charging on room keys

[vfb2girls]

Does anyone just use their credit card or debit card and not charge with your room key? I know that some venders in the parks don't except cards but what about all of the other food places..just was wondering, don't really want to use the room key, would rather have an idea of what charges we have made, any suggestions?

 

[jerseydizdreamer]

... and for me, it's a cash and carry world. I've always tried to avoid charging things back to my room, if only for the very reason you mentioned: I don't want to wind up spending more than I think, and get home to find out that the vacation I thought I'd spent an acceptable amount of money on had really cost me not only an arm and a leg, but a few other extremeties as well!

I have, when using someone else's card, not really had much difficulty charging stuff, especially to Visa, Discover.. you know, the big players. But really, my best advice is to go cash all the way... I generally set myself a very specific daily budget (which includes everything, from shopping to food and drinks, whatever). Then, at the end of the trip, I allow myself to splurge with whatever's left (how optimistic of me to assume there WILL be anything left).

Richard

 

[Poohnatic]

I use the room charge feature. I get a breakdown at the end of the visit of exactly was spent and where. If you have multiple users, it shows which one made the purchase, and you can request that some of your room cards are not allowed charging privledges.

It gets charged to my debit card anyway, and I'm pretty good at keeping a running tally in my head. By using the room charge, I get the summary which gets used when budgeting the next trip! The trip I just got back from, we stayed at the DTD Courtyard and did not have that luxury. Now I'm sifting through my debit card statement and a pile of receipts for cash purchases that I would not have made if I'd had the room charge!

Suzanne

 

[safetymom]

We use the room charge but stop and get a print out every night. That way we can reconcile what was spent by who. If the kids spend more than they are supposed to we are aware of it. Also we can catch any mistakes so we aren't surprised at the end.

 

[mad4themouse]

If you make charges to your room, you will get an itemized statement of what you spent, where and when. However, if you are concerned that you might overspend your budget, you can try the envelope method.

Budget a set amount for each day and place it in an envelope for each day. When the money's gone for the day, you're done spending. I do this with my kids' souvenir money but it works for adults, too.

 

[Epscot]

It seems like I remember reading a thread about this several months ago. If someone can clarify or correct my recollection, please do.

It seems like I read that you can use a credit/debit card to have room-charging privileges, but that you can specify a limit. When/If you reach that limit, you have three options: 1) quit charging to your room; 2) go to the front desk and raise the limit; 3) go to the front desk and pay for what you have charged up to that point and re-authorize your room-charging privileges. I suggest that if you set a limit for your room-charging privilege and are curious/concerned about your spending, stop by the desk at the end of each day and ask for an itemized statement so that you aren't embarrassed by trying to charge something to your room while bumping up to your limit.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Originally posted by safetymom
We use the room charge but stop and get a print out every night. That way we can reconcile what was spent by who. If the kids spend more than they are supposed to we are aware of it. Also we can catch any mistakes so we aren't surprised at the end.

That's what we do too, safetymom. I enjoy the ease of charging to the room - we don't take more than $20 or $30 into the parks, plus an ID. We get the printout in the evening, then I settle up in cash or traveler's checks each night. It works for us in that we are able to track our budget better that way, and it makes it possible for us to find any mistakes prior to checking out of the resort.

 

[shatzjsl]

Just another reason I love DIS boards! I was wondering if there was a way to get reciepts so I could track what we spend each day. Put "receipt" in search and found this thread with the answers and didn't have to start a new thread.

I'm glad to hear that I can get a printout at the end of each day!

Thanks for all the great advice and info on these boards.

 

[DisneyGal358]

i remember seeing on here someone paying an additional ammount at the front desk and requesting it be placed on their room card at the start of the vacation (ie giving the hotel $500 cash to be credited to your room and it coming off little by little while you use the card in the parks). does anybody do this? i'm a college student and would rather not put more than i have to on my credit card - books already max me out and i hate carrying a high balance on my cards. i had thought about bringing travelers checks and handing them over at the hotel rather than dealing with them in the parks. anybody ever done this or had good/bad luck with this method??

 

[Poohnatic]

Yes, you can pay on those room charges before checking out. I've done it before. Usually, I give them my check visa for the charging privleges and budget wisely.

Suzanne

 

[jann1033]

we used a visa debit to charge to the room on our room card (with a $500 limit, then charged that through and got more,) charged that through the morning of the last full day and used our visa debit on the last partial day after that..all worked well and were imo much easier than carrying around tons of cash plus having a detailed record and no cc bill.

never thought of doing this pre dis boards ( duhh) as we used to take traveler's checks but will do it the same way next time. only cash we used the entire trip was for tolls and a few times for snacks on the road.