It may be a regional thing. Many (I'd say most, but I don't know the actual percentage) hotels in North America require a credit card, even if you're paying by cash. They will just charge the card after you leave.
That doesn't apply over here (see the less carefully crafted version of your statement/the sibling comment).
That said: What happens if you _have_ a credit card that backs the room, but not the rest of the expenses? I usually travel with a CC (from my employer) backing the room. I never pay my room myself. That said, the hotel isn't allowed to charge minibar/massage/champagne at 3am by room service on the company card - and has no reliable information about me [1].
1: Yes, obviously it's rather dumb to run off with a TV if my company reserved the room or something. But again, as stated elsewhere in this thread: I've seen a number of people getting away with minibar-theft, very easily.
Replying here, since HN likes me to calm down or something and hides the direct reply link.
First of all: Thanks a lot for taking me somewhat serious. :)
This is enforced by the letter of my company that states "Our Employee is staying in your hotel. We will cover his room, breakfast, wifi, parking. Please charge the following CC". Everything else is my business. If I eat at the hotel's restaurant I can charge that to my room. When I check out, I have to pay up for the things that aren't cleared for the CC - i.e. still open.
Even if I steal from the hotel and run off with the couch in this room: The company specifically offered their CC for a number of services, paying for me stealing furniture isn't part of that agreement. If I break something they cannot charge the company CC (but at a certain amount will certainly ask my company, which is on file and well-known, to relay a bill to me).
Just having a CC number is not enough to charge it with random things.
Just for reference: In the US, the hotel wants a credit card on file for "incidentals". When you check out, you can tell the hotel how you're going to pay for each bit, and put the porn/minibar/massage on your own CC. But if you skip out, it goes on the card on file. (Is it possible to check into a hotel without a CC on file? You may have to put down a cash deposit or something, I don't know, I've never tried it.)
The hotels would not be interested in enforcing company policy so if you brought them a letter they would probably laugh at you. And your company enforces their "no porn/minibar/massage" policy by auditing the bill--if it's more than they expected, you could be asked for the itemized receipt.
Also, the system seems pretty hackable--forging a letter from a company that says "we will cover everything" seems easy. Of course the company could always audit the bills but once they're doing that why even bother with the letter?
> Just having a CC number is not enough to charge it with random things.
Replying again as a sibling, because it's 1:30 am and .. I don't care about waiting 10-15min for the reply button. ;-)
Thanks a lot for the clarification. As I said: I didn't have a CC for most of my life and had to trouble to check into a hotel. Sometimes a cash deposit was indeed required, but that was unusual (and mostly in seedy/grimey/ugly kind of places).
I think a big misunderstanding is the 'company CC' here. There's just one. For the company. Not one for me, for the company. My company has a _single_ CC covering travel expenses (and god knows what). So someone (travel agency, customer, me, who ever) is booking a hotel. My company sends a polite letter to the hotel, stating that it would cover my stay (see above, limitations etc) and offers the CC details or - still quite often the case - asks even to receive the bill by mail.
The hotel has no CC that I gave it, ever. Not mine, not a CC that the company gave me (I .. don't have something like that, doubt that it exists in this company outside of maybe some people in the higher sales ranks and .. well .. maybe the US? No clue). The name on the CC used for these things is actually my CEO, last time I checked.
Hackable: Well, the whole thread is about abuse, but I think you're caught up in that misunderstanding: I'm not providing a CC and forge a letter that says 'Yeah, but please just charge the room'. I'd have to forge a letter that says 'Please charge the room to the following CC'..
That said.. Again: Often enough we ask for a bill. In that case we tell the hotel: "Please send the bill for the stay (room/breakfast...) to company name, street, city". Is that hackable? Probably. It's a protocol that wasn't designed to protect against abuse. Just as I am able to send you emails from president@whitehouse.gov as long as I'm able to find an open smtp relay. That doesn't mean that everyone or even a significant number of people does it..
In Australia they will charge anything unpaid that you use (minibar, room service, etc.) to the credit card you gave.
Often what happens here with corporate credit cards is that you have different cards for different people, even if they are coming out of the same account, and you can see all the transactions that each person made. So the company would ask questions when they see the extra charge.
