>>I think that the reason that they were so willing to accomodate me was because they were anxious to stay on good terms with the credit card company. I told the woman from La Quinta that there was no need to debit my card 10 months in advance. They have a one week cancellation policy. Since they already have my credit card number, they can debit it if I don't show up or cancel with the specified one week. This really is a no-brainer.
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>From what has been mentioned in this thread and from what I discussed with someone on the phone this morning, there seems to be more and more hotels adopting this policy.

It's an easy way to get a huge interest-free loan for them. Consumer Affairs (or whoever does these things) should be looking into this practice. This is a case where government intrusion is probably a good thing...