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.
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.