Renting a hotel room

[TorontoMelanieJolliet 4458]

It's pretty obvious the rules that hotels have are motivated and imposed due to the fear of trafficking.

 

 

You need a regular credit card to reserve a room and check-in. Most (not all) hotels will allow you to pay however you want upon check-out but to check-in you must have a regular credit card and it must have YOUR name on it.

 

 

Now what if you are a single female and you go to visit family in a different city in old beat up car. You don't have a credit card because you have a minimum wage job. Now you are driving home and your car gives out or the engine light comes on. You take car to be serviced and they say can get the part...tomorrow. Now you are not at home and you are not near your family.

 

 

So now you have to find a room. And no room will allow you check-in because you do not have a regular credit card. What does this woman do now? Her dad cannot reserve a room and pay for it with his card because she has to show up with a card that has HER name on it.

 

 

 

In their zealous to save all these (and apparently there are so many they can't even count them) trafficked females, they have put ALL females at risk and taken away their rights to feel and be safe, even during an emergency.

 

 

So all females have to suffer and be unsafe because of the few that are being forced to do something they don't want to. That's the same as banning peanut butter in all the schools (even though it a healthy choice for people who can't afford to cater a meal to children at school everyday). Make EVERYBODY pay for a few.

 

 

It's very wrong. Now maybe the girl who has to find how to spend the night will now be forced to hang out at a place where someone will offer her a place for the night...and now she has earn that privilege. Don't they get it? What is wrong with them?

 

 

And sorry about this but some girls who claim they have been forced only did that when confronted by an authority figure and was scared to admit she did this of her own free will, so copped to being forced so she wouldn't have to deal with people making her feel shame, or because she simply just got caught being ...you know. It's not an acceptable career choice after all. And we all know kids when they don't want to take the blame... Because I have seen girls have this behaviour is why I believe all the claims of being trafficked are not always 100% true 100% of the time. Like accusing someone of rape...after she decided she has regrets.

[Mikeyboy 27133]

I understand your concerns. It's a hard situation. In my mind though, there is a much simpler reason that hotels require a credit card. To ensure they get paid.

 

I am naturally a cynic so I always assume that motivations are based on self interest and not the common good. ;) Hotels need a way to charge you for incidentals (room service, long distance calls, honour bar, etc.), damages, items missing from the room, and the room charges themselves if you try to skip out. If they have a credit card with someone else's name on it, then it isn't legally binding. The owner can have the charges reversed if the hotel can't prove it was them who used the card. If it's a prepaid card, then it is only good until the amount is used up. If you owe more than that amount, then they are out of luck.

 

I guess we have to remember that they are a business offering a service that is not considered a right. They are in it to make money. They are not government subsidized. Therefore they need to take measures to ensure that they don't lose money.

 

The real issue in my mind with your hypothetical situation is why we except a society where she can't make a living that keeps her safe on minimum wage. That is a political question that is better addressed at election time. ;)

[TorontoMelanieJolliet 4458]

I understand your concerns. It's a hard situation. In my mind though, there is a much simpler reason that hotels require a credit card. To ensure they get paid.

 

I am naturally a cynic so I always assume that motivations are based on self interest and not the common good. ;) Hotels need a way to charge you for incidentals (room service, long distance calls, honour bar, etc.), damages, items missing from the room, and the room charges themselves if you try to skip out. If they have a credit card with someone else's name on it, then it isn't legally binding. The owner can have the charges reversed if the hotel can't prove it was them who used the card. If it's a prepaid card, then it is only good until the amount is used up. If you owe more than that amount, then they are out of luck.

 

I guess we have to remember that they are a business offering a service that is not considered a right. They are in it to make money. They are not government subsidized. Therefore they need to take measures to ensure that they don't lose money.

 

The real issue in my mind with your hypothetical situation is why we except a society where she can't make a living that keeps her safe on minimum wage. That is a political question that is better addressed at election time. ;)

 

 

(deposit aka pre-authorization)

 

 

 

Of course they want to make money! They will accept a pre-paid to pay for the room! They just want the deposit on CC. (A pre-paid, which by the way, when used to reserve a room or car rental, will also include a 15% 'fee' that will be released when the deposit is released. So if you book a room for 300$ then the pre-paid will not allow the amount to be reserved unless you have at least 345$. So if you have 340$ and want to book a 300$ room, you cannot use the pre-payment, it will be declined.)

 

 

The common reason for not accepting pre-paid for a deposit by hotel clerks is that there is an issue with guests complaining, after the hotel BELIEVED they released the deposit back to the guest, that the deposit has NOT been released. This is because the process to release the deposit back to the guest who used a pre-paid, is different. It requires a form to be filled out and faxed to the pre-paid company. (Just to be clear, I am talking about a pre-paid credit card). The pre-paid companies have let it be known to hotels and I'm sure car rental companies, but that bit of information seems to be ignored by those companies.

 

 

So it is this misunderstanding and lack of knowing that cause the hotels problems. It is actually sad because when they release a deposit back to a regular credit, it can take anywhere from 3 days and up (1 desk clerk told me AmEx can be 30 days!!). With a pre-paid, if the hotel fills out the form, it can take minutes. I once got one back in 20 minutes.

 

 

Something neither the hotel or pre-paid users know is that when renting a hotel room or car, that the hold on the deposit will last for 45 days. Other pre-authorizations for say, gas, will be a much shorter time on hold before being released back to the client.

 

 

So, after 45 days, if the company holding the pre-authorization has not made any claim to the deposit, the pre-paid company will take it upon themselves to release the money back to their client.

 

 

That is why hotels receive so many complaints when they accept pre-paid credit card for deposit. The hotel needs to release the deposit via a form that the cc company requires. And the guest needs to be informed enough to call cc company first, and get them to fax form to hotel and make sure the hotel has filled it out and sent it back. And that is still not a guarantee as some hotel staff have never seen that form and consider it suspect and will not fill out without some intervention on the part of the pre-paid cc company. So that means they have never been informed about this process so that is a lack of training on the part of the hotels. And hotel managers don't know about it either. I educated one and she said thank you, she had no idea about that and how it worked. She said when i stay again, to get the form to her (that will come from cc company) and she will fill it out!

 

 

So in that sense, the hotels are not out make money because they have neglected to research and keep on top of the ways payment options work.

 

 

So with our laws (independent providers vs managed) and now US laws, and training provided in hotels as to the things to look for when accessing careers of guests ;) using a pre-paid is one sign because you cant use a cc that doesn't have your name on it (and a pre-paid CAN have a name on it. You just have to request it) so therefore, they MUST be trafficked.

 

 

And my scenario is not plucked from my random imagination. Stuff like that happens in real life. Some people just have blinders on. And if you did notice the minimum wage was increased...amidst all the complaining from businesses. An attempt to prevent people going in direction that is not desirable. So SOMEONE was trying...

 

Additional Comments:

And if hotels were smart, they would accept pre-paid cc for reservations and just fill out the pesky form to have it released when the guest checks out (when everything is good).

 

 

If they accepted pre-paid for reservation, they would have 15% of the room total PLUS the deposit, set aside/reserved, for anything that may come up.

 

 

But they won't do that now that the US laws have changed. They don't want any liability, and all the commands come from head office which are US-based!!

 

 

(this is an interesting conversation. I hope you and others add more) :)

 

Additional Comments:

...and hotels were originally invented/conceived to allow weary travelers to stop and sleep as a break from long trip. They could park their horses and have something to eat and sleep in a bed, not the bushes ;)

[roamingguy 300292]

For the credit card, get yourself a secured credit card. It would require a deposit from you to secure the card.  Then simple enough pay the credit card bill every month.

As for hotels, they require a credit card number (aka a credit card) when reserving a room. But when you go to the hotel pay for the room in cash.  Hotel's happy as long as there's a valid number holding the reservation. For the longest time that's how I did it, used my cc for the reservation but paid in cash for the room

RG