Incidentals and Holds Policy

The Layperson’s Version

At check-in, we will swipe your card to cover any incidentals – things like room service, restaurant meals you may charge to your room, or minibar items, but also upgrades such as late check-out – that you may wish to charge to your room, as well as any damage you may cause to the room.  This will place a hold on your credit or debit card for between $100 and $500, depending on which hotel you have chosen to stay at and, sometimes, the length of your stay.  We will charge any of these incidentals against that hold, and if you go over that amount, we’ll simply put a second hold in place.

We will release the hold, less any amounts you have charged, once you check out.  However, your bank or credit card company must also release the authorization, and that can sometimes take up to 30 days.  We have no control over this – it’s entirely up to your bank! 

Because of this, and because a hold placed on a debit card may prevent you from accessing the funds in your account, we recommend our guests use a credit card for incidentals. 

The Legalese

 At check-in, you will be required to present a credit or debit card (which does not need to be the card to which you initially charged the stay), unless you have prepared and submitted a credit card authorization form to us in advance. We will place an authorization or hold (hereafter, “incidental hold”) on this credit or debit card to cover possible additional charges that may arise during your stay.  These charges may include things like room service charges, charging meals at one of our F&B establishments to your room, upgrades (including late check-out), partaking of the items in the minibar (where applicable), and possible damages to the room (including if you are caught smoking in the room).  Gift cards (including reloadable gift cards or reloadable debit cards) cannot be used for this purpose. 

The amounts of these incidental holds vary from hotel to hotel, as follows:

For amounts listed as “per night”, the hold for the entire length of the stay will be imposed immediately, up to the stated limits; therefore, a four-night stay at Arlo Washington DC will require a $300 incidental hold at check-in, while a six-night stay at Arlo Williamsburg will require a $500 incidental hold at check-in. Any additional charges made to or against the room will be deducted from the incidental hold in place and may be charged immediately, the following day, or at checkout. In the event such charges exceed the amounts listed above, the entire amount will be charged at that point (if it has not already been), and a fresh incidental hold in the same amount will be placed on the same card.

For extended stays, we may need to swipe your card on a regular basis in order to keep the incidental hold in place.  The frequency with which we need to do this is determined entirely by your financial institution’s policies on holds and authorizations, but we have found that we generally need to re-swipe your card once a week or so.

If your bank or credit card company rejects or refuses to honor an incidental hold of any kind (including situations where we need to place a new incidental hold due to exhausting the previous one, or needing to refresh an incidental hold due to passage of time), or if your bank or credit card refuses or declines to process charges against the incidental hold, you will be required to provide a different method of payment such as another card for us to place an incidental hold on.

At checkout, we will finalize any remaining charges and release the remaining amount of the incidental hold on your card.  However, the incidental hold will also need to be released by your credit card company or bank.  While banks and credit card companies generally complete this process within two to four business days, it can rarely take as long as 30 days for the hold or authorization to finally be lifted by the bank. Until this happens, you may not have access to funds or credit still subject to the incidental hold. Once we have released the incidental hold, we cannot speed up this process in any way, and we encourage you to call your bank to find out what the delay is.

For our customers using debit cards, the account your card is connected to must have sufficient funds immediately available (i.e. not subject to other holds, disputes, or pending charges) to cover all amounts to be immediately charged at check-in (including any remaining room charges for the stay, taxes, and fees) as well as the amount of this incidental hold. You should also be aware that funds subject to an incidental hold on a debit card will not be available for you to use or withdraw.  Because of this, and because debit card holds generally take longer than credit card authorizations to be cleared by financial institutions, we strongly encourage our customers to use a credit card for incidentals, even if you are paying for your stay by debit card