If the manager wanted to humor that guest he could call the credit card company and have them tell the guest that rule preventing imprints does not exist.

I work as a hotel manager, and I will kindly direct the guest to another hotel if he doesn’t want to submit an imprint.

the reason for this: yes, it would suck to lose his business, but it would suck more to have his business, and not be paid for your services.

example:

He stays at your hotel, with no imprint of his credit card. the total for his stay is $400.

He then reports to his credit card company, after seeing the bill on his statement, that it was not him who stayed there, and his stay was unauthorized. the credit card company then contacts the hotel, and asks for all paperwork regarding the stay, including signed registration card, signed credit card reciept if available, as well as the imprint of the card.

fail to prouce ANY one of these documents and there’s a good chance the credit card company will honor his accusation that you let someone else use his credit card, and take the money back from you, give it back to him.

short answer: if he doesn’t want an imprint made, politely refuse him service, and direct him to a nearby hotel, OR: if you have an atm on the premises, or nearby, direct him to the atm and have him withdraw sufficient cash for the room, plus any security deposit u assess to hotel guests.

"As of Dec. 4, retailers are prohibited from printing more than the last five digits of a credit-card or debit-card account number on receipts that are handed to customers. The receipts also can’t include the account’s expiration date. The law applies only to electronically printed receipts, rather than those that are written by hand or imprinted on old-fashioned manual machines."