Credit Card Holds at US Resorts

DisneyPrincessSince1971 · Jul 7, 2015

Hello,

I am a huge Disney pro, but have never been to US. Just booked first trip and we are staying at Loews Royal. I have read that they put a $700 hold on your credit card. Is this true?

I absolutely do not want to do that. I am a pay as I go girl.

Any advice or insight? I really appreciate it.

JustCallMeMommy · Jul 7, 2015

They gave me options when I checked in at RPR. I picked the one where they just charged each purchase as it was made. There was no card hold this way. However, I didn't try doing room charges in the park - don't know if that would have worked.

Hootch · Jul 7, 2015

We just paid for all of our stuff with a credit card or cash. They asked if we wanted to have a card on file and we declined.

DisneyPrincessSince1971 · Jul 7, 2015

That is so good to know. At WDW Resorts they ask and we always decline as well. Just wanted to be sure. I appreciate your answers.

Bluer101 · Jul 7, 2015

You can decline the incidental charge hold but you will not be able to do room charging then.

macraven · Jul 7, 2015

i buy gift cards in advance and when i checkin to rpr, i apply them towards my total room charge in advance.

i do put a cc on file for charging in the parks.
easy for me as rpr only puts a hold on a one night stay charge.

check my account daily in my room via tv.

never had a problem.

if you don't want your cc on file, just tell the TM at checkin.

bumbershoot · Jul 7, 2015

JustCallMeMommy said:
I picked the one where they just charged each purchase as it was made.

I have never heard of being able to charge to the room and have them charge as you go. I'll have to ask about that.

OP if you don't want a hold, don't get room charging. Room charging has a BIG hold. I want to say it's $100/day for RPR and HRH, and $150/day for PBH. It has put us at a disadvantage a couple times because I keep forgetting about it. We tend to go to Uni after WDW, so we've got WDW charges hitting the card, the balance of our room-only at Uni, and that hold all at once. We don't keep very high-balance cards, so it does impact us.

And it's weird because I don't use room charge much at all at WDW, but like doing it at Uni. (I'm so Uni-biased it's not even funny at this point!)

ForMyBoys · Jul 7, 2015

macraven said:
i buy gift cards in advance and when i checkin to rpr, i apply them towards my total room charge in advance.

i do put a cc on file for charging in the parks.
easy for me as rpr only puts a hold on a one night stay charge.

check my account daily in my room via tv.

never had a problem.

if you don't want your cc on file, just tell the TM at checkin.

Do you get a discount on the pre-purchased gift cards? I do this for Disney but didn't realize you could do this for Universal too.

Bluer101 · Jul 7, 2015

When we checkin they hold the remaining balance for the room and the total for our parking. After we leave I will see the room hold fall off one day then the next day the actual charge go through.

They used to hold the $100-$150 a night but have not seen that in awhile. I can only speak for us. I check my CC right after we check in to make sure.

Bluer101 · Jul 7, 2015

ForMyBoys said:
Do you get a discount on the pre-purchased gift cards? I do this for Disney but didn't realize you could do this for Universal too.

Only a discount if you can find a retailer doing a special but normally not.

Most people pick them up here and there before a trip so the trip is getting pre paid.

macraven · Jul 7, 2015

ForMyBoys said:
Do you get a discount on the pre-purchased gift cards? I do this for Disney but didn't realize you could do this for Universal too.

i use my credit card as i get quarterly bonus of 5% more on select purchases.

i can use my cash i earn on my cc and apply it to my monthly bill.

i'm not aware of any discount on the universal gift cards.
universal many years back had the mc cc which i would use and gain points.
that card is now long gone.

i use gift cards and apply all of the on my account when check in to the hotel.
i save up and buy them throughout the year for the trip.

when i check out, i just have the miscellaneous charges on my account from charging back to the room on my spending in the parks.

bumbershoot · Jul 8, 2015

Bluer101 said:
After we leave I will see the room hold fall off one day then the next day the actual charge go through.

See, we don't have a hold on the room, but just the charge. And the other charges are separate. And our credit union takes a few days for holds to drop off, when it comes to Loews hotels. (nothing much else takes that long for our CU)

Bluer101 said:
They used to hold the $100-$150 a night but have not seen that in awhile. I can only speak for us.

Just dealt with it in January, for us. Why do I keep forgetting? I don't like having to make a CC payment while on vacation.

jodybird511 · Jul 8, 2015

If your room is prepaid (Cheaptickets), are you required to give a credit card at all?

macraven · Jul 8, 2015

jodybird511 said:
If your room is prepaid (Cheaptickets), are you required to give a credit card at all?

no
it's your choice if you want the ability to charge back to your hotel room account for purchasing in the park/city walk.

anyone can decline to give a cc to be on file.

Bluer101 · Jul 8, 2015

bumbershoot said:
See, we don't have a hold on the room, but just the charge. And the other charges are separate. And our credit union takes a few days for holds to drop off, when it comes to Loews hotels. (nothing much else takes that long for our CU)

Just dealt with it in January, for us. Why do I keep forgetting? I don't like having to make a CC payment while on vacation.

I should have explained the hold that falls off is the original hotel room balance. That is a pending charge the whole trip. Then that hold will fall off and the actual room bill plus room charging will go through.

scoobydooby · Jul 8, 2015

Hello. From the UK and a bit confused. I always leave CC info at WDW hotels and charge to my KTTW card, now Magic Band. But they only charge me the night I check out or when I hit their limit, whichever comes sooner. I never actually use the CC to pay for anything in reality as we buy pre paid CC for US travel and I use those. I don't mind giving HRH a CC so I can charge to the room but I don't want them holding money I haven't even spent!!!! Will this happen if I leave CC info to make room charges to? I have paid for our room in full. About a year in advance actually so they have already made money off me via interest!!!!!! We arrive in less than a month so would like to understand this before we go. One last question. If my lad uses one of the guitars and they take a 1k deposit off my CC, how soon before that money goes back on my card after we return the guitar? Thank you.

Bluer101 · Jul 8, 2015

The reason for the hold is to make sure you have the appropriate funds on your CC. If they did not hold a pending charge then if you charge stuff to the room and don't have the funds they are out their money. You can leave cash too if you want.

zbsigpi · Jul 9, 2015

As a hotelier here is how it works, you have 4 ways of paying cash, debit or credit or a combo of the 3. Hotels, that have amenities (restaurants, bars ect) will normally have a set daily amount of money that they want in order to allow the guest charging priveleges. For some that could be $50 for others that could be $200 it depends upon the hotel they set that rate and you can ask what that is. So you want charging priveleges at X hotel. You need to pay for you room, taxes and other charges just for the room then there is the daily $ for charging priveleges. If you pay cash they may ask for more $ for the daily charging previliges to cover that but that cash if unused is refundable. You can use credit, for credit the hotel does not "charge" your card they ask the cc company for a hold on that money the charge does not take place until you checkout. For credit if you go over your available charging line of credit for both charges and holds they could stop any further charges to you card. Then there are debit cards. Debit cards do not work the same as credit cards there are no holds only charges so if you want charging previliges then the bank will remove those funds from your account at that time. Again refundable but if you need that cash for something else you will have to wait for your bank to redeposit it into your account which could be up to 10 working days.

carmelhp · Jul 9, 2015

We used a debit card. On debit cards you state how much you want to deposit on your room account, which is charged to your debit card. You then spend down that amount. You can refill your balance if you think you'll be spending more during your stay. Any leftover is refunded. I think the refund showed up the day after checkout.

lynnfitz · Jul 9, 2015

I think I like the "pay as you go" route-our room is paid for in full, I find that way I feel like I can keep better track of what we're spending-we have a debit card, we also call our "vacation fund" card. But everyone is different with what they feel comfortable with-If you do this route, not giving a cc at check in-how do they charge the nightly parking?

Credit Card Holds at US Resorts

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