We all know that debit cards are wonderful, easy to use and accepted pretty much anywhere. But did you know that by using your debit card at a hotel you could be placing your funds on a freeze that can take days to be released?
It is common practice for hotels to put a "hold" on a card used for incidentals and ensure payment of the final bill at check out. However, using a debit card does more than put a "hold" on your account, it essentially freezes funds in your checking account. Now, I am sure you can see where this can be a problem. You have checked into a hotel and have put down your debit card for incidentals. Due to the freeze that the authorization puts on your account - your card, now being used for dinner, comes up declined with insufficient funds. How can that be? That freeze on your account basically makes that money inaccessible.
Hotels are increasingly looking for credit cards these days to cover these incidentals since most of us have higher limits on a credit card than we have balances in our checkbooks. In addition many hotels are putting up signage discouraging guests from using their debit cards for this reason. Credit card companies quickly release these holds, where with a debit card it can take days or even a week to release the freeze on your checking account. So next time you check into a hotel, look for signage that the hotel may have posted about this, talk to the front desk about practices being used for authorizations before you slap down that debit card. The old trustworthy credit card may just be the way to go.
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