Originally Posted by
craigthemif
Assuming that the electronic key card is programmed until the end of the reservation, wouldn't it be rather inconvenient to leave the room thereafter? The front desk would have to reissue a key?
Yes. Their key should not work. However, that is when the guest is notified of the change in terms-- when they go to get their key renewed.
And one could easily have checked in using a low limit credit card so, unless the hotel processes a charge each day to confirm the guest is still "paying", it would be rather easy to run up a large bill that never gets paid, before absconding in the middle of the night or something...
Every night (after the audit run), the hotel runs an over-the-limit credit report for all of the guests. And an additional credit authorization will be made to cover the cost of the anticipated final bill. Moreover, no hotel (which follows procedure) would extend the stay of a guest-- particularly on over-stay-- without getting an additional credit authorization.