Originally Posted by
jksflyer
If you are regular guest at a hotel the hotel may not need to swipe your card because they know you never dispute a bill and that your status earns you the right for a quicker check-in and we also have checked you in so many times we know your name and rewards number by heart...Why would we need your credit card!
Because I may have a new card. Because someone earlier in the day may have run through my second card because of a glitch with my first. Because I may want to use a specific card to get specific points or charge a specific part of my company. (With a previous employer, I had a card to use for certain types of trips and another to use for a second type of trip.)
The hotel should never assume what card they think I'm going to want to use to charge the stay. For many people, it will not be the card they used to hold the reservation. If they do swipe ahead, they should clearly ask if this is the card you wish to use, not take the card you handed them and neglect to tell you they were doing nothing with it. Can you really not see the problem here? I'm indicating I want the card in hand charged, I gave it to the hotel, the act like it's being charged, but just go ahead and charge whatever card they please.
Even though I've been a regular guest at this hotel, I got a new credit card. The card on file and card used for the reservation was no longer valid. My company sent us new cards. Rather than ask me, they just charged another card.
Their policy is to use your second card if your first doesn't go through. That is wrong, as my second card is a personal card. The card handed to them and the card no longer valid were business cards. I can understand doing this if I was a no-show, swapping out cards when I showed up late. But the hotel staff is so dishonest, incompetent, and/or lazy that they used a card that wasn't on file for me, nor did it belong to me. They used a stranger's card. There is just no scenario where that should happen.
The worst part is the difficulty MI and this particular hotel both have in correcting their mistake. Stuff happens. It shouldn't take numerous phone calls, faxes, and online rants to get it corrected.
Originally Posted by
jksflyer
My suggestion is to call the hotel and ask for the Director (executive member) in the Accounting Department. Also, contact Marriott Customer Care and they will issue an alert to the hotel. Most major brands customer care departments can do this for you. If your a rewards guest and high level... Make sure you fill out the survey and contact the Elite Desk!
All of what you suggest was done more than once before posting this information. Finally, just before five this afternoon, I called the hotel and spoke to the one competent person who works there. (It must be frustrating for her.) She indicated that she was the correct person to handle this. I'm confused, then, why this was the first time my call had been directed to her and that this was the first she was hearing of the issue, despite my having called and faxed and been promised by MI that this would be looked into.
Going forward, I will always make a property undo any credit card charge made before I got there and insist that the clerk redo the check-in with the card they've been handed by me right then. I'd recommend anyone and everyone to do the same. This has not been an easy, quick, or pleasurable experience. Standing at the counter for an extra 30 seconds is much more time efficient than going through what I've been going through the past week.