????? about charging on the room key....

[Jon99]

We are going to TRY to limit what we spend this year at the parks, so I have a few questions....

We have money set aside for what we are willing to spend for the seven days and would like to limit it to that..So we are planning on putting most of that cash on our account at VWL, and using our room key for most purchases..

1. Will they allow us charging privalges with no credit card????

2. We are thinking about taking a credit card and calling the card company and reducing our credit limit to $1000 and giving that to the VWL "just in case"... Do the resorts run the card thru to check the charging ability of a card?? If so, what amount???

 

[AirForceRocks]

I've never tried to use charging privileges without giving them a credit card, so I don't know if you can do that or not.

As for the amount that you can charge up to before your CC is charged, I think it depends on which category hotel, i.e., values are something like $500, mods are higher, and deluxes are still higher.

 

[Jon99]

Thanks... Do they run the card thru when you check in???? We should have enough cash where the card will never be used since our room is paid for, hoppers are paid for and we have 10 Q&C meal vouchers paid for...Thats why I like taking a card with a low limit instead of one of our others.... We usually go nuts while down there and end up paying for the trip for the next 4 months!!!

 

[AirForceRocks]

They ran our card through at check-in, but we were paying for the room on the CC to get the reward $$. We sent a check to the CC company for the room charges before we even left for WDW so that we wouldn't have to pay it when we got home.

We took one trip to WDW where we just charged to the room without really keeping track, and it was a definite wake-up call for us! Now, we charge to the room, but I take a stroll to Guest Services every evening and pay off that day's charges. It helps us keep our spending in check.

 

[jel0511]

When you check-in to a resort, they run through your credit card for $1 to check that it is valid. At VWL, the credit limit you'll be assigned will be $1500, once you reach that limit, your card is "turned off" until you authorize another $1500. If you place a cash deposit down, I believe that the $1500 limit is still in efffect, so if you have more than that down, you'd still have to authorize that the amount be placed against your cash deposit. The room keys can't be keyed to work like debit cards, so regardless of how much cash you place down, if it is less than the $1500, you'll still have autorization upto that $1500 before you are aware of your balance, unless you check it daily.

 

[dznyntnh]

They will run your card through for a pre-authorization, usually $1.00 to make sure it is valid and then everytime you hit your limit (which is either $1,000 or $1,500 for a deluxe) they will charge the card.

You can go to the front desk and 'settle up' with cash at any time before they charge your card. Or you can just put everthing on your card and pay it off when you get home.

Last time I was there, I actually kept a running tab of all my receipts and purchases, so I knew what the bill was before I received it and kept a handle on my spending. I had to do this because for some silly reason I seem to spend alot more when I travel alone then when I travel with others.

 

[Carrieberry]

Yes, the above posters are correct- they will only run your card for $1- no more than that, to get an authorization code and verify thaat your card is active. They will not check for how much available credit you have etc. It can also be a debit/check card as long as it has the visa or mc logo. I don't think they will allow you to charge to the room without leaving any card at all- just with a cash deposit since their guarantee comes from the credit card company. Then they give you your limit of the $1500 at VWL. Even if you have cash there, if you go past the amount of cash there is, they will continue to let you charge up to $1500 and then charge your card for the difference. What I did was go down to the desk every two nights and looked at the bill, and paid it off in cash or allowed them to charge my card. On another trip, I kept receipts and added them up at night before bed so I knew exactly how much I had charged to the room and how much was coming off of my card. Both times worked well and I had no surprises at the end. If you don't hit the $1500 limit during your stay, they just charge you all at once on the morning (very very early) of your check out day and slip the bill under your door. By this point it is too late- your card has been charged already. If you go settle the bill with cash anytime before your check out day- then you will be fine- as long as you don't hit that $1500 first! Another thing we did was paid cash for a lot of stuff in the parks and only used our room charge for character meals and our souviners. We just took a small amount of cash with us for counter service and snacks, and of course if we ran out of cash we had the room charge, that way we weren't spending like crazy on our room charge! The easiest thing to do is just give them your cash and a card so you can charge to the room, then check every so often either on your way back in from the parks, or on your way out, to make sure you are on target with your spending. That way you don't have to be obsessive, but you can stay within budget.

 

[nordtrjr]

Hi All - A Related question.

Is the room charging limit per reservation or per room? The reason I ask is that I have one reservation for two rooms at AKL later this year. When I check in I'll leave them one CC for both rooms. My wife and kids and I will be in one room while my parents will be in the other. In order to keep things simple the whole reservation will be in my name and I'll use my CC to pay for the rooms and any charges. Will room "A" have $1500 and room "B" also $1500? Or is it $1500 for all of us? I know it can be "re-set" by just telling the front desk to charge your card for the current balance but with the 7 of us I'm sure we'll exceed $1500 but probably come under $3000 in room charges for our trip.

 

[dznyntnh]

I know you can split the reservations and put a seperate card on each room. They don't like to do this but they can do this.

Otherwise, I would think one card would have the $1500.00 limit and it wouldn't be $1500 per room.

 

[floridafam]

I've done it various different ways on trips.

I noticed that we spent much less when we just used our own CC for purchases. Why? I don't know.

Also, we had a few nights at YC Concierge last October and I gave them $500 cash (actually Disney Dollars). I used that to charge against. Maybe I could only do that because I was staying concierge-I don't know.

Also, when we checked into VWL, they wanted to run a $1,500 limit for 3 nights. I knew we were not going to come anywhere near that for a 3 night stay and elected not to have charging available on the card.

I can't believe they only run $1 authorization on the CC. Most hotels we stay at will run the total of your stay plus the extra they think you will spend on food, etc. Then they just settle up at the end.

 

[Carrieberry]

I believe it is $1500 per one reservation. Like the above poster said, you may be able to get the CM to give the occupants of the other room their own charge account with a seperate card, but they will only give you $1500 on the one card. When you hit that limit, they will charge your card (you will not be notified of this- they will just do it) and the $1500 will automatically start over.


I know it is weird but they really do only authorize $1. They have some sort of agreement or something with the cc companies guaranteeing them that pre set amount. They will NOT run your card for $1500 unless you spend $1500 as they don't charge the card until you hit the limit or you check out. I know they only do it for $1 because the last 3 trips we have left our bank check card for our deposit and then immediately checked our bank account with our laptop upon getting into our room to assure there were no holds placed on our bank account (we ran into this problem while in Vegas- someplace you really don't want a hold on your funds!) and it always just shows up as a "check card memo" for $1. I also know this because we only had about $600 in our account and we still got the $1500 limit at BCV. If they run your card on check out and it does not go through, you will get a call or a note on your bill to report to the front desk before checking out (this is what I have heard- we have never had to do this so I am going by what I have read here on the DIS from others). This debate on the hold amount is here on these boards a lot and various CM's that frequent these boards confirm this practice. Disney will get their money one way or another and this seems to work fine for them as most people are well aware of how much they can spend. They will get their money from the cc companies, which means the credit card company will be the one coming after you to collect.

 

[Carrieberry]

Oops, forgot to mention that they WILL charge your card for any room balance owed at check in-my post above was only referring to room charges. Also, Sometimes they will ask for your credit card on check in and then automatically charge your room to the card- so if you want to pay for the room balance portion with another form of payment, be sure you mention that before you hand your card over! We ran into this problem at AKL a couple of years ago. They asked me for a credit card for room charges/express checkout and I handed it to them and they did not even mention the balance on the room. I had cash which I wanted to use to pay for the room, but they just charged the card for it without mentioning the balance. When I mentioned that I wanted to pay my balance on the room with cash, the CM said- "Oh, well I already chraged your card for the room balance." No problem really, we just ended up using the cash for incidentals, but we were only there for 2 nights (room charge was only for 1 night at $127+ tax)- this could be an issue if you are checking in with a room balance of 5 or 6 nights and planned on paying on a different card or in cash/travelers checks or whatever!!

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

We have used the room key to charge stuff and our regular cc, and although it was fun to keep pulling out Tinkerbell's picture, on balance I found it easier to tell the front desk to take the charging privileges off the room key and use our regular cc.

That being said, we keep pretty good track of our expenses by putting all our receipts for the day in one pocket. Then that evening when we get back to the room, or the next morning before we leave for the day, I enter the day's receipts in an inexpensive Sharp electronic organizer. This gives us an easy way to keep track of what we are spending, because all the charges are in one place and the organizer can keep totalling up the charges.

Plus, when we review the bill they slip under the door the morning we check-out, we're not faced with a long list of charges to mentally verify; it's just one charge for the room.

When we get home, I enter all the charges into our Quicken program. (I've set things up so I can subtract each charge from our checking account - I put the money into a holding account.) So when the bill comes, the money is waiting in the holding account to pay off all the charges, and I've gotten the miles on my cc toward our next Disney trip and no surprises.

I don't like surprises!
Hope this helps

 

[Carrieberry]

I think this next trip I might carry my palm pilot around and enter things as I go into my calculator/budget program. Kinda a downer, but again- we also don't like nasty surprises and I would just die if I got the call to come to the front desk to settle my bill! We have a spending limit per day, and I would like to be able to keep track of it all without having to pull out paper and pen each time.

 

[lillygator]

I was curious about this as well....we stayed at Pop and the limit was $500.....
we used our card and it was very conveinent for charging...

but what I am curious about.....when we return in May and I will be using our debit card upon check-in....do they give you the $1500 limit no matter what (at deluxe) ~ I mean, no matter what is in your account? We try not to keep much in checking but it is of course linked to savings so money is not the issue...I am just wondering if it knows if we would have enough to pay for it?

 

[jel0511]

do they give you the $1500 limit no matter what (at deluxe) ~ I mean, no matter what is in your account?

Yes, all they do is check that the card is valid, so regardless of what's in your account, you will receive the $1500 limit at a deluxe. You can ask for a lower limit. Placing down a debit card for room charges can get tricky. If you plan on charging a lot, more than $500, check with your bank on your daily limit. Some banks only allow up to a certain amount to be charged per day on a debit card. I never use mine, but I have a $500 per day spending limit on it. Which means, regardless of how much is in my account, I can only charge $500 per day, which would be a problem if I had run up a $1000 room charge bill, because it wouldn't be allowed to go through.

 

[Carrieberry]

Yep- if it is at a deluxe you will get the $1500 limit regardless of what is on your account. When we stayed at BCV we only had about $600 in our account (debit card with visa logo) and we still got the $1500 limit. Of course- we not did charge over the amount we knew was in there- just paid cash for quite a bit and used the room charge for chracter meals and souviners. They have no idea what amount is acutally in your account, so you should have no problem with the savings linked to the checking.

 

[Terry S]

Just wanted to reiterate what others have said. The resort willl not ask you once you hit the limit ($1,500 at deluxes). They will just charge you card the $1,500 and start over again.