Our usual hotel (very nice) is usually about £80.
They wanted £150 with a minimum 2 night booking (total £300).
I was sent to help out with a disaster near south Florida. My dispatcher told me that it would be "self sufficient" which means I pay for my room and food and the feds reimburse me after it is over. No problem. I told my wife that I would get the hotel, and when I checked out, by then her check would be in the bank and cover the room. We just had to be very careful how much I spent on food...........
So I got there, and the hotel clerk checked me in. Then he told me that they would bill my room in advance for the week. I said "No wait!, you bill in advance??? Who does that?" "As far as I know sir, we are the only hotel that does." So I told him to wait for me to ask my wife to transfer some money from savings..... He agreed to wait. While I was waiting my buddy came up and offered to share a room, putting it on his credit card. GREAT!!!!
So I told the clerk to void my room, I was going to stay with my buddy.
He said "no worries, I never put the charge through sir."
Ten minutes later my wife called me. "WTF?

They charged us?

They just wiped out our account!!!!"
I went back and the guy argued for a bit before calling for his manager to come fix it.
His manager couldn't fix it right away. It took till the next day. Then they changed the charge to $1. and in two days refunded the one dollar.