IHG's GRS (Global Reservation System) has never charged my card before arrival, which is one positive item abt IHG's systems [b/c IHG systems errors, lack of features etc are a negative in general]. Note experience with Hilton below, which is a bit similar to retiltxet
Hilton (and sometimes Radisson) i book Advance Purchase rates and a few times the properties charged my card before arrival (sometimes some days in advance when reservation no longer cancellable, sometimes day of arrival 30-60 minutes after midnight when regular check-in is at 14:00h)
After these experiences, a Lifetime Diamond Hilton member provided a virtual Mastercard number expiring in 2025 .. what happened?
1) when Hilton's system tries to charge my card some days in advance, they notice the card isn't valid and ask for a valid card (one time the message said if no card provided the reservation would be cancelled).
2) chatted with Lifetime Diamond member, who said they wouldn't cancel on a Diamond member
Couple of times i actually responded to these overzealous accounting/collection properties
(a) that my bank (Visa / MC issuer) won't allow the booking on mobile/website but does allow at Vendor Point-of-Sale card machine
AND (b) another main reason is that i want to pay cash in local currency because for less-common currencies my bank has large % spread on the exchange rate and i prefer to take Euro/USD cash and change at local bureau de change at much closer to market currency rates and pay with cash
3) when showed up at hotel, there was no problem
Originally Posted by
retiltxet
That depends on the length of time until the reservation - these types of authorization last no longer than 31 days. If a merchant submits a charge under an expired authorization - a chargeback can easily be won under a code 11.3 chargeback for Visa, Code 4808 for MC and 4521 for Amex, and no evidence is required.
The game is easy to win if you know the rules.
Originally Posted by
retiltxet
1) You can go into the reservation on your IHG account and change the rate at any time with no penalty - for example from a restricted rate to a flex rate.
2) When you put your credit card details in the system for a reservation - no preauthorisation is generated. Hence the card needs to be live at the time of charge in order to charge it. Recurring charges (which is not this) can be marked by the merchant as such and mastercard/visa/amex have a "card updater" service which actually provides them your new card number. A helpful tip I suggest is to use a Revolut virtual card with each new booking - these can be terminated at any time and are properly unable to be charged no matter what the merchant may do. Someone is undoubtedly going to mention your IHG rewards account etc. I've never had this affect my rewards account even with last minute cancellations. Hotels generally just cop it and move on. If you are concerned just do a generic booking with no rewards number in the future.
If the hotel charges you - send a copy of that email - do a chargeback and move on.