Pre-Authorisation Hold - Hotel and Ulster Bank

Paully D

Hello all,

I have a query and unsure where to turn after going back and forth for a while so thought I'd post here to get your thoughts.

I stayed in a hotel abroad 2 weeks ago. Upon check-in, they took a pre-authorisation of the full amount of the stay and upon check-out the next day they took the same amount. They said upon check-out that they released the pre-authorisation and that I'd have it back within a number of days.

I left it a week but still nothing so contacted my bank (Ulster Bank) this day last week to see if they could help. Got speaking to a rep who said that they can see the money is still on hold, so to contact the hotel again but if not that after 10 days the hold is released anyway and money sent back to my available balance.

I then contacted the hotel who said again that they have released the pre-authorsatiom upon check-out and that the issue is with my bank and the money will be back with me when they sort it from their end.

10 days passed and still nothing so I rang the bank again this morning. They told me again that they can see the money is still on hold but that after 15 days the money is either taken by the hotel or released back into my available balance!

A number of lessons have been learned from myself here going forward, but in the meantime, is there anything I can do in order to get my money back into my available balance as soon as possible?

The hotel and bank are washing their hands of it and blaming each other, and I'm being told different timelines from the bank every time I speak to someone else. In the meantime, there's a substantial amount of money in my account unavailable to me and bills are mounting up.

Thanks guys.

L1011

Did you use a debit card here?

Don't use debit cards for preauths. The retailer/vendor can't release them reliably if at all. Allowing full credit card functionality on debit cards has been a mess really.

If it was an actual credit card (post-pay), UB should be able to sort it more rapidly and you may just need to talk to someone higher up.

Lack of training on how to convert a hold to a payment is another issue - hotels and car hire desks are terrible at taking holds then taking the full amount again in a new transaction.

sundodger5

Had similar issues with a pre pay credit card. If they have two terminals and do the debit on checkout on a different one to the pre auth it takes ages to get the funds back as they are held in limbo.
Even after getting the hotel to reverse the pre auth it still can take weeks.

Paully D

L1011 wrote: »

Did you use a debit card here?

Don't use debit cards for preauths. The retailer/vendor can't release them reliably if at all. Allowing full credit card functionality on debit cards has been a mess really.

If it was an actual credit card (post-pay), UB should be able to sort it more rapidly and you may just need to talk to someone higher up.

Lack of training on how to convert a hold to a payment is another issue - hotels and car hire desks are terrible at taking holds then taking the full amount again in a new transaction.

Yep, unfortunately it was a debit card. Lesson learned now, but I had used one previously in another hotel and received the money back into my available balance within about 3 days so thought nothing of it this time.

sundodger5

Had to use my debit card lately and the hotel just took the room rate immediately instead of a pre auth. Side stepped the whole funds on hold problem.

dudara

L1011 wrote: »

Did you use a debit card here?

Don't use debit cards for preauths. The retailer/vendor can't release them reliably if at all. Allowing full credit card functionality on debit cards has been a mess really.

If it was an actual credit card (post-pay), UB should be able to sort it more rapidly and you may just need to talk to someone higher up.

Lack of training on how to convert a hold to a payment is another issue - hotels and car hire desks are terrible at taking holds then taking the full amount again in a new transaction.

Basically all of this. A lot can depend on the staff behind the counter and how knowledgeable they are when it comes to pre-auths and converting to a charge.