To think this is the most embarrassing reason to have your card blocked??

[slippedawaylikeabottleofwine]

I’m going on holiday next year and because of that I’ve been reserving a ton of hotels on booking.com, all for free, with a view to deciding where I’ll be staying next year at some point. Nationwide blocked my card after I did about four in a row! I just had to call and explain what I was doing, they blocked it for “suspicious activity”.

Fair enough, it looks odd, but now I’m mortified

Kindly OP, do you have special needs to be so indecisive that you need to do this? I've never heard of someone booking 'tons' of hotels then cancelling nor someone being 'mortified' that the bank questioned it! Are you embarrassed by what you do?

Is the 'event' something like a swingers event, adult entertainment or sex toy exhibition? Why are you mortified?

So if small family hotels did NOT require payment up front, would you do this to them too?

OP have you got inside info of when Taylor Swift is doing her next tour hence the prebooking before it's made public? If so message me 😂

It's definitely a if you snooze you lose situation with booking hotels. If the establishment offers free cancellation, then it's perfectly acceptable to book with intention to cancel if plans change. That's why it's there 🤷🏻‍♀️

If they offer the free cancellation, they must expect it.

FWIW, it’s hotels in Barcelona. NOT the last yurt in Outer Mongolia!

Totally agree with you. Seems a very selfish thing to do.

That wasn't quite what I asked. But I got my answer anyway.

How so?

im doing it a year in advance. I’m not paying for them to sit empty, im reserving them while i decide and then cancelling the ones I won’t use. It’s the same as picking up multiple items in the shop and trying them on. I’m

Why can't you just book the place that looks best at the moment? You can always cancel it if something better comes up, but it makes no sense to have multiple options reserved now

Thankfully not everyone is like you OP, you sound so selfish.

Well, it appears your bank is going to flag it as an issue. So may need a new approach.

Imagine all the cancellation emails 😳 that alone would put me off doing this. I agree with PP that it’s weird.

This! It is such a selfish, disorganised thing to do.

I'm sure there are far more embarrassing reasons.

I see. Just as long as you're ok, fuck everyone else! What a delightful human being you are.

How is anyone else not okay?

I get booking a back up hotel so you've got one in case your preferred one doesn't come up, but a ton seems...selfish?!

What about everyone else wanting to get a good price ...you're artificially hiking the prices for others (and possibly you with your preferred hotel).

Yeah its more annoying than embarrassing, and about a million miles from "mortifying"?

Unless it was showing on your statement as "vegetable fetishists sex people special gang bang weekender booking" or something.

If you want to book this far in advance then maybe you should dedicate the time now to doing your research and make a decision, rather than book up a load of hotels you won't be staying in. It's not fair on the businesses or other holidaymakers who might be trying to legitimately book a hotel, but can't because you've reserved it with no intention of staying there. YABU. Also, of course they've blocked your card, nobody does that 🙈

This is so weird.

I am travelling for an event next year too, to a relatively small US city which will be full to bursting with people attending the same event as me. So obviously you have to book accommodation swiftly.

So I spent 45 minutes looking at the Marriott, the Hilton, the Hyatt, the Sheraton, couple of independent options, AND THEN I CHOSE ONE, and booked it. I didn't reserve 6 rooms, knowing I only wanted one, planning to cancel the rest once I'd ummed and ahhed for a few more weeks/months.

Weird.

Clearly because lots of hotel rooms are now reserved by you, and not available to others who may be wanting a good deal too.

Why bother, just find somewhere you want to stay and book that

It's a bit weird, yes, but not mortifying. I just create a shortlist

There are more embarrassing things you could have your card blocked for.

I think it's good they flagged it up as yes, those are potentially suspicious, high-value transactions, it's nothing to be embarrassed about in itself.

I once lost a credit card, that I didn't use regularly, and only found out when my bank phoned me a few weeks later to query some transactions. Fortunately, because I only used it 0-3 times a month on the whole, when someone used it 5 times in a week it rang alarm bells. And very fortunately I got my money back for all of those.

I can think of more embarrassing reasons.