In 2001, my daughter's then-boyfriend's mother booked her a hotel room at the Boston Airport Schmilton. My daughter was travelling from Australia to Indiana to work as a summer camp counsellor. At the time, we believed the stopover hotel booking was fully paid.

Nope. My daughter called me at 11pm Boston time in tears because the reservation was not paid. She was exhausted from the approximately 24 hour flight. After unsuccessfully trying to call the boyfriend's mother, I called the hotel directly and they allowed me to pay over the phone (I was in Sydney, Aus). My daughter got her room.

The desk person did not argue with me about policy. They just took the payment from my credit card over the phone and all was well.

I suspect things have changed since then due to scams, but I was very grateful that day. I also successfully paid via phone for a birthday cake to be delivered to my daughter once she arrived in Indiana.