Customers seem suspicious to front desk employee as he's trying to pay $100 for a room but with 7 different credit cards, charging a little in everyone: 'Why are you paying for a hotel if you don't even have an extra $100?'

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Jul 23, 2026 6:00 PM EDT

Maybe you shouldn't be staying at a hotel if you can't even charge $30 onto your credit card.

Finances and vacations don't usually go hand in hand. Is expected to spend a lot of money when going on a trip, especially if you aren't purposely looking for deals and combos. If you just get to the city you're visiting and decide to roll over to a hotel to check a room, then you are probably going to spend far more money than you would have if you reserved a couple of weeks prior. Like the person entering the hotel in the story below did.  


It's also common to see people getting in debt or risking their financial situation only to go on a big vacation. As if it were THAT important. I completely get the idea of having a nice time away from home, especially when you have a family. But maybe having to tie your seat belt for a year just to pay off all the credit card debt you accumulated in a week of holiday is not the smartest choice. This can be caused by two things. Firstly, people trying to prove they have more money than they actually do, so they put themselves through struggles to pay for something that isn't in their budget. Or secondly, people who have no idea how to manage their finances or how debt even works. 


As a matter of fact, these situations have become so common that I started to see people demanding some kind of financial education in high school, to prevent teens from entering debt young and so they can learn how to actually manage a household monetarily. I think that this premise would be really useful, as most kids don't learn about this topic till they have already committed all the mistakes, and to avoid financially irresponsible parents from passing their bad habits on to their children. Maybe all of us could benefit from a finance class to stop the overspending and learn not only to save but also how to invest. 
 

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  • 01
    Was going through my arrivals when Mr. 3rd party arrives to check in. Said he had just drove in from Las Vegas, I would of guessed h 1. Check in is moving along when I bring up a $100 incidental hold. His face was like I just performed the greatest magic trick of all time. He says the website didn't. mention this $100. I let him know before he agrees to book the room the app says there could be
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 02
    A woman using credit card information to buy something online. Model image.
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A woman using credit card information to buy something online. 

    Model image. 

  • 03
    additional fees. First swipe and he is already talking about how he hopes it goes through. It didn't. So he tries some other cards that don't authorize either. Says he has to make a transfer, I thought he was just going to leave, but nope comes back in ready to go. He taps his phone and it's declined because whatever bank charges $1 per transaction.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 04
    This is my biggest pet peeve like why are you paying for a hotel if you don't even have an extra $100. Well he gets his authorization and I let him know parking is $30. He was super nice about everything but he should save his money.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 05
    Visual representation of different credit cards being held by a person.
    via Avery Evans

    Visual representation of different credit cards being held by a person. 

  • 06
    ConsistentParking424 He booked third party, that was definitely a clue that he was looking for a cheap rate, unfortunately. Am impressed this guy was able to dig up enough money.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 07
    PureButton4670 I am not a rich person, and I am struggling month to month, but I work at a luxury property and it drives me up the wall how many people come to stay here and cannot afford it and whine about every charge including our incidentals. Like dude, I get it, s t's expensive and often unreasonable, but you knew it wouldn't be cheap so stop arguing with me like it will get any cheaper.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 08
    HuggyMonster69 I suspect that someone else paid for his stay. Had similar things when I was a broke a student, my dad would pay for me to stay a night somewhere if it made travel more convenient, and then not tell me about any deposits. Luckily I always had enough, but it was really awkward because I was staying in hotels he could afford not me, and some of those deposits were a lot to me.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 09
    Lovely-Rosie It's such a pet peeve when ppl say stuff like "why are you doing this if you can't afford even more", condescending much? He planned for the price of the room, didn't expect an extra HUNDRED dollars (which anyone can tell is not a small amount) to be held on his card. Some people have to travel and stay at a hotel for a variety of reasons, no need to be condescending about a
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 10
    guest who is polite and tries everything to fix the issue. Their finances are actually none of your business believe it or not, all you have to do is get a working card and swipe it. Being judgy towards a guest who's blowing up at you and being mean is fine I guess but judging someone solely based on their finances is extremely immature, hope you can grow and learn from this
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 11
    Certain-Singer-9625 Sounds like that line about people who arrive in Las Vegas in $40,000 cars and leave in $400,000 buses.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 12
    upset_pachyderm Maybe he did have the $100 when he made the reservation- before losing it in Vegas.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 13
    litz You should go visit subreddits for major fan conventions ... this hits people ALL THE TIME when checking into their very expensive up-priced convention hotel rooms, because they don't realize there's a $100/day hold authorization on top of the room fee (and taxes). And even worse, because a lot of people that attend these shows only have debit cards ... there's debit issues too (debit holds work very differently
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 14
    than credit holds) But then again, if people actually READ the text involved with their reservations, this would be a very, very dull subreddit.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 15
    Cakeriel He budgeted what the advertised rate was. Not his fault your hotel adds outrageous surprise fees.
    via Jakeojohnson
  • 16
    sleptheory Nope after the 3rd attempt i would have refused. That looks to suspicious.
    via Jakeojohnson

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credit cards hotel guest tales from the front desk financial
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