Anyway to avoid credit card hold of 100$?

[jo-jo]

No, it has not stopped completely.
Here's what is shows during our stay about a week ago. Each incremental amount is a hold. (the $200 is not related to this stay)
We'd checked in 7/18 and checked out on 7/21. The credit is the initial hold
The final charge at check out does not show here

View attachment 421406


Not exactly. Close though. At least the majority of the time this happens
Upon arrival, they will process the total amount of the room charge + $100 (I believe this is one thing that happens 100% of the time, if there's a balance at arrival)
Then, it's when things get wonky and in consistent.
We've had them run a few of the charges as holds, then stop.
We've had them run each charge as a hold
But they've never added $100 on top of the additional holds. After the initial one, they are for the amount of the charge only.
Still holds/approvals, never actual charges to the account, until final day or day 5, whichever comes first, when the balance remaining is run

So let's assume we check in on the first......

Day 1---DVC so no resort bill.......gift shop $50 2 CS meals each $100 = total $250

Day 2--- 2 CS meals each $100 = total $200

Day 3---2 CS meals each $100 = total $200

Day 4 go down to fronts desk, ask them to run the card? Pay off $650....will I have holds to worry about?

And repeat.

 

[AngiTN]

So let's assume we check in on the first......

Day 1---DVC so no resort bill.......gift shop $50 2 CS meals each $100 = total $250

Day 2--- 2 CS meals each $100 = total $200

Day 3---2 CS meals each $100 = total $200

Day 4 go down to fronts desk, ask them to run the card? Pay off $650....will I have holds to worry about?

And repeat.

Yes, in my personal experience they will run a preauthorization for each charge that exceeds $100. In addition to something ran before arrival. I've never done a stay where the balance is paid before arrival so I've got no personal experience but I believe it's just a $100
There's another thread with much more detailed accounts of how people experience holds. In that one, I show what they ran for our stay in June. For this stay I did exactly what you are planning, I went down and paid on the room balance with gift cards. There were still holds done

 

[mommyrosa2]

Yes, in my personal experience they will run a preauthorization for each charge that exceeds $100. In addition to something ran before arrival. I've never done a stay where the balance is paid before arrival so I've got no personal experience but I believe it's just a $100
There's another thread with much more detailed accounts of how people experience holds. In that one, I show what they ran for our stay in June. For this stay I did exactly what you are planning, I went down and paid on the room balance with gift cards. There were still holds done

This is correct.

I, on the other hand, have always had my room paid in full before checking in therefore whether I leave a debit or credit card on file, they will place the $100 hold and then again and again every time I charge more than $100 on my magic bands. Because of this new rule, I do not plan to do online check-in nor do I plan to charge on my MB's this upcoming trip. I am another who no longer uses credit cards, only my debit card, cash or gift cards and I do not want that much money being tied-up on my debit. I also don't want to run the risk of getting my card flagged as fraudulent and turned off because of all these holds and even me notifying my bank that I am traveling and listing where does not guarantee that it can't happen so I'm not risking it. The way I see it, the new hold rule will only be in my benefit as I will be paying much closer attention to what I'm spending and just won't spend as much as I have in previous trips... a win for me!!

 

[Pkltm]

I don't know why I'm unable to wrap my brain around this. Say I have 1000$ on check in day, I will see a 100$ charge from Disney making my balance (my bank does actual balance and available balance so it'll tell me I may have 1000 but due to pending charges I can only SPEND 900) 900$. Then on day 5 this goes away, my balance goes back up to 1000$, then on day 6 the same thing happens until it falls off at the end of the trip? That's how it works right? I literally have stayed in a hotel once a month for over 6 years and never had a dime more than the hotel stay show up on my bank statement so I swear I'm not just stupid, this just literally doesn't make sense to me.

Your balance will not go immediately back up will depend on how long your bank or credit card it takes to release I have seen anything from 3-10 days.

This was not true last month. We stayed at both YC and CBR. I had multiple problems with my credit card due to a system problem on Disney's end. I asked if I could remove the card and charging privileges (everything was paid in advance) and I was told they had to have a card. It is standard hotel practice, so understandable, but be aware that we were told opting out is no longer possible

That was some uniformed cast members. It is not a requirement to stay at a Disney hotel.

So let's assume we check in on the first......

Day 1---DVC so no resort bill.......gift shop $50 2 CS meals each $100 = total $250

Day 2--- 2 CS meals each $100 = total $200

Day 3---2 CS meals each $100 = total $200

Day 4 go down to fronts desk, ask them to run the card? Pay off $650....will I have holds to worry about?

And repeat.

Yes you will. We had two rooms involving 3 different cards. On day 5 they ran the card but it did not "convert" the hold to a charge, So we had say $650 charged to the card and a $650 hold still sitting on it. Plus they put on a new hold of $100. The Hold for the $650 came off around 5 days later.

 

[Turksmom]

That was some uniformed cast members. It is not a requirement to stay at a Disney hotel.

The cast member was CP, so I too thought she may be confused, but she also called the manager over, who should know the policy. That's the reason I shared my experience- that isn't how it should happen, but that is how it did happen.
At that point I had already had to leave a park and go to the resort because there was no other way to fix it and my daughters were at a different park and planning to go back to the room before me. I ended up using a card I wasn't planning to use because it was the only card I physically had with me and I just wanted to get back before I missed everything I had planned, so I didn't argue after they told me they couldn't do it. Disney changes policies often- I figured it was just another new policy

 

[jo-jo]

Yes you will. We had two rooms involving 3 different cards. On day 5 they ran the card but it did not "convert" the hold to a charge, So we had say $650 charged to the card and a $650 hold still sitting on it. Plus they put on a new hold of $100. The Hold for the $650 came off around 5 days later.

Wow this sounds scary. Our trip is for 8 nights. We are doing one big family trip and footing most of the costs. We are planning most breakfasts in the room and some dinners (frozen pizza or chicken from grocery run) but with 12 people, I'm thinking at least $200 - 250 a day at CS with meal/snacks. We could come home with almost two grand in holds for several more days.

 

[Wood Nymph]

No, it has not stopped completely.
Here's what is shows during our stay about a week ago. Each incremental amount is a hold. (the $200 is not related to this stay)
We'd checked in 7/18 and checked out on 7/21. The credit is the initial hold
The final charge at check out does not show here

View attachment 421406


Not exactly. Close though. At least the majority of the time this happens
Upon arrival, they will process the total amount of the room charge + $100 (I believe this is one thing that happens 100% of the time, if there's a balance at arrival)
Then, it's when things get wonky and in consistent.
We've had them run a few of the charges as holds, then stop.
We've had them run each charge as a hold
But they've never added $100 on top of the additional holds. After the initial one, they are for the amount of the charge only.
Still holds/approvals, never actual charges to the account, until final day or day 5, whichever comes first, when the balance remaining is run

That is what I meant, that there would be the initial $100, not a $100 every day.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

We always check in at the front desk when we arrive. We have always budgeted cash throughout our stays. With multiple envelopes for multiple purposes. It is a lot of cash to carry, but once we are there we put all of it in the safe in the room and only take what we need for the day. It's always worked well for us. And no worries about our bank accounts.

Wouldn't it be safer to do all of that with Disney Gift Cards? If you lose a gift card, you have a serial number.

 

[Nomad70]

Wouldn't it be safer to do all of that with Disney Gift Cards? If you lose a gift card, you have a serial number.

Possibly, but we've done it this way for the past two and a half decades without issue. It's just a system that works for us. Though I have thought about those visa or master card gift cards.

 

[LSUmiss]

But they would reverse the hold right away. I suppose you could delete the credit card from your profile before you arrive.

They did not reverse it for us right away. We had not paid in full b/c it was a room only & we had to have 2 reservations to get the nights we wanted. They put 2 holds of on our cards & it told several days to be charged the correct amount. I won’t so online check in. We don’t use credit cards so I don’t like to having all those holds on my bank account.