Originally Posted by simpleflyer

In the travel business it is not unusual for hotels, etc., to ask for a credit card number as a means of securing the contract - for that matter, of making the contract (since for the client to proffer a cc number is, in this context, the equivalent of making a payment and thus agreeing to terms, even if the charge isn't run through at the time.)

If your travel agency is using your credit card for such purpose, but then turning around and indicating a preference for cash, such that the CC company is paid nothing, then it would seem that the CC company is being defrauded. Its services have been used, in effect, to help make the transaction - but the enabling party is then attempting to avoid paying it anything for using such service. Can it really be, as an earlier poster implies, that in such instance, this would be acceptable practice under the law?

Regardless, I refused to take a room with a hotel in Italy after it asked me for my CC number for the reservation, but made clear that only cash payment would be acceptable as a means of settlement. Upon arrival in the town in question, I discovered that the hotel was perfectly willing to take CC as payment for its restaurant operations - in other words, we're not talking about a hotel that is so small, it doesn't normally use credit cards at all.