t325

About a week ago, I reserved a non-refundable rate at the Holiday Inn Old Sydney because for the first time, the advance purchase rate was significantly cheaper than my employer's corporate rate I can use for leisure travel, and I'm taking this trip come hell or high water, so it made sense to pay for the room now and lock in the much lower rate.

But, it's been a week and the credit card I used to reserve my room hasn't been charged yet. It's a Barclay A+ card that I had sockdrawered for a few months and haven't used, and I'm only using it now to redeem my leftover points against this travel purchase before I cancel it when the AF comes due. So I guess I'm worried that perhaps there was a fraud alert (not sure how proactive Barclay is in actually contacting you if there's an FA, never had one) or it didn't go through for some other reason (it better with a zero balance), and that I'm going to get to the hotel after flying for 90 freaking hours or whatever it is from DFW and they will say "Sorry sir, but your credit card was declined, your reservation was canceled and there are no rooms available"

So my question is, and it's probably a dumb one, is it normal for days, if not weeks to go by before booking a nonrefundable rate and them actually charging my card? And if there are any issues with charging my card, will they shoot me an e-mail well in advance for me to take care of it, or surprise me when I get to the front desk?

mitpat474

yes its normal

scubaccr

If hotel tried processing your CC and it was declined hotel would either contact you or simply cancel your reservation OR even wait to bill you at checkin if hotel occupancy is low on your dates, so room would otherwise go unsold

Hotels being franchises charge at at a multitude of different times, for long expensive prepaid stays hotels tend to use CC straight away just In case ,

whereas on cheaper 1night stays I am sometimes charged at checkin as hotel doesn't want to process twice first room then deposit on checkin
I also often find hotel cashiers depts charge us, but are only staffed Mon-Fri so if booking on a Friday for the immediate weekend, more often than not I get billed at checkin for those late booked weekend stays

Regards you reservation status right now .....
If your reservation is stil alive on your account page then the hotel has not cancelled the room

hcuk94

In my experience, despite what the rate conditions say, it is rare that IHG hotels charge at the time of booking, or even any time BEFORE your stay.

Usually in my experience, they use the rate as a guarantee that if you don't show up then they can charge your card, but other than that, they treat it like any normal stay i.e. pre-authorise your card on check in, and charge you the final amount when you check out.

Also for a considerable amount of time I had changed card due to losing my old one, and I never updated my IHG profile. I booked all kinds of stays, both best flexible and advance purchase, and none of them ever flagged up an issue as when it came to the stay I just paid with my current card. Obviously if you didn't show up and they tried to charge you though, you would expect them to be in touch.

perthite

I've had prepaid rates get charged to my card at pretty much any time between booking the room and check-out. Usually within a week or so, but certainly had some not charged till I checked-out.

CalItalian

The individual property does the charging so it is up to them when they do it.

FonzieBone

I'm not sure who initiates the charge. But I've had charges w/in 3 days after booking the advance saver rate (CP Rome St. Peters), and and sometimes not until a few days before the stay (HI Munich City Center).

Based only on my own experience, seems like a complete crapshoot to me.

vexorg

I've booked holiday inn on a non-refundable booking then it has been take off immediately, then others have been taken off at the check out time, or a few days after.

It must depend on the individual hotel.

tentseller

This has been my experience with the prepaid rate as well.

econ

Apologies for bringing up an old thread, but was curious if anything has changed at all as far as when credit cards are charged for Advance Purchase rates? Is it still pretty uncertain about when the charges happen (anytime between booking & check-out)?

Reason is because the deadline is coming up for a spending bonus offer on my IHG MC that I'm close to reaching, and I was considering booking an Advance Purchase rate for a stay that occurs just after that deadline. But I don't want to do that if the card isn't going to be charged until around the time of the stay.

:D!

Cards are charged when the hotel feels like charging them. Sometimes not at all. If it is important that you are charged by a certain time, you can ask on the specific thread for that property to see if anyone has booked recently. Or book and if you haven't been charged after 2 or 3 working days, call the property and ask them to charge you immediately.

hclee01

My personal experiences is that some hotels will usually charge around 1-3 days after reservation is made. But my recent reservation at Shanghai Ruijin IC hotel, they do not charge the card at all. Instead, I paid for the room rates only upon check-out.

outoftown

I asked one HIE hotel. I use a Citi Visa that lets me know when anyone is charging the card through a Confirmation of Purchase – Card Not Present notice. I got a notice around 3pm the day I was to check in although I wasn't going to check in unitl 9pm or after. The hotel manager told me that I wouldn't believe all the reservations made with bad CC's, so when the hotel is getting full, they clear out bad reservations by checking the CC's to make sure they are valid. Ones that aren't are removed and rooms opened up for new reservations. The HIE hotel I am in now is no where near full, but I got the notice this evening for the entire 3 day billing, although I checked in yesterday.

econ

Thanks for all the responses! Doesn't appear that I can rely on when the card will be charged after booking, so will put other spend (despite unfavorable earnings rate ) on the card instead in order to get the bonus.

Stealthmode

Last month I had an unpleasant experience. Booked a refundable Best Flex Your Rate at the Indigo Düsseldorf, when I presented my credit card at check-in I was told "not necessary Sir, we already charged your card yesterday".

When I complained and said that I'm the one who decides when and how I pay for a hotelstay, since the CC is only a guarantee, the friendly receptionist tried to convince me that this was common practice at all hotels. As she had already welcomed me as a Spire Ambassador she must have known I'm a frequent IHG guest who knows better. Later a supervisor reached out to me, and explained they had every right since the cancellation deadline had passed, but they would add a note to my profile to remember for future stays. NOT amused!

For the rest I can recommend this hotel; proper upgrade to highest room category, always friendly staff and reasonable priced breakfast with wide spread of premium quality food items.