Originally Posted by bradster66

Hello fellow travelers,

I'm about to call my corporate credit card company (Citi) and file a dispute so I thought others might have some feedback, opinion, or previous experience with a similar situation. In a nutshell, a hotel charged the credit card in my profile for incidentals for a stay I did not make. I'll explain. They refuse to reverse the credit. No response from Marriott Rewards. I'm Platinum if that matters in this situation.

Last year I earned a few of the free night vouchers that MR periodically give out. Two of them were due to expire 12/31/11 and I was not going to use them. I made a reservation online for one night for another person. They checked in, provided a credit card for incidentals, called me the next day to say 'thanks', and off we go.

Last Friday while doing an expense report I notice a $250.75 charge on my corporate credit card from that hotel. Almost a month old charge and I didn't have any receipt or indication it had been charged. This is the credit card in my profile that I use to hold reservations.

I call the hotel and leave a message for the general manager who call me back two days ago. She did some research and found that the room had been smoked in. A big no-no as we all know. I ask why my card was charged and she says that the card they accepted at check-in was declined. She offered to remove the charge from my corporate card if I provide another form of payment or get the person who stayed at the hotel to pay.

Embarassing and frustrating is what this is. First, I stay in their properties for business by choice. Secondly, a reward voucher is given to someone I know who violates their policy on smoking. Ergo I'm right in the middle of something when in hindsight I wish that I'd let the voucher just expire.

I called Marriott Customer Care and they submitted something to the hotel directly which went to the person I'd spoken to at the hotel. Here is her response via email:

"As I told you earlier today, we had no recourse but to charge the credit card on file. The reservation was made under your name, and we did follow protocol in getting a credit card for incidentals since the stay was on points. After the guest checked out and our staff discovered that the guest smoked in the room (there were multiple beer bottles full of distinguished cigarettes and a very strong odor) we attempted to charge the credit card presented for incidentals. It was at the time that the card was declined because of non sufficient funds.

I will make an attempt to contact your relative and obtain another form of payment, however, if they do not respond, or are unable to provide one, I am going to have to leave the charges on the card that was on file."
The issue at hand is not your protocol for securing a credit card for incidentals nor is it regarding your smoking policy. What we have a conflict about is that you used an unauthorized form of payment as ‘back up.’

You can see they are holding their ground. Here is my response in which there has been radio silence. I also copied in Marriott Rewards.

"Here are a few points to consider:

• The credit card on file in my profile is there only to hold reservations I make. It is not on file as an automatic payment method.
• A form or payment is always presented upon check-in. Either the form of payment used to reserve the room (my credit card was not) or another form of payment is presented to the front desk along with a valid ID. This happens every time I check-in to any hotel.
• It is the vendor’s responsibility to ensure sufficient funds are available for incidentals – not mine.
• It is the vendor’s responsibility to recover funds which they failed to reserve – not mine.
• The reservation was in my name only because I reserved the room using an earned voucher; however, the actual business transaction was between the party who provided a payment method upon check-in and the hotel.
• I would argue that since I did not authorize this transaction fraud and/or theft of funds was committed.

Two customer care agents I spoke with today immediately agreed with my position. I chose to contact you directly before involving Marriott corporate because it gave you the opportunity to correct this mistake. If I am not notified by close of business tomorrow, 1/31/12, that the charge of $250.75 has been refunded then I will be filing a dispute with my financial institution."

Please let me know your thoughts on the situation or if clarification is needed. There does not seem to be any written policy on this situtation that I can find. Doesn't mean it's not out there. I'm hoping I'm not crazy in my position and thanks for listening.

Brad