When the Card Declined Abroad Is a Policy Failure

Every business traveler has been there. You arrive late in a foreign city, hand your passport and credit card to the clerk at the hotel front desk, and … wait. After a minute, the clerk looks at you nervously, “I’m sorry, I’ll try again.” You stare at the point-of-sale terminal, as if some miasmic mechanism will ensure the hold on your card is authorized this time through your intense desire to slump on your bed. Again the clerk gives you that nervous look but this time shaded with pity, “Do you have another card, perhaps?”