Does anyone know how much a hotel in the UK and/or Ireland typically blocks on your credit card when you check in? I have prepaid for most of my hotels stays but am staying at several different thotels during my trip. However, I make sure that I bring a long a credit card with a high enough limit for hotel-check in . At home I primarily use a debit card and don't have an AMEX.

Thanks.

I can't say I've ever had a hotel anywhere do that... Ireland, UK or any other European or stateside hotel.

It may depend on the hotel, here is a post from a few years ago from Fodorite "Carrie"
"After a bit of ineptitude on the part of the front desk (blocking my credit card for $1,000, when the total of my stay will only be approximately 300 pounds -- just “in case” I spend hundreds of dollars in the honor system bar . . . etc"

Can you contact the hotel and see what their policy is?

Thanks for the advice. I will contact the hotel

The hotel where I worked here in the Caribbean would block off your credit card if you wanted to sign for meals or room service, use the mini bar, etc. I can't remember how much, though.

If the card was declined, you couldn't charge to your room.

This is a quite annoying custom. My friend had his AmEX debit card blocked for $1500 when he checked into the Four Seasons Istanbul with us a few months ago. The room was in the $350 USD range. The block all but wiped out the card and he was unable to "unblock" it for the week following the hotel stay despite many calls to AmEx.

All hotels do this - throughout europe and the US - they just don;t say so. What they say is let me imprint your credit card for incidentals (phone, mini-bar etc) and in fact they may put a hold on a substantial amount - dpending on the priciness of the hotel.

Rental car companies often do the same - often putting a hold on at least the $500 or $1000 insurance deductible until you return the car undamaged.

However, they should release the hold the day you check out. Sometimes they don't - who knows why. And once you find out about it - it can still take a day or so to straighten out - esp from europe. So you should always carry at least one CC you don;t use with hotels - or a no limit card like AMEX.

Most of the upper scale hotels will block anywhere between $50-$100 per day PLUS the total stay(if it's not pre-paid). It does suck, as it could be in thousands if you're staying for a week or more, but I've learned my lesson long time ago. I carry one CC for check in (blocking purposes) and I pay with a different card or cash on occasion. During a long trip, such as my month long South America trip recently, about every time I checked into the "3rd" stay hotel, the "1st" stay hotel hold was released. It also helps to keep a track on any "scam" activity, which happened to me, as you know what card was used and where.

If you only have 1 CC with low/moderate limit, the next best thing is to insist on leaving cash with the front desk for the daily charges. Pre-paid also helps in this instance so you don't have to leave cash for that part. When checking out, get your cash back, pay the <b>actual</b> bill with your CC and go to your next destination with the remaining CC limit and cash in your pocket.

Celticdreams: &quot;<i>I can't say I've ever had a hotel anywhere do that</i>&quot;

It probably has happened to you - maybe you just were't aware of it. It can cause big problems if a CC has a relatively low credit limit. But otherwise the whole situation may be invisible . . . . .

Everytime I turn around Citibank sends me another message saying they've upped my credit limit -- I guess because I pay in full every month? I think my limit is now up to 37,000. Yea, like that's an amount I'm likely to charge in one month. So I guess I don't worry about those blocks. But I do know they do them. I just got a rental car confirmation tonight and it says they will put a hold on the credit card for 15% of the rental or $250 whichever is greater. I guess that means they put a hold for $250 on my credit card for my one day rental of $30.48.

Example:

Buenos Aires Hilton - a wonderful, beautiful property

6 night award stay - totall free

The check in person asked for CC for incidentals.

Same day later, I'm on my laptop and checking my CCs balances.

Noticed that the Hilton blocked off $900 for the 6 night stay.

The final bill was for ~$600.

So, if I only had 1 CC with low/moderate limit I would have been out of $1500 for ~5 business days after checking out, until the $900 was released.

It didn't effect me, but I could see a young traveler with limited CC limit getting a nasty surprise when trying to use the CC at the next destination.

I haven't either. Does any one know if this is really typical? I haven't been for years. Have things changed?

Three years ago. I rented from Hertz in Chartres using my cc as insurance. The clerk informed me that since I was using my cc for insurance, she was blocking 5,000 dollars from my visa for deposit.
A small 'dead parrot' skit ensued over who's 5,ooo dollars, ie Aus, Nz, Guyana, etc.
Anyway, a second cc is always handy.

It is very typical in North America, Europe, Caribbean, Asia (not as much yet), and now it's creeping into other parts of the world. This is still more true to the higher end hotels everywhere except NA, where it's pretty much standard now with all hotels/motels.

Don't forget, checking into a $100 Hampton Inn for 1 night with no room service, no public bar, will only at most block $20 just in case you make some phone calls. You would not even notice it, but a full service hotel where it's possible to charge $100s on a daily basis to your room, as in top notch restaurants, expensive bars/nightclubs, health clubs/spas, the hotel wants to protect itself and make sure you have the means if you happen to go wild. It's no different than cruise ships and they actually have you under control until you pay your final bill, yet they also block of a chunk during boarding. At a hotel, after charging $100s or maybe $1000s you may just decide to &quot;check-out&quot; in the middle of the night. Just because they have a CC number on record, it doesn't mean anything. What if it's just $500 limit?

I've had that happen to the tune of a few thousand dollars for a car rental, but never at a hotel. I just called my cc company and explained and they increased my limit to where I could use the card if need be...I didn't need to...to charge other expenses.

There are many, many reports of hotels in Europe running a &quot;hold&quot; for some anticipated amount on your credit card. Then, when you check out, that amount is charged accordingly, without releasing the &quot;hold&quot; on the previous amount. They are supposed to but often, it seems, &quot;forget&quot;.

Author: icithecat
Date: 04/14/2006, 10:48 pm
Three years ago. I rented from Hertz in Chartres using my cc as insurance. The clerk informed me that since I was using my cc for insurance, she was blocking 5,000 dollars from my visa for deposit.
A small 'dead parrot' skit ensued over who's 5,ooo dollars, ie Aus, Nz, Guyana, etc.
Anyway, a second cc is always handy.

PS.
As soon as she informed me that it was in standard 'US' dollars, I forgot all my French, and she had to continue the the transaction in standard ' US' English. I am Canadian, but I have the right to chose also.

Yes- almost all hotels and rental cars do this. You just don;t kow about it if they do it right - relese the day you leave - and/or aren;t running bills close to your limit.

I rented a car recently in NYC and 4 Irish guys were just ahead of me. They couldn't have a car because most of the credit on their cards was apparently blocked (hearing their end of the phone conversation with the CC company) by the hotel and they all had low limit cards - or were maxed out. So they all had to go out to ATMS to get funds to put down a $1000 cash deposit before they could rent the car for a 2-day trip.

I would never head out to europe without either an unlimited card - or more than one regular card - each having a limit at least 2 or 3 times what you plan on spending.

There's a big debate on this currently running in the UK's Sunday Times travel section. It is almost universal, it seems, in the UK for hotels to block around &pound;50 per room on a credit or debit card.
The worrying thing is that some hotels have confirmed to the Times that they actually take the money out and replace it some days later. Apparently this isn't illegal. Most, however, will just block off the amount so that it can't be spent from your account elsewhere. The advice from the Times is that it is better to check as to whether the amount leaves the account. There may be some comments on this on the Sunday Times website (travel).

This is new to me. Does a hotel put a block on your card when you reserve a room with your credit card (as I will soon be doing for travel to Italy), or do they do it only after you check in? And, when you do check in, are they obligated to tell you, especially if you ask, if they're putting a block? If I do ask, will the smaller hotels know what I'm talking about? Thanks.