I guess I've been living in a vacuum.

[Virgo10]

My son and his g/f left today for Disney World. They had five nights booked at the Royal Plaza. This was a no frills trip and every penny had been counted. Imagine their horror when they got there and found out that the hotel had accessed an additional $25 per night fee because they used a debit card. The reasoning behind the charge was for "Incidentals" such as phone calls, room service, etc.

I have traveled quite a bit but always had a CC on file with the hotels I've stayed at so this information came as a total shock.

I can't believe I'm the only person who's never heard of this (I have since found out that it's common practice with hotels ) so I'm posted this as an FYI. The RP has since offered to remove the charge but they won't even be able to use the phone in their room. Not a big deal as they both have cell phones with them.

I feel so bad. They were going to buy their tickets for the parks today but until they get this straightened out they can't afford to do so. What a rotten way to start a vacation and it could have been avoided if the hotel just gave out this information when they first made their reservations.

Roberta

 

[doxdogy]

I honestly had never heard of it either. When DD and I went to Oklahoma City in July, it wasn't mentioned to us when we checked in. I paid for the room using a debit card.

 

[joshsmom]

I'm by no means a world traveler, but I've stayed in my share of hotels for business and vacation. I've NEVER heard of this and I pay by debit card ALOT. HMMMM

 

[DocRafiki]

That sounds very underhanded. They should have told them of that charge up front.

I've never heard of it either, but I don't use debit cards.

 

[ibouncetoo]

I just had a friend in town this weekend. She reserved her rental car with a visa debit card...and they put a $400 hold on her checking account.....that's $400 OVER the price of her weekly car rental!!!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I never heard of it. A bummer for sure.

 

[jipsy]

I've seen this at some pay at the pump gas stations also - that they will put a $60 hold on your debit card for using it at the tank vs a cc.

 

[joshsmom]

Originally posted by jipsy
I've seen this at some pay at the pump gas stations also - that they will put a $60 hold on your debit card for using it at the tank vs a cc.

I ALWAYS push "credit" at the gas station, even though it's a debit card. Pretty soon I'm just going to go back to checks!!!

 

[JoNo]

Well let me share an experience. Tanya & I stayed at the pop century for 5 days and when we checked out we found $200 more missing off of our credit card then what the paper quoted us as saying. We found out the same thing.... it was for incidentals. NEVER had it happen to us before! We were flabbergasted b/c it took us over 2 HOURS of calling Disney to find out where the extra $$$ went! They didn't tell us anything at check-in about it either!

 

[nativetxn]

I didn't know about this either. I hope they get it straightened out so that they can experience the parks.

 

[Shutterbug]

Yes I have heard of it, in vegas and in orlando. I always use my credit card for hotels car rental and my debit/cc card for everything else.

Also FYI with some car rental companies if you are using a debit card to pay, read all the fine print and get what all possible charges you may occur. Some rental companies have gps devices in their cars so they can track you and if you go over the speed limit they will charge you additional charges!

 

[kilee]

Many rental car companies will charge you a "hold" fee. Alamo and National being 2 that don't-- I know there's a 3rd but I can't place it right now.

As for hotels. This is common practice. You won't notice it unless you use a debit card for most of your transactions. I have no credit cards-- so I use my visa debit card for most everything. On our trip down to Disney last month-- the Holiday Inn took a $300 hold on our card. I've had this happen in DC, NYC, Smokey Mtns, most every place we travel. It is more common practice in the last few years I think, than before. If you use a regular credit card-- you'll never see the hold or charge. If you use your debit card-- look online-- you'll be suprised at home many pending charges are put on your card that never become finalized. If you're bank has a pending charges option. They remain for 3-7 days.

 

[TIGGERSMOM]

I have heard of this before. Rental car companies are famous for it.

I always ask and will not use a company that does it, and I tell them so.

As far as hotels doing this I would be very loud in protest. If this was not explained when reservations were made, I would insist it be reversed. Believe me the squeaky wheel does get results.

 

[MScott1851]

This happened to us at the Hard Rock in Orlando last year, because we don't use credit cards unless we have to. But what we had to do at check-in was tell them how much of a hold amount we wanted them to put on our debit card, ON TOP OF the room rate, because our room key served as a "charge card" at Universal and IOA. What a pain it was to try and estimate our spending for the entire week!! So all week long, we had a $1300 hold on my checking account, but it disappeared when they charged the room and our actual expeditures. the day we left. Looking back, I didn't even think about it.

 

[GeorgeG]

We used our debit card at the Caribbean Beach several years ago and had no problems other than when they attempted to settle, our bank's computers were down and we had a few hours of panic, but it all got straightened out.

They did do the initial settlement the day before we were leaving, though. This may be a practice with debit cards or maybe all cards.

Debit cards are nice because you're spending your own money, but you have to be sure you HAVE the money in the account.

 

[Tigger&Tink]

HI,

I was just wondering how they know its a DEBIT card? I have a VISA debit card,, but it doesn't say its a debit card, looks just like my REG Visa CC. I just really pull out the first one I get to LOL,, and I have used the Debit as a credit card, the only difference is if I use it as a debit, it is taken RIGHT out of my bank,,if used as a Credit,, it takes 2 days to show up..but I was wondering if they ask you if its credit or debit? I have seen at rental car places, where it is stated at the counter, that if you are using a debit card , they are holding the amount for up to TWO WEEKS, and they will not be responsible for any bounced checks etc. if money is not in account...



OK thats it I carry CASH from now on ..LOL

Hope the KIDS have a GREAT time,,after this gets worked out..

 

[Poohnatic]

For the past four years, all I've used is my Debit Visa.

After years of using Enterprise whenever I needed to rent a car locally, they started assessing a $150 fee for the debit card use. I'd made a reservation with the local office over the phone and wasn't informed of this policy until showing up at the office. I left their office without renting a vehicle and told them I would use other companies in the future. I haven't been back (btw, found that the other companies in town, while not as cheap, didn't assess this fee)

Dollar lists on their web site that they will assess a debit card fee, but I've rented 5 times in the past two years and have never had one assessed.

I've stayed at WDW eight times in the past four years, and haven't had the fee assessed. My card says "Check Card" right across the front.

I found out about the debit hold at the local gas station on the day before payday...had 39.00 in my account, pumped 5 of gas and couldn't get lunch that day because of the hold! I called the corporate office of the convenience store to complain about that one. To me, it's ridiculous that they won't hold on a credit card but they will on a debit when the funds are automatically deducted.

For me, I use the debit card...if I don't have the money, I won't spend it. I now have another Visa, non debit, and that one rarely comes out of the wallet.

 

[amymouse]

I've only encountered a "hold" for incidentals at two hotels. One was the MGM in Vegas and the other was a small hotel across the street from Disneyland. Both hotels told me about the hold upfront and gave me the option of waiving the hold by not having use of the phone in my room. I would have been very upset if I had not been made aware beforehand.

BTW, at both hotels it was a credit card (not debit) that I was using.

I've had funds held on my credit card a number of times at the gas pump, by restaurants, and at my hairdresser (of all places) so I don't think this is just something that happens with debit cards. From personal experience, I know that I much more aware of the day to charges on my checking account than I am of my credit card. That may explain why we've all noticed it much more often with our debit cards.

I've never had a WDW resort hold more than the $1 that they run to authorize the card. I always use a debit card.

Their record is not completely clean, though. The Disney Catalog, Disney Cruise Line, and Disney's Resorts have all overdrawn my account because of incorrect charges. All of which were fixed and many apologies made, but it still happened. I joked with my travel agent last month (when DCL did it to me) that Disney has overdrawn my checking accounts more than I have!

Sorry you son's vacation started out so rocky. I hope everything starts looking better with a little bit of Pixie dust in his eyes!

 

[vald1977]

We also have run into this using a debit Visa card. Since we don't own a traditional credit card, we usually just save a little extra to cover the extra hold $. It really messed up our plans the first time it happend, though. We were very short on cash because of it.

I'll have to remember to ask if the hold can be waived if we don't have access to the room phone. We don't use it anyway since we all have cell phones.