BostonJim

I recommend not staying at the Newton Ma. hotel Indigo.

I had a reservation for 4 days here and upon showing up I was told the following by the front desk agent and then confirmed by Tarry Hrovatin the general manager.

1- My credit card would have a hold placed on it for the full anticipated room charges as well as a deposit for incidentals even though I was pre-paying the room charges in cash. I had no problem with a reasonable hold for incidentals but stated that a hold for prepaid room charges which I have already paid in cash is not needed.

2- I was also told that since the hotel is non-smoking They would also be authorizing the credit card for an additional $200.00 in case I smoked. I have never had a hotel pre-authorize a charge such as this.

3- The general manager was of no help and was very rude.

Example hold placed on card
$160.00 hold for a room which would be prepaid in cash.
200.00 Hold in case I smoked in room
50.00 for incidentals

nicolas75

I had the same story at an hotel in San Francisco. But I was not informed at check-in (and discovered it when checking my Amex account online).
I think this quite shocking for Priority Club members with all the credit card information in the reservation file.

The only good point (beside the fact the amount was of course fully refunded 2 days later) is that I got points on this amount too


I think there is no problem to ask guests to pay if they smoke in a non smoking room, but definitely not to ask them to have a pre-authorize charg for this.

Maybe some hotels are so short in cash that they try by any mean to get some...

Points Surfer

Don't like all the pre-authorization biz either. If you are a PCR member they already know all our info anyway so we should get a pass. Non PCR members I can see that but you should still also be advised in advance. Vote with you're feet and walk away if you don't like a particular business policy. Any location that gets bad press on FT I avoid too so thanks for the heads up.

Princess1

I think hotels get nervous when they know you will be paying with cash. If that will be my method of payment, I put my cc as deposit, then convert payment to cash at the end.

As for the pre-payment/deposit for smoking- that is ridiculous. Why not just charge me for destroying the room? That way it is already taken care of if I decide to have a wild party!

TXRW

Without a doubt that is too bad that you had a bad encounter with the manager, but I must tell you that I have stayed at the Hotel Indigo Newton probably > 30 nights over the past 2 years and the entire staff have been nothing but top notch every time.
FWIW, the best part of the hotel is the restaurant BOX105. It is definitely a perk to be able to go downstairs and get a great dinner after a long day without having to leave the hotel.

nicolas75

Do not forget to invite Flyertalk members if you have one

studio253

Sorry to hear your stay went so poorly. I've had nothing but good experiences at this hotel with the exception of the limited amount of parking on busy nights.

BingBongBoy

I am staying at the CP in Newton when on a Tier Point run for my BAEC, would you recommend popping over to check it out from another hotel?

MikeBOS

The CP in Newton was a Sheraton until a couple of months ago, and generally considered one of the worst in the chain on the SPG board. You might consider switching your stay to the Indigo, because I don't think they would have had time to fix the problems at the CP yet, even if they are intending to do so. Every review of the Indigo I have seen has been very positive (except the OP's), and it's very easy to get to on public transportation (adjacent to the Green Line) if you're on a mileage run.

sbagdon

Nice one! If you have the available credit line, tell them they can take as much as they want... hey, it's free points.

Another reason not to use a debit card. It's a pending charge until it's not completed (and reversed, which ups the balance back up), which sometimes reduces your available balance, which can lead to bounced transactions (if you don't have overdraft protection).

Once stayed at a nice hotel on points, and they put on a credit hold for 250 Euros. Didn't bother me as it was a hold (and not a charge), yet it was a suprise when it changed the available balance by that much!