Security deposits held by hotels how much & how long?

[welshwiz]

It's just occurred to me that each hotel we stay in on our 3 week West Coast trip will keep a security deposit hold on our credit card which they don't always release straight away upon check out.

So with a whopping 20 different hotels between our airport hotel roadtrip hotels and some in Orlando then later on the Florida Coast that could mount up to a huge hold on our card.

What amount do hotels hold on average and how long before they release the hold?

I'll be grey before I go if I have to back track over all the finer details!

I know it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece od string question' but any experience and advice welcome at this stage!

[welshwiz]

Just some initial discoveries that I'm adding to my research on this topic as I have discovered that it's advisable to pay for any incidentals and rooms using the same card that I hand over at check in to avoid any confudion and lengthy holds on funds.

SEE HERE


Thank goodness that most of our rooms are pre-paid but that still leaves dreaded incidentals!

[florida girl]

An interesting point had'nt thought about that.

[welshwiz]

Originally Posted by florida girl

An interesting point had'nt thought about that.

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I don't think that it'll be a worry in most cases it's just with such a long list of destinations I'll have to figure out how to keep track of the holds.

I'm just a little concerned that some desk clerks might mix up prepaid rates and payable on departure so reconciling the books will be a bit of a headache.

[busybee2]

Originally Posted by welshwiz

It's just occurred to me that each hotel we stay in on our 3 week West Coast trip will keep a security deposit hold on our credit card which they don't always release straight away upon check out.

So with a whopping 20 different hotels between our airport hotel roadtrip hotels and some in Orlando then later on the Florida Coast that could mount up to a huge hold on our card.

What amount do hotels hold on average and how long before they release the hold?

I'll be grey before I go if I have to back track over all the finer details!

I know it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece od string question' but any experience and advice welcome at this stage!

See more...

we are doing a month road trip all hotels have been paid for with debit card or credit card, they have all been charged in full, so the money has already come off, if we cancel we dont get it back, there are no deposits etc as we have about 20 odd hotels booked so we wont have that issue with money being put on "hold", the money has already "gone".

[welshwiz]

Originally Posted by busybee2

we are doing a month road trip all hotels have been paid for with debit card or credit card, they have all been charged in full, so the money has already come off, if we cancel we dont get it back, there are no deposits etc as we have about 20 odd hotels booked so we wont have that issue with money being put on "hold", the money has already "gone".

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Most of ours are prepaid but I've read reviews suggesting that hotels keep a hold for incidentals (mini bar etc) whether you use the incidentals or not and they don't always release the hold on check out plus some clerks have confused prepaid rates with pay on check out and held much more money than they should which is a bit concerning.

Hopefully it'll all work out just fine.

Have a great road trip!

[busybee2]

Originally Posted by welshwiz

Most of ours are prepaid but I've read reviews suggesting that hotels keep a hold for incidentals (mini bar etc) whether you use the incidentals or not and they don't always release the hold on check out plus some clerks have confused prepaid rates with pay on check out and held much more money than they should which is a bit concerning.

Hopefully it'll all work out just fine.

Have a great road trip!

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well i suppose it depends on what limit is on your card, we have a high limit, and a second card, so if thats the way they want to play then we can use the second card, but as we have already paid for the rooms already they will not be getting our credit card details any more we can pay as we go etc. because we are travelling across from west to east, we will be getting there quite late in some instances because of the distances travelled and so we will not be using their facilities other than the beds...

[Guest]

You could always leave a cash deposit. That's what i did on my trip last year, most hotels are happy to accept one.

[welshwiz]

Originally Posted by busybee2

well i suppose it depends on what limit is on your card, we have a high limit, and a second card, so if thats the way they want to play then we can use the second card, but as we have already paid for the rooms already they will not be getting our credit card details any more we can pay as we go etc. because we are travelling across from west to east, we will be getting there quite late in some instances because of the distances travelled and so we will not be using their facilities other than the beds...

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Thankfully we have high limits on credit cards but I'm glad I've stopped and thought as normally DH would hand over our American account debit card which is fine for the odd hotel that we stay in here and there but I wouldn't like a clerk making a mistake and holding onto 'real' funds unesscessarily.

Maybe I'm worrying a bit too much after reading articles like THIS in USA Today.

It would be good if we could just say the room rate is pre-paid and we'll pay in cash for any incidentals (not that there's likely to be much because we'll also be arriving late) as we go but I'm not sure that they will accept that in all cases.

[welshwiz]

Originally Posted by ukdiva

You could always leave a cash deposit. That's what i did on my trip last year, most hotels are happy to accept one.

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Hiya I know you've been to Las Vegas were you able to just leave a cash deposit then? How much on average and do you simply get a receipt for the cash deposit and then the balance back in cash when you check out?