In Reply to: Debit Mastercard - use at hotel?? help! posted by paradise_island on Monday, 31. May 2010 at 12:35 Bali Time:
This has been an ongoing issue with me over several Asian destinations. Some hotels are more than happy to accept while other claim they cant take a debit card as they haven't got the right machine. Even different hotels in the same chain will give different answers
I just persevere and make them take it. Sometimes they will actual debit me with say US$50 but that's OK as it never gets processed
BUT I have found the answer as to why this happens.
It all depends on the Hotel's merchant service provider. If they have a standard facility they can do the pre approvals etc and all is OK. If they have the slightly cheaper version they have a few restrictions put on them, one of which is you do not have Pre Approvals.
Read into that you must have a purchase to process your Visa/ MasterCard transaction