Disney Visa/Room Key ?

[rileyroosmom]

Don't know if this is the right place to ask.

I have about $500 on my Disney Visa Rewards card. My package is paid for. Can I give the rewards card to the CM at check in to apply to my room card for charging purposes? Just want to carry only one card if possible.

 

[nikki'smom]

Yes, they will ask you if you want to use a card for charing privileges.

 

[wilde_oscar]

If I understand the question correctly, you want to apply the Disney Dollars to your room key for charging privilege? I am going to guess no, because of the way they do the charge system. What might work, or work better... is set up charging to the room with your regular Visa, and at check out, tell them to apply those charges to the Disney Dollars Points/rewards card.

I know the rewards card is supposed to act like a regular Visa, but you can't place a hold on those type of accounts. And when they put a card in the system to charge to, they bang up against it with a hold to make sure the money is there.

 

[brentalex]

I would think that they would be able to put the value on your room key. They would deduct the value off the card and then it would act just as if you had given them cash to use for charging. One thing is, that once the value is removed from the rewards card, you can't get it back, so if you ended up not using all the value you had placed on your room key, you would lose it.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

No it has to be a credit card linked to your room not a rewards card. Like another poster said use a regular credit card and when you check out pay it off using the rewards.

 

[Lady Lady]

Yes you can, sort of. You need a credit card to have the charging privledges added to your room key. You can then use the rewards card to put a credit on your account. So when you check out, you are only being billed for you total amount. If you think you will be going over your charging limit, make sure the rewards amount is applied immediately to paying for charges. If not, you will need to go to the front desk during the week to pay your charge with the credit. Charging privledges are always linked to a credit card, but you can pay off the amount anyway you want.

 

[rileyroosmom]

Wow! So many different answers!!!
I would be giving a cc at check in, I know I'll use all the rewards ($500 at Disney doesn't go that far!). Guess it's one of those things I'll have to wait until I get there to find out for sure. Thanks for the responses!

 

[KMLOVESWDW]

Last year I gave my disney visa number to the front desk for charging purposes to the room. You use your room key to charge stuff back to the room. Then the night before we checked out, I went down to the front desk & whatever charges we did I then paid with my rewards points. So nothing ever got charged to my actual Visa. You just have to make sure you do it the night before you leave because of the express checkout thing. Make sense?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

If you are staying at a value resort the max for room charges before it rolls to your credit card is $500 - they won't wait until the night before you check out.

I would put the Visa card down for charging privileges, charge everything back to the room, then go down to the desk and pay off the accumulated charges with the Rewards card every other day until the Rewards dollars are gone. We use Disney gift cards to save up for our trips, and I pay the room charges off with the gift cards.

On one trip the CM at check-in said she could set it up so that the room charges would come off of the gift card first, but she was wrong.

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

I used our CC to link to our room key but in the evenings if I was getting close to my $500 limit I would go down and pay it off with my rewards card. I also did this with Disney Dollars.

 

[mommylibrarian]

Ditto what the recent poster are saying.

Use a cc for room charges, and then go the morning of checkout and pay with your rewards card. Any balance will be applied to your cc.

And another little tip I learned the "hard" way... I went on a solo trip in Sept 06 and I forgot my Rewards Card! Had $200 on it, which I was planning to use for the AP I bought! The points were due to expire before my next trip, though. My hubbie was able to call the front desk at SSR and give them the number over the phone, same as a credit card, and it worked.

So write down all your Rewards Card info before you go (like traveller's cheques) and you can still spend your rewards at checkout.

 

[Vavasmon]

I just arrived home from the Pop late last night - my experience was:

1. I had to give them an actual charge card before they would add charging to to the room key.
2. Nothing is charged to your credit card until you hit the $500 limit or very early (3am) the day you check out.
3. They were willing to move dollars from the rewards to the room as a credit right away - but according to the CM who helped me - once moved the dollars are lost - they are not allowed to refund as cash.
4. I made charges to the room key - keeping rough track of the value - when the charge value approached 400 - I went to the desk with my rewards card and paid off the balance - It worked very well and took less than 10 minutes during a non-busy time. This did not involve an extra trip since I usually check my room charges every 4 days or so at any hotel.
5. I had express checkout - so my last charges were charge to my Visa card because I did not not go down the night before to pay off - this was not a big deal for me - I used the last 25 on my card for last minute shopping instead of my actual VISA card. The CM at the front desk said a supervisor could probably credit my Visa back and use the rewards card - but I did not want to wait to find out if they could.
6. I did not move all of my rewards points to the rewards card at one time. I ordered the card with $25 and used the 1-800 to move rewards onto the card a few hours before I was going to pay the room balance. That way I did not leave any points on the rewards card at the end of the trip (there is an expiration for rewards points that have been moved). My rewards account still has almost 300 points that don't have an expiration because of this strategy.

 

[CleveRocks]

If I understand the question correctly, you want to apply the Disney Dollars to your room key for charging privilege? I am going to guess no, because of the way they do the charge system. What might work, or work better... is set up charging to the room with your regular Visa, and at check out, tell them to apply those charges to the Disney Dollars Points/rewards card.

I know the rewards card is supposed to act like a regular Visa, but you can't place a hold on those type of accounts. And when they put a card in the system to charge to, they bang up against it with a hold to make sure the money is there.

Actually, this is not correct.

When you set up a room charge with plastic at a WDW resort, they place NO HOLD on the accoutn and they don't pre-charge the amount. They swipe your card and run a charge of zero dollars and zero cents. They do this just to make sure it is a valid card on an active account, but they absolutely do not check available credit or available balance or anything like that.

 

[CleveRocks]

You need a credit card to have the charging privledges added to your room key.

Charging privledges are always linked to a credit card, but you can pay off the amount anyway you want.

This is not accurate.

You can also back up a room charge with a debit card (with VISA/MC logo), cash, travelers checks, even Disney Dollars.

FACT.

 

[Vavasmon]

You can also back up a room charge with a debit card (with VISA/MC logo), cash, travelers checks, even Disney Dollars.

FACT.

I agree 100% with this but they would not let me use the rewards card unless I gave them the exact amount to transfer - It would have worked like cash and there was no refund of underrun rewards points. Since I only carry my room card, an id, and $20 (max) to the parks I did not want to run out of charge privs unexpectedly. I also agree that Disney has never put a hold on my credit card during any stay (value, moderate, or deluxe).

 

[Evil Queen 2]

I just arrived home from the Pop late last night - my experience was:

1. I had to give them an actual charge card before they would add charging to to the room key.
2. Nothing is charged to your credit card until you hit the $500 limit or very early (3am) the day you check out.
3. They were willing to move dollars from the rewards to the room as a credit right away - but according to the CM who helped me - once moved the dollars are lost - they are not allowed to refund as cash.
4. I made charges to the room key - keeping rough track of the value - when the charge value approached 400 - I went to the desk with my rewards card and paid off the balance - It worked very well and took less than 10 minutes during a non-busy time. This did not involve an extra trip since I usually check my room charges every 4 days or so at any hotel.
5. I had express checkout - so my last charges were charge to my Visa card because I did not not go down the night before to pay off - this was not a big deal for me - I used the last 25 on my card for last minute shopping instead of my actual VISA card. The CM at the front desk said a supervisor could probably credit my Visa back and use the rewards card - but I did not want to wait to find out if they could.
6. I did not move all of my rewards points to the rewards card at one time. I ordered the card with $25 and used the 1-800 to move rewards onto the card a few hours before I was going to pay the room balance. That way I did not leave any points on the rewards card at the end of the trip (there is an expiration for rewards points that have been moved). My rewards account still has almost 300 points that don't have an expiration because of this strategy.

Yep, this is how it has worked for us the last several visits that we have used the rewards cards. I keep a sort of "running total" of charges in my head and before it reaches $400 I stop by the front desk and have them move points/money off my reward card to the room charges account.

It also works this way on the Disney cruise ships.