I Don't Have a Credit Card, But Can I Stay?

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
remnjava said:
I just got a request from someone who said they don't have a credit card to hold the room, but they would like me to reserve a room for them in a couple of weeks. How would you handle it?
Thanks!
C
These rare situations make me nervous. Sure they can pre pay you with a check, however if they are distructive, trash the room or something like that, you have no security..
The Farmers Daughter said:
remnjava said:
I just got a request from someone who said they don't have a credit card to hold the room, but they would like me to reserve a room for them in a couple of weeks. How would you handle it?
Thanks!
C
These rare situations make me nervous. Sure they can pre pay you with a check, however if they are distructive, trash the room or something like that, you have no security.
Not to open that can of words, but when a credit card is given as a deposit or to secure a room it is for the room, it cannot be used for "trashing the room" - we like to think the guest thinks so, but it is not the case according to the credit card agreements. Aren't you one who had a story about this? Not to rehash it all, but you know what I mean, they pay for the room, full stop, can't be used for anything other than incidentals.
.
Joey Bloggs said:
The Farmers Daughter said:
remnjava said:
I just got a request from someone who said they don't have a credit card to hold the room, but they would like me to reserve a room for them in a couple of weeks. How would you handle it?
Thanks!
C
These rare situations make me nervous. Sure they can pre pay you with a check, however if they are distructive, trash the room or something like that, you have no security.
Not to open that can of words, but when a credit card is given as a deposit or to secure a room it is for the room, it cannot be used for "trashing the room" - we like to think the guest thinks so, but it is not the case according to the credit card agreements. Aren't you one who had a story about this? Not to rehash it all, but you know what I mean, they pay for the room, full stop, can't be used for anything other than incidentals.
Yes, that was me. Long story short. I won that battle. I put on my website policy page that "When booking, guests agree to accept responsibility for any damages to their room". Document every and took photos. It worked.
 
ah, i forgot dave ramsey advocates no credit cards. i like a lot of what he says. but he, himself, admits it can be challenging to make reservations without one..
Guess I am out of it....don't have a clue who Dave Ramsey is?
embaressed_smile.gif

.
catlady said:
Guess I am out of it....don't have a clue who Dave Ramsey is?
embaressed_smile.gif
He is a financial advisor - he has a couple shows he frequents and his own show, and tours the country trying to make common sense more common!
He has said some very wise things, for example "When you find yourself in a hole STOP DIGGING!" or "Money doesn't solve money problems" It is a change of lifestyle, change of mentality, change of heart...that is my paraphrase. He was in our area a while ago and I had guests and couldn't go.
I have never read his books or watched him very much, but what I have seen makes a lot of sense.
 
I would definantely either get the full payment two weeks prior or a deposit two weeks prior. I don't have a credit card we do have a debit card, its funny but I can't eeven rent a car without a major credit card and now you can't use someone else's cc to secure the car cause the cc has to match the contract etc.
I kind of understand NOT TAKING cc from the merchant's prespective...they charge so much just to use the machine, then all the fees which by the way when you add taxes to your reservation you have to pay a fee on the total of the payment.
Its weird, but I've never really had a major cc and when I did I just gort into trouble with it so I've decided that when we decide to get one it will be Amex and for emergencies only. If we all just not used cc so much maybe the cc companies will get the clue that they take more from the consumer and merchant than they should. Just my 2 cnts..
 
ah, i forgot dave ramsey advocates no credit cards. i like a lot of what he says. but he, himself, admits it can be challenging to make reservations without one..
Guess I am out of it....don't have a clue who Dave Ramsey is?
embaressed_smile.gif

.
catlady said:
Guess I am out of it....don't have a clue who Dave Ramsey is?
embaressed_smile.gif
He is a financial advisor - he has a couple shows he frequents and his own show, and tours the country trying to make common sense more common!
He has said some very wise things, for example "When you find yourself in a hole STOP DIGGING!" or "Money doesn't solve money problems" It is a change of lifestyle, change of mentality, change of heart...that is my paraphrase. He was in our area a while ago and I had guests and couldn't go.
I have never read his books or watched him very much, but what I have seen makes a lot of sense.
.
Oh Suze Orman is my money guru...though I really don't need any of their advice...we do quite well with our own...though I did teach financial management myself oh so many years ago
embaressed_smile.gif

 
I do not take bookings without a credit card. Period. IF there was any damage or problems I'd have nothing to fall back on.
 
This seems to be the year for cc that will expire before the booking date. I've had 3 of those so far. I have reminders set up to contact the guest during the month they should get the new card to get the new expiry date. So far that has worked out.
 
I am with the lot of you regarding credit cards. I liked the thought of recommending the pre-paid CC for those without. - Good idea!!! (Just remember that some of those do take a fee each month out of the balance. - Not sure how it works, but each one is different.)
I do however remember a friend of ours that does not have a credit card. They HAVE $$ but he does not believe in plastic. He has a debit, but will not activate it as a CC and can only us it at an ATM. Don't know how he had this worked with the bank but did!! We do travel with them and he just pulls out the cash at check in or have sent checks in advance. He says he is more in control of their spending this way. Just stating this as the fact that not all may be because of money problems.
 
I am with the lot of you regarding credit cards. I liked the thought of recommending the pre-paid CC for those without. - Good idea!!! (Just remember that some of those do take a fee each month out of the balance. - Not sure how it works, but each one is different.)
I do however remember a friend of ours that does not have a credit card. They HAVE $$ but he does not believe in plastic. He has a debit, but will not activate it as a CC and can only us it at an ATM. Don't know how he had this worked with the bank but did!! We do travel with them and he just pulls out the cash at check in or have sent checks in advance. He says he is more in control of their spending this way. Just stating this as the fact that not all may be because of money problems..
We got a couple of the prepaid cards when we went to England a few years ago. We bought pounds here in the States, and had them put it all in a couple of Visa cards, thinking we could give them to the kids who don't have their own credit cards in case they went somewhere without us. We'll never do it again. The fees are a killer. There is a fee when you buy them, there is a fee when you use them, there is a fee when you try to use them when you (incorrectly) think there is still a certain amount of money left (not realizing you've paid so much in fees). There is a fee each time you pop it into an ATM to check the balance. Good grief. The banks must have millions of dollars in those cards from when folks decided it's not worth cashing them back out to get the few bucks left back, which is really just a great big fee.
 
I am with the lot of you regarding credit cards. I liked the thought of recommending the pre-paid CC for those without. - Good idea!!! (Just remember that some of those do take a fee each month out of the balance. - Not sure how it works, but each one is different.)
I do however remember a friend of ours that does not have a credit card. They HAVE $$ but he does not believe in plastic. He has a debit, but will not activate it as a CC and can only us it at an ATM. Don't know how he had this worked with the bank but did!! We do travel with them and he just pulls out the cash at check in or have sent checks in advance. He says he is more in control of their spending this way. Just stating this as the fact that not all may be because of money problems..
We got a couple of the prepaid cards when we went to England a few years ago. We bought pounds here in the States, and had them put it all in a couple of Visa cards, thinking we could give them to the kids who don't have their own credit cards in case they went somewhere without us. We'll never do it again. The fees are a killer. There is a fee when you buy them, there is a fee when you use them, there is a fee when you try to use them when you (incorrectly) think there is still a certain amount of money left (not realizing you've paid so much in fees). There is a fee each time you pop it into an ATM to check the balance. Good grief. The banks must have millions of dollars in those cards from when folks decided it's not worth cashing them back out to get the few bucks left back, which is really just a great big fee.
.
We did a prepaid credit card for a package we had. I will never again do that. The guest had an awful time with the card. It was declined at one store and the store called the number on the card and was told there was nothing left on the card. This after the guest only used half the card in one day. Right, she had it one day and it was 'depleted.' I had to get involved because, after all, I gave her the card. The whole thing was a mess.
The guest did some online research and found hundreds of complaints about this type of card.
Then, worse yet, the store where the card was declined actually got paid from the card, so the guest paid twice at that store. So, now the card is really empty and it was, of course, declined everywhere she tried to use it. Like I said, a mess.
 
As far as I am concerned people without cards can stay elsewhere. Major hotels don't take you without a card even if you pay cash.
 
No credit card...no reservation. Period. You may send me a check in advance of your stay for 50% of the cost and pay balance however you like when you get here.
We have had people use a friend/relative/boss credit card to pay in advance of a booking, but this is a rare thing. It has worked though, and we always talk to the card holder ahead of time to make sure they understand out policies, and require their email address as well to send the confirmation. It must be signed and returned via fax or pdf. Payment is due immediately, no refund inside of reservation policy. We require all contact info for the cc holder in case of a problem, including their cell phone.
 
Well first time reading since my last post and had not read Morts or IronGates replies. Yikes - I had forgotten about this! I had heard of fees associated with these cards but not to the degree you mentioned. We were given one for Christmas '08 and when DH checked the balance (somehow online) he was told that there was a fee of ?% 30 days from issue and each 30 days after which would reduce the $ on the card. We used a good % of it and have since cunked the card - it was a pain to use.
I said yikes because I just had someone get a card!!! They called last night wanting to book for 2 weeks from now and first wanted to reserve by doing a check by phone...sorry not here!!! And I knew 2 weeks was not long enough to have a check sent and know it was good. They wanted to get a friend's CC to hold the room on but I was not wanting to do this either, so I recommended them get a pre-paid CC.
They did and called back today very happy. I went ahead and took entire payment on the card now (I had since remembered the fees), and it went through fine. I had given them the total for the stay so they knew in advance how much to place on the card, hope they did not place much more than that on it.
 
Well first time reading since my last post and had not read Morts or IronGates replies. Yikes - I had forgotten about this! I had heard of fees associated with these cards but not to the degree you mentioned. We were given one for Christmas '08 and when DH checked the balance (somehow online) he was told that there was a fee of ?% 30 days from issue and each 30 days after which would reduce the $ on the card. We used a good % of it and have since cunked the card - it was a pain to use.
I said yikes because I just had someone get a card!!! They called last night wanting to book for 2 weeks from now and first wanted to reserve by doing a check by phone...sorry not here!!! And I knew 2 weeks was not long enough to have a check sent and know it was good. They wanted to get a friend's CC to hold the room on but I was not wanting to do this either, so I recommended them get a pre-paid CC.
They did and called back today very happy. I went ahead and took entire payment on the card now (I had since remembered the fees), and it went through fine. I had given them the total for the stay so they knew in advance how much to place on the card, hope they did not place much more than that on it..
Good resolution to that particular scenario! We were given a couple of prepaid credit cards for the holidays a year or so back and they were a major pain to use! Most places wouldn't/didn't take them or they didn't know how to run them through. It was a pain in the patoot! Of course we didn't tell the folks that gave them to us about the problems as their intention was to do something nice for us. We finally found that our local coffee shop took them and used them there. Good grief!
 
Has anyone ever noticed that the people who for some reason want to stray from your policies are the ones you have trouble with? Live and learn.
 
Has anyone ever noticed that the people who for some reason want to stray from your policies are the ones you have trouble with? Live and learn..
Bigbid said:
Has anyone ever noticed that the people who for some reason want to stray from your policies are the ones you have trouble with? Live and learn.
Amen BB!
 
And they always start with oh if its not too much trouble and then build from there, dont they?
 
Back
Top