Anyone used a 'pay on arrival' hotel?

[Briggykins]

Hi all,

I've booked us a night in the Miami airport Sheraton when we arrive through Booking.com. I'd rather have paid in advance but this option didn't seem to be available, it was only pay on arrival. I'm sure it's fine but it just makes me a bit uneasy! Has anyone else booked a room this way and did it turn out ok?

Thanks!

[snowbelle]

All the time, including using Booking.com and the hotel directly.
I would advise to quickly check if they have put a hold on your card and check the amount is correct .
ie: nothing to worry about sometimes the hotel may have charged for breakfast.

[Bad Pink Tink]

Pay on arrival is the normal standard. Its only UK and Irish people who book package holidays who pay in advance.

Especially at a big name chain like Sheridan, its very normal, that how most people who travel book hotels.

I haven't stayed at a Sheridan hotel but I have stayed at Travel Lodge, Comfort Inn and various other chains and independent hotels in America and never had an issue.

If you are still uneasy, I would check the hotels website and see the rates and book directly with the hotel and cancel the booking .com

I prefer to always book direct with the hotels than through third party websites, as if there is something wrong or the booking needs to be changed or even to get an upgrade, the hotel can help you if its booked direct with them.

Using a third party website to book a hotel means they "own" the reservation and any issues have to be sorted with them, not the hotel.

[enjibenji]

Yes I'm a regular on booking.com and expedia. Also its good to pay on arrival in uncertain times as won't loose your money if you pay in advance, mind you some do very good deals if you pay a deposit, so I have done that as well.

[duchy]

Yes , it’s very normal .
Nothing to stress about.

[sky13]

As others have said, it's very normal. Have done this with both third party sites (like booking.com and Expedia) and directly booking with hotels.

The only thing I find annoying about this is that if I am doing this with multiple hotels/nights for a longer stay the costs of paying on arrival can add up to be pretty high. In such cases I'd want to either ask for a temporary raise to my credit card limit, or pre-pay my credit card bill, or use an alternative credit card, or similar.

Just as a note though, useful to keep an idea of what the hotel has actually charged to your card if this is the case, possibly by having alerts on your phone or just keeping track of charges to your card. As I've had one instance (out of many to be fair!) where the hotel charged me even before check-in, and charged the wrong amount (I think they were using a different room rate?) - though this was all sorted out at check-in once I pointed this out to them.