Getting around the £16 booking fee

[Jonjo]

Has anyone found a work around for DLP's £16 card fee. I know they charge an additional £16 charge when you use a Visa, Mastercard or American Express card, but there is no charge for a Maestro card.

Can anyone sugest a cheap way of getting hold of a Maestro card? I've see some Pre-pay Maestro cards, but when you work out the anual fees and charges you are not going to save that much when using one.

 

[Gwendolen]

In Ireland all bank cards are Maestro- it's just a debit card, check your bank and see what they say

 

[DLPDreams]

I didn't know that about Maestro but as an aside, I thought the charge was £14 or has it gone up again!

It is a lot of money for essentially a booking charge. I've only ever booked direct with Disney - do you get charged it if you book through a Travel Agent I wonder?

 

[Jonjo]

I didn't know that about Maestro but as an aside, I thought the charge was £14 or has it gone up again!

It is a lot of money for essentially a booking charge. I've only ever booked direct with Disney - do you get charged it if you book through a Travel Agent I wonder?

Yep in the new brochure it's gone up to £16

 

[DLPDreams]

That's just ridiculous - daylight robbery!

We will need to book 2 rooms for November and have always had to make 2 bookings for this (not sure why) so that is £32 for nothing! Not good.

Not surprised you are looking at ways around it Jonjo - let us know if you find a good one!

 

[Hipster Meg]

It is a lot of money for essentially a booking charge. I've only ever booked direct with Disney - do you get charged it if you book through a Travel Agent I wonder?

When we booked with First Choice last year they charged a 2.5% fee every time we made a payment, so that was when we paid our deposit, when we paid the balance and when we paid to upgrade to the SL from the SF.

From what I understand Disney charges the booking fee once so whether or not that works out cheaper depends on the overall cost of your booking. If it's on the cheaper side or you're paying it off in one go then paying a percentage is will probably be better, if not then paying the one off fee will be cheaper. It's just a case of sitting down with a calculator and working it out unforunately.

 

[Nubbedy]

Booked two rooms this evening on one booking so only paid the £16 once ie £8 each family. She said as long as I wasn't booking flights with it, then it was fine to do them together.

 

[DLPDreams]

Thanks Nubbedy - I recall now why we had to do it separately, it was because we booked via Quidco to get cashback and we couldn't get 2 rooms on the internet together I think?? It was a while ago so can't quite recall. I suppose those the cashback outweighed the fee (which was £10 I'm sure, so £20 for two rooms) at the time!

Hipster Meg - thanks for the info on TA

 

[Ware Bears]

You're right - if you book two rooms via the website then you'll pay two booking fees whereas if you book by phone you'll only have to pay one fee (I think you can book up to three rooms with one fee). We still booked online though as the cashback from Quidco more than outweighed the second fee.

 

[TheTizardFamily:0)]

I had to pay this yesterday when i made our booking, £16 slightly excessive in my opinion.

Does anyone know if you pay a fee every time you call to make a payment?
DH and i plan on paying for the rest of our room in late July but i think my parents will be paying the rest of theirs in August (on the same booking).

Trying to decide if i should just put the money to one side and pay all in one go when the final payment is due or do as i had originally planned

 

[DLPDreams]

It's a one off booking fee - you don't pay again to pay off balance or to upgrade as you aren't making a new booking just amending a current one.

 

[lush]

I saved myself £2 by booking in March then, because my booking fee was only £14. Hmmm, wonder how I can spend it. Then again I paid extra to upgrade to HNY so my £2 was well and truly swallowed up there...

They only charge you the booking fee once over the phone, I double checked to make sure!

 

[I_Heart_MK]

Disneyland Paris direct don't charge a card fee and do the same deals as the official site, the only down side is you can't use Quidco(as far as I know)

Also they give a discount if you book more than 1 room where as Disney charge you the booking fee twice!... I think.

 

[Happy Tappy]

Disneyland Paris direct don't charge a card fee and do the same deals as the official site, the only down side is you can't use Quidco(as far as I know)

Also they give a discount if you book more than 1 room where as Disney charge you the booking fee twice!... I think.

They're £70 dearer on the dates I want