American Express gift card question

[farcus17]

Can you use American Express gift cards to pay for rooms/ tickets at walt Disney world. Also can they be used in the parks to buy food and merchandise. Thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[LYSE]

Disney won't know or care that it's not a credit card...that tends to be the point in those types of gift cards...just make sure you have enough for any deposits/holds..might not be the best idea for a card to keep on file.

 

[farcus17]

So if I have like $500 on a few of these cards I can use them on the Disney site to lay for part of my hotel/ticket package? I would not use it as a card on file because I would like to use it for room or tickets if possible.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I cannot speak for American Express for sure, where I work we sell Visa gift cards. We have received a couple complaints that our Visa gift cards cannot be used to pay for a hotel room. I am guessing it either has to do with either the lack of recourse on a prepaid card, or the certain degree of anonymity that comes with paying with a gift card. (although we will only sell to bank customers so they are not at all anonymous as to who actually bought the card, whoever is using the card may be a different story). I guess I am a little confused when you said not the card on file, but then said pay for a room. I guess you could keep a different CC on file and maybe pay the actual bill with a gift card? I doubt the hotel would go for that, but no harm in asking them. Gift cards are not as useful as an actual debit or credit card. Gift cards have certain limitations.

Long answer short, I believe it would be unlikely to use them to pay for a hotel. You can probably use them to buy tickets however (assuming they take AMEX).

 

[supersnoop]

Hotels and restaurants submit an authorizion charge for more than the actual amount; to protect them for room charges and tips. If they attempt to authorize the card for more than it holds, it will be declined, even though it’s enough for your purposes. You need to be mindful to have some cushion on those types of charges.

 

[bearzabout]

As mentioned above, the problem using a gift card for certain purchases is regarding preauthorzations or transactions that may end up being refunded. American Express specifically states not to use gift cards at gas pumps for this reason. Hotels also often place preauthorized, refundable charges at check in. Payment of the final bill at checkout is different. You could use a CC for the deposit or at check in, but tell them you want to use a different giftcard to pay the final charges.

I try to use gift cards on as few transactions as possible so I don't have to keep checking to see if the remaining balance is accurate. Using them at one time for tickets sounds like a great plan.

 

[BrerRabbit66]

I used an Amex gift card when pre-paying our last Disney reservation. It was a $500 gift card and they could not process the full $500 due to the preauthorization limit hotels place on cards...they did get it to go thru for $400...I just used the remaining balance onsite for purchases.