The charges hit the credit card in real time now. But hotels will do that (or they used to - it has been years since I've stayed at one.)

The thing about gas stations in the US is to look around for hidden cameras above the payment area or a fake slider within the card slider; that's one way thieves would get the card number and any pin or passcode you type in. The card I use now I tap and there is no code, but the number isn't in view either.