Hotel pre-authorisation legalities?

hasaposse

Hi there, first post!

Been trying to find out the legalities regarding hotel pre-authorisations but not having much luck with the specifics.

Obviously when you stay in a hotel they pre-authorise an amount to cover things like the mini bar. That's quite normal and completely fine. But I'm trying to find out what the law says regarding how much of that they're actually allowed to use, and what they need to tell you.

For example if they've pre-authorised a card for £400, and you've used £30 of items from the mini bar, you'd expect them to take £30, that's fine. But if they have something in their terms saying you'll be charged "a fee" (non specified amount) for an alarm call for example, what would the law say? Do they have to get you to agree this before they charge it or does the pre-authorisation give them the right to take as much of that amount as they like?

I'm aware you can dispute the charge with your credit card afterwards, but I'm interested in what your rights are when you're at the hotel and you want to dispute something.

Hope that's explained clearly, thanks in advance!

hollydays

No, it's not clear. What were you charged for?
Was it television?
I can only think, they've warned you there's a charge, it was up to,you then to clarify how much .

bris

You give them the authorisation to charge the card for anything that you do in the hotel so if you smoke you pay the fine, if you get alarm calls they all form part of the bill so again they just take it.


If you have a dispute they will have a complaints procedure.

hasaposse

hollydays, I'm asking in theory, hence the examples. Like I said in the question, I'm trying to find out whether a pre-authorisation means they can take as much of that money as they like, or whether they have to get permission to use that money (ie agreement to an itemised breakdown of charges) before you leave the hotel.

bris, obviously if permission is given beforehand ie "there is a £5 charge for wake up calls" then I'd expect to be charged £5 for a wake up call, but I'm trying to find out about non specified charges. For example I've booked a hotel that says there will be a "corking charge" (but they don't specify how much) if you bring your own alcohol into the hotel. So for that example specifically, I'm trying to ascertain whether the pre-authorisation gives them permission to charge you for whatever they like, or whether you'd still need to give permission for any charges that aren't mentioned specifically in the T&Cs when you book.

I hope that clarifies the point a little.

hollydays

And which hotel is this. No,it's no clearer
Are you saying this question is hypothetical

hasaposse

It doesn't matter which hotel it is. I'm not sure how to explain it any more clearly?

Hotels make pre-authorisations. When you check out they'll take charges off of that amount, and release the rest. I'd like to know whether the pre-authorisation means you've already said "yes you can take all of this money" or whether it just means "you can put that money on hold, but you still need my permission to charge my card".

hollydays

For heavens sake. If you've got a query, ASK the hotel

hasaposse

It's not a query about the hotel's T&Cs, it's a query about the law regarding pre-authorised credit card transactions. If you don't know the answer that's fine, but there's no need to take that tone - I'm not simply being dense.

hollydays

If you want an answer so you can tell someone in a pub arguament. That's not what this board is for.
If you have a specific question then lay it out.
Otherwise email the hotel and clarify if you will be charged a certain amount for eg corkage.
If you're not prepared to even state what you're worry is, it's not a real worry and not precise enough to be given accurate advice on.

hasaposse

Good lord. No, that's not what I want. I want an answer because I stay in a lot of hotels and still aren't sure of the law regarding pre-authorised credit card transactions. And after a long Google search, it appears that it's not something that you can find information on easily.

I already laid out my question, and clarified it. If you don't know the answer or just don't understand the question then you can simply let someone else answer.

shaun_from_Africa

hasaposse wrote: »

For example I've booked a hotel that says there will be a "corking charge" (but they don't specify how much) if you bring your own alcohol into the hotel. So for that example specifically, I'm trying to ascertain whether the pre-authorisation gives them permission to charge you for whatever they like,

A wake up call will probably be a fixed charge whereas a corkage fee may differ depending on the type of alcohol and the size of bottle.
If you were to take in a small bottle of your favourite beer it's unlikely that any corkage charge for this would be the same as if you had a bottle of champagne so this may well be why they don't specify any figure for this.