Depending on country, but as a general rule of thumb, if you are over 18, the hotel chain would file a request for payment with whoever would be handling your affairs afterwards. If there are no assets, then they are left out. Then it is usually called a write-off.
Walter
I'll follow up on this soon.
Always good to see you around Walter!
If you would have to make a deposit on the card to make a reservation, make sure that the credit line has enough on there to handle the deposit. Just thought of something, make sure that none of your financial affairs have a co-signer on any of them.
The deposit is before check-in. I have had hotels that would charge half of the amount of my stay. I was in Hawai'i for Christmas and the hotel charged me for half the stay when I checked in. Now I was there for 3 weeks also. Always had to have a card on file no matter what. Now remember that my stay was for 3 weeks also. I have stayed for one or two nights for work and did not have to pay anything till departure.
Every hotel and hotel chain have different polices.
Walter
Yes, policies vary, even by property.
Pretty universal to at least hold a deposit & card on file for damages. Authorizing charges.
The guest is technically in a "lease" agreement with the hotel. So for example, the police do still have to knock. Unless it's extenuating circumstances.
Essentially hotels (the local property) will pay commission to third parties like Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, act to drive traffic to their hotel and since they all charge different rate fees the price that they hotel gives them can vary. OTA's (online travel agency) get a commission, a cut of actualized revenue typically 7-14%. Hyatt Regency for example has such strong brand recognition but smaller hotels like Red Lion, they can offer a discount on Booking.com or Expedia. And the hotel does loose money but it drives more traffic to them instead of the hotel down the street. Again because they don't have the same brand recognition. Hotels have to pay 15%-25% to third party websites like that in general.
When booking through third parties, when you do the pay now option, that is cheaper because hotels basically operate under a similar
forecast model to airlines - a certain number of guests cancel and some no call, no show. You can only get a full refund when you have a say ~24 hour notice (policies vary).
The prepaid is because you are locked in, it's non-refundable, they get the money in hand sooner.
Longer stays are rewarded because it keeps compression (occupancy) higher and it increases the room revenue, CPOR is lower (cost per occupied room). The turnaround cost to service the room (maintenance, hskp) - there's an acceptable revenue rate they are willing to accept that is calculated for that time period.
After +30 consecutive nights some states exempt you from paying room tax at the same property. Like NY, Ohio, CA or Texas. 90 days in NJ. The hotel may still charge it but they refund it back to you. Often booking people for 30 days then checking them in after 30 days.
