I have a total rewards account, but stayed this past weekend at Bally's and was told at the time I made the reservation a month or so ago that I would be charged a $100 cash deposit for charges that might be made on my room account in addition to the agreed-to room charges. This was also a first time for me to ever hear of such a thing. I paid for the first night at the time I made the reservation, and the rest of the cost was to be around $250 for the other two nights reserved.

Actually, when I got there, they took my card and put out what I was to find out later was a $500 (!!) hold on funds in my account. When I checked out, I was just charged the $250 for room charges. Fine. Trouble was that the hold on funds didn't clear until this morning! This caused my checking account to be charged about $155 in NSF fees for checks and debit charges that appeared before the hold was released.

Fortunately, a trip to the bank and the charges were reversed, but I am royally irritated with Bally's at the moment for doing something that was not agreed to either at the time I made the reservation nor at the time I checked in. Lesson learned for next time, but I bring cash for gambling, and just put enough in the account tied to the credit card I used at checkin to cover the costs they said would be necessary. Had I known that the hold amount was going to be so high, I would have either put more cash into that account, or gone and stayed elsewhere. It was the inconvenience and sneakiness about it that really chaffed my drawers.