Credit card deposit?

Kyle323

I'm travelling to quite a few countries in South East Asia and I don't want to be putting cash deposits down in each place I go to, I'll end up with a load of foreign currency I need to spend after check out if I do.

My question is, If I let the hotel swipe my credit card or whatever they do, will I be charged by my credit card company for foreign fees etc?

I've only got a low £500 credit limit and a high interest rate so I don't want to even think about touching it abroad.

Also I've read stories online about hotels taking money from the card afterwards claiming damage, Is this a common occurrence? Am I protected from this by using a credit card and not a debit card?

InsideInsurance

You are only charged if a charge is placed not for a reservation/ ring fence of funds. The problem can be that it takes some time for the ringfence to drop off in certain circumstances so depending on how much each one ring fences and how often you are switching hotels you may find you run out of limit fairly quickly even if none of it actually results in any charges.

A lot also depends on what you are wanting to do. If the room is pre-paid then some hotels give you the option of leaving a credit card and then you can charge items to the room or you dont and you must settle each bill at the time.

As to claims of damage? I stay in probably 10-20 hotels a year and not once have I ever been accused of causing damage. Most the times hotels undercharge, forgetting a bar bill or two etc rather than overcharge. That said this is normally with medium to large chains like Hilton, Starwoods, Jumeirah etc and smaller hotels may be more prone to this

mcfisco

Funnily enough, this year I have twice had massive bar bills charged to my room when travelling with work.
Both hotels simply used a system where they asked your room number and then got a signature.

It makes for an interesting discussion when checking out.