I don't plan on staying at the Park Inn again unless they take care of an issue and change their practices.
I gave them one of my debit cards for incidental charges. Nothing was charged up front and nothing was charged when I left, then yesterday a charge from Park Inn went through for $226.64. It wasn't a pending authorization; it was indeed a full charge. No, I didn't steal the tube TV worth $50, order PPV, smoke, or vomit on the carpet. Everything was left in tact.
I called the hotel but the man I spoke to said they were in the middle of doing night auditing and the information wouldn't be available until 9am. I've worked in a hotel before, so I understood.
What annoys me is that they didn't disclose this to me when I handed them my card. I keep a decent cushion in my checking accounts in case of an emergency, but what if I hadn't?
I've stayed at a LOT of hotels, between 1 and 4 stars in cities all over the country, and the only one that did this in years of traveling was a former Doubletree in Tampa (it lost its affiliation with Hilton by that point and became an independently branded facility). They charged the $250 up front but refunded it within 3 days -- they didn't dig into my account days after I had already checked out. Effectively, it's like I'm loaning the Park Inn $226.
I suspect that some of it is because of the new regulation that no longer allows debit cards to be automatically overdrawn. Someone could steal all the furniture, empty their checking account, and take off, leaving the hotel holding the bag. The problem is one of disclosure. I shouldn't see a surprise charge days after checking out.
Next year, unless they change their policy or make deposit amounts clear (let's just call it a deposit, referring to it as a "hold" is too politically correct), I'm staying elsewhere.
I sent them an email and intend to call again tomorrow, so if they resolve the issue I'll post an update.
http://consumerist.com/2008/08/crowne-p ... arges.html