Credit cards are mandatory

[figgyx]

Why is it so hard to understand that most (if not all) hotels require a valid credit card at checkin. You are welcome to pay cash but we need a credit card on file. The owner of the hotel where I work has been burned too many times by cash paying guests who smoke in the room or do damage to the room - and we have no credit card on file.

So, cue this dude who walks into my lobby on a Saturday night. He can't understand why if he is paying cash why I would ask for a credit card as well but provides one - which is promptly declined. He walks out and brings me another one - his girlfriend's. I tell him I can only take this card if she comes in with a valid drivers license and signs for the room. So he goes out and gets her and she looks none too happy. Well, her card is declined and so is the second one she hands me. When I decline to rent them a room she states "No wonder you are so empty."

Arggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[TheSHAD0W]

Well, it's true, if you let SCs stay there then you'd be full. Bankrupted, but full.

A friend who owns a hotel allows customers without a credit card to leave a cash deposit instead.

[dakhur]

Why? I pay cash, I don't want you to have any details other than there's a person in this room.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Quoth dakhur

Why? I pay cash, I don't want you to have any details other than there's a person in this room.

You may direct that question to the filthy pigs who can't be adult enough to not trash their hotel rooms, or steal anything out of the room that isn't bolted down.

As I always say, the few mess things up for the many.

[figgyx]

Dakhur - all hotels require proof of identification before checkin. You simply can't just occupy a room unless you can prove who you are. Cash paying guests especially need to give drivers license.

[dakhur]

Quoth figgyx

Dakhur - all hotels require proof of identification before checkin. You simply can't just occupy a room unless you can prove who you are. Cash paying guests especially need to give drivers license.

This is a case of different rules in different countries again.

I'm in Perth, Western Australia. I verified 6 hotels within a 10km radius that I can walk into, ask for a room, put down cash, sign in, and that's it. At check-out, all I have to do is hand the keys back and say thank you.

This is the norm wherever I've stayed for the last 20-odd years, which is why I'm so confused about the whole credit card issue. I've never met it personally.

[lvceline]

Quoth dakhur

This is a case of different rules in different countries again.

I'm in Perth, Western Australia. I verified 6 hotels within a 10km radius that I can walk into, ask for a room, put down cash, sign in, and that's it. At check-out, all I have to do is hand the keys back and say thank you.

This is the norm wherever I've stayed for the last 20-odd years, which is why I'm so confused about the whole credit card issue. I've never met it personally.

How do they track you down if someone trashes the room, steals something, brings in animals when they aren't allowed, etc?

[bhskittykatt]

Quoth lvceline

How do they track you down if someone trashes the room, steals something, brings in animals when they aren't allowed, etc?

Short answer: they don't.

My chain requires ID, but no CC. So we can ban people from staying again, but we can't go after them for money unless they do so much damage it's worth taking them to court.

If they don't even require ID, then they likely don't even have a ban list.

[dakhur]

Quoth lvceline

How do they track you down if someone trashes the room, steals something, brings in animals when they aren't allowed, etc?

EFTPOS is pretty wide spread here - even Eagle Boys pizza delivery drivers carry a wireless card reader. So most people would use their cards anyway, I suspect. That would mean they could be tracked if there was a problem.I'm just one of those strange people who prefers using cash.

[roguesqd]

Not so much the giving of information as having a way to charge the person if they trash your hotel room, or steal everything out of it