What do you do when the credit card is refused?

[Tom]

And they have none other that works?
Basically, how do you treat someone that seems a bit fishy, but with some story, or maybe with a genuine bank problem?
We usually collect on check out.

 

[Morticia]

I've only had the problem before they have received the room keys. Are you getting any kind of terminology on your cc machine that indicates the card should not be returned to the guest? Sometimes, if the card is stolen you'll be prompted to call the processor.
If the guest is still there, they should be prompted to call the number on the back of the card and find out what the problem is and get it fixed. I've had guests leave without paying and had their card be bad, but they got it fixed after they got off their plane and the card worked later on in the day.
How have they been paying for anything else? Dinner? Trips? Souvenirs? Do they have a debit card that would work in an ATM? Is there one nearby?
Do you get the feeling they don't care or that they would be quite happy to leave you holding the bag on this? I've taken checks. They can (one of them) go to a bank and get a travelers cheque if they have a debit card.

 

[Red Handed Jill]

Mm. We take a one night (minimum) deposit at the reservation request. If it was denied, I would refuse the reservation request and call the guests. We take the balance at check in. If it didn't go through and they had local ties (in town visiting family), we would probably accept a check. But if they were "strangers," I'd either need a working card or the balance in cash before they'd spend a second night. There's an atm right up the street.

 

[Copperhead]

Tom, guess this is a little late for my imput....
I have had a few denied but they have allways wipped out another that worked, except for this last week. I do usually take payment on arrival but do not with business clients visiting one of my regular partners. For them, I take payment at check out. So when we had a international guest that his only card (had others but not accepted in the US) denied. He surmised that the car rental place had taken another deposit which with my payment would put him over his daily limit. So he caluclated what he felt would go though and we tried that amount. Yes, it went through leaving a balance owed of $166. He had used another card in an ATM earlier in the week so he went there and took out the rest in cash.
These moments are always awkward. I too would hand them the phone to call the CC company. Sometimes they are able to get a one time extension of credit especially if they see that there are car rental deposits etc. that could be credited back. I had this happen with a couple of other business clients during a 6 month work project here. If the rental car company hit the card at the same time we tried to collect, the card was declined and this was with AMEX!!! After a couple of months we decided to just bill their company and have a check issued. This worked out very well in this case and it saved me the processing charges, which were steep for the amount of time they were staying.
On a side note: I have been told that skipping out on a hotel bill is a felony. If things turn sour, turn it over to the law.

 

[Tom]

Thanks,
Very helpful. So far there has been a "back up" card in the party. The guest calling the cc company is good advice as it put the discussion on stage, but with a third party.
We may begin advance deposits on cards on big weekends, but it is not generally accepted in our market.
We usually only run card at check-in if it is a drop-in guest.

 

[Joey Camb]

You can buy programs to check that it is a genuine card. Also what we used to do at the hotel where I used to work we used to pre-authorise cards which checks they have enough money it is something you can arrange with the card terminal provider. We try and get people to pay where we can on arrival as otherwise they are trying to pay when we are trying to do breakfast which if we have 26 for breakfast is bedlam! We did have a regular where I used to work and when we swiped her card it didn't work so we let her pay on departure and it turned out that her bank has stopped her card because she had used an unusual spending pattern so they had just cut her off no warning! What crap service.

 

[EmptyNest]

We always took credit cards upon check in....exactly for this reason. Then if a card is declined, they either had you another :-( or sent them to an ATM machine to get cash.

 

[Samster]

Cash only, in that case. In the accepted currency of your location.

 

[hawley]

Have had several problems over the years and only take cc to make a reservation and charge for the entire stay. If they don't want to do that, then no reservation. I will take a check, they can mail to me and I will hold the room 1 week for the check if it is far enough in advance of the stay. Have only had a couple of people say no and go elsewhere.

 

[JBloggs]

I have had many guests assume we are charging in full now at time of booking, it is becoming more and more common, so it is the question of the hour around here now.
Remember a few months back I wanted to do one of those "Prepay discounts" and could not work out a way to do it properly, one like e ped ia and the otherw where they prepay with a limited or NO cancellation period and save a substantial amount.
People are doing this. Well people here. Overseas they are more and more taking out trip insurance due to volcanoes etc.

 

[Joey Camb]

depends what reservation program you use but it is popular to do a discount here for pre paid and it helps with cash flow

 

[Proud Texan]

depends what reservation program you use but it is popular to do a discount here for pre paid and it helps with cash flow.

depends what reservation program you use but it is popular to do a discount here for pre paid and it helps with cash flow

How does that work? Is the discounted pre-paid reservation non-refundable?

 

[Joey Camb]

depends what reservation program you use but it is popular to do a discount here for pre paid and it helps with cash flow.

depends what reservation program you use but it is popular to do a discount here for pre paid and it helps with cash flow

How does that work? Is the discounted pre-paid reservation non-refundable?
.

Yup it is non refundable and you make that clear on the reservation terms and conditions but you could make it transferable or non transferable as another option. I would go for non transferable as you can guarantee that they will want to transfer to a busy weekend when you could get twice the price. Where I used to work we did it a lot and the only people who take it up are people who are absolutely sure they are comming ie for an event so I think out of about 100 reservations we had about 2 cancel which I don't think is bad plus in that case you get to resell the room.