Is there a time limit for hotel incidental holds to be released?

[Anonymous]

Is there a time limit after checking out of a hotel that incidental holds have to be released?  Also is there any responsibility on the part of the credit card issuing bank to remove a hold after a certain amount of time?  I have the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard and the past few months have had several issues when I have used it at a hotel, each time regarding pending charges for incidentals that don't get released for weeks, one time almost a month after I checked out, all of which were held against my available credit the whole time.  A lot of these have been on award stays where the hotel required a credit card for incidentals and it seems like a lot of hotels don't get how to release a hold when there ends up being no charge at all.  The hotels always claim that it's an issue with my credit card issuer despite me pointing out that hotel stays since have had holds placed and subsequently removed since.  Citibank refuses to be of any help stating that I can't dispute it until it posts.  Currently I have a pending charge from Hilton that actually was a total mistake on the part of the hotel because they were supposed to charge it to someone else's card.  Since alerting them of the error, it has been charged and posted to the other person's credit card but the hold has been on my card still for almost 2 weeks.  The hotel says it has been released but Citibank says it hasn't.  Is there a certain point where the credit card issuer has to allow you to dispute a charge whether or not it is still pending?  Is protection against this perhaps one of the supposed benefits of either a CIti Platinum card or World Elite MasterCard?

[Berk]

I did find this article from 2014:

You can take steps to avoid the hold. Merritt always asks about the per-night authorization amount when she checks in. And in the case of excessive holds, she has requested the hotel not to authorize her card for more than the room and tax. If it insists, she tries to negotiate a smaller amount.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/cracking-the-case-of-the-mysterious-credit-card-hold...

And another from U.S.A. Today from this Spring:

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/hotel-deposit-waived-103423.html

Doesn't really address the time limit for having holds removed but does address how to keep the charges from happening in the first place.

[Peteyglad]

weeks seems excessivly long. I have never had one last more than a few days. 

[Cred4All]

OP, in my experience and again this is YMMV I found my Citi card specifically takes excessively long to release a pending authorization.  I used the Citi Aadvantage card on a cruise years ago as the main card on file.  The pending hold following the cruise billing the full amount after the cruise remained on that Citi card for at least a week.  Because of this, I never use the Citi card for any travel that I know incurs a hold as it's just not very fast to clear off.  My own 2 cents, I'd recommend using a different card for hotels/cruises in particular but that's just been my experience.

[Anonymous]

Normally my Citi Card releases the funds quickly. I've checked out of hotels and had the funds available by the time I had my luggage in the car. It seems like the issue has been when the hold is put on the card for incidentals, particularly for award stays where the room was paid with points, and I don't have any incidental expenses at the hotel. It seems like hotels have issues removing authorizations when there is no charge associated with it to finalize.

[rbentley]

Wow, a couple weeks seems like a long time to me also.  Many years ago when I had only a low limit secured card I ran into this problem of the hold eating up a lot of my low credit.  I called the hotel and it was removed the next day.  This happened to me twice on that trip.  I can understand the necessity of a hold to make sure that all charges have posted to your account.  You may be checking out before someone has checked the mini bar, your morning breakfast charge may not have posted yet or there may even be damage or missing items from the room.  All those however should be discovered and posted within 24 hours.  A couple of weeks is very unreasonable.  Not an issue if you have a high limit but you are justifiably concerned if it is eating up all your available credit.

Just as an aside, many years ago I was away on a trip with a gf.  We stayed at a hotel with a in-room mini bar.  They offered us a key but we declined as she was a recovering alcholoic.  The mini bar still proved to be a problem as it showed its mini bottle content even though locked.  We asked that it be removed and they emptied it immediately without question. They must get such requests frequently.  When we checked out there was $450 charge for alcohol on the bill.  They must of thought we drank every bottle.  A manager removed the charge and it became a somewhat humourous story.

[Anonymous]

A cruise is very different though, you're on the ship for a week. They had a hold on my Amex for that whole week, then it finally posted once the actual charge was assesed. But even that was few days after. 

I don't think any of my cards have ever had a lengthy hold on them, aside from that one incident. For more than 48 hours. 

That's why a person, if possible, should use higher/no limit cards for reservations/rentals etc. If that's not a possibility, then use more than one when traveling. My recent vacation in Hawaii, I reserved/paid for the Hotel with one Card. Then used another card for incidentals upon check in. And a third card for food/misc spending. Only using one card would be very limiting in several regards. Afterall I don't access my accounts during extended or overseas travel. 

[Loquat]

OP I had a similar situation with Citi on the same card, my AAdvantage.  Situation being different as it was a restaurant that charged someone else meal to my card.  I notified to restaurant and they voided the transaction, ran my card for my actual charge and that was to be the end.  Well the charge was in pending status for over a month.  I never gave any thought to it as I set notice online to alert me if the charge indeed posted.  

Nonetheless I ended up calling Citi after a month had passed and asked them to remove the hold.  They gave me kinda the same lingo as you heard and I told the representative that the charge was in error and voided and I had a copy of the transaction receipt stating it was void.

She wasn't having it and neither was I.  I asked for a supervisor and explained the situation again...he removed the pending charge within 3 minutes and sent me on my way.  He said to call back if the charge does indeed post...which it never did.

Citi can be a real drag sometimes...you just have to be persistence and push past those who don't have a clue.  Best of luck to you!