Originally Posted by
ScottC
Problem is that many hotels keep the hold on debit cards for up to a week after the stay. If you are looking at $100/day on a 5 night trip, that is quite a bit of cash to have tied away.
Depends how it's processed.
If it's processed as a charge, then a refund is issued at check-out and you will get your money back in the normal timeframe any other refund will take (though some banks are horrible--Wells Fargo notoriously takes almost a full month to post any refunds back into customers' accounts).
If it's processed as an authorization-only transaction, which is what hotels and rental car agencies do with credit cards, then the hotel has no control over how long that hold is valid for. It is entirely up to the bank that issues your card as to how long they'll keep that hold on your money until they determine the merchant isn't likely to submit a charge against that authorization. Some banks will hold an authorization for only a few days; others will hold onto it for a full month. But unless the hotel does a special request (sometimes involving a faxed request on hotel letterhead) directly to the bank, the authorization will just sit there until the card-issuing bank decides to release it.
Ironically, the $500 hold can be voided within a couple days if the merchant submits a charge of
any amount against that authorization. So if you take one thing from the minibar for $5 and the hotel submits that $5 against the $500 hold, the other $495 will be released as the bank sees that it is no longer needed.