WARNING

If I can keep one person from going through what I'm going through right now, this post will be worth it.

Apparently, some MI hotels are now doing a special "Platinum Check-In" where all they do is hand you the key and you can go to your room, saving you the 30 seconds it takes to scan your credit card. Even if you give them the card, they are not scanning it.

Recently, my company replaced our credit cards with ones that have the a new logo, number, and expiration date. I made a reservation at the RDU Crabtree FS with the old card, but handed them the new card upon checking in. Somehow, a third card number appeared on the invoice. (I now realize.)

Anyway, long story short ... I've called the hotel. I've called MI directly. I've had invoices from several other stays faxed to me. I've been treated rudely. I've hung up after holding for a supervisor for thirty minutes. I've spoken to the hotel manager directly. I've done everything possible except get charged for the room. Of course, my fear is this will get corrected in a month and won't get on this years' expenses.

Be sure your credit card gets swiped when you check into an MI property. If the clerk tells you it's not necessary, don't believe him/her. Something has gone very wrong here that could have been avoided if the credit card was swiped at check-in. The amount of time I've spent on this already is greater than the 30 minutes total I would have spent getting my card swiped at 60 check-ins this year!

If anyone from Marriott is reading this, I'm still waiting for this to be corrected. I've faxed the RDU Crabtree FS again, but getting billed for a room seems to be to complicated for them. (Why do so many issues pop up when I stay in this property?)

Haven't experienced what you did & it certainly sounds frustrating. Had something similar though.

Made a reservation 9 months out for a int'l property; used cc to confirm that I closed a few months later. When I checked in they swiped the new card & put the appropriate hold on the card. When I went to check out (at 5am European time to catch a flight) they asked if I wanted to keep it on the same credit card. I said yes, they said card denied. I spent a lot of $$ on phone call back to the US before we finally figured out that Marriott clerk was trying to charge the card that had been closed/the original ressie had been made with & not the one given to them at check-in. Grrr!

And this year (same property) if they tried to do the authorization w/o swiping it got denied, but if it was swiped it went through no problem. Go figure.

Cheers.

Thats one thing I do like about "not checking out" in the USA... outside the US I generally find that the front desk needs you to settle the bill. in the usa, I don't even remember the last time I went to the front desk to check out. Just look at the bill that was under my door (and if I agree) then leave.

You want to make sure your card is swiped at all times when checking in to a hotel unless a debit card. As person that works at the front desk at a major hotel, we want to swipe cards to prevent credit card fraud and credit card disputes. If you are regular guest at a hotel the hotel may not need to swipe your card because they know you never dispute a bill and that your status earns you the right for a quicker check-in and we also have checked you in so many times we know your name and rewards number by heart...Why would we need your credit card!
My suggestion is to call the hotel and ask for the Director (executive member) in the Accounting Department. Also, contact Marriott Customer Care and they will issue an alert to the hotel. Most major brands customer care departments can do this for you. If your a rewards guest and high level... Make sure you fill out the survey and contact the Elite Desk!

Because I may have a new card. Because someone earlier in the day may have run through my second card because of a glitch with my first. Because I may want to use a specific card to get specific points or charge a specific part of my company. (With a previous employer, I had a card to use for certain types of trips and another to use for a second type of trip.)

The hotel should never assume what card they think I'm going to want to use to charge the stay. For many people, it will not be the card they used to hold the reservation. If they do swipe ahead, they should clearly ask if this is the card you wish to use, not take the card you handed them and neglect to tell you they were doing nothing with it. Can you really not see the problem here? I'm indicating I want the card in hand charged, I gave it to the hotel, the act like it's being charged, but just go ahead and charge whatever card they please.

Even though I've been a regular guest at this hotel, I got a new credit card. The card on file and card used for the reservation was no longer valid. My company sent us new cards. Rather than ask me, they just charged another card.

Their policy is to use your second card if your first doesn't go through. That is wrong, as my second card is a personal card. The card handed to them and the card no longer valid were business cards. I can understand doing this if I was a no-show, swapping out cards when I showed up late. But the hotel staff is so dishonest, incompetent, and/or lazy that they used a card that wasn't on file for me, nor did it belong to me. They used a stranger's card. There is just no scenario where that should happen.

The worst part is the difficulty MI and this particular hotel both have in correcting their mistake. Stuff happens. It shouldn't take numerous phone calls, faxes, and online rants to get it corrected.

All of what you suggest was done more than once before posting this information. Finally, just before five this afternoon, I called the hotel and spoke to the one competent person who works there. (It must be frustrating for her.) She indicated that she was the correct person to handle this. I'm confused, then, why this was the first time my call had been directed to her and that this was the first she was hearing of the issue, despite my having called and faxed and been promised by MI that this would be looked into.

Going forward, I will always make a property undo any credit card charge made before I got there and insist that the clerk redo the check-in with the card they've been handed by me right then. I'd recommend anyone and everyone to do the same. This has not been an easy, quick, or pleasurable experience. Standing at the counter for an extra 30 seconds is much more time efficient than going through what I've been going through the past week.

Just thought I'd support jksflyer. Whilst clearly the invalid credit card has caused you significant problems CJKatl I have only benefited from the policy of not swiping a card at check-in. At my regular hotel it lets me breeze in (I get an envelope with my pre-cut room key which cuts checkin down to about 5 seconds as the staff notice me walking in the door and pass my envelope....). I suspect you could ask for a note to be made on your file if you don't want this to happen but for most guests I imagine it is an advantage rather than a disadvantage (and makes you feel a valued customer over 'normal' guests who are not trusted and have to have their card swiped - many of us are probably in a more simple situation than yourself though, so I use only a single card for my checkins , and sometimes change the checkout card (but don't mind if it is accidentally charged to the wrong card)

However, I had an unfortunate credit card expiry earlier in the year (for the card I gaurenteed all my reservations against) that meant I had to ask a poor plat desk agent to change around 30 reservations from the new to old card - but this happened smoothly and easily without any follow through problems!

Also, hate to say it but;
Surely if you make a reservation and gaurentee it to a card then the logical choice for a hotel would be you want to use that one for the stay itself - most customers probably only have 1/2credit cards anyway (even I tend to close down a card I don't use once I've got the bonus points I want out of it) and would use that card for the stay.

BUT - let me be quite clear - once the problem was identified the resolution should have been simpler, and also less troublesome and appreciate the problems you were having.

PS: You mention a third number... is that another card on your profile they chose as the first card had been closed?

Good for you if you are benefiting, but I think this is something people should think about carefully. If, for whatever reason, the hotel does not get an approval, they will just move on to another card. If your bank's system is down for a minute, you won't be told they moved on to your second card. You will not know this until you go to do your expense reports. If you get reimbursed from your company or pay out of pocket, this won't be a big deal. But if you work for a company that requires all expenses be done through a corporate card, you run the risk of having to do the several hours of leg work. I'll take the extra 30 seconds at check-in.

The third number belongs to some stranger. It's not now nor never was my number. (Although I've checked all my credit card statements for two months back up to yesterday twice, even the cards I don't use and the cards on which I'm a co-signer or authorized user.) It probably belonged to some poor sap who also was staying the hotel that night. Whoever did the early check-in was very, very careless. For all I know, it's your card. Yet another reason I don't want them doing the credit card before I get there. Who knows whose room they're going to charge to my card? Obviously, once they get those card numbers out, there's not much care taken sometimes to ensure the right card is charged to the right room.

At a minimum, when an alternate card had to be used, it should be brought to the customer's attention. When a card was declined it should be brought to the customer's attention. When a customer hands the card to the front desk, but the desk agent is not using that card, it should be brought to the customer's attention. Prior to this, it did not occur to me to say to the clerk that I wanted the room charged to the cc I gave him and he is holding while I'm getting my room key. It seems pretty obvious, doesn't it?

Since this particular hotel is not good about bringing things to the customer's attention, I thought it important enough to post here as a warning. Check which card is on your invoice, and check your cc statements carefully to be sure a hotel like this one didn't charge my, or someone else's, room to you.

I checked into Hunt Valley Marriott today and I noticed they didn't swipe my credit card. I will be sure to examine the bill in the morning and do a manual out tomorrow to make sure that all goes smoothly with the cc. I have 2 cc's in my profile - one is an Amex and if they bill it to that one (I reserved it on my MR visa), I wont' get promo points credit.

I'm going to go delete the Amex from my profile now.

Again I'm going to back up the OP here. I get the 30 seconds inconvenience, but not if it's offset by 20 minutes or more (my case) or the OPs (much more) in trying to get it sorted out.

In my case I gave them a new card, they swiped it for a hold (w/ a HUGE amount beyond the stay which totally fubar'd me for 7 days before it dropped off!!), and then when I checked out tried to charge the original card which was closed, rather than the one given to them!

It cost an extra 20 minutes at check-out, a lot of $$ on phone calls back to the US to sort out the hotel's screw-up, and I got charged extra by the cab because they had to wait for 20 extra minutes while I sorted out the bill. I did make them pay the extra cab fare; I should have made them pay the extra phone bill.

Like the OP - lesson learned. I now make sure at check-in my card is swiped & at check-out when they say use the same card I verify it's the card I used at check-in.

Cheers.

I checked into the MI in Honolulu and noticed they swiped my black visa card. And they did give me the credit on checkout like they were supposed to. Now to see if the charges do show up on my visa statement.

Thanks to the OP for the heads up! I'll be sure to make sure they swipe the card I present for check-in and nothing else.

Sanosuke!

I have left an old credit card number on my account from my previous employer to guarantee a room and just changed the expiration year to year. That way, the hotel HAS to get a new card to swipe each time I check in. I am glad I have done it this way to avoid this type of mess. While intentions are good, it really has caused more pain than help. Thus, why I do not do Platinum Pass from Renaissance.....

Hence my warning...

The situation you put yourself in is the exact situation I was in with this hotel. I thought everything would be fine since the credit card on file no longer worked and I handed them the good card at check-in. I didn't know that before my arrival, some irresponsible, careless hotel clerk just found some credit card that would work - not mine - plugged the number in and caused me hours of needless runaround. Apparently when the desk clerk was handed my credit card at check-in, she just pretended to do something with it and handed it back to me.

Granted, virtually all other MI properties are better run than the Raleigh Crabtree FS, where this happened. (I faxed the manager a note on Sunday asking for someone to call on Monday. Of course, nobody did call, so I called a few minutes before five and, hopefully, finally got someone who appeared to know what she was doing to correct this. On Tuesday, the manager calls and says he hoped someone called me on Monday. Umm, isn't he the manager? Don't they keep a log? He has not a clue what goes on with his staff or property, and it shows. The desk staff and housekeeping feel free to say whatever they want, trash other employees to customers, not follow through, and, yes, outright lie. Oddly enough, the CL staff is above this. I've started staying at the not-as-nice but hassle free Embassy Suites next door.)

I'd be concerned that that agent didnt use your credit card for anything else....ive never, ever seen something like this before so I would check your statements carefully.......

Thanks. Agreed. I've combed through them twice already! It's the person whose card she used that I really feel for. I have doubts that the hotel credited that card back, so that person will possibly pay for a night in a hotel that nobody used.

Seems to me that there are two separate issues which shouldn't be combined. The first is using the stranger's card. I'm going to chalk that up to an operator error.

But I have to disagree with you about the backup card. It seems to me perfectly reasonable that if you present a credit card and the credit card is later declined for whatever reason, whether its a bank error or insufficient credit/funds, then the hotel is perfectly within its rights to use the card that you have on file. If you don't want that card to be used, then don't include it in your profile.

I don't think its the hotel's job to track you down to get payment from you if it is unable to obtain payment from the primary card.