Originally Posted by
MDtR-Chicago
Don't know if Marriott works this way, but with Hilton a pre-paid room from hilton.com or a third party website does NOT transmit the credit card information to the hotel property.
So a guest could pay "by CC" but the hotel would have no way to settle any incidentals.
Combine that with a hyperactive front desk and you get this story, maybe?
only way there isn't a cc on file is if the guest paid via a 3rd party (i.e. hotwire, priceline, etc) otherwise there is a cc on file to guarantee the room, even if its a pre-paid rate from the hotel's website. Even so, there should be a cc on file since the guest checked in and if there was not enough authorization to cover the whole stay plus incidentals then the fda would see that during the check in process so this is an odd issue to see happen.