Originally Posted by
Crazyhotelguy
Lesson learned. Never check into a hotel with a debit card!!! Frustrating and inconvenient, yes... Nightmare, no.
The banks do not treat pre auths on a debit card the same as a credit card. While the hotel should have pre-authed the individual guests' cards, ultimately it is up to your bank to release the authorization. Even if a hotel reverses or voids the pre auth today, it can take 3-15 business days for the bank to release it.
Jepp. This comes up again, and again, and again, and again.
Unwary travellers use debit cards for car rentals, or hotels, and don't understand why their balance decreases (hold).
Use a creditcard gets a +1 ^ from me.