Originally Posted by MePlatPremier

This is a very wide generalization and it really depends on the issuing bank and its jurisdiction.

I almost always use a prepaid debit Revolut card when I’m abroad, which carries purchase protection, awards 0.8% cashback and is very easy to manage, including the ability to freeze at will and stop unwanted/unanticipated charges. I have separate physical cards to use at different merchants (one for hotels, one for street shopping, etc), each one with its own spending cap, and all charging to the same common account.

After a trip to India a few years ago, someone tried to do fraudulent ghost charges on one of the cards I used on my trip (1 INR exploratory charges, to check if the card is active in preparation of follow-up higher-amount charges). Because I had freezed that specific card (which I only use for everyday spend while on a trip) all those fraud attempts were declined by Revolut.

I also use on of these cards for checkin preauthorizations at hotels. And immediately after checking-in I also freeze the card. I’ve had several hotels try to process additional charges to that card (usually when my pending bill goes over a certain % of the preauthorised amount) only for Revolut to decline them. Of course, I settle my full bill at checkout by unfreezing the card again and authorizing final settlement of that transaction to my card.

Some countries do not allow preauthorizations on debit cards (Turkey, Vietnam). In that case i just tell the hotel to do a full charge and keep that amount as deposit at check-in.

Originally Posted by catocony

As to why anyone would have a problem giving someone an ID whenever asked, in the United States, there are a lot of people who are simply against "papers please" attitudes. They want an actual reason to see an ID, as in what's the purpose and what's the manner you want an ID. I think for US hotels, it's more for insurance liability purposes.

However, front desk clerks aren't going to know a fake ID from a real one, and don't really care. There job is to ask to see one, and few care beyond that. There is no national ID in the US, so most people's single form of photo ID that they carry while in the US is their drivers license. Each state does their own thing, and many states have more than one type.

Thus, it's simply security theater, and we see where that's gotten us at airports over the last 20 years. That's why the OP and others reading this thread are against handing over their ID unless there's a valid reason to do so. Boarding a plane? There's federal law that de facto demands it, and if it's an international flight, there are actual federal and foreign country laws that demand it. Renting a car? US car rental agencies need to see your drivers license because you need a drivers license to drive. That's pretty straightforward.

A hotel clerk wanting to put hands on an ID that they actually can't do any security check on because they don't know how and don't really care? That's just stupid and many of us don't have a pavlovian need to do stupid stuff because someone thinks they require us to do it.