You will find a number of businesses from hotels to grocers to servos and others preauthorise charges as routine practice. In the case of hotels some will do one night, some an entire stay at check in, and some will only do a modest amount to confirm the card. The timing to release the authorisation seems to vary from the time of actual settlement of the account to a few days later. Note my comment on the amounts re fuelling below.
There was a discussion about how this practice affects routine purchases such as groceries here. Whether and how this practice affects any individual varies from not at all to putting them over their limits but there are differences of opinion about it.
Having stayed in motels and hotels many times I am not aware of this being called out except on booking platforms. For context when you fill your vehicle and set a limit on the fill are you aware that usually causes a pre-authorisation for that amount? When finished the final charge goes through. If it is the same amount many POS systems recognise it is the same charge so it is ‘matched’ and only the actual charge remains, but when the amounts differ the POS systems are unable (unwilling?) to match the transaction the pre-authorisation often stays for a few more days until it times out.
If you were entitled to a discount it should have been evident it was applied at booking time. If you feel it was improperly applied you should contact Hyatt guest services and ask for the amount to be refunded. Could it be that your stay included nights with multiple tariffs, eg higher on certain nights, to explain it?
Not I.
