Refund scam fail

[Mr Hero]

BG: I work at a hotel. The way we do cash customers is they need to have either a $100 deposit which gets refunded, or a CC on file where we put a $100 on hold.

This SC comes up to the desk to check out. I don't know exact conversation because it did not happen on my shift. SC asks for her deposit back. Front desk person checks the back locked box where we keep the deposits. SC's was not one of them. Front desk looks at the reservation and notices that the SC put a CC on file.

After looking at the security tape, when SC checked in, she did not put down a deposit. SC eventually left, but only after the hotel threatened to call the cops.

[jedikuonji]

I was working for a small hotel a few years back and some gentlemen came in and wanted to rent a room. My coworker took care of them, even managed to upsell them to one of our more expensive suites. They pay with a travelers check, collect some change, and head out.

A few minutes later the police show up asking about the two of them. Turns out they were going from hotel to hotel and passing fake travelers checks in order to get cash change from the transactions.

Their entire scam was to get cash, so why did they agree to the expensive upsell in the first place? Clearly these were criminal masterminds. They were so clever that they were caught about 20 minutes later at another hotel in town.

[Mr Hero]

If I had to make a guess, the change they would get back from the standard room would have been less than the change they got back for the suite.

At my hotel a standard room is $79.99+tax=$89.97
Pay with $100 of fake traveler's checks and get $10.13 back

Suites are $89.99+tax=$101.11
Assuming the traveler's checks are in increments of $50 or more, they'd get back $48.99.

[jedikuonji]

If I had to make a guess, the change they would get back from the standard room would have been less than the change they got back for the suite.

At my hotel a standard room is $79.99+tax=$89.97
Pay with $100 of fake traveler's checks and get $10.13 back

Suites are $89.99+tax=$101.11
Assuming the traveler's checks are in increments of $50 or more, they'd get back $48.99.

That would make sense, if the prices had worked that way. They actually paid the entire thing with 1 check, so they got less change back then had they taken the standard room.

They were also using a denomination of travelers check that didn't actually exist, which we pretty funny on its own. Shortly after this we had a desk meeting where we learned all about travelers checks.

[Mytical]

It was probably a distraction technique. Get the clerk to think "Hey I got them into the upgrade!" and not pay so much attention to the payment.