Anyway to avoid credit card hold of 100$?

[Shelby Schroepfer]

Yeah my card information is already in MDE and I can't find anywhere to delete it, just edit it.

 

[Marionnette]

Is there any way of getting a room early if we DON'T do online check in? We arrive around 1-2pm and are HOPING for an early check in. Totally fine if we don't, but we've been lucky in the past so we were going to try again. If we arrive at 1 and go to the front desk is it the same chance of our room being ready as if we did online check in?

You can ask the CM to give you the first available room but it may not fit your requests. First available is the first room that is open.

Also can we select room preferences if we don't do online check in? I honestly just see it pop up on MDE so I answer the questions and submit. I don't know how to NOT do online check in. I just follow the prompts and they say "your preferences are set, see you on Sep 15th" or whatever

You can call CRO to make a room request or use the touring plans fax.

 

[siren0119]

Is there any way of getting a room early if we DON'T do online check in? We arrive around 1-2pm and are HOPING for an early check in. Totally fine if we don't, but we've been lucky in the past so we were going to try again. If we arrive at 1 and go to the front desk is it the same chance of our room being ready as if we did online check in?

Of course. Online check in doesn't give you a leg up in getting a room early. Room assignments are set up well ahead of your stay whether you do online check in or not, and then adjusted at the front desk if needed. If you're willing to take first available room you may have to give up a room request, but if getting in the room early is more important that's a fair trade off.

 

[Marionnette]

Yeah my card information is already in MDE and I can't find anywhere to delete it, just edit it.

It is possible to remove a form of payment but not using the app. It’s located in your profile on the website.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Our experience has been the $100 hold is placed on your credit card when you check in and it will remain there until several days after you check out, even if you maintain a zero balance. The hold will not exceed $100 as long as your balance remains under $100. So you can go to the pool and charge your lunch on your MB, then sometime before bedtime you go to the the front desk and pay the balance off, thereby leaving a zero balance again. That is what we did on our last trip and only had the one hold of $100 which fell off about 4 days after we got home.

We do not have experience with what happens when you remove charging privileges from your MB. But I would think that the $100 hold would fall off and not be replaced. They can remove your credit card when you check in.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

This is a concern too I guess. The stay is 10 days so if it takes a few days to fall off that's no big deal at all as long as I can watch for it!

I know with my bank it takes 5 business days for the hold to drop from my account

 

[Searc]

Some people may not be able to use credit cards due to someone stealing their identity. They may only have a checking account and cash to work with.
Now, when I go to WDW, I put all the money that I am allowing myself to spend on gift cards. I keep the receipts and carefully track how much I have left so I know how crazy or reserved I can be each day. I do not want to use credit cards at all while I am on a trip in case I have to use those for an emergency.

LOL Having your identity stolen doesn't prevent you from using a credit card. What usually prevents you from using credit cards is poor credit or no credit.

 

[Farro]

Who in the world made the rule that you can't judge anyone? We all judge, even when we are trying not to. You ask such a question, some people are going to raise eyebrows. We are all human beings. Some are more upfront than others. So yes, judge away at me and everyone else because that is just how people are programmed. Anyone who says they don't judge, well I simply don't trust those people.

Of course everyone judges. But not everyone is smart enough to keep it to themselves.

 

[Farro]

Also can we select room preferences if we don't do online check in? I honestly just see it pop up on MDE so I answer the questions and submit. I don't know how to NOT do online check in. I just follow the prompts and they say "your preferences are set, see you on Sep 15th" or whatever

I always call and have them add my requests. I do online check in, but never have gotten a room text yet, just a text to stop by front desk. I also don't do any requests during online check in. You used to be able to bypass that, is that not an option anymore?

 

[AngiTN]

This is new to me. We stay in hotels in Minneapolis about once every month or 2 and I've never had more than the exact amount of the hotel stay come off of my card. I DO usually use hotels.com so maybe that avoids the hold? I'm not sure how that all works but aside from gas stations (which very rarely in my city have a hold that I ever see) this will be my first experience with the hold.

Amazed you've never had to give them a credit card at check in
I've never had a hotel not ask. No matter the chain. How you book makes no difference, it's what they ask for when you arrive. Not all will run a pre-authorization amount but they put a card on file in case you trash something

 

[AngiTN]

Is there any way of getting a room early if we DON'T do online check in? We arrive around 1-2pm and are HOPING for an early check in. Totally fine if we don't, but we've been lucky in the past so we were going to try again. If we arrive at 1 and go to the front desk is it the same chance of our room being ready as if we did online check in?

Also can we select room preferences if we don't do online check in? I honestly just see it pop up on MDE so I answer the questions and submit. I don't know how to NOT do online check in. I just follow the prompts and they say "your preferences are set, see you on Sep 15th" or whatever

Yes to both. You call
Online check in has no bearing on either. There isn't even a place for room requests with most resorts now
With all your concerns and history there is really no reason at all to doing online check in. A lot of reasons not to bother though

 

[Shelby Schroepfer]

Amazed you've never had to give them a credit card at check in
I've never had a hotel not ask. Not matter the chain. How you book makes no difference, it's what they ask for when you arrive.

I've always GIVEN my debit card and paid with my debit card, but never seen any charge other than the exact cost of the room. So I've never seen the X$ amount hold that people say every hotels does. And I religiously check my account on an app so even if it were to show up for a few hours and fall off, I would've seen it. Only once when I was idk like 18 did I end up in the negatives because I got gas and only has like 25$ something in my account and the gas station had a hold of 75$. Other than that in my adult life I have never seen a hold on my bank, and I've had the same bank/account since I was 16!

 

[AngiTN]

I've always GIVEN my debit card and paid with my debit card, but never seen any charge other than the exact cost of the room. So I've never seen the X$ amount hold that people say every hotels does. And I religiously check my account on an app so even if it were to show up for a few hours and fall off, I would've seen it. Only once when I was idk like 18 did I end up in the negatives because I got gas and only has like 25$ something in my account and the gas station had a hold of 75$. Other than that in my adult life I have never seen a hold on my bank, and I've had the same bank/account since I was 16!

No. You misunderstood. People are saying they always have to give a card at check in.
Asking for a card at check in doesn’t always mean a pre-authorization is done.
But they have that card on file in case something comes up

 

[AngiTN]

Interesting. I’m in Canada and most of my hotel stays are here in BC so maybe that’s the difference? We travel lots for our kids’s sports so a combo of chain hotels and privately owned hotels. I’m definitely informed of a hold on my card at check in more often than not so I just assumed it’s the norm at most hotels. I also use hotels.com a lot and that doesn’t seem to affect a hold or no hold. They still typically ask at check in for a cc to be on file ‘for incidentals’ and let me know there will be a hold.

It must be the difference in how they do it in Canada vs. US. US hotels routinely take a card to put on file but do not routinely run any $ amount as a hold. Lowes is the only one I know of that does. That’s here at Universal. Anyone else we use just has it there just in case someone damages something.

 

[nkereina]

It's simple - don't do online check-in if you don't want the hold. The only advantage to online check-in is that you may be given the opportunity to bypass the front desk and go straight to your room. That's it. Online check-in does not give you an advantage for getting into your room early or getting an upgrade or anything else. All it does is divert traffic from the front desk by allowing people to go straight to their rooms.

 

[sponica]

It must be the difference in how they do it in Canada vs. US. US hotels routinely take a card to put on file but do not routinely run any $ amount as a hold. Lowes is the only one I know of that does. That’s here at Universal. Anyone else we use just has it there just in case someone damages something.

I stayed at a marriott that ran every purchase at the gift shop as a 25 dollar incidental hold. That was obnoxious because the holds were completed on Friday PM, which means they weren't actually reconciled on my end until Tuesday AM. That was a hotel with a shuttle to/from a casino, so they probably do holds for good reasons.
I have stayed at one other hotel in DC in the past year that ran a 50 dollar hold per night for incidentals. That one wasn't as disastrous because it was reconciled within 48 hours which would have been shorter but we checked out on a bank holiday.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Is there any way of getting a room early if we DON'T do online check in?

Yes.

I don't see any benefit of doing online check-in in your situation. Just skip it.

One potential alternative option - though I know you said you don't like - would be to get a credit card- here me out- but WHEN you open the cc, ask for a VERY LOW charging limit, like $300. You can also close the account when you return from WDW. With a very low charging limit, you won't be able to charge any $ over that amount.

The upside of a cc is that a cc comes with some protection. If WDW makes a faulty charge to your CC, you have the ability to dispute the charge.

 

[juxtapose]

We had a credit card on file but used gift cards for most everything until the last day. They only ever put the $100 hold on our card, no more than that.

 

[pamkat1820]

I was concerned over the same thing because I have 2 room only rooms and 2 rooms for 9 nights at the tower $400 in limbo is a lot. I didn’t do online Check in , i unsaved my credit used for dinning. They asked me if I wanted a card on file for charging I said no and nothing no hold of $100 per room.

 

[LovesTimone]

From what I understand they will hold the 100 bucks... period... and it will not be released from 24 to 72 hours after check out... When we went in May and stayed at AKL - we checked in at guest service and we used a CC..., and they held 100 bucks, and we use charging privileges for the magic bands... and we check out at 11:00 am and went into the parks... Our magic bands still worked for lunch, purchase's and snacks in the parks... So on Friday early AM... DH checked... and the hold came off of the credit card... so sometime late Thursday night it was released...

When budgeting, I would pad the some what for the just in case's... someone get sick or injured, or forgets something like med's and you have to get more...

We never use our debit card for traveling....credit cards are so much easier to deal with if something happens...we have a friend that uses the pay as you go visa or master card when they travel.... so this might be an alternative for you to think about... just throwing it out there