Thanks for those insights into the arcane world of credit card transactions. ^

This business of "holds" has bitten me before. When travelling various hotels, car rental agencies, etc are all doing "pre-authorisations" and then, as I understand it, doing an entirely new transaction to settle the final bill. Naturally this chews up the credit limit by doubling (or more, since they add a margin for what you might spend on incidentals) everything up.

Once, a hotel desk clerk specifically told me he was doing something (building the transaction on the pre-authorisation "hold" it seemed) to prevent a double hit on my credit limit until the "hold" was released. But most vendors just seem to start a new transaction. Am I correct in this layman's analysis? And is there a way to request vendors to release the "holds"?