And one day I returned to my room (Renaissance) in NYC with a credit card that didn't work, an ATM card that didn't work, about 30 cents in my pocket, and a message to call the front desk. Very scarry. I have learned to call Visa and MC customer service ahead of time and they will document my travel cities and dates. And one time I wanted to make activity on an old card so I called customer service and said "please turn it on so I can use it for a month". In the end I was not upset because it is all about security. They have very complex computer programs that compare where we usually use the card with situations that are out of the ordinary.