Interesting Change to Credit Card Authorizations at Check-in

[dioxide45]

This probably won't impact many owners so much, but I know that sometimes renters are caught off guard with it. At least those that don't stay in hotels or resorts that much.

Today, while staying at Legends Edge I noticed an additional $100 authorization on our credit card from the resort. This was mid-stay. When we checked in they did put a $25 per night ($175 total) authorization on our card. So, I wasn't expecting the $100 authorization and I suspected that perhaps someone had charged something to our room in error which resulted in the additional hold. We've seen this before when charing to the room. Knowing I didn't put any charges on the room I went to the front desk to inquire.

They told me that starting yesterday they increased the authorization to $75 per night and thus the new extra authorization for the remaining days before checkout. No big deal and good to know. She said that it was a Marriott (perhaps MVC) wide change. Any resort that previously had a $25 per night card authorization at checkin was being increased to $75 per night. It seems a $525 incidental hold is kind of extreme for some resorts that have limited onsite food and beverage options, like Legends Edge.

 

[dougp26364]

For us that’s a BIG nightly hold for incidentals. We’re lucky if we spend $75 for an entire week let alone for a single night. Do people really spend that much at a resort or is this some sort of shell game Marriott is playing with guests money?

 

[Dean]

It does seem like a lot for a resort with very limited services. Even the $25 is a lot at LE IMO. I wonder if this is more related to damages left than anything else.

 

[davidvel]

For us that’s a BIG nightly hold for incidentals. We’re lucky if we spend $75 for an entire week let alone for a single night. Do people really spend that much at a resort or is this some sort of shell game Marriott is playing with guests money?

They don't get any money, and guest doesn't pay any money, for an auth.

 

[bazzap]

They don't get any money, and guest doesn't pay any money, for an auth.

That is true, although it is something to be aware of if anywhere near your credit limit e,g. having just paid all your MFs on the credit card especially if at the same time as a long stay.
We can sometimes stay for 6-8 weeks, which would make the hold a good few thousand dollars.
Where we do this though, the resort seems to have some discretion as it takes a lower holding amount and just says that if we get near to that with our villa charges they will ask for a further hold.

 

[Dean]

They don't get any money, and guest doesn't pay any money, for an auth.

Isn’t it a little bit more complicated with a debit card instead of a credit card though?

 

[dougp26364]

They don't get any money, and guest doesn't pay any money, for an auth.

Which is why I’m having difficulty understanding why such a large hold when a majority of the MVC resorts offer little in the way of options to spend money at the resort. Thinking about it, my best guess would be people spending money at the bar. Kids getting snacks, adults getting one or two alcoholic beverages/day could add up. Since we don’t drink or have kids getting snacks and charging it to the room, it seems awfully high

 

[bazzap]

Which is why I’m having difficulty understanding why such a large hold when a majority of the MVC resorts offer little in the way of options to spend money at the resort. Thinking about it, my best guess would be people spending money at the bar. Kids getting snacks, adults getting one or two alcoholic beverages/day could add up. Since we don’t drink or have kids getting snacks and charging it to the room, it seems awfully high

This is probably resort dependent.
Where our home MVC resort has an associated Marriott hotel where you can charge to your villa for sevices, the cost of F&B, Spa treatments, transfers…etc can very quickly add up.

 

[jmhpsu93]

We're at Cypress Harbour now...we had an initial $250 authorization for our 29-day stay but that dropped off once we started charging for stuff at the marketplace and an occasional beer at the lobby bar. Just had a statement close and nothing this month from here, but we have a few small authorizations pending. IIRC we get one big charge at checkout.

I agree it's crazy to have $75/day at a limited-service resort.

 

[dioxide45]

We're at Cypress Harbour now...we had an initial $250 authorization for our 29-day stay but that dropped off once we started charging for stuff at the marketplace and an occasional beer at the lobby bar. Just had a statement close and nothing this month from here, but we have a few small authorizations pending. IIRC we get one big charge at checkout.

I agree it's crazy to have $75/day at a limited-service resort.

I've noticed with our Bonvoy credit card from Chase that the temporary authorizations drop off after five calendar days. If you have charges throughout your stay, they will do additional authorizations. Those too drop off after five calendar days. They will do one big charge at the end of the stay for everything charged to your villa. I suppose if you had a lot of charges in high dollar amounts for a long stay like that they may want you to come down and settle up for charges to that point, mid stay. I have never stayed long enough or had enough charges in timeshares to find out. But it was an issue once when traveling overseas for business many years ago.

I wonder if resorts with higher per day authorizations like Hawaii, Mexico or the Caribbean increased their per day authorization with this change. I recall they were higher than authorizations at resorts in continental USA. Aruba Surf Club authorized our card for $495.54 at checkin for a seven night stay. We have a lot of stays coming up in Hawaii, some just a few nights between checkin and checkout. These holds along with any placed by car rental agencies could really accumulate.

I've also seen issues lately where about three weeks after check-in, and after checking out, see another authorization on the card. This is for the same amount as when we checked in and it that takes another five days to fall off. I asked about it over on FlyerTalk, but didn't get any replies.

 

[davidvel]

Isn’t it a little bit more complicated with a debit card instead of a credit card though?

Not more complicated, though it will place a hold on funds. Using a debit card for hotel, rental car, gas or other pre-auth transaction is not a good idea. I actually believe using debit cards is just not a good idea overall, as there are fewer protections, and risk to actual dollars.

 

[davidvel]

That is true, although it is something to be aware of if anywhere near your credit limit e,g. having just paid all your MFs on the credit card especially if at the same time as a long stay.
We can sometimes stay for 6-8 weeks, which would make the hold a good few thousand dollars.
Where we do this though, the resort seems to have some discretion as it takes a lower holding amount and just says that if we get near to that with our villa charges they will ask for a further hold.

If I'm anywhere near my CC limit, there are bigger problems than a front desk hold.

 

[jp10558]

This probably won't impact many owners so much, but I know that sometimes renters are caught off guard with it. At least those that don't stay in hotels or resorts that much.

Today, while staying at Legends Edge I noticed an additional $100 authorization on our credit card from the resort. This was mid-stay. When we checked in they did put a $25 per night ($175 total) authorization on our card. So, I wasn't expecting the $100 authorization and I suspected that perhaps someone had charged something to our room in error which resulted in the additional hold. We've seen this before when charing to the room. Knowing I didn't put any charges on the room I went to the front desk to inquire.

They told me that starting yesterday they increased the authorization to $75 per night and thus the new extra authorization for the remaining days before checkout. No big deal and good to know. She said that it was a Marriott (perhaps MVC) wide change. Any resort that previously had a $25 per night card authorization at checkin was being increased to $75 per night. It seems a $525 incidental hold is kind of extreme for some resorts that have limited onsite food and beverage options, like Legends Edge.

Heh, reminds me of another WTF at Villa Roma - they wanted to do a $900 hold to charge anything to the room, and a minimum of $300 just to check in. I have no idea what they thought would spend that much money in most cases at that place, and I'm not used to more than a $150 or less hold so far at most other places. Luckily the holds don't actually do anything with a credit card. But I certainly would not use a debit card for any of these places.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Which is why I’m having difficulty understanding why such a large hold when a majority of the MVC resorts offer little in the way of options to spend money at the resort. Thinking about it, my best guess would be people spending money at the bar. Kids getting snacks, adults getting one or two alcoholic beverages/day could add up. Since we don’t drink or have kids getting snacks and charging it to the room, it seems awfully high

It all depends on the resort for us. While we don't typically travel with kids, we do drink and have been know to get food at a pool bar occasionally. Some resorts have multiple bars or food service locations and others have almost nothing.

We also sometimes use a spa or charge back from an affiliated hotel, but in my experience that almost always results in an additional hold. I have never been bothered by this.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

I’m having difficulty understanding why such a large hold when a majority of the MVC resorts offer little

the words "industry-wide" come to mind, as do "everyone is doing it". Pushback required to be different.

 

[Dean]

I've noticed with our Bonvoy credit card from Chase that the temporary authorizations drop off after five calendar days.

This is the way it's supposed to work and has been my experience with resorts in general. My reference to Debit cards was based on my understanding that the holds take much longer to drop for a Debit card than a CC.

 

[pedro47]

This probably won't impact many owners so much, but I know that sometimes renters are caught off guard with it. At least those that don't stay in hotels or resorts that much.

Today, while staying at Legends Edge I noticed an additional $100 authorization on our credit card from the resort. This was mid-stay. When we checked in they did put a $25 per night ($175 total) authorization on our card. So, I wasn't expecting the $100 authorization and I suspected that perhaps someone had charged something to our room in error which resulted in the additional hold. We've seen this before when charing to the room. Knowing I didn't put any charges on the room I went to the front desk to inquire.

They told me that starting yesterday they increased the authorization to $75 per night and thus the new extra authorization for the remaining days before checkout. No big deal and good to know. She said that it was a Marriott (perhaps MVC) wide change. Any resort that previously had a $25 per night card authorization at checkin was being increased to $75 per night. It seems a $525 incidental hold is kind of extreme for some resorts that have limited onsite food and beverage options, like Legends Edge.

Is this for all Marriott’s timeshare?

 

[dioxide45]

Is this for all Marriott’s timeshare?

I answered this in my initial post;
She said that it was a Marriott (perhaps MVC) wide change. Any resort that previously had a $25 per night card authorization at checkin was being increased to $75 per night.

 

[gpj555]

I can tell you the OYO Hotel Casino in Las Vegas (across from MGM Grand) recently went from 100 $ per stay credit hold to a 300 $ per stay credit hold. This is not a deluxe place I have stayed 3 nights here in the past of around 100 $ with free Breakfast on a military special. These things are not a worry to me but I have friends who this type thing can cause problems.

 

[aklausing]

I've noticed with our Bonvoy credit card from Chase that the temporary authorizations drop off after five calendar days. If you have charges throughout your stay, they will do additional authorizations. Those too drop off after five calendar days. They will do one big charge at the end of the stay for everything charged to your villa. I suppose if you had a lot of charges in high dollar amounts for a long stay like that they may want you to come down and settle up for charges to that point, mid stay. I have never stayed long enough or had enough charges in timeshares to find out. But it was an issue once when traveling overseas for business many years ago.

I wonder if resorts with higher per day authorizations like Hawaii, Mexico or the Caribbean increased their per day authorization with this change. I recall they were higher than authorizations at resorts in continental USA. Aruba Surf Club authorized our card for $495.54 at checkin for a seven night stay. We have a lot of stays coming up in Hawaii, some just a few nights between checkin and checkout. These holds along with any placed by car rental agencies could really accumulate.

I've also seen issues lately where about three weeks after check-in, and after checking out, see another authorization on the card. This is for the same amount as when we checked in and it that takes another five days to fall off. I asked about it over on FlyerTalk, but didn't get any replies.

We've experienced many times where both MVC and Marriott hotels put an authorization on our card a few weeks after we've been to the location. Yes, it falls off after a few days, but it is definitely weird.

 

[bazzap]

Isn’t it a little bit more complicated with a debit card instead of a credit card though?

I haven’t used a debit card for some years now for a hotel deposit (or any other deposit).
It may have changed now and it may even be different around the World, but at that time anyway with the debit card the deposit was not placed as a hold but actually debited from the account then credited quite a long time later, also losing some value through the foreign currency fluctuations!
As a result, since then, I have only ever used a credit card for any deposits.

 

[michael49]

Just returned from Waiohai and the only daily hold on my Marriott Bonvoy AMEX card was $2.39 each day. So this is definitely not a system wide occurrence.

 

[dioxide45]

Just returned from Waiohai and the only daily hold on my Marriott Bonvoy AMEX card was $2.39 each day. So this is definitely not a system wide occurrence.

That would be the state TSO timeshare occupancy tax. Though it seems low. You're saying they did not place a hold on your card at checkin?

 

[Dean]

I haven’t used a debit card for some years now for a hotel deposit (or any other deposit).
It may have changed now and it may even be different around the World, but at that time anyway with the debit card the deposit was not placed as a hold but actually debited from the account then credited quite a long time later, also losing some value through the foreign currency fluctuations!
As a result, since then, I have only ever used a credit card for any deposits.

That's more c/w what I've seen and heard. Just another reason that a debit card is a concern.

 

[dioxide45]

We've used a debit card on occasion. It does tie up the funds in your account. Though a credit card does the same and depending on your current balance and limit it could push someone close. I haven't notice with a debit card where they took the funds and then later refunded them. It seemed to work in the same way with the authorization falling off after five business days. Though I suspect it depends on the financial institution.