Something else that I'm not totally happy about is the way it works at the
hotel I stayed at recently. When you check-in they obtain 'pre
authorisation' for an amount equal to the cost of the room plus £30, and
for
this you have to enter a PIN. When you check out they charge the actual
amount to your card, and for this you again have to enter the PIN. As far
as
I could see there was nothing on the screen to indicate whether this was a
'Pre-authorisation', or an actual charge. I did check my account, and it
does seem to work the way they say it does, only one amount was taken, but
it should always be very clear to the customer exactly what they are
authorising when they key in the PIN, and it isn't.




Pre authorisation reduces the amount of credit available to you. If, at
the time of actual payment, they fail to link to the pre authorisation it
can stay on your account, reducing the available credit for as long as 28
days. If the link is made the pre authorisation is reversed, giving you
your available credit back and the actual debit is applied. Mind you, it
certainly used to be the case that the two transactions were not always
simultaneous and, of course, the correct debit was applied before the
reversal of pre authorisation occurred. IT is, unfortunately, standard
practice in hotels.