Use a Credit Card Over Debit Card When Checking In To A Hotel

When you book a hotel room, the price you’re quoted isn’t necessarily the price you’re going to end up paying for a night’s stay. That’s because you might incur additional charges while you’re a guest at any given hotel.

Some hotels, for example, charge a nightly parking rate. It’s less common for this to be a separate charge outside of large cities. But in a city center, parking might cost you extra, especially for valet. Similarly, if you decide to order room service, you might incur an additional charge.

For this reason, when you check into a hotel, you’re typically asked to hand over a card to be kept on file for incidental charges. And you can commonly choose between a credit and debit card.

It’s something this Reddit post discusses, and a few users share their tips for choosing the right card to hand over at check-in. But here’s why you may want to favor a credit card over a debit card every time.

You can earn points

Does your debit card give you cash back on purchases? Probably not, as most debit cards don’t (though it’s worth noting that a select few do). But with a credit card, you can typically earn points on purchases, and that extends to charges you rack up at a hotel.

Furthermore, some travel credit cards give you bonus reward points on hotel stays. But the incidentals you incur in the course of a stay may get categorized under “hotels” so that you’re able to earn the maximum amount of points for those transactions.

You won’t have to worry as much about funds being held up

When you put down a card at check-in, whether it’s a debit card or a credit card, the hotel typically puts a hold on your card for a certain amount. They should tell you what that hold amount will be. And it’s usually released a few days after your stay, unless you owe the money.

But with a debit card, you’ll lose access to those funds over that days-long period following your stay. With a credit card, you’ll technically lose access to that portion of your credit limit, but that may not be a big deal.

Most people’s credit cards give them a larger spending limit than the charges they typically rack up. The same isn’t always true for a debit card.

Say you have $1,500 left to spend on your debit card based on your checking account balance, and you’re not getting paid for another two weeks. If a $300 hold is placed on your debit card, that’s one-fifth of your funds.

On the other hand, say you have a $6,000 spending limit on the credit card you use at check-in, and you normally charge $2,400 worth of expenses per month. In that case, you still have another $3,600 worth of spending power on that card beyond what you’d normally need. If a $300 hold is placed on your credit card, that’s 1/12 of your remaining spending power.

To be clear, when you check into a hotel, you don’t necessarily have to put down the credit card you used to book your room. But it can be advantageous to use a credit card over a debit card when you need to have a card on file.