How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Guest: rain
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 12:53 am
I know there're lots of experts here =)
My question is this. You know how hotels or similar businesses require you to guarantee your reservations with a cc? Or for those "2 weeks free" trial offer, where you can sign up for 2 weeks and be charged nothing? All require a valid cc number.
I'm just trying to figure out if there's a free software or method to do this. Does anyone know?
Thanks!
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 6:53 am
To do what? I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.
For instance, do you want to keep track of the offers you responded to? Are you looking for something that will automatically unsubscribe you before the end of the offer? Plenty of packages that will do the first, but I don't know of any that will do the second.
Guest: rain
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 2:35 pm
Sorry I wasn't specific enough. What I'm trying to do is this:
Look at it from a business perspective, not as a consumer. As a business, I want to track users by their CC, since that seems to be boiling down to a worldwide ID of some sort now. Hotels seem to do it--they require users to have a CC to reserve a room, even if paying by other methods.
So, can I do this too?
If I knew how hotels do it (ie, require users to have a valid cc), or how sites that offer those free 2 week trial, but enter valid CC number first do it, it may be possible to work out how to use the same system for the online biz I'm in. (internet games)
We need to track users when they register for IDs, and the interesting thing really is that cc are becoming more and more like a global ID.....(that's my theory)
Guest: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 6:37 pm
When you make a hotel reservation, the hotel enters a transaction to withhold $X from your credit card--so if you don't show up the hotel gets paid anyway. The hotel simply withholds the money (it's deducted from your credit availability); it isn't actually transferred to the hotel's bank until you sign-out at the end of your stay.
The online places that offer "free" trials want the credit card number at the outset so they can bill your account automatically when the free period expires. Most people forget to cancel.
Any merchant can ask anyone for a credit card number at any time. But I don't believe doing that will serve your purpose. If the online gaming is free, people are going to be very reluctant to provide you with credit info. Wny not just ask for a street address and/or phone number--and send a confirmation of some sort by regular mail to make sure the info is legitimate, a confirmation containing a code that has to be put in online to activate the account?
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: rain
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 7:45 pm
Hmm thanks, I didn't know hotels withhold the money first. I need a method to verify ID in a relatively fast and very cheap manner. By the way if anyone here plays bridge come to our site, the best site in the world =) But I digress.
We have users all over the world. Mail would be expensive and slow. Also, because its international, there is no standardised identity in all the world. Even in USA, people use drivers license or state ID, and both are not required! You don't have a standardised ID like most of us foreigners ;--)
CC on the other hand, is becoming truly global. All visa/mc/amex are standardised and unique. We can easily track people by CC number then. Even if someone likes having a lot of IDs for variety, we won't stop him, but he's limited by his number of CC. This just sounds like a great solution to me, if only there is a way we can legally track CC number in a safe manner.
Ideas welcome!
Guest: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 8:59 am
I agree that verifying by regular mail is slow and cumbersome. I agree that verifying by credit card is easy. But, once again, I don't think people are going to be putting out their credit card numbers as identification for a free service. People are very suspicious of firms asking for credit card information when there's no purchase involved.
I've sold hundreds of things on eBay and I found people were just about paranoid about emailing me credit card info or entering it on a Web form.
Most BBs send email verifications--you sign up, state your email address, and have to respond to an email sent to that address before you're allowed in. Sometimes free addresses (like hotmail.com) aren't allowed. That's one approach. I think that anything really secure would be very slow or intrusive--people like to be anonymous on the Internet. Of course, I really AM named Polonius, so I'm an exception.
Guest: rain
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 12:53 am
I know there're lots of experts here =)
My question is this. You know how hotels or similar businesses require you to guarantee your reservations with a cc? Or for those "2 weeks free" trial offer, where you can sign up for 2 weeks and be charged nothing? All require a valid cc number.
I'm just trying to figure out if there's a free software or method to do this. Does anyone know?
Thanks!
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 6:53 am
To do what? I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.
For instance, do you want to keep track of the offers you responded to? Are you looking for something that will automatically unsubscribe you before the end of the offer? Plenty of packages that will do the first, but I don't know of any that will do the second.
Guest: rain
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 2:35 pm
Sorry I wasn't specific enough. What I'm trying to do is this:
Look at it from a business perspective, not as a consumer. As a business, I want to track users by their CC, since that seems to be boiling down to a worldwide ID of some sort now. Hotels seem to do it--they require users to have a CC to reserve a room, even if paying by other methods.
So, can I do this too?
If I knew how hotels do it (ie, require users to have a valid cc), or how sites that offer those free 2 week trial, but enter valid CC number first do it, it may be possible to work out how to use the same system for the online biz I'm in. (internet games)
We need to track users when they register for IDs, and the interesting thing really is that cc are becoming more and more like a global ID.....(that's my theory)
Guest: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 6:37 pm
When you make a hotel reservation, the hotel enters a transaction to withhold $X from your credit card--so if you don't show up the hotel gets paid anyway. The hotel simply withholds the money (it's deducted from your credit availability); it isn't actually transferred to the hotel's bank until you sign-out at the end of your stay.
The online places that offer "free" trials want the credit card number at the outset so they can bill your account automatically when the free period expires. Most people forget to cancel.
Any merchant can ask anyone for a credit card number at any time. But I don't believe doing that will serve your purpose. If the online gaming is free, people are going to be very reluctant to provide you with credit info. Wny not just ask for a street address and/or phone number--and send a confirmation of some sort by regular mail to make sure the info is legitimate, a confirmation containing a code that has to be put in online to activate the account?
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: rain
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 7:45 pm
Hmm thanks, I didn't know hotels withhold the money first. I need a method to verify ID in a relatively fast and very cheap manner. By the way if anyone here plays bridge come to our site, the best site in the world =) But I digress.
We have users all over the world. Mail would be expensive and slow. Also, because its international, there is no standardised identity in all the world. Even in USA, people use drivers license or state ID, and both are not required! You don't have a standardised ID like most of us foreigners ;--)
CC on the other hand, is becoming truly global. All visa/mc/amex are standardised and unique. We can easily track people by CC number then. Even if someone likes having a lot of IDs for variety, we won't stop him, but he's limited by his number of CC. This just sounds like a great solution to me, if only there is a way we can legally track CC number in a safe manner.
Ideas welcome!
Guest: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: How Hotels Use Your Credit Card
Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 8:59 am
I agree that verifying by regular mail is slow and cumbersome. I agree that verifying by credit card is easy. But, once again, I don't think people are going to be putting out their credit card numbers as identification for a free service. People are very suspicious of firms asking for credit card information when there's no purchase involved.
I've sold hundreds of things on eBay and I found people were just about paranoid about emailing me credit card info or entering it on a Web form.
Most BBs send email verifications--you sign up, state your email address, and have to respond to an email sent to that address before you're allowed in. Sometimes free addresses (like hotmail.com) aren't allowed. That's one approach. I think that anything really secure would be very slow or intrusive--people like to be anonymous on the Internet. Of course, I really AM named Polonius, so I'm an exception.
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