Swiss hotel asks to pay possible charges up front

Is it customary for a 4-star hotel to ask for your balance be paid in full upon your arrival for your room and add an additional +2300 francs to your hotel bill for possible charges you may make to the room i.e. room service, restaurant, or bar services for a 9 night stay?

Hi Kunes daniel,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! I've never paid more than the room rate upon arrival. An extra CHF 2300 sounds excessive to me, unless they were clear about that when booking. Let's see what others have to say.

I have stayed at a number of upscale hotels in different parts of Switzerland (as well as other European cities) and never been charged for the room at check in. Typically the hotel takes a credit card number and possibly a copy of my passport but doesn’t run the charges until checkout. I certainly have never heard of charging an extra deposit for possible future charges. I have never had an issue with the hotel’s charges but I wouldn’t hesitate to dispute any unreasonable charges with my credit card company. Amex is very good about handling disputes with vendors as long as it is not overused. (I have used this maybe 2 or 3 times in 25 years).

Mark

Appreciate the info, seemed really weird to us to be charged prior to the stay, it’s definitely a first for us and to be charged an additional 2300CHF seemed very excessive. I guess we give off a look of not being able to afford our stay. Thanks again for the response.

Hi Kunes danial,

From my personal experience, hotels which require a deposit on arrival will usually just take note of your credit card but won't charge you until checkout. And I agree with everyone that CHF2300 is rather excessive. You might want to clarify with the hotel about this.

Regards,

Anna

Hi Kunes daniel,

If the hotel continues to demand excessive deposit for "possible" charges, perhaps you may just want to choose a different hotel? that seems pretty exorbitant.

Regards,

Danielsan