Do i need money in my account for hotel to do Pre-authorization?

JordanB

Hi,

Im staying at a hotel tomorrow night for 2 nights until saturday morning. The hotel takes a pre-authorization payment when i arrive. However, i do not have the full amount of money i need for my stay until friday, when i get paid.

Do i need the full amount of money in my bank account or the hotel to do a pre-authorization on my booking? or does it not matter until they take the money after my stay?

eskbanker

The pre-authorisation seeks to earmark funds at the time it's done, so if the money isn't there then the bank would only approve the transaction if you have enough of an overdraft facility to cover it, do you?

Too late now obviously if you don't already have one but this is a good reason to use a credit card for this purpose, as the money being ring-fenced would then effectively be the bank's rather than yours....