Entitled customer books hotel reservation with an invalid credit card, then throws a fit when the front desk employee cancels their reservation: ‘We aren't a charity, we are a business’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Oct 22, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

A front desk employee has to deal with a lot of tomfoolery, but dealing with an entitled hotel guest who believes it's not their fault their reservation was canceled has to take the cake. What do they expect if they provide an invalid credit card, then fail to update their payment method before the deadline the hotel provided for them before cancellation? We're not sure, but does it matter? The rules are the rules, and an entitled, impolite guest doesn't get favors given to them; a little kindness can go a long way. Somebody should have informed the entitled guest of this in the story below.

Just when you think you'll have a nice, easygoing day on the job, customers will knock you down five notches before lunchtime. Hospitality workers can hope and pray that they won't have any uncomfortable, potentially dangerous run-ins with random strangers, but it kind of comes with the hospitality territory. Unfortunately…

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  • customer using credit card for payment to hotel receptionist in a hotel lobby
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The hotel guest here is no exception. Not only do they try to blame their mistake on the employee, but proceed to yell at them and demand their reservation be reinstated. That's when the police come in…

  • "Invalid CCs"

    Hello everyone! I would like to know what everyones takes are on invalid credit cards for reservations.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • This morning when i came in, i ran the pre authorization for all arrivals today. We had 3 fail that process, so all 3 got the same message.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • "Good morning, we are reaching out because your CC declined our pre authorization. Please update your payment by 1pm today or we will be forced to cancel your reservation.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • Thank you." 2 out of the 3 completed this task and updated they're payment before 1pm.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • The 3rd one how ever did not. We tried to pre auth they're card 4 times between the start message and 1pm.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • It never went through. So at 1pm sharp i sent out the following message: "Good afternoon, we are reaching out again to inform you, we cancelled the reservation, because you failed to update your payment information by 1pm." After that i cancelled the reservation.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • About 10-15 minutes go by and the guest is now calling the hotel. She finally decided to try and give updated information.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • I informed her she was pass the deadline and the reservation was already cancelled. She got very angry and wouldnt let me speak to tell her the policy so i ended the call.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • Her and her husband then decide to show up, walks in saying she was just on the phone with someone who hung up on her.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • I smiled and said yes that was me. She for some reason started laughing and saying your real proud of yourself arent you.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • I laughed back and said yes, you failed to update payment by the time we told you to and now your mad you have to go some where else.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • They were told to leave because again they chose not to listen to anything. At this point ive had enough, and just called the police to have them removed.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • a close up of a police car with its lights on
    via Ahmet Kurt For Unsplash+
  • Which of course the cops in my town never want to be the bad guys so they try to defend the guest, asking if we could make an exception.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • I flat out told her we arent a charity, we are a business and have policies that state all reservations must be made with a valid credit card or debit card.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • She rolls her eyes and tells them to leave. They then call our customer line to say i was cussing at them and refused to listen.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • Stupid. They booked 3rd party, and even the 3rd party tried to reach out to them.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • They never answered. How do yalls hotels handle cards failing pre authorizations or cancelations due to invalid cards?
    via TrainWreck9697
  • Oh and of course it was softball parents, the worse of all the guest we get because they act like they cant be touched.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • Over softball people.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • uhhh206 If she was a member of the sub, she'd also have known not to book third party. Funny that in this story, the OTA is actually on the same side as the FDA for a change -- even if only out of their own self-interest.
    via uhhh206
  • ManicAscendant If you don't have a valid form of payment on file, you don't have a valid reservation. You did everything you could for them. They created their own problems.
    via ManicAscendant
  • Episodi Just tonight we had to cancel someone's for having an invalid CC. When he showed up he said he "told 'them' he was paying cash". Well, you'd still need a card for the deposit. And no card means no room.
    via Episodi*
  • ChapterPrudent4232 Why couldn't you book her another room? Yeah she'd have to pay for it but....
    via ChapterPrudent4232
  • TrainWreck9697 We were going to offer that but she wouldnt shut up long enough for us to do so.
    via TrainWreck9697
  • ChapterPrudent4232 Ah yes, the ones who you wonder if they're EVER going to stop to breath lol
    via TrainWreck9697
  • Old_Bus_632 I canceled the reservation and send them on their way. If they do not leave when I ask, I called the police have them removed from the premises and then I put them on the DNR list.
    via Old_Bus_632

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workplace-stories hotel guest hotel entitlement toxic-workplace front desk work tales from the front desk reddit story entitled customers entitled people karma hotel room workplace hotels reddit thread entitled people toxic-work-environment front desk clerk
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