I stayed at ibis Styles Paris Porte de Pantin Philharmonie. At check in, the receptionist said he couldn’t proceed unless I handed over my physical credit card as a “guarantee.” Instead of doing a normal pre authorization on a terminal, he manually wrote down my full card details, including the CVV. From what I could see, this didn’t look like a standard card present process at all.
Two days after checkout, I got hit with a fraudulent charge from Africa for about $1,100. Had to block the card and deal with getting a replacement while traveling, which was stressful and disruptive.
I reported this to Accor through ALL customer service. I wasn’t asking for a refund or anything booking related, just reporting a clear payment security issue tied to how their staff handled card data. Their response was basically a script telling me to contact Booking.com since I booked through them.
I replied explaining again that this has nothing to do with the booking platform and everything to do with card handling at their property. Got the exact same canned response again. No escalation, no investigation, no acknowledgement of the security issue.
Just a heads up that if you book an Accor property through a third party and run into something like this, Accor may simply bounce you elsewhere instead of taking ownership.
Personally, I’d avoid this hotel until they confirm their card handling procedures and staff training are fixed.
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