For those of you who, like me, are always on the lookout for more ways to spend a lot on your credit card and get most of it back, here’s another possibility: get a cash advance from your hotel.
I have no idea how many hotels offer this option, but according to one reader the London Park Lane Sheraton offers up to 50 GBP per day as a cash advance, fee free. The cash advance is charged to the room as if it were a non-points earning charge (such as internet, for example). Since it is charged to your room, it will not look like a cash advance to your credit card company. In fact, if your card offers extra points for hotel spend, that should apply here as well!
Sure, it’s not a ton of money, but it just may be worth asking, next time you check into a hotel, whether they offer fee free cash advances. You will get credit card points and, in exchange, you’ll get cash that could be used directly or deposited back into your bank. Maybe it will even make those end of year mattress runs just a wee bit sweeter.
Tip of the hat to Brent for this one! Has anyone else seen this? Please, let us know!
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This is pretty common in upmarket hotels in Asia. I use it all the time for taxis from / to the airport. Arrive at the hotel, have the taxi driver come in with you and settle up at the front desk as a cash advance (you can ask the door man / concierge to help if there is a language issue). On checkout ask the hotel to book the taxi to the airport with you with a cash advance for the reverse trip.
Often it goes straight to the hotel bill as ‘taxi’ which makes expense claims really easy.
Plus side is the hotel / frequent flyer points.
kinda of good idea on short business trips(<3 days), especially when you don't want to/need to do foreign currency exchange, for vending machines, petty cash stuff. (Buying souveniors will require foreign exchange unless using a CC.)
I’ve fairly consistently been able to get quarters for the laundry machines at Hilton family properties charged to my room. Admittedly, this isn’t much of a cash advance — unless you claim to be doing a LOT of laundry! — but it sort of demonstrates the principle. Haven’t had the stones to ask for more than about 10 bucks, though…
I’ve never had luck with this in the U.S., but I know booking foreign hotels it’s often been an option.
Interesting! That’s actually one of the hotels I am planning to spend a couple nights at during my honeymoon in April, so perhaps I’ll test it out!
@NYBanker
You could think of it as one less trip to the ATM and not having to pay fees on vacation (unless you have a debit card from a place like Schwabs). I understand why you suggest spending on taxis and what not since you want to maximize your spend with your credit cards, but there are many places in London and in Europe that will only accept credit cards with a chip. You are right though, you would not want to pull out more than you could spend while you were there.
Wow. I’ve asked about getting “cash on my account” a few times at different properties and always was greeted with a polite “no.”
Assuming you would spend the cash on taxis or whatnot anyway, might as well take as much as you will use.
If in a foreign country, the FX loss on redepositing unused cash at your home bank would likely outweigh the points benefit, however.
hummmm….. I bet if you have status it goes up?!? you should dig and look at all hotels and do another or a followup post!