Hotel Incidentals hold

Discussion
1

Hi, I am travelling to New York in January and just wondering if the Revolut card can be used for the incidentals charge? I was thinking of paying it in cash, but then I am going to be left with a load of dollars on the last day when its returned to me (that I wont need as will be going home) which I will lose money on when getting back to the uk.
Any info would be much appreciated as I have never travelled abroad before, and have only just started using Revolut.

Thanks

2

You can always convert it back.

3

So should I convert into dollars before they take the card or just leave it in GBP? Or does this not matter? Then when the incidentals money is put back into the account, I can just transfer it back to my bank account (or leave it in Revolut) in GPB without a fee?

Thanks

4

Assuming it is just for the deposit I’d probably choose another card to give to them for the security. Otherwise you’ll be really left with the amount blocked on your Revolut card.

But yes, once you have the USD unblocked you can simply convert it back to GBP. Assuming the rate wont have changed (much) comparing to when you converted sterlings to dollars, you shouldnt have lost anything or just a minor amount (or even made a small profit).

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5

Ok thankyou :slight_smile: I don’t have another card only a uk debit card so will have to use the Revolut for it. Will just transfer extra from my bank to cover the hotel deposit so its not blocking my spending money up.

Thanks for the info :slight_smile:

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6

Use a credit card for hotels’ and car hire companies’ guarantees. They only block an amount on the account without charging your card. If you use a credit card, you won’t even see a transaction on your statement, only a temporary pending transaction (authorisation).

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7

In most cases you are better off using a credit card (as opposed to a debit card-like product such as Revolut or Curve) for places that put a hold on your card - hotel incidentals, car hire deposits etc. As @NFH says, you will barely notice the authorization and it should not affect your use of the card, where as with a debto card it could fail (often happens with Curve) or a significant chunk of money might get locked up - esp for car hire if you do not take the car hire companies insurance or on long hotel stays

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