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Are we seriously the first hotel you've been to that won't take a CC over the phone?

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  • Are we seriously the first hotel you've been to that won't take a CC over the phone?

    I find that hard to believe. SC wants to check in and doesn't have a CC. Their reservation was reserved with their boss's CC. Only problem is that we don't have written proof that it's ok to charge the card. SC also doesn't understand why we won't take the card over the phone. They put me on with their boss.

    I ask him for his fax number and send the form over. Not everything prints out on his end so we end up calling him back. He's not willing to provide the missing information. Instead he keeps trying to guarantee that it's his card. Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time.
    To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

  • #2
    I get that here too. One night this dude came in with his bosses card and got extremely mad that I would not just take it on faith that he had permission to check in with it. I mean, really, he could have found the card in the parking lot and came in. At this motel I work at we do require the faxed form along with front and back of card used plus the person's copy of drivers license which must match card. That way we are assured the right person is allowing permission.

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    • #3
      Both the motel I worked at and at the Resort, we need that 3rd party CC auth form faxed to us. Every other place in the county I know requires them, too.

      Of course, these guests will always say that no one else makes them do it and this is the first time they've ever heard of such a thing!
      Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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      • #4
        Same here. My favorite is when they show up at midnight (well past the cancellation time) with a reservation booked thru a third-party travel agency that CANNOT be cancelled and I get to explain to them that they will be paying for a room they can't use. It's a great way to fill out a "Foul Language" Bingo card.

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        • #5
          We hear that all the time. It's a simple solution... tell them that if they don't provide the relevant information their friends reservation won't be honored. It works every time and those that it doesn't, we don't want anyway.

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          • #6
            Quoth figgyx View Post
            At this motel I work at we do require the faxed form along with front and back of card used plus the person's copy of drivers license which must match card. That way we are assured the right person is allowing permission.
            Or at least someone who stole the whole wallet and not just the number off the credit card.
            Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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            • #7
              At my last job, we would have people claiming to be a secretary or assistant to someone and present that persons card for the purchase and wonder why I couldn't let a woman use Mr John Smith's card. I told one woman (whose boss I know was a regular customer) that I would have to call him to get authorization (for stuff I knew he would never buy) and she backed down real quick. A few days later when he came in on his own, I mentioned how he would have to get me an authorization on file for his assistant to use his card so we were protected and I didn't have to question her everytime. He was befuddled and said his assistant was not to even have his card, let alone use it. Bet someone lost their job that day...

              The problem is, you use a third party CC on a room or an order just on someones word, then when they get the bill, they dispute it as fraudulent and you are out the money. Not worth it

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              • #8
                I've been a customer using somebody else's card (found myself in a situation where the hotel wouldn't take a debit card, so a friend put it on her card and I sent her the money). Sure it was a hassle to fax a form back and forth, but geeze, with credit and identity theft so rampant, what do people expect. Now, if it was *their* card used fraudulently, you'd bet they'd be up in arms that the merchant let it slide.
                At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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                • #9
                  It still dumbfounds me how many people don't understand this about hotels these days. I get into arguments with people at least once a week on this same topic, and people just don't understand. And I have turned people out of the hotel and cancelled their reservations when they wouldn't provide an authorization form or a new form of payment too.

                  Naturally, they all act like this is some horrible thing that we're doing, not something that we do for the protection of the card holder...

                  The same goes for when a husband/wife comes in with the other person's ID and card, then acts offended that yes, we do in fact need the person whose ID and CC you have to come inside the damn hotel. I inconspicuously hold on to their cards when this happens too, so that if the person magically vanishes, I can at least call the cops and report the items to them.
                  "That's too bad. Hospitals aren't fun to fight through."
                  "What IS fun to fight through?"
                  "Gardens. Electronics shops. Antique stores, but only if they're classy."

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                  • #10
                    Do you ever wonder if these are the same people who believe those scam emails that purport to be from Nigerian princes? After all, they think it's okay to take someone's word for who they are.
                    When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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                    • #11
                      I was on the other end of this once.

                      We had a fire in our chimney (squirrel decided it was a good place to build a nest), and the fire marshal turned the heat off in the house until it was fixed. I went to my parents in Brooklyn for the duration, but my tenants don't have family closer than Baltimore, so I put them up in a nearby motel for two days, and called in my credit card to cover it. The motel faxed me the form, I filled it out and faxed it back, end of story. Nobody got angry, everything went smooth. But of course then I'm not a SC.

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                      • #12
                        I have had this issue for 15 years. Doesn't matter which hotel I worked at. It's always the same thing. People feigning ignorance. When they're not wanting to do the credit card authorization they have two options. Leaving or booking through a third party website (Like Expedia, hotels.com) where they would have to pay them directly and not us. At least then if it's a stolen credit card or something, then the responsibility falls on the website they booked through and not us.

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