts and Hiltons and only had my card that takes 10 days to clear off authorisations (whole 'nother thread in itself). These were one night stays (within one trip) and when I explained the situation with the card and was checking in late evening and out at dawn they either took nothing or a nominal amount over and above the room rate. So there ARE ways around it-I assume the room was barred to charges/external telephone etc which wasn't an issue for me. This was both a UK and US trip btw. It didn't appear to be any sort of an issue at the desk so I presume isn't uncommon.