Reader Question: InterContinental Paris Le Grand Pre-Authorizes Full Night on Flexible Rate Weeks Before Arrival?

A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a troubling case with the InterContinental Paris Le Grand, one of IHG’s flagship hotels in Europe, and a remarkable property (I have stayed there several times).

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You can access InterContinental Le Grand here.

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Despite the reader booking a flexible rate stay for May 20, the hotel pre-authorized €1,406 on their American Express card three weeks in advance.

Surprised by this, they contacted the property and were informed by the reservations team that this was a standard “card validity check” procedure, automatically performed for all reservations, regardless of rate flexibility.

The hotel’s general manager later confirmed this as part of their inventory control process: ensuring all bookings are valid and not blocking rooms with invalid payment methods.

Response from the hotel’s reservation team:

The reservation #REMOVED ( cancellation number #REMOVED ) was well cancelled free of charge as this reservation was booked with flexible conditions and was well cancelled more than 24 hours prior arrival.

The charge of 1406€ that you see on your account is the pre authorization that our system have made for the reservation #REMOVED. Even though this reservation is also flexible, our system tested your credit card in order to guarantee your reservation. This azmount was well tested and the full amount will be back to your account by 5 business days.

The reader sent a note to the hotel’s GM, who sent the following response:

First of all, I would like to sincerely thank you for your continued loyalty to IHG and to Le Grand Hôtel and apologize for the inconvenience.

As one of the most requested Intercontinental hotels, by our loyal IHG One Rewards members, due to our history and our privileged location, we must ensure that each reservation made is valid and fully complies with the reservation conditions.

This is in order to guarantee availability for our loyal members and guests that cannot be blocked by invalid and non-guaranteed reservations.

This guarantee procedure, insures a correct inventory and availability.

We have checked and the bank pre-authorization has indeed been released.

What hotels usually preauthorize?

It is not uncommon for the reservation platform, from IHG to Hilton, to check that the card used at the time of reservation is valid and can be charged.

This is the case with IHG if you try to make a reservation for a stay in Europe, and I have experienced this many times (you sometimes need to confirm the transaction on the bank’s website).

Some hotels may preauthorize the entire stay on the day of arrival, even if you are at the best flexible rate that allows a 6 PM cancellation.

I have never heard, however, that a hotel would preauthorize the stay weeks in advance to ensure that the credit card is valid and can support the reservation, as this doesn’t guarantee that this is the case on the check-in date (see where I am going).

It wouldn’t surprise me that this would be against IHG’s confirmed reservation rules and may even violate the Visa, Mastercard, and American Express merchant conditions.

Conclusion

Considering the room rates that InterContinental Paris Le Grand charges and the length of the guests’ stays, they must preauthorize and release millions of euros worth of credit card charges monthly.

How does their credit card processor not realize that there is unusual activity coming from this property?

I have no issues with hotels checking that the payment card on file is valid, which is usually already done when you make the reservations. However, I don’t believe that preauthorizing thousands of euros and then immediately releasing them is the right course of action.

What have your experiences been with preauthorizations at this InterContinental hotel in Paris and other properties? Please comment below.

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