I noticed today that my Marriott profile is set up with a credit card that I cancelled 6 months ago (actually, my Marriott VISA, which I really should get around to signing up for again to get some more bonus points). Obviously, I give a different credit card when I check in (that would be the United VISA), so the only thing the cancelled card is used for is to hold the room.

Of course, if I ever failed to cancel a room, they'd try charging it to the expired card on file. Fortunately, I'm very diligent with my cancellations - and lucky with flights, I guess - and I've never had to pay a no-show fee in my life.

But, it got me thinking.... could a person just make up a credit card number to hold a room? What do hotels typically do to verify the "holding" card. My guess is, they don't do much.

Personally, I don't like the ethics of trying to prevent a no-show charge when cancellations are typically so easy. On the other hand, if some hotel has an unreasonable cancellation policy, this may be a way to protect oneself if you're unable to cancel within that unreasonable period.