A friend of mine stayed at an international chain hotel recently.

On checking out he - or she - attempted to apply a monetary discount voucher to the bill. Front desk didn't really know what to do so made some phone calls. This whole scenario took around 20 minutes and at the end the receptionist simply cancelled all charges - including taxes - other than a small phone bill.

This significantly overvalued the vouchers and was brought to the attention of front desk, but they said that was that.

A few points have now posted to the guests frequent stay account. Can the hotel now audit the bill and try to claw back the correct rate via the credit card left as an imprint?

No ... the orignal charge for the phone call has already been recorded. The other charge would be fradulent. If they did I would report it as a unauthorized charge.

A couple years back on a cash and points stay at the Sheraton Seattle the hotel insisted that the cash portion of the rate gets charged back to SPG.

I tried a couple times to sort out the mess. Lines at the front desk were ~ 45 minutes throughout much of the weekend, there was a Starbucks convention at the hotel. Still, I made an honest effort, to no avail.

About a week later the full charges and then some showed up on my credit card. Calls to the hotel were not returned.

So I opened a hotel with SPG's then-Hotel Customer Service and I was credited back the overcharge plus some SPG points for my troubles (on top of the SPG points they gave me for a light fixture coming crashing down in the bathroom and a few other abnormalities during the stay).

In the end I was charged what I owed and I had no issue with that, though it was a nuisance trying to sort things out during the stay and having to sort things out after the fact, points notwithstanding.

I've been back to the Sheraton Seattle and I do like the property (more than the Westin, less than the W).

It's a real devaluation that SPG Corporate Customer Care doesn't let you open a hotel for any problems. I think they should let me open a hotel too if I have any issues with a stay.

If you ask nicely, they might put you in charge of an Element or Aloft property. Lots of expansion coming up for Starwood!

I am sure they will let almost anyone "open a hotel" but it will not be cheap nor will there feew be modest for your use of their management services, etc.

Just kidding----------

I've always liked to open hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place.

D'oh. Opened [u]a file[/i]. D'oh.

Anyway, I think it's reasonably legit for a hotel to come back to you for money you owe a few days after a stay, but should certainly offer you some accomodation for the inconvenience (provided it was their screwup).

Isn't that the whole point of signing the receipt? "Please look over the receipt to make sure all the charges are correct." A hotel can't charge you (maybe I should say "shouldn't") after the initial charge if they forgot to include something in your bill. Worst case scenario you could get it fixed through the credit card company.

Yeah, but if the charges aren't correct then they have every right to come after you for the difference you owe. It's as if you were in the supermarket and by mistake some items weren't rung up. On your way out, they might stop you and ask you to pay for the items. Would you refuse saying the cashier had her chance to charge me for them?

Do you really want to know?

Touch�.

Well, yes, I see your point, but there should also be some reasonable amount of time they have to do this in. Can you imagine your mechanic calling you and saying that 3 years ago he charged you too little for your brake pads and to come pony up more cash? I'm not sure what the reasonable amount of time should be for a hotel, but for room rate issues (not incidentals that may not be discovered until after you leave the property), the day of checkout MAY be reasonable.

Guys - thanks for the debate so far and I have a quick update for you...

The hotel has hit my AMEX with something that approximates to the correct amount. I don't know if they've advised me of the charge as i'm still travelling, but I will obviously be sending them a letter once I'm home querying "the billing to my credit card without my authorisation"

They made a dogs breakfast out of the check-out process, so I feel that some concession ought to be made here...

I believe a more accurate description would be you have gone through the grocery store checkout and bought five lbs of a product priced by the pound, the posted price for the product was 3.09/lb but they rang it up using a as 9 cents a lb. after I used either a $3.00 off my total purchase store coupon or take $3.00 off the purchase of this product when you by XYZ. In this case the clerk mistakenly applies this as a 3.00 off per lb. rather than $3.00 off the total product price of $15.45 (3.09 X 5 lbs).

If she catches it before I pay.. I pay the difference
If she catches it before I leave the store area.. I put up a stink (ie, seeking something for the hassle) but probably pay for it
If she catches it when I get home or days later, well then, I think we have a problem with the store getting their money