Advice on "incidentals"

[tbssenterprises]

Hello. I am planning a family trip. I've already booked 4 hotel rooms and paid one nights deposit on each. I will soley paying for all rooms (I am the grandma). However, I don't want to pay for any incidentals, etc. How do I handle payment? I am supposing I can go to the front desk at check in and pay for the entire room and then ask each and every adult kid to check in and put their own credit card on file? How does Disney usually handle this. Thank you!

 

[Best Aunt]

My thought is: use your own credit card at the front desk of the hotel, set a PIN for charging to the room, don't tell anyone what the PIN is, and tell everybody that they can't charge to the room. (You always have to set a PIN for charging to the room. The PIN has to be entered at the point of sale if the item is being charged to the room.)

If they want "incidentals" they have to use their own credit cards, gift cards, or cash at the restaurants and shops.

Somebody else here probably has a better idea.

Edit: see below where someone reports on their experience re PINS.

 

[cruising spud]

I would call Disney and ask if, upon check-in, family members could give their credit cards to the front desk as default cards to pay for incidentals. Assuming they want to charge to the rooms. OR, just tell them not to charge to the room.

 

[lanejudy]

If you don’t share your PIN and they don’t set-up their own credit card(s) then they can’t charge to the room. They will need to present another form of payment at the time of purchase.

 

[proudmomof4]

We have done this a couple of different ways:

Back in the day, I would tell the front desk that we didn't want charging privileges and they would set things up that way and either no one could charge or only me and DH could charge.

Once our kids were adults and they had their own credit cards, they would go to the front desk and add their credit cards to be linked to their magic bands or key cards.

Now, I choose not to charge anything to the room. it just works better for me to choose how to pay (credit card, cash, debit card, gift card) as I go.

 

[focusondisney]

Hello. I am planning a family trip. I've already booked 4 hotel rooms and paid one nights deposit on each. I will soley paying for all rooms (I am the grandma). However, I don't want to pay for any incidentals, etc. How do I handle payment? I am supposing I can go to the front desk at check in and pay for the entire room and then ask each and every adult kid to check in and put their own credit card on file? How does Disney usually handle this. Thank you!

Do you have room only reservations or a package? If a package, you need to pay that off before arrival anyway. For a room only, you can stop at the desk & pay for all rooms when you check in. When you made the reservation did you check the box that said use this card for incidentals? if yes, then definitely stop & remove your card. If not, someone will have to stop at the desk for each room & leave a credit card if they want to charge back to the room. Each adult can go to the front desk & link their own credit card to their magic band. So anything they charge with their band will go to their own credit card.

 

[Disnsyncey]

My friend and I always put down cards for specific MB+, she pays for the room, we just verify the night before we leave!

But I agree with the pp, pay for the rooms ahead of time and then close out the accounts, don't leave anything indicating that you will use that card for incidentals and then let them put their own cards down for any further charges....

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

Indicdentals is different than charging purchases to the room reservation.

Incidentals is more just if something in the room is taken or damaged.
I wouldn't be worried too much about that being on your card.

But for charging purchases back to the room reservation yes you can go to the front desk and ask that your card is not charged for that and each adult can put a card on file.

 

[Miffy]

OP, there's good advice from several other posters.

However . . . I highly advise against having people register their own credit card to be linked to their MB. Because my sister and I did this on one trip and the first charge I made to my MB went to my cc, but after that, all the charges I made went to my sister's cc. We didn't realize this had happened until checkout.

ETA: Tell your traveling party they cannot use their MBs for purchases. Period. And do not tell them your PIN.

 

[jmasgat]

Another data point.....I stayed as a guest at OKW with a friend as the reservation owner. It was easy to go to the front desk and put my credit card against my magic band (or could be done with key card). No issues with charges going to my magic band and upon checkout, the bill itemized the separate charges.

 

[tbssenterprises]

Thank you all for the advice. (note, yes, these are room only reservations).

 

[eandt]

We use magic bands and PINs are not always required … if you are using Magic Bands I believe the ‘folio’ will show who/which Magic band made the specific charges … personally would just not allow charging and have each family use their own card at the various pos

My thought is: use your own credit card at the front desk of the hotel, set a PIN for charging to the room, don't tell anyone what the PIN is, and tell everybody that they can't charge to the room. (You always have to set a PIN for charging to the room. The PIN has to be entered at the point of sale if the item is being charged to the room.)

If they want "incidentals" they have to use their own credit cards, gift cards, or cash at the restaurants and shops.

Somebody else here probably has a better idea.

 

[eandt]

We use magic bands and PINs are not always required … if you are using Magic Bands I believe the ‘folio’ will show who/which Magic band made the specific charges … personally would just not allow charging and have each family use their own card at the various pos

My thought is: use your own credit card at the front desk of the hotel, set a PIN for charging to the room, don't tell anyone what the PIN is, and tell everybody that they can't charge to the room. (You always have to set a PIN for charging to the room. The PIN has to be entered at the point of sale if the item is being charged to the room.)

If they want "incidentals" they have to use their own credit cards, gift cards, or cash at the restaurants and shops.

Somebody else here probably has a better idea.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thank you all for the advice. (note, yes, these are room only reservations).

Just call Disney and pay ahead of time. This is a common thing to do with those of us who travel on gift cards and don’t want to transport them to Disney so yes even on room-only reservations they can take full payment ahead of time. Then, tell each adult to complete their own check-in and place their own credit card on file when they check-in. Remember the cc/debit on file isn’t only for incidentals- it’s also for any damage that happens to the room.