1: Yes they can, also no it's not that high. My hotel currently gets $75 per night, my last hotel was $100 per night. 350/4=87.5.
2: Most hotels you just swipe a card at check in for incidentals. Why don't you call the hotel directly and find out if you can do this.
3: You should read your hotels.com confirmation page, read the terms and conditions. See if it mentions anything about this incidental deposit up front.
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I'd try calling and getting a different rep, as they might be more helpful. Mastercard is not going to give you the card number, regardless of if you have the authorization, but they may be able to help you in some other way.
Also for future reference: Booking, Priceline, Agoda, Kayak all fall under Booking Holdings (meaning they are all owned by one company).
Expedia, Hotwire, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, VRBO, and Trivago are all owned by Expedia Group.
Pretty much boils down to no matter what OTA people use, they are using one of two companies.
Why book through Hotels.com? If you know the hotel you want to stay at, book direct. You are then a customer of the hotel not the booking agent. If you have any issues with a third party reservation (change, cancel etc.) you need to deal with the third party (and their restrictions), they then have to call the hotel and so on... Book direct and you are dealing with the business directly. You will be able to pay at property (unless you purchase a pre-paid discount) and will have established a relationship with the property.
Most hotels will pre-authorize your credit card for the room and tax plus incidental hold which allows you to charge meals or sundry items to your room (this process does hold this amount from your available funds) . The charge is posted on departure when your bill is finalized, reviewed and approved.
Hope this helps
On hotels.com page there is no language that the deposit will be refunded at checkout if there is no damage to property.
So the "hotel" is apparently in a condo building that the owner is listing his rooms on Hotels.com There is no staff, self-check in only. If I give them cash there I feel there would be even less protection if I get scammed.
Welcome to Philadelphia! Where the hotel rooms are small, some are sketchy as all hell, and most things don't make any sense!
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My rule of thumb when traveling, always try to contact the hotel directly before booking to ask about incidentals and whatever else. Hotels.com, Expedia.com. and the other OTAs are really.... frustrating. Some of the OTAs don't have all of the information. Most OTAs sell Prepaid reservations so you pay the OTA and then the OTA pays the hotel, which, if you haven't caught on yet, those prepaid reservations also charge a service fee. So while you may be paying $139 (example numbers), the hotel only gets $99 of that after tax.
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Your best bet is going to be calling this.. It's not a hotel if its in a condo building. It's just a property rental at that point.. Call the desk or whomever is in charge of this operation and ask them if you can pay at arrival because you don't feel comfortable giving out your info via email, fax, whatever. Personally, I won't sent in a CC Auth to a hotel unless I specifically speak to someone at the hotel and confirm the email or fax goes to the front desk.
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I hope you enjoy Filthidelphia while you are here. It's an interesting city with deep history and also some questionable people. Hit me up if you need suggestions of things to see and do while in the city. There are a few hidden gems.
Im just getting into hotel work but previously I did overnights and the way I kept my sleep schedule was using the things linked below. They worked better than curtains at keeping light out of windows. Worth every single penny
Shady enough that I have literally never heard of them.
Honestly I would just avoid them. OTAs are bad enough as it is [And usually lie], but if it seems ESPECIALLY shady like you said, I'd definitely avoid it. Could be a scam to take your money and/or get your card info.
It also seems that, for Traveluro, all the reviews that are actual legit are 1 star. Every other review is 4 star, has the same grammatical sequences, HAPPENS to mention someone by name, and happens to be about how "easy it is to cancel".
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/splittytravel.com
Get yourself some compression stockings and some ankle socks to wear over them. The compression stockings will optimize blood flow. If your legs, ankles, and feet are swelling, even a little, they will stop that from happening.
These are the ones I wear. The ankle socks just make the compression stockings last longer.
>What is weird here is that the hotel made you pay for it, rather than just getting it fixed by
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>hotels.com
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I felt the exact same way. I said something like "I can't believe I'm the one getting stuck paying and doing the leg work while two giant corporations fight over my $250." But they didn't seem to think it was their problem at all.
The free room every 10 stays has me hooked on hotels.com. But this incident has me thinking it may be time to just book direct and try to build points through one brand instead. I will need to look into what the various chains offer.
Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.
but, for example, if hotels.com works on a merchant model (i assume they do, unlike booking.com), wouldn't they have already purchased rooms at an already discounted rate. and then, when they give a discount, aren't they the ones "losing" money here, instead of the hotels who've already sold the rooms for that rate?
Several of the hotels I have worked at have had monthly "scent" merchants who could put scented sticks in the air vents. We have also had automatic aerosol scent dispensers in the bathrooms and public areas we just have to re-fill.
I have one of those at home, as a matter of fact.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TDZ0IEG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I've had the same issue before. My solution was to find a 4G Router (vodafone gigacube but there are others here in the UK) that has an ethernet output. Then use Speedify channel bonding VPN (with the hotel Wi-Fi). That way I can get the best of two slightly dodgy connections bonded together for something halfway reliable in hotels.
Basically this book, "The Customer Comes Second": https://smile.amazon.com/Customer-Comes-Second-People-First/dp/0060526564
When you're a front-line employee, good service means the customer comes first. When you're management, it means the customer comes second, and the people you're responsible for come first for you so that they can put the customer first.
So, I traveled to the city of Hangzhou, China recently. And I was staying in Park Hyatt Hanzhou. When I opened my phone to connect my Wifi, I saw multiple Wifi Hotspots. So, I called the concierge and asked for the actual Wifi Hotspot and then connected to it. To secure the connection more, I opened my VPN service. I use PureVPN and here is a detailed read on Hotel Wifi Security.