Originally Posted by pogonation

On arrival I was met and taken to the check in area which is next to the lounge bar. We were seated and they took our passports and credit card away for check-in. Service was already a bit patchy and confused at this point which is fine since it only opened yesterday. We were offered water or juice while we waited (the orange juice was proper fresh juice with bits ^). A few minutes later the check-in agent returned with my card saying it had been declined.. no probs, must be my bank so I gave him another card... comes back again saying this was declined too.. I asked him how much he was putting on my card as a deposit (I keep about £500 in my card at a time and transfer money from my savings as I go) and was told they were trying to take a $1200 room deposit

I was amazed at this and explained that I had never paid more than $300 at any hyatt worldwide so asked for an explanation from the manager. I met with the room manager who explained that they take they take a pre-authorisation for the full room cost plus $100/day for incidentals. I found this very odd and offered to pay either $900 (room rate) as an advance purchase with the $300 deposit or a $300 deposit only. My visa card will only return the blocked amount after 1-2 weeks so I would be travelling with $1000 less in my account for the next few weeks which isn't really an option for me.