I suppose the best way to avoid extra hotel charges in general is to do a manual check out at the desk and request a walk through of the room. Who knows, what if you check out and when the maid goes in to clean the room, everything is found to be very much trashed.

In this specific case about extra nights charged, the case should resolve itself in the guest's favor, assuming that the hotel touts automatic checkout with sliding the final folio under the door in the morning. The paper the hotel slid under the door should govern when the number of nights is questioned.

When disputing things on your credit card, be sure to do it in writing and save a copy of all papers.

I would probably not call the hotel long distance, but might call if they had an 800 number. It is OK to write the hotel, handwriting is OK if you find that quicker than word processing. If you don;t get a timely reply, dispute it with the credit card company anyway within the time limit described on the credit card bill.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

Many many years ago, before they tore down my favorite beach amusement park and built a condominium in its place, I was coming back from the beach and stopped at a gas station. I got a credit card billing for a much larger amount. I wrote to the credit card company only to dispute it, saying that "although I patronize that station a lot, my car does not hold that much gas." The entire wrong charge disappeared from my bill and the correct charge never appeared in its place. Seems like one of the pump jockeys decided to pull a fast one just before quitting for the summer to go back to college.



[This message has been edited by AllanJ (edited 11-28-2002).]