Do some people think a credit card is required at check in?

[Richyams]

Someone mentioned on another thread, "That is why they require a credit card at check in"

Someone else said that to me.

Do people think this is the case?

Its not, absolutely not!

They ask if you want to leave a credit card for charging to your room, but it most certainly is not a requirement.

I just want to inform anyone else that is laboring under this mis-conception. There is absolutely no requirement for a credit card at check in.

 

[RobDoc]

Rich is correct, a credit card is not required. It is accepted as a convenience.

If you decline to provide a credit card, you will not have charging privileges on your room ID (unless you place a cash deposit on the room) and you will not get express checkout.

Even if you do provide a credit card, you are welcome to pay for the room using cash or a different card at check out if you'd prefer.

 

[msdis]

Not required but we have always used it as we bring less and less cash/TC with us. We have gone down with less than 100 bucks cash and that helped pay for Mears. We love handing out our "keys to the world card" to charge everything so we don't have to budget.
We will be driving down this summer and will have lots of other things we need to spend money on during the trip and I have to say that it kind of bothers me that I don't have a clue how much to budget for. We hate to float our cards around just anywhere.

 

[eva]

We rarely use the card charging priviledges. We usually bring cash and travelers checks. It really keeps us from going crazy and we only spend what we have. It's nice coming home without any bills from the trip.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Rich,

You're right. (Don't you love to hear that! Lol!) Giving them a credit card is not neccessary, just convenient for incidental charges.

Eva,

I hate having bills when I get home also and prefer paying with cash. However, I don't like to have to carry too much cash with me everywhere at WDW. The card charging privilege is just so convenient.

We use the room card around WDW and only keep minimal cash on us. At the end of the trip, I go to the front desk to pay off the room balance with all of the cash and travelers' checks I have left. I keep a little cash for bell services, valet tips, sky cap tips, and food at the airport.

Most of the time I have quite a bit of money left over. Occassionally, a small amount will go on my credit card after depleting my cash.

It's helpful to get the list of charges at the end of the trip. That way I can tell how much we spent on what and where. When we use cash, I never know where it all went!

It might also help to tell guest services when you are checking in that you intend to settle your bill with cash. Sometimes, they put the charges through to your card early. I guess it's no big deal to have the charges reversed and then pay with cash. But I haven't bothered to when it happened to me, I just go home with more cash than I intended and pay the bill when it comes.

 

[Richyams]

I just don't bother with the credit card on my room key. I just don't see the point. I wouldn't give my thirteen year old daughter(or my wife, shhh) any of my credit cards, why should they have it on their room key?

I am just more comfortable with the credit cards I carry around every day. I go with a pocket full of cash, maybe a couple, three k in travelers checks and use my credit card for convenence or something big. I just see no benefit to have my room key be a credit card.

But none of the was the point of this thread. I just saw someone make that statement in another thread within a day or two of someone saying the same thing to me in a conversation. I just wanted to see if many other people had the mis-conception and inform them of the truth about this.

 

[InstImpres]

I'll fess up!! It was me who said it on another thread as this is what a CM told me. Based on the scenerio given what if a non-DVC member trashes a room or has "late charges" and they had no credit card (or it doesn't go through? Who is responsible than?

I would think that would be the case with a non-DVC member there on points?

 

[colleen costello]

I just got my Disney credit card today and we leave for WDW tomorrow. I have told dh I see this as a divine sign and I will be doing some shopping at Downtown Disney. I would just as soon put purchases on that card so I can get some of the rewards.

 

[TiggerFreak]

With the plethora of rewards cards out there, why would you not put EVERYTHING on a card that rewarded you? Free ariline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, .....

I look at it as a discount on any purchase that I make and pay balance off when bill comes. If the merchant will accept a card, I'll charge a dollar

It helps offset the cost of our trips to "The World" and keeps my pocket from bulging with too many dead presidents

As to Rich's assertion that he wouldn't give his children his CC, you decide at check-in which room keys have charging privilages

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by TiggerFreak
With the plethora of rewards cards out there, why would you not put EVERYTHING on a card that rewarded you? Free ariline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, .....

I look at it as a discount on any purchase that I make and pay balance off when bill comes. If the merchant will accept a card, I'll charge a dollar

TiggerFreak,
I agree with you 100%, we charge everything(food,gas,utilities,DVC dues,cell phone bills, anything over $10 we charge) and pay off balance in full every month. We get at least 3-4 FREE airline tx every year, with our charging(Continental Master Card) .

 

[sandieb]

Charging to our room gives Disney a way to see what the preferences of the members are...I have done that, but generally just use a debit card...the money comes out of my checking account so no surprises in the mail! I do like the suggestion about using the rewards credit care (I have used LL Bean for many years), and I might switch over to the new Bank One card. Sandie

 

[Disneyaholic]

We have always used our room card as our primary means of payment at WDW. We just hand our receipts to DH at the end of the day so he can approximate the amount of our bill at check-out time.

We've also given both of our kids charging privileges since they were about 10 years old. We really have no reason not to trust them and they always enjoyed being able to say "I'll get this one" at the end of a meal. They have never made unauthorized charges while there -- they know the consequences wouldn't be worth it.

 

[gary in florida]

I wouldn't give my thirteen year old daughter(or my wife, shhh) any of my credit cards, why should they have it on their room key?

You can restrict the room key as to which ones are allowed to charge.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Most timeshares ask for a credift card at check-in.
2) This is for "incidental" charges.
3) Telephione charges are such an incidental.
4) Without a credit card, all calls have to be collect.

5) We typically use the card at check-in, whether we plan to charge purchases or not.

 

[Anita Williams]

The only problem with not having a credit card on file with the front desk is that you can't make a phone call. I once did that, and couldn't even call AT&T to charge it to my phone card.
Anita.

 

[KNWVIKING]

On our first trip to WDW our boys were 15 & 12. We gave them charging priviledges on their room keys. I think it made them feel so grown that we trusted them with this. It is still one of my fondest memories of that trip.

PS: They used this priviledge wisely.

 

[eva]

We usually don't put a card on the room and have never had a problem at any DVC resort with making calls as long has they were toll free. So I just use my calling card with it's toll free number. I know that it is a problem with other hotels though. Had that problem at a conference once where my boss paid for the room and I was sharing the room with a co-worker. I wasn't about to put my card down on the room and have someone else use the phone, so I just used the lobby phone to call home.

 

[jfulcer]

As usual, richyams, you are correct.

We like to take travellers checks and upon checkin we put most of the travellers checks on the room so we can use the room key as a charge card without the debt when we get home.

 

[WDWguruDH]

When we have checked in, they have never indicated that the credit card is required, they ask if we want to use for incidentals and charging privileges. We do it for the convenience ... there is already enough to carry around at the parks, we like only having to carry the AP and room key.

 

[KNWVIKING]

Several posters mention they don't charge to the room because they don't want to go home in debt. This puzzles me. You obviously have the money you're going to spend with you, so I assume your logic is "I came with x dollars,I left with zero dollars, I didn't go in debt". My way of looking at it is, " I keep x dollars in the bank,I charge x dollars to my reward CC, I get my statement & pay it a month after I'm home,I withdraw funds,keep the interest,pay my CC, I didn't go in debt".

IMO most of us on this board are pretty savy money managers. Combining my example and the pure convience of the room charge I have a hard time understanding why people chose not to leave a CC at check-in. One other advantage to room charge over actually using the CC: Room charges are not billed to your CC account until you check out, CC charges are billed immediately.