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restaurantguy67 · 03-24-2011, 08:36 AM

OK, I'm a woeful newbie at this. I used to travel a lot and had an assistant to handle all my bookings. Now, I'm in a situation where I'll be wanting to book a hotel occasionally in my home city, and don't want it to show up on my credit cards. It needs to be a decent mid-level place, like one of the suites chains, or a Hyatt type place....not the no-tell motel.

I doubt I'm the first one to ever have this need - I'm just clueless about how to execute on it. Can someone educate me?

Carlie · 03-24-2011, 08:42 AM

You have to have a credit card, period. I might suggest getting a pre-paid credit card
from just about anywhere and using that. There is no bill since it is pre paid. Plan ahead
it may take 10 days to receive the card with your name on it in the mail.

Play Safe, Have Fun-
Carlie

Guest012220 · 03-24-2011, 08:57 AM

You can use a prepaid card from almost anywhere.Be careful with the green dot one because I heard they tend to track it now and if they see illegal use of it,I believe they cancel the card w/o notifying you of it.I use a Ace cash prepaid card and they give you a temp one to use while your new card ships to you.until you get the one with your name on it,I recommend you use hotwire.com or priceline to book your rooms.Either website you can select the star rating/or bid on the star rating of your choice.Im very particular about my hotels as well when I go out of town so I only select 3 1/2 star or above.Plus you can select the area in which you would like to stay in,which helps a lot.send me a pm if you have any other questions

charlestudor2005 · 03-24-2011, 08:59 AM

It takes the card to hold the reservation and guarantee any charges to the room. The prepaid is probably the best idea, but you can use yours.

Upon checkout, you can pay the total in cash, and no amount should appear on the bill.

Now, if you're trying to do this all anonymously...that's another story. It can be done, but it's a little more difficult.

[I never hobby at home. Too much chance running into someone I know.]

coast_encounter · 03-24-2011, 09:01 AM

If you don't want to fool with credit cards at all. You should be able to go to the Hotel in advance and pay a cash deposit on the room and you can be totally off the grid. I used to work at a popular national chain hotel many years ago and people would come in and also mail money orders and checks in for rooms deposits all the time. Good Luck !!

Brasky · 03-24-2011, 06:22 PM

Wal-Mart has a prepaid debit card. Plus, they give you a temp card to use in the meantime. You can use it online, rental cars, and hotels etc.

Naomi4u · 03-24-2011, 06:28 PM

True!

the.namssa · 03-24-2011, 08:45 PM

I have done this on occasion when I need a room for an evening to see a lady for some fun.

They swipe the card, I do my thing and pay cash on the way out and as long as there are no issues the card is never charged. They may keep the number on file in case there is an LE issue, not sure. Lately I am having to provide my DL, to help ensure the card is legit, not stolen. Easy peasy though, as long as there are not additional charges, you should be.....good to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

It takes the card to hold the reservation and guarantee any charges to the room. The prepaid is probably the best idea, but you can use yours.

Upon checkout, you can pay the total in cash, and no amount should appear on the bill.

atlcomedy · 03-25-2011, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brasky

Wal-Mart has a prepaid debit card. Plus, they give you a temp card to use in the meantime. You can use it online, rental cars, and hotels etc.

I'd be wary of this advice as it relates to debit cards and rental cars...you can use it but they require a ton of info and usually a large deposit...I've spent a lot of time with a branch manager at Enterprise...she does more than pick me up

...Enterprise is actually one of the more liberal chains...forget the guys at the airport

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

It takes the card to hold the reservation and guarantee any charges to the room. The prepaid is probably the best idea, but you can use yours.

Upon checkout, you can pay the total in cash, and no amount should appear on the bill.

Now, if you're trying to do this all anonymously...that's another story. It can be done, but it's a little more difficult.

[I never hobby at home. Too much chance running into someone I know.]

good advice...but

again this doesn't work if you want true no paper trail...the down side is even if you are well intended this can bite you in the ass....

"Mrs Tudor, this Tim from the Rockport Marriott. I just wanted to let you know that we billed you more than we should have and since your husband paid in cash we were wondering if you'd just like us to.....or....."

the.namssa · 03-25-2011, 12:50 AM

DENY! DENY! DENY!

Quote:

Originally Posted by atlcomedy

"Mrs Tudor, this Tim from the Rockport Marriott. I just wanted to let you know that we billed you more than we should have and since your husband paid in cash we were wondering if you'd just like us to.....or....."

Mariah Moore · 03-25-2011, 06:22 AM

All hobbiest and providers should use pre paid credit cards that way there is no link back..

Naomi4u · 03-25-2011, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mariah Moore

All hobbiest and providers should use pre paid credit cards that way there is no link back..

Which prepaid cards have no link back?

From what I have gathered they all do. Don't they all require full name and social? If not, care to share the ones that don't? Thanks in advance dear.

lisa.lisa0302 · 03-25-2011, 08:27 AM

Perhaps a visa or mastercard gift card. I haven't tried it yet, but will try.

Stick with the pre-paid cards.

Naomi4u · 03-25-2011, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa.lisa0302

Perhaps a visa or mastercard gift card. I haven't tried it yet, but will try.

I'll try it and report back.

Chevalier · 03-25-2011, 08:41 AM

If this is going to recur, gift cards are a bad idea as they're usually not reloadable. I got a reloadable pre-paid from . With the card number alone you can pay for the hotel room if, for example, you're booking online through Priceline. It can be advantageous to have the physical card if you want to use it in a restaurant, for example, but I had the card mailed to my work address and it was fairly discreet. They don't mail statements, you just check it online.

When you check in, these days they insist on photo id and a deposit for incidentals (assuming you've prepaid through Priceline or Hotwire). Putting a deposit on the reloadable pre-paid is a pain because they go ahead and charge the card and it takes awhile sometimes for the hotel to send through the reversal. Now I usually use my regular credit card for the deposit for incidentals and just make sure I don't have any. You can give them cash for the deposit, but then you'll have to get it back at the front desk when you checkout. I'm not entirely sure they'd give me cash, versus mailing a check later. Besides, I usually just stay a few hours and checking out soon after checking in might draw more attention. Since I prepay through Priceline, I just never check out and for all they know I did stay all night.

I've been doing this for about three years now. It's a little bit of a pain, but sometimes the lady you want to see is worth that. In any event, I've never had the hotel ask why I'm getting a room there even though I live in town. (Perhaps they know what's going on or maybe they think I'm just having an affair.) I've never had the hotel send anything to my home address; I've not sure if they even write it down from the photo id. Only once has a charge come through on my regular credit card, when I was hit with an unexpected parking charge from the hotel.

By the way, use the "Name your price" option in Priceline and you can get a room at a pretty nice place for a surprisingly low rate.

Good luck.