Credit card required upon check in?

[RangerPooh]

Does anyone know if a credit card is required for check-in or will a debit card work? I ask this as we have family members accompanying us for our upcoming trip and they do not have a credit card, and we plan to use ours for our room. I would hate to check them in with my card and later find out that I have a hefty bill due to them charging to the room.

 

[klofan]

A debit card will work. On my last trip I didn't have a credit card, so a debit was no problem.

 

[frdeb1999]

We always use our debit card as I refuse to pay interest on vacations. We always ask them to charge it once it reaches a certain point. Works out wonderfully for us!

 

[Sammie]

I would never advise using your debit card during travels. If you have a mistake made, you are going to have your checking account tied up. Can you afford to that. When I checked in last summer I owed a balance of $250 but there was a glitch and it charged $2500 to my credit card. I would have hated to have that money come directly out of checking while we worked days to get it straightened out.

Most banks do not recommend for safety purposes you use your debit while traveling. You can always charge and immediately pay the balance off, without incruing interest.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

They only need to leave a CC/Debit or even cash if they want charging privaliges or express check-out.

So they will be fine either way.

I agree with Sammie Debit cards are not a good thing to leave even though many do it and have no problem it would only take 1 hit of the wrong button to make a mess.

 

[autumnbaby9]

THe problem with using your debit card is most hotels (I don't know about disney hotels) will put a $20 per night hold on the account. If you stay for a week (6 nights) then you are going to have $120 frozen that you can't use until afteryou checkout.

 

[raven69david]

Does anyone know if a credit card is required for check-in?

Nope

Does anyone know if a debit card will work?

Yep

 

[RangerPooh]

Thanks for the responses. It'll be up to them to use their bank card or cash.

A previous poster mentioned an accidental overcharge on their account once. This happened to us this summer at DL. We were stayiong at the PPH and they overcharged us big time. It was supposed to be something like $250 but we were charged $2500. DH caught the error when our card was declined (good thing I had another card on me as we go very minimal at the parks). The hotel was great about fixing the mistake. They comped us our meals that day as well as some spending $. Unfortuanetly we've had simialr exerpiences elsewhere, where the outcome was not as nice.

 

[Dengar]

I went to Disney World with a brother of mine a few months ago, I had about $1200 on my Debit Card to spend, and I was the one who paid for the hotel. Which was the Pop Century, for 5 days. So I believe that comes to around, $450-$500.

The only thing they required was obviously my ID, debit card and a $100 deposit. I ended up spending all but $200, so I don't think they put any other 'hold' on your funds.

 

[Jchance]

A debit card will work fine, but I believe it must have the visa or mastercard logo on it.

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

THe problem with using your debit card is most hotels (I don't know about disney hotels) will put a $20 per night hold on the account. If you stay for a week (6 nights) then you are going to have $120 frozen that you can't use until afteryou checkout.

Disney does a pre-auth for $1 just to make sure the CC is valid (has not been reported lost or stolen)...

I agree with the others, Debit cards work just fine, I use mine all the time... BUT...you have to be careful as there are rare incidents of over charges as stated... and Jchance is correct, it can not be an old fashion "ATM card", it has to be a "check card" with the Credit Card logo on it.

 

[disnut8]

Like the others have said, a debit card will work just fine. We use ours all the time when travelling. Some people can't get credit cards and a debit card is a heck of a lot better than carrying around large sums of cash for your vacation. Heck - even McDonald's takes debit cards now.

 

[eliza61]

I'd probably go with the cc. You won't pay any interest if you pay the bill off once it comes. I went to Ocean city MD this year and I put through a $70.00 dinner bill on my debit card unfortunately the restaurant put it through as $700.00 dollars. It took ~ 10 days to get it cleared up and until then there was a $700 hold on my account. I find that when mistakes happen cc companies are a little more agressive in correcting them, than my bank.

 

[skipper]

Be careful with Visa/Debit cards if you plan to pay off a large balance when you checkout. Most banks have a daily limit of $500-1000 on those debit cards. Got caught with that on a cruise one time and had to use the credit card.

If they make a mistake you could also result in a hold for an extended period of time complicating matters, as previously mentioned. Always best to have multiple source of cash/credit with you to tap into just in case some restaurant, shop or hotel makes a "mistake".