Upon their arrival, the husband takes out his one credit card that he has consolidated all his debts onto, because it has a low interest rate and pays him “double the airline frequent flyer award miles”.  The front desk clerk takes the credit card and runs the magnetic stripe through the Verifone Tranz 380 Point-Of-Sale terminal that the hotel uses to obtain an authorization for payment on the credit card.  The traveler is not worried, because he has excellent credit, a $10,000 credit line, and has plenty of available credit on that credit card. 

Unfortunately, when the front desk clerk slides the credit card through the machine, it displays a message that says “invalid credit card”.  Nervously, the front desk clerk tries to obtain a phone authorization.  However, the clerk is unable to get the authorization.  The credit card holder is not aware that his credit card company has a policy of “flagging” any charge over $500 that is made “Out-Of-State”, to ensure that people who have had their credit cards stolen are not subjected to the thief taking a nice long vacation. 

The hotel room was booked for the weeks vacation, at the rate of $125 per night.  Now, the customer says, “Let me write you a check from my bank.”  The front desk clerk responds, “I am sorry sir, but; we do not take “Out-Of-State” checks.  It is 9p.m. at night.  The client is from Pennsylvania. The banks are all closed.  It is the weekend.  Not only does the client have to find a hotel at that hour that will take their check, the hotel loses $1,200 worth of business, and gets the horror story told 1,000 times over and over. 

Had the hotel had CrossCheck, they would have been able to take the clients “In-State” or “Out-Of-State” or Canadian Check, just like a credit card.  The client would only need their Drivers License, State I.D., or Military I.D. to obtain their hotel room key. CrossCheck even has a program to accept Travelers checks.