Venetian Hold Fee / Incidental Deposit

Hi all

Myself and my partner will be coming to Vegas in around 3 weeks time and will be staying at the Venetian for 10 nights. I was wondering if anyone who had stayed there recently could provide some clarification on their hold fee policy. Some of the threads I have read state that the hold fee is multiplied for every day you stay at the hotel, however the Venetian website states the following:

"We require all guests to leave a minimum of $100 incidental deposit upon check-in. This minimum deposit will not allow our guests to charge back to their suite from any outlet on property but will allow them to access to movies, refreshment center, phones, etc. Guests are also offered the option of open charging privileges and the initial deposit taken will be $150 per day. These options are presented upon check-in to all of our guests"

Does this mean we could opt to leave $100 and not $150 per day i.e. $1500?

Thanks

 

Yes. The $100 will allow you to charge in room stuff but not any food/drink elsewhere at the Ven.

 

If you just use your credit card, it is no big issue. They can hold a few thousand on each and every stay for me. It costs me NOTHING and has no impact on credit.

 

I just got a new credit card and the limit was $5k. If you're just starting out, a couple thousand dollar hold is a problem. At least Venetian gives the option of a $100 hold for the stay.

 

Luckily, no hotel ever holds thousands, or at least anywhere I have been. The holds seem to more of an issue with a debit card. On a credit card, they often just make sure it works.

 

Venetian is claiming that they will hold $150/night or $1500 in the OPs case. I'm not sure if that's unreasonable. I can easily see my room charges for dinner for 2 + random room charges going over $150/day at VP.

 

MGM preauthorizes the whole stay, and then once you have used that up they will do another authorization to buffer. At the end they disappear and you only see the final bill when you leave.

 

Only stayed at Venetian once. Been to just about every other hotel on the strip. Never remember any big holds.

Keep in mind I am talking about credit cards, not debits.

 

Say I'm in Bellagio for 239 a night for a week. They hold that plus fees plus tax plus mini bar and it shows up immediately in my card as pending. I always end up using that up and then some. I've had $2000+ holds many times and it doesn't surprise me it's how they protect themselves from degenerate gamblers. A hold in my terms is when they charge my card an authorization just like gas stations hold $100 for a fill up.

Maybe it's AMEX charge specific but I don't really have a "limit" I can see just have to prove myself to them so they allow x amount based on my spending patterns and payment history.

Just checked my Amex credit card I use for miles churning they did the same thing.

If you aren't getting real time alerts on all activity you probably don't realize they are doing it.


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We stay at v/p 3-4x a year and from what i can recall the hold is always 150/nt. Now frankly i dont give it a second thought, so maybe im not remembering quite completely but my recollection is i have always been offered room charging privileges for that deposit. Its well worth it as we often get a most, if not all, of our charges comped on back end. So i would def recommend it.

 

Not everyone have "a few thousands" to be put on hold, I for example, don't even have a credit card because quite simply I don't need one and it's expensive to have one. My fiancee has one though, and we use that to book flights and hotels etc. It has a limit of ~$3500 so with a 2 week stay it could easily max out with $150-200 per night holds.

We like to operate with cash and debit e.g. the money we have, not to live on debt with CCs, but that's just us. This thread usually ends in the age old question of whether or not people on a budget are allowed to travel to Las Vegas or do you need to have (tens of) thousands of spare money/credit to travel.

 

Just because you charge to a credit card doesn't mean it costs you money to do it. If you don't pay it off then it costs you money. Many benefits to having a few if you can live within your means. Not judging at all. We all have budgets.

 

if fraud happens on a debit card the process to recover money is harder then compared to credit, if you can control your spending credit card is always best

 

Not to mention purchase protection and warranty extensions and cash back rewards. I get paid to use my cards.

 

Yeah, purchase protection is why we use a credit card for purchases that really need one, like flights and hotels I mentioned above. But the holds can be an issue. For example our first trip:

We had around $10k budget in cash, and €2000 CC limit (around $2800 at the time). Being the first trip, we didn't have any comps and paid the full rate for 14 nights at The Mirage. I asked the front desk if we could pay the room rate in cash and they said that it's fine but if we want to charge to our room, we'd need to authorize the card for the whole amount and then pay cash before check out. So I was fine with that.

Fast forward 14 nights. We hit a jackpot for $7k and we had way more money than before we arrived, I went down to pay for the room in cash, which I did. I only then realized that it'll take a week before the $2200 hold would be refunded. We had 2 weeks of our vacation left and I was planning on booking another vacation in Europe but guess what? I couldn't, we didn't have enough limit on the CC to book flights, but I had over $10k in cash. Pretty stupid problem to have.

Last year we had hold of $200 at The Mirage which was never refunded and they never replied to any of my emails. It took 28 days for our bank to clear the hold. I suppose it's a bit different thing the US but where I come from, the majority of people don't have a credit card. I hate them to death anyway and rather use cash to make everything simple.

 

The vast majority of credit cards are FREE. In fact, all of our cards give us rebates via points.
Repeat - credit cards do not have to cost money. UNLESS you spend more than you can pay off when the bill comes.

As to those with limited funds on their card, get another one. In fact, traveling without a backup card is something I would never, ever do.

As to "having no need". Have to disagree. There will be a day you will need some quick money to pay for something and you will have to go apply to the bank. And, there is a chance you will not be able to get something, or it will be at a high cost. Having a no questions asked credit card in the drawer will be worth lots.

 

Yep, like I said, might be a bit different in the US. In Finland, there's no such thing as free credit card in Finland, plus it's not that simple to get one anyway, let alone 2. Also can't think any situation where I would "need some quick money to pay for something" that required a credit card.

 

What you are talking about is not the same as OP was talking about.
In your example, that's your hotel bill, you have to pay it anyway. (239+fee+tax)x7.
So they just pre-authorize it at check-in. Some hotels even ask you to pay the full amount at check-in.

OP was talking about incidental charges, which people usually don't have to pay. It's just a security deposit.
I have never seen hold more than a couple hundred.

 

Did not realize you were from Finland. Yes, it is different in many other countries. As to the need for some quick money - it will happen at some point. That is just life. The point was not that it would "require" a credit card, but instead that having credit of some type available would be helpful.

Again, sorry about missing that credit cards are not as available or free in some countries. And, we are getting a bit off topic - sorry.

 

Bellagio last time threw 600 hold in addition to that. So when I hit 60@ they do another auth. Yeah like I said we need a lexicon to talk when using words improperly.

I realize how hard it is with debt cards. Wish it wasn't but it is what it is.