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Old 10-07-2008, 12:13 AM
 
105 posts, read 578,545 times
Reputation: 51

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Hey everyone I'm 18, and just wondering what the legal age to rent a hotel is in Washington? I realize that some hotel chains have their own age requirements, but if anyone knows the legal age that would be great.

Also, do most hotels give leeway if you reserve a hotel room and pay prior to check in?
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Old 10-07-2008, 01:29 AM
 
Location: Seattle area
854 posts, read 4,129,436 times
Reputation: 527
Ah, I remember renting a hotel room for the first time... no credit card... afraid somebody would do something like call my parents or embarrass me... afraid somebody cared about my crazy, interesting personal life.

Not sure what you mean by "leeway"? When you make a reservation, you typically provide a credit card number. If you don't show up, they charge that card. If you do show up, they ask for your ID and then your credit card, check, however you want to pay. Typically a credit card, anything else in a hotel that cares about how many stars it has will raise an eyebrow, but it's not nuts to pay otherwise. But paying doesn't happen until you are there in person.

But they will, except the seedier ones, ask for an ID. No idea what they do if you're underage (probably most clerks won't notice or won't care, my guess, at your average Holiday Inn or Motel 6). They don't write down your DOB anywhere that I know of, so they may not even look at anything but name. And I don't know if they'll still rent to you without a valid ID at all (my guess is that most will rent to you anyway, under the right circumstances. I remember a very stoned hotel clerk at a Motel 6 in Mississippi who wouldn't have noticed if you gave him a Blockbuster card as an ID).

Bottom line is, these guys do NOT care if someone is 17 and trying to meet their boyfriend, but they might not rent a room to them if they feel particularly conscientous. But they're not going to call the police, or the parents, or anything like that, unless it's a small town. So, nothing to lose by trying, really, except time and hassle if they turn you down last minute.

And if you're 18, you can do whatever the heck you want. Especially if you have a credit or debit card.

Question is, though, if you have to worry about whether or not you can reserve a hotel room, are you seriously able to deal with the possible consequences of what you plan to do with it? (My apologies if I'm being a j*ck*ss in my assumptions and there are other reasons... escaping forced teenage marriage somewhere in Utah, say, or something like that). I mean, if you're young and insecure enough to worry about logistics like that, then, well.... ahem. Yeah, no room to talk here. Thanks for bringing back memories of an EXTREMELY awkward time at the Super-8 in my little college town with my out-of-state driver's license and my brand-new checkbook. (They did NOT care, but I was 18. Just).

Also, in case you're wanting to rent yourself, it's not like renting a car, where they want you to be 25. You really are free to do your own thing at 18... for better or worse. Including renting a hotel room and any of the great or stupid (or both) things you want to do with it.
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Old 10-08-2008, 02:10 AM
 
105 posts, read 578,545 times
Reputation: 51
Sorry, I should have explained that I'm from Vancouver, Canada. The only reason I'm asking is because here, you have to be 21, and have your own credit card to rent out a hotel. And you can't pay by cash from my understanding. I heard you could in the States, so I wanted to double check.

I called a Motel 6, and they said you can't reserve the hotel, but with any photo ID showing you're over 18 is fine, and you can pay by cash. So basically I have to be there early for check-in to be safe. Are most hotels okay with this? Any ID that shows you're 18? Or must you typically have a credit card?

If the credit card is a necessity, then my plan was to reserve with my parents credit card, and show up with cash when I arrive there. Showing my ID and the relation to my parents. Would that work?
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Old 10-08-2008, 02:56 AM
 
Location: Cosmic Consciousness
3,871 posts, read 17,048,419 times
Reputation: 2700
Hi runningbachk. I'm going to go out on a limb here to answer your question. For the regular posters on this forum, it's been a while (okay, a long while) since we were 18, and anyway life was different then.

I'm going to suggest to you that it's likely the more expensive hotels might get confused, or resisting, at the idea of not being paid with a credit card, whereas 3-star and 2-star hotels, like Motel 6, are probably more relaxed about such an idea.

But it is a fact that in the U.S. in order to reserve a room ahead of the day one arrives at the hotel, regardless of how expensive or inexpensive the hotel is, one does have to give credit card number, name and expiry date.

So, to reserve ahead of time, you need a credit card. To pay, you need cash, cheque drawn on a U.S. bank, or credit card. To pay without credit card and not reserve ahead of time, you don't need a credit card. Make sense?

Last edited by allforcats; 10-08-2008 at 03:07 AM..
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Old 10-08-2008, 11:25 PM
 
300 posts, read 1,207,700 times
Reputation: 113
Maybe it's common in Seattle, but if I'm running a hotel, and I hear someone on the phone who is younger trying to use someone else's credit card to reserve a room from Canada... umm.. I'm thinking: PRANK.

If your parents are aware that you'll be using their credit card, then just have them make the reservation and have them mention to the hotel that their son (you) will be the one checking in.

That's far less suspicious.

BTW- Motel 6... It's not really a motel so much as it's a place to wonder what you're sleeping on/in.

My advice, don't touch the remote to the TV (they never clean them), don't touch the phone (they never clean that either), and remove the "comforter" off the top of the bed. Once you've done all that, go sleep in your car.
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Old 10-09-2008, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Stamford, CT
420 posts, read 1,363,194 times
Reputation: 299
I'm not from Seattle, BUT I have worked in a Hotel in Boston... Anyway, the only way to reserve a room is with a credit card (due to the fact that if you dont show up, we can charge you a fee) so if you dont have a credit card, you can still show up and pay cash. 18+ is what we did, so you should be fine. Some places may have other standard ages, but 18 should be fine just about anywhere. Also, if you're looking for cheap, and dont care, motel 6 is fine
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Old 10-10-2008, 02:43 PM
 
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
10,471 posts, read 15,774,907 times
Reputation: 6435
Quote:
Originally Posted by obsidian97 View Post
Maybe it's common in Seattle, but if I'm running a hotel, and I hear someone on the phone who is younger trying to use someone else's credit card to reserve a room from Canada... umm.. I'm thinking: PRANK.

If your parents are aware that you'll be using their credit card, then just have them make the reservation and have them mention to the hotel that their son (you) will be the one checking in.

That's far less suspicious.

BTW- Motel 6... It's not really a motel so much as it's a place to wonder what you're sleeping on/in.

My advice, don't touch the remote to the TV (they never clean them), don't touch the phone (they never clean that either), and remove the "comforter" off the top of the bed. Once you've done all that, go sleep in your car.
HA HA! When I was a remote tech for the FAA in Washington, I mentioned to my boss that I never turned the lights off. I kept all of them (ALL OF THEM) on when I went to sleep. He was all like, "Um...why?" and I'm all like, "Bedbugs." and he's like, "Bedbugs?" and I'm like, "Yeah, 30 minutes after yout turn off the lights, they come out and bite you...and they're
probably crawling into your bags, too."

And he was like, "Eeeww" and I was like, "Eeew" and were we like, "Eeew" together.

KMA bedbugs. (Kiss my ass, even.)
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Old 10-10-2008, 03:31 PM
 
Location: Cosmic Consciousness
3,871 posts, read 17,048,419 times
Reputation: 2700
Chicken licken' the sky's falling!! 70Ford has turned into Eric Cartman!! Eeeww....
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Old 10-08-2011, 02:24 PM
 
1 posts, read 40,968 times
Reputation: 11
will a debit card work just the same as a credit card when reserving the room ahead of time?
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Old 10-08-2011, 02:49 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,082 posts, read 80,118,318 times
Reputation: 56861
Yes, a debit card works.

The better hotels require credit cards for the additional costs that you may incur, such as room service, pay per view movies, and mini-bar. Motel 6 or Super 8 (a step better) will accept cash as long as you have a reservation with credit card or just show up and ask for a room and one is available.

Seattle has plenty of motels on Aurora Ave where you can pay cash by the hour, but I wouldn't touch anything there.

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