I Need WHAT To Stay At A Hotel?!

I work for a hotel in a chain. This woman is a bottom-tier member on our loyalty program. She has two reservations, both for three nights. At about $100 a night, she’s looking at about $300 for each room, or about $600 total. She opted to e-check in to both rooms, meaning she selected her room numbers and could potentially get a digital key sent to her phone, but she got flagged and was denied because her card declined for one of them.

She comes in with a gentleman and tells me her last name. I verify her info and length of stay, and tell her politely that we need a new card because the one on file declined. She looks at me like I have three heads.

Guest: “Why can’t I just use the card on file?”

Me: “The card didn’t go through for the $300 for one of the rooms, so I need another one to authorize both room and tax amounts.”

Guest: “Why do you need to authorize it? Why can’t I just check in?”

Me: *Pause* “We need to make sure your card has the full amount in order to check in—”

She slumps over the desk with her head in her hands.

Guest: “The car rental company just charged my card $300. I don’t have enough for both rooms on my card! Can’t you do something? I was just laid off from a [Hotel] in Alabama and we never had to authorize an entire stay to check someone in. I guess you have a different credit policy than they do.”

Me: *At a loss* “I apologize, it’s our policy—”

And as she was muttering something like, “This is ridiculous, so stupid, blah, blah, blah,” they stomped off into the daylight.