Hotel renting age?

Nope, coming from experience, you need a card with your name, that is, unless your parents are coming but then we wouldn't be having this discussion now would we? If your parents plan on paying for it, do what I did and get a card with my name on your parents' account. Same numbers and everything but the name is different so you can use it. The credit card company can handle this pretty fast (it might have taken two weeks), probably because they are eager to get a credit card in the hands of an 18 year old at the parents' expense;)

Some hotels do make you pay for the first night on the credit card I think... not sure, but I think Ive ran across that though. Then again, I always throw it on the plastic.

Years ago, I took my dad's brand new car to Great Adventure, and when we came out of the park, it wouldn't start (the computer failed. It was a Dodge, what do you want?). A park employee was nice enough to drive us to a hotel, that unfortunately wouldn't let us stay. So we took a cab to some other hotel in a town that was literally built on a landfill (it smelled so bad). It took some prodding on my friend's father's part, but they finally let us stay. I still remember the cab driver being dumbfounded that we would drive all the way from Maryland just to ride a roller coaster (that coaster would've been Great American Scream Machine in its second year of operation).

Check ahead about the car rental thing also. I was looking at the lineup at BWI, and just selecting the first option-Avis, they say that most of their locations require you to be 25, although select locations allow you to be 18 or 21. And if you can get a car, they'll charge you a surcharge for being under 25. *** Edited 4/12/2005 3:28:53 AM UTC by Intamin Fan***

^^ Just to compare... I haven't had any hotel charge me for the first night. I usually piss them off when I tell them I want to pay with the cash that I saved up. The dough just doesn't seem to stick around when I see it being stacked up.

I checked into Hotels when I was 16... maybe I looked older?

Dude, the Comfort Inn Maingate generally makes exceptions to the age limit...I did it a few times back in the day. They also have breakfast in the morning as well as a cheap room price (nevermind being 500 feet from the maingate). Also, the bayshore resort is also fairly inexpensive and I believe their room rentals are for 18 and over. Check it out.

Z

Considering some of the *shenanigans* we pulled in college, hotels SHOULD at least get a credit card on file, you know, to pay for possible damages...;)

Never really "destroyed" a hotel room, but we sure came close a few times...:)

Alright thanks for the information. Im sure my parents wouldnt mind setting me up with a card on their account, in my name.

Heh. 'gator's nearly-destroyed-collegiate-hotel reminds me of "bomb-proofing" winnebagos. It is tradition in amongst the frat-boys in the four California Pac-10 schools to road-trip to your away game in the other half of the state: (each of Cal/Stanford plays either USC or UCLA away, and vice versa.) We would meticulously remove absolutely everything that *could* be removed from a 'bago, securely duct-tape heavy plastic to every pourous surface, paint the outside with lewd and vulgar sayings (in water-soluble paint) and then load that sucker up with beer and foolish youngin's.

GREAT times.

Of course, we had an alumnus of sufficient age and social stature do the actual renting each year, and even so we had to go farther from Berkeley to find a place willing to rent to *anyone* during "bago week" each year, no matter how "respectable" the renter.

(fUCLA sucks, but $tanford swallows!)

So, Brian....you left us hangin'....you a Trojan or or Bear?

LOL, those POOR hotels in St. Augustine....one of the few weekends that I *do* remember ended with an entire BBQ, several deck chairs and a couple tables in the room, all set up for a night of card playing, etc....;)

Hey kids: Don't try this at hom....er, nevermind! ;)

Well, my all-time favorite football play ever is the final play of the 1982 Cal/Stanford game. Watching that poor trombone player get waxed still brings chills to this day.

One more question: What if I reserved the hotel online with MY PARENTS credit card, then just took that same Credit Card along with me when I go and used it to pay for the hotel. Would that work, even though its not my credit card? I mean, do they make you show proof of your name or anything?

Yes, they will make you show ID to match. The best way to do that is to get a card on the same account (therfore same numbers) with your name on it.

From experience, you may be able o get away with that though, assuming your last name is the same as your parents, because I have pulled that off in the mall just when buying something, but sometimes they will give you a hard time. Getting a hotel room is probably different though, but since you are 18 they may be more lenient.

I would ask the hotel in advance when you make the reservation. If it is the type that allows you to pay cash when you get there, it should not be a problem. If they need to keep a card for incidentals, then it may be. My guess is that if you get away from the chains and the nicer hotels, your odds will go up.

i never knew there was a certain age lol. Probably 18 though. me and my friend and brother got a hotel room when we went to York, PA and they never asked us how old we were. I guess they assumed we were old enough. We had to have it though i think. lol

Heh, one last question. How about a debit card? I should be getting one of those real soon. Hotel's should treat them just like credit cards right?

Normally they treat them like cash if they can ID it as a debit card. It sometimes can be an issue with hotels but will almost always be an issue with renting cars.

I've been able to use a Visa Check Card before, but they may want to shy away from a "real" debit card, simply because if you pay by credit they are going to get their money no matter what.

Well im not going to need to rent a car anyways so no need to think about that.

Ah starting to plan this thing...ive got a Visa Check card now, and ive bought a few minor things online with it with no problems. So couldnt I reserve a room online with the debit card, then pay for the room, or assuming I allready paid online, as long as I had the card there with me they couldnt really turn it down right?