Finishing up a 15-day trip.

I stayed 2 nights in Rouen and will stay 2 nights in Paris before returning to the US.

The Rouen hotel put €90 on my card for security charge. I don't recall seeing that before.

Then this morning, the Paris hotel which I will be checking into this afternoon charged €150 so I emailed them and they said it's a security deposit.

I don't recall seeing this practice before. Certainly they have your card number already so they can charge it for damage that they claim. But to preemptively charge the cards?

I stayed at a little family-run hotel in Fréjus during this trip and they didn't put a charge on it.

Don't recall this practice in other European countries either.

Oh and 2 nights in Paris, the taxe de séjour is almost €17.

But France is such a popular destination, I guess they can do these things.