Charged full rack rate for award stay after check-out?

[JohnK]

But why did they do it in the first place?

That would be nice to know.

No late check-out even though it was offered. Checked out as per normal and left bags until late afternoon. The charge appeared on credit card as the day of check-out which would suggest not a pre-authorisation that wasn't removed.

I noticed the charge 9 days later. That's a long time for an error not to be fixed without my input. I have no confidence the error would have been discovered and fixed without my input. FWIW it was blamed on a young female employee who charged my credit card instead of IHG. Not good enough.

Same trip I had 2 stays at HI Silom and HI Macau on flexible rate. Both took pre-authorisation and both charged the credit card fresh the next day with invoice.

I believe I am the victim here.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

FWIW it was blamed on a young female employee who charged my credit card instead of IHG.

Now that sounds like a BS reply. I'm not sure how reward nights are settled and I wouldn't be surprised if it is by individual hotels "billing" IHG, but one thing I'd be pretty much convinced with is that IHG would not be billed rack rate.

 

[JohnK]

Actually I don't believe the story either but from what I understand from markis10s' posts regarding ebates and IHG award stays the rebate gets calculated on the rack rate.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Actually I don't believe the story either but from what I understand from markis10s' posts regarding ebates and IHG award stays the rebate gets calculated on the rack rate.

OK, I guess it does introduce a level platform to base exchanges, but I still really doubt IHG actually pay the rack rate. It may be the base for the calcs, but I'm guessing it will be something like "rack rate less 50%", so for that story to hold true for your experience, you should most likely not have been charged rack rate.

 

[Daver6]

I totally understand the OPs anger. Chances are it will all be rectified in the end. It's having to waste one's time on rubbish like this in the first is what gets my goat. It isn't rocket science to get this stuff right.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

It isn't rocket science to get this stuff right.

More than that, pre the CC era, accommodation houses the world over were able to settle guest accounts in full, at check-out time. It's only with the credit card requirement that some seem to believe it's OK to let a guest go on their way and then sometime later charge other, non-agreed, items to the card. I believe that's theft as well. Imagine if you bought $100 worth of groceries at Coles only to learn a month later, they had swiped another $50 a few days after the genuine transaction????? There would be an outcry on the current affair style programs, social media would go wild and parliament would instigate a royal commission, but because it's a hotel or an airline or a hire car firm, it's assumed to be OK and all above board. Crooks are everywhere.......even hotel owners/managers may be less than honest.

 

[drron]

Like this one-
T

ony and Jan Jenkinson posted the negative comment after being unimpressed with the one night they spent at the Broadway Hotel.
The couple, from Whitehaven, later found £100 charged to their credit card. The hotel said its policy was to charge for "bad" reviews

BBC News - Trip Advisor couple 'fined' £100 by hotel for bad review

 

[basso]

More than that, pre the CC era, accommodation houses the world over were able to settle guest accounts in full, at check-out time. It's only with the credit card requirement that some seem to believe it's OK to let a guest go on their way and then sometime later charge other, non-agreed, items to the card. I believe that's theft as well. Imagine if you bought $100 worth of groceries at Coles only to learn a month later, they had swiped another $50 a few days after the genuine transaction????? There would be an outcry on the current affair style programs, social media would go wild and parliament would instigate a royal commission, but because it's a hotel or an airline or a hire car firm, it's assumed to be OK and all above board. Crooks are everywhere.......even hotel owners/managers may be less than honest.

And yet your post seems to assume that hotel guests are as pure as the driven snow. I daresay that hotels have to manage dishonest guests as well. That is why they reserve the right to charge your card if they discover something later. Coles are not likely to discover you emptied the mini bar, but told them you didn't. There are crooks on both side, that is just life. Mistakes happen, and in my experience, mistakes are generally sorted out by a call to the the hotel.

 

[serfty]

With award stays, the hotel charges HHonors with a regular bulk settlement, offset by the commission paid when a gust stays and supplies their HHonors number.

The cash rate a hotel gets for a booking is based on a nights room occupancy for the entire hotel in relation to average rates charged.

There is a minimal base rate for low occupancy nights.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

My view is there's two issues.

1) Blatant charging error which I agree is straight up fraud. You didn't agree to it and they charged you what they want.
2) You do recognise the merchant name and you did authorize them to charge you something for a service you received in full. Your credit card terms say you need to contact the merchant prior to lodging a transaction dispute, and the form you sign will have a checkbox 'I confirm that I have contacted the merchant to resolve this matter'.

If you initiated the dispute before giving them time to fix it you acted unlawfully just like they did by charging an amount you did not agree to.
However if they only refunded the overcharged amount and you were still out of pocket (currency fees etc...) then you have grounds to dispute the entire transaction and you would have the entire amount credited back to your card.

I'd be asking for 5%++ additional refund on top of the points.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

And yet your post seems to assume that hotel guests are as pure as the driven snow.

I'm not sure where in my post you've read that. Pre CC days, there were thieves as customers too, but the hotels managed their exposure to theft. I'm also not suggesting hotels shouldn't take a CC deposit.......I'm opposed to hotels just stealing money because they can and blaming it on an under trained staff member is not a valid excuse.

 

[DC3]

Lucky that JohnK picked this up at all. When travelling (especially overseas) you have enough to worry about without having to waste time on whether you have been over-charged by hotels, etc.

 

[JohnK]

Lucky that JohnK picked this up at all. When travelling (especially overseas) you have enough to worry about without having to waste time on whether you have been over-charged by hotels, etc.

I am lucky in that I only have 20-30 Amex transactions/month which makes it easier to monitor. And this was a few days after my new cycle.

 

[RooFlyer]

May as well post this here.

A few days ago, I noticed a duplicate charge on my cc for a 'Car2Go' car hire in Calgary (where you hire a car by the minute). About $35 each time plus international fee. Was in transit back to Oz, so decided to look at it when I got home.

During the TPAC flight last night this e-mail arrived in my in-box. A bit OTT, but thoroughly welcome and I think a template for addressing these sorts of things. Admittedly, easier for this guy to do it, knowing that hundreds of people had been affected the same way, whereas JohnK was a single (maybe) occurrence.

NOTE: He's saying cc charge reversals in 3 business days.

But take note QF, VA, Avis, Hilton etc etc.

EDIT: The compensation - 30 minutes free time - is worth about $40 IIRC. Perfectly satisfactory, given they have been proactive in fixing it AND its good till the end of next year.

Dear RooFlyer,

This week, we were notified that transactions that had occurred betweenNovember 10th - 13th were likely charged twice. This obviously was a hugemistake, and I wanted to personally take the time to write to you – to explainhow we are actively working to resolve this, and to express my sincereapologies and embarrassment. This issue is absolutely unacceptable, and it issomething that I take very seriously here at car2go. I can easily put the blameon others and hide, but the blame is on ME. I am ultimatelyresponsible for each of you as a member and your experience with our service. Ialso take responsibility knowing that this caused a major inconvenience foryou.

So, what happened?

On Monday, November 17th, we were notified that that a technical error occurredwhile processing transactions that had occurred between November 10th -13th. As soon as this came to our attention, our teams immediately wentto work to identify the cause of the issue, understand which members had been affected,and how we can reverse the duplicate charges quickly. The reason that youare receiving an e-mail from me today – 72 hours after we were made aware ofthe issue – is because I wanted to make sure that (1) the problem is fixed (2)we have counter measures established so this will not happen again (3) we hadconfirmations on when refunds were beginning and when they would be complete.

I also want to reassure you that your personal information was nevercompromised, and remains secure with the highest amount of privacy andsafeguard.


How are we fixing it?

Our teams have been working around the clock to make this right, and make it upto you. As of this morning, we have been able to begin reversing theerroneous charges, which you will be able to see on your credit or debit cardstatement within the next 3 business days. Our teams will be closelymonitoring to ensure that this process has been completed. As a sincereapology, we’ve loaded 30 drive time minutes to your car2goaccount. These minutes will expire on December 31st, 2015. You will seethis reflected in your account within 2 business days. Though we realizethis doesn’t make up for the confusion and problems experienced, it wasessential for us to try to make it up to you.

What’s next?

For many of us, car2go is a lifeline to help get us from Point A to Point Bwith ease – whether it’s to work, to see a friend, or to that lifeexperience that you just don’t want to miss out on. I can tell you,with full confidence, that we have fixed the technical problem and that we haveinstalled additional measures to prevent this from happening again. Wereally let you down this week, and I promise you that we can, and we will, dobetter to give you the best car2go experience – both on and off the road.

If you haven't already contacted Member Services, and you have questions pleaseemail us at [email protected].

Paul DeLong
Chief Marketing Officer
car2go NA, LLC

 

[dajop]

Reading this thread, despite the accusations, it seems the number one party guilty of theft is credit cards and banks who are more than happy to take their cut on the way out and on the way back in. Have seen this several times on correcting mistakes it's a downside of international travel. Of course we don't get as upset about it if it happens locally.

As for the hotel mistakes sometimes do happen - believe it or not hotels employ people not robots.

 

[DC3]

I think that I'll take the robot, if offered, thanks.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

As for the hotel mistakes sometimes do happen - believe it or not hotels employ people not robots.

It the OPs case, it seems to me the mistake is systemic.

If IHG have a policy of taking amounts without notification, that's wrong. Emails are virtually free and those without an email contact would be minimal. If I had a couple of beers from a mini bar which wasn't picked up until after check out, I'd have no qualms about paying for them via my card but I'd hope that I'd get an email like, "Dear Sir, we noticed you enjoyed two Coronas on offer in the mini bar in your room during your recent stay with us in xyz. We were pleased to be able to service your requirements on this occasion and thank you for your custom. We have deducted the $16 charge from your nominated account with the last 4 digits being 1234. Once again, thank you and we look forward to serving you again in the near future."

How hard is that? They have our credit card details and don't mind spending the time processing the charge, why can't they set up their system to generate an auto email? In fact do they do this? I've never been back charged so I don't know but the OP seems to indicate not. If they don't do that (when I'm sure it's easy to set up) then they would seem to be attempting to hide the transaction as much as they can do and I'm sure there are many people who would not notice surplus erroneous charges on their statement which in my mind is tantamount to deliberate theft even although the initial charge may have been in error. They are not even attempting to secure the recipients authorisation.

 

[JohnK]

As for the hotel mistakes sometimes do happen - believe it or not hotels employ people not robots.

And that person couldn't see the room was an award stay?

I am assuming they looked at the same documentation that the check-in person used to welcome me and to thank me for using my points? No?

 

[dajop]

I am assuming they looked at the same documentation that the check-in person used to welcome me and to thank me for using my points? No?

Is it not Thailand you are talking about? In Thailand I never assume something that would logically happen in Australia (or most places) would logically happen there. It may but it may not.

 

[froggerADL]

I think it is possible that their system showed you as a No Show and they charged you one night at the rack rate. Still their error and very annoying.