Hotel have taken all my spending money ...ridiculous?

[whatshardknock]

I'll currently at a hotel in London (Piccadilly circus )
I'm here for 4 nights (checked in yesterday)
I'm meeting friends who I haven't seen in years.
It's been a bit of a treat it's a lovely hotel and I've spent £1000 on the hotel (which I never do )As a treat after a shit year.
I booked on booking.com
I checked my bank the £1000 has came out and also a pending £800
I spoke to downstairs and the £800 will be refunded after I leave.
That's pretty much all my spending money.
Aibu to think booking.com should have said and also £800 deposit for a 4 night stay is mental surely.

@ferretface
Nope. DH’s best man ordered it knowing he could technically afford it (they are work colleagues) so I decided to stay out of the situation.

It's not a deposit though is it when they have taken the money for the room, and an extra £200 per night for breakages.

Thank you to all, I get it now and is as I thought. It's not a refund per se it's just that the OP can't access it.

Either way OP was stuffed at first but glad she is sorted now.

I still think it's a huge amount though per night.

Check out. Get your money and stay on the holiday inn

It is an insane amount. If they had to put in a claim for insurance their excess wouldn't be nowhere that much.
The op might be covered through her own insurance.

Yes it's a common thing usually around £50. Many hotels regardless of how you book have a similar disclaimer as the Waldorf - The Waldorf Hilton accepts these cards and reserves the right to temporarily hold an amount prior to arrival. And therein lies the issue, they don't give you an amount would be simpler if they did.

@nitgel

Check out. Get your money and stay on the holiday inn

The funds would be in the ops account when the op would be back home. Many deals if you check out early, no show etc, you get charged the full amount.

@nitgel

Check out. Get your money and stay on the holiday inn

And pay for it how. Money are blocked and honestly, I don't know any hotel who would issue refund because "i want to check out because i didn't read T&cs"

It is a large amount, if you only have a low credit limit on your card it could wipe it out or sent you over the limit especially if you already had a few purchases on your card.

@nitgel

Check out. Get your money and stay on the holiday inn

And most likely be charged a fee for checking out early......

@Roussette but you can not spend it though. its shown as pending in your bank account and you can only spend what is left after that is taken out . @whatshardknock I have experienced this before however in my case it was with a prepaid credit card, I had booked a fancy hotel and loaded the credit card with the exact money. When I was booking in they swiped my card and told me it was declined, I nearly had a heart attack and said try gain, they tried it three times each time it was declined. It was in a foreign country so after much debating and embarrassment they told me they were taking the total cost of the hotel plus the amount of the hotel on my card. I was nearly in tears as I am not good with money and had done really well to save for this and not spend the money. Luckily enough the manger must have felt sorry for me nd they allowed me to stay without the prepayment, however I paid up front there and then for the cost of the room. I did read the terms and conditions and while it did say there would be money taken off your card it did not say how much. Now when I go to hotels I keep it in mind however its only been a certain amount of the hotel cost and never been more than 200e

Wexone that must have been awful for you, yes

If you have paid upfront what is the deposit for ?

Wrecking the room. Damage. Clearing the minibar

@SunshineCake

If you have paid upfront what is the deposit for ?

Room service, Mini bar, films, charging meals to the room, laundry. Or trashing the room, nicking towels.

Thanks *@Roussette. I missed the following pages before I posted.

No probs Sunshine

I say it's piss poor by the hotel. Burying it in the T&C's and assuming "everyone knows this" might be legal but it's bad customer service. As OP has demonstrated, it takes customers by surprise and can spoil holidays.

It's simple to tell whether a card is credit or debit, both in person and online. It would not be hard for the hotel to explain the hold and suggest the customer use a credit card instead if possible.

OP hasn't said whether the hotel took card details again after the initial payment. If not, if the hotel are just automatically taking the hold on the payment card, then that's doubly bad. There's plenty of good reasons someone might want the room rate on one card but the minibar etc charges on another.

Thanks *@FlamingoAndJohn.

Burying it in the T&C's and assuming "everyone knows this" might be legal but it's bad customer service

Seriously? You are supposed to read them you know, even if it’s just a skim through, not tick the box and lie about it.

I think hiding this in t&cs is a bit crap especially for that amount. One could hide it but one would not be treating guests well to do this. It should be on the face of the booking.

It wouldn’t occur to me to read hotel t&cs. Also haven’t read MN t&cs. If you read all the t@cs of everything you do you would never have time to actually do anything. The obvious thing to do is communicate clearly and fairly and put these charges on the face of any booking.

I am a frequent hotel user but use a corporate card so this has never affected me. Doesn’t mean I think it’s a decent way to go about things.

Burying it in the T&C's and assuming "everyone knows this" might be legal but it's bad customer service.

It's not even buried on booking.com.

It's there under: (!) Important Information

From my experience with customers you could send a messenger person to each to shout out all they need to know and... They still would know

@nitgel

Holiday inn preauthorises credit cards too, but less, £200 for a weekend stay last time we used them. I have a credit card so it's not an issue and our bar bill usually is a decent amount

Il just add on booking.com it just says they will pre authorise your card for an amount (it doesn't say how much )
Also when I checked in they didn't take my card number again.

Il just add on booking.com it just says they will pre authorise your card for an amount (it doesn't say how much )

Well, then you ask how much for x room.