Needing a credit card at HOJO?

[ArvisoCa6]

Ok so after much planning and re-planning i believe that DW is finally ready to settle on the HOJO reservations we had. We had toyed with the idea of staying on property, but decided that we would rather use the extra money to enjoy our stay and do the things we never would be able to with our 4 dd's in tow. (It's our 10 yr anniversary trip)

We have stayed there before, and used our visa/debit card to SECURE our room. The big problem was that with that kind of card they put a hold on the funds for our room and that prevented us from using that money.

We don't use credit cards so this is the only card we have. Does anyone know if there is another way to get our room 'secured' without a credit card. I don't really want to have to have $500 just sitting on my card that i can't use. I would also like to pay for my room before i get there so that when i arrive all my expenses will be taken care of and we can just enjoy the park!

 

[disney4metoo]

Hello Modesto! Oakdalean here! It is a small world.

I am surprised they did that..usually it is only a hold not a charge. How did you make your reservations online or over the phone?

Ok so after much planning and re-planning i believe that DW is finally ready to settle on the HOJO reservations we had. We had toyed with the idea of staying on property, but decided that we would rather use the extra money to enjoy our stay and do the things we never would be able to with our 4 dd's in tow. (It's our 10 yr anniversary trip)

We have stayed there before, and used our visa/debit card to SECURE our room. The big problem was that with that kind of card they put a hold on the funds for our room and that prevented us from using that money.

We don't use credit cards so this is the only card we have. Does anyone know if there is another way to get our room 'secured' without a credit card. I don't really want to have to have $500 just sitting on my card that i can't use. I would also like to pay for my room before i get there so that when i arrive all my expenses will be taken care of and we can just enjoy the park!

 

[geekypeach]

I have reserved my room at HoJo two times using my debit card, and have never had the funds held, even during a normal authorization period (can be up to 10 days). Have you actually done this, or are you just worried about it? My res's have both been initially made online, and then modified over the phone and emails.

I also posted on another thread that I did send in payments (by check) and pre-paid our first visit and am well on my way to having the second stay paid for. Just send in a check to the local address with your reservation # on the memo line of the check.

 

[bumbershoot]

I think it's all up to how your specific bank handles things. For instance, we've never experienced any sort of hold at all at hojo with our debit card. We never noticed a hold on our card when on a cruise, even while people on the same line were experiencing problems with a hold. We've used wamu/chase, and it's never been a problem.

But others, with other banks, do have that sort of thing happen; it's basically up to the bank.

If you know it's going to happen, you can either just create a cushion above and beyond that...or book it through a site where you prepay. Hotels.com has you prepay, and they also allow cancellations (read the particular hotel's cancel policy on hotels.com, to make sure of the date when you can cancel). Whether you'd get the absolutely best rate, I don't know.

YOu could also set aside the money you'd need for Disney, or perhaps order disney giftcards, so that's where your money is coming from, and leave cash in the account that doesn't need to be used, but that's about the same as creating a cushion, and that's something that can't always be done by everyone (certainly not by us a couple years ago, which is why it's always been so great that our bank doesn't keep those holds for long enough for us to notice them!).

 

[blackjackdelta]

I have reserved my room at HoJo two times using my debit card, and have never had the funds held, even during a normal authorization period (can be up to 10 days). Have you actually done this, or are you just worried about it? My res's have both been initially made online, and then modified over the phone and emails.

I also posted on another thread that I did send in payments (by check) and pre-paid our first visit and am well on my way to having the second stay paid for. Just send in a check to the local address with your reservation # on the memo line of the check.

Never had that problem with a debit card and I have 3 banks with those cards. Kinda strange, but seems to go better with VISA cards.

Jack

 

[pixiewings71]

Ok so after much planning and re-planning i believe that DW is finally ready to settle on the HOJO reservations we had. We had toyed with the idea of staying on property, but decided that we would rather use the extra money to enjoy our stay and do the things we never would be able to with our 4 dd's in tow. (It's our 10 yr anniversary trip)

We have stayed there before, and used our visa/debit card to SECURE our room. The big problem was that with that kind of card they put a hold on the funds for our room and that prevented us from using that money.

We don't use credit cards so this is the only card we have. Does anyone know if there is another way to get our room 'secured' without a credit card. I don't really want to have to have $500 just sitting on my card that i can't use. I would also like to pay for my room before i get there so that when i arrive all my expenses will be taken care of and we can just enjoy the park!

Hello Modesto! Oakdalean here! It is a small world.

I am surprised they did that..usually it is only a hold not a charge. How did you make your reservations online or over the phone?

Hello Modesto, Hello Oakland! DBF's parents live in Oakland.
I don't use my debit card at HoJo anymore, too many times they've put a hold on the funds to cover my room, I then use the same card at check out (assuming they will just use the pre-auth/hold they've already processed) and they put another hold on the same amount of money, thus causing me to have payments bounce due to "insufficient funds" which results in overdraft fees and me losing enough money that it isn't cheaper to stay at the HoJo anymore. This happened to me twice, the first time it was only a couple of checks and my bank actually refunded me for 1 so I didn't bother with the second one, the second time I ASKED when I checked in and explained why I was asking, was told that no they would use the pre-auth/hold funds to cover my stay, when I checked out I asked AGAIN and was told the same thing but it didn't happen. I had quite a few payments bounce because the HoJo put a hold on about $600 of my funds (I don't remember exactly now). As a result we will ONLY use a CC at the HoJo now. OP I would call them and see what they say to do. Good luck!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Okay, Riverbank chiming in here!!! When we stayed at HOJOs they didn't "secure" any of our charge. In fact I secured two rooms (one for me and one for ILs) and FIL paid for his when we arrived. The card on the reservation is "in case you don't show", they don't charge you ahead of time. You can pay cash (I doubt they'll let you pre-pay for your trip) at check in and the card on file would be for incidentals (phone calls, stolen towels, etc). I'd call in-house at HOJOs to find out the best way to do it, but I'd guess paying cash at check in would be the easiest.

 

[tink2dw]

I have a Visa debt card, but use Cash for my room, I get to the hotel and tell them I want to pay cash which they take. They just ask you go in on your last day in case there are any charges.

 

[geekypeach]

time. You can pay cash (I doubt they'll let you pre-pay for your trip) at check in and the card on file would be for incidentals (phone calls, stolen towels, etc).

They definitely will let you pre-pay. In-house reservations says there are a great many "budget" or family travellers that have this as an only option, or folks that refuse to use CC's (we fall into that group- I worked for two major companies- ethical ones at that, and they are still crooks!). We have one completed stay that we pre-paid, and I have a good part of our upcoming stay pre-paid at this point.

Sorry, I just wanted to clear that up. A lot of people have this very thing preventing them from doing fun things, like DLR, with their families because they don't know their options!

 

[californiamomof4grls]

They definitely will let you pre-pay. In-house reservations says there are a great many "budget" or family travellers that have this as an only option, or folks that refuse to use CC's (we fall into that group- I worked for two major companies- ethical ones at that, and they are still crooks!). We have one completed stay that we pre-paid, and I have a good part of our upcoming stay pre-paid at this point.

Sorry, I just wanted to clear that up. A lot of people have this very thing preventing them from doing fun things, like DLR, with their families because they don't know their options!

Okay geeky peach I just want to understand you. I am OP's wife..you don CC's to reserve your stay or you do until you pay. If you are prepaid do they not use a CC to hold? That would make sense you have payed and they know you are coming...but I just want to understand you before I have Armando call. Thanks everyone.
Just to clarify they told us last year that they would put a small hold on the card. They actually held more then the amount and refunded us at the end of the trip. (We were under the assumption that it would probably be the first night. Which was our bad for not communicating better with them! )The problem was we got a direct deposit on Friday on got there on Wednesday. We were trying to stay with in our DL budget and only bring cash. It really bit us in the ***.
@ Shannon I told him to call too! LOL!

 

[disney4metoo]

Hello Modesto, Hello Oakland! DBF's parents live in Oakland.

Sorry not Oakland, but Oakdale near Modesto and Riverbank. Hi Riverbank! Oakland is a few hours away though!

 

[geekypeach]

I will preface this by saying I worked in merchant services for a number of years for a credit card. I have a fairly good handle on how the process works, and believe or not, hotels and gas stations are the biggest headache!!

Of course you do need to provide a CC (or in my case, a debit card) to make the initial reservation. But, of the 3 total (one canceled) res's I've made using two different debit cards, they've never hit my bank account in any way on the reservation end. Both cards were on the Visa network, but in the end it was my bank (Chase and a local Credit Union) that handled how the authorization affected me.

However, when you check into the hotel, your bill status definitely affects what they will authorize on your card at that time. If your entire room rate is paid in full, they will not authorize that. Instead, they will authorize a different nominal amount to cover their rears for incidentals.

So, I am unclear, is it the actual res that you're worried about, or the check-in?

 

[californiamomof4grls]

We worried about checking in. We have already made our reservation with them back in September or August. (I think) They told us we could pay up to 12 days in advance and for 4 nights it's 300.10. Not bad at all. So as long as it's a small amount that they place a hold on when we get there it should be fine.
I understand what you are saying now too. (about the bank vs. the hotel) Sometimes it's harder on the boards to understand what people are saying then if they were sitting in ur living room chatting with you! LOL!
Hello Oakdale and Riverbank (but I've known Riverbank for years! )Small world!

 

[wvnative]

The one time we stayed at HOJO, I secured the room with my Visa debit card. THe first night's room charge was authorized the day before we arrived and they authorized an additional day each day we were there. When I checked out, they used the preauthorized funds to pay for the room.

When I got home, they still had an additional $70 pending two days later. I called, they checked and agreed there should be no hold, conferenced in my bank, and got the hold released.

I had no idea you could prepay. That's great to know. We have a reservation there for our next trip but I'm still waiting to see if they miraculously offer up EV rates for our nights. If not, we also have a reservation with DI&S.

Speaking of DI&S, last time we stayed there, they kind of screwed up. They also authorized the first night the night before. Then, when I went to check out, they still tried to charge me the whole cost. I only had enough in that account for the hotel so it declined it. He got annoyed when I argued that there was enough money there until he realized his mistake and it ran through just fine. lol

 

[Hojoanaheim]

Hey Everybody!

Just wanted to clear a few things up here:

1. We do not accept pre-payments for reservations via credit card. You are welcome to call In-House Reservations to have them calculate the total for your stay, including tax, so that you can send a check to pre-pay- but that check must be received and processed at least 10 business days prior to your arrival date. We only recommend pre-paying via check this way if you are 100% sure of your dates and of your rates for those dates. Issuing a refund for nights not used, or for nights at a lower rate will take at least a few weeks [after you check-out] to process and be mailed back to you.

You can pre-pay your reservation by booking through Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. Those companies require paypment via credit card at the time you make the reservation.

2. When you make the reservation and use your debit card as a guarantee, we do not charge/authorize anything to that card until you are physically here, with that card in your hand, at our Front Desk. At that time, the card that you give us at check-in, is the one that we will authorize for the nightly rate + a $5/day incidental authorization.

For people who are paying with credit cards- the authorization hold usually is released at the time of check-out, because the credit card company takes the funds from that hold to complete the transaction. At this time, as long as you have not incurred any incidental costs [for movies or for phone calls, etc.], the $5/day incidental authorization is also released.

For debit card users, the authorization is placed for the full amount of the stay, plus the cost of incidentals, at the beginning of the stay in order to guarantee sufficient funds for the payment of the stay. When payment is completed at check-out, unused incidentals authorization will also be released at that time, but it can take a few days to release through the credit card company.

In rarer cases for some debit card users, and we're not entirely sure why this happens, the processing company sees the hold and the payment as two separate entities. You would have to call your bank and ask them how they handle authorizations to find out what their policy is.

I hope that this helps clear things up a little bit, or at least helps explain why these things sometimes happen. Thanks to everyone for your great questions!
Lorealle

 

[californiamomof4grls]

Thank you Hojo for coming on here and clearing that up I was going to copy and past our email from you guys but you did a much better job!! LOL!
I think it's really great that you guys except payments ahead of time so that way, all families can make it possible to come to DL. Armando and I look forward to our stay with you guys in March! I always look around but always come back because of your customer service! You guys really do go above and beyond! Thank you!