Questions about on-site hotel check in

[millie0312]

hi everyone-
I have a quick question that I'm hoping you DIS experts can help me with (I called the GCH directly and got someone who had to ask someone else for every question I asked her and her answers didn't seem right or make sense!)... When we reserved our room we paid a deposit of 1 night plus taxes- we would like to pay the remainder with a Disney Gift Card (without having it charged on to our credit card and then refunded later). Can someone tell me how this process works and how to keep it from being charged first and then refunded if possible? The person on the phone said you pay with the gc at checkout and they don't charge your credit card until then anyway but somehow it doesn't make sense that they would wait to charge your room until check out and it seems like they would charge your card at check in right?
Second question do they put a hold on a credit or debit card on file for incidentals and if so how much is it? The person told me for credit cards they do $50 then said it was $50 plus 10% of your fees (hmmm) and said for a debit card it was a $1 hold and then any charges were immediately billed to your card as they were accrued- that whole thing seems unusual to me! I don't mind a hold but I'd like to be prepared for how much it is before all of a sudden hundreds of dollars are on hold that I wasn't counting on lol
Finally- does anyone have a recent schedule of offerings at the hotels? Or experiences to share with the tours, etc they offer- including how many people were there, what day of the week and what time of day it was, how long it took, was it worth the time, etc. we are particularly interested in Build-a-bear extra hour, the magic shop thing, washcloth folding, the power walk in DCA, drawing Mickey and the 60th anniversary 3 hotel tour. I tried to ask Disney but they were unclear on what days they were offered (they couldn't even find them all in their computer!), what times they were offered or really much info besides the really general blurb about it on their website. The only thing I think I found out was build a bear was everyday but Mon and Tues and was at 9 am and the magic shop thing was Tues and Thurs during the EE? Does that sound right (they weren't super sure when they told me that).

Thanks for your help- I figured if anyone would know (which apparently it wasn't Disney) you guys would!

 

[Geemo]

On our last trip, I paid the first night deposit with a creditcard several months before the trip.
When we arrived I paid the hotel balance with gift cards. They did ask for a major credit card but nothing was charged to it.
It was easy. I like being able to use gift cards to pay for the hotel.

 

[millie0312]

On our last trip, I paid the first night deposit with a creditcard several months before the trip.
When we arrived I paid the hotel balance with gift cards. They did ask for a major credit card but nothing was charged to it.
It was easy. I like being able to use gift cards to pay for the hotel.

I was hoping it would be easy- thanks! After talking to the girl on the phone I was feeling a bit nervous as she was talking about using them at checkout, refunding money to our credit card, holds placed on our credit cards- she said several things then said that what she said the first time wasn't right... Now I'm anxious abort how check in will go lol the last thing I want to DSL with is double charging or hold for $50 plus 10%- which would be another $300 just in case and be counting on that money for our trip to boot! Ack- they really shouldn't have someone on the phones that is so unsure and confusing lol I'm hoping once I get there it's here is my card, here are my gift cards and we are good to go!

 

[Geemo]

When we checked in, I told the CM I didn't want anymore money charged to my card. And I didn't want to have to stop at the desk to check out.
I had gift cards to cover the full amount. The CM ran the gift card and all was well.
At the end of the visit, on departure morning the final bill was on our door. All paid in full with Gift Cards.

I know they held my VISA card on file but I have no idea how much the tied to it.

Geemo

 

[Jerryp49]

They inventory everything in the room, even the wooden coat hangers. If you accidentally pack up one of their bathrobes and take it home they will charge it to your credit card.

 

[calilou]

My experience was the same with gift cards. You can pay with them upon check in and so you will already have a credit from which your hotel charges are deducted from. A credit/debit card will also need to be on file. They don't hold anything on it, rather charges are made in real time. So if you charge something against your room during your stay at the pool or a restaurant or shop, it will immediately charge your card. I prefer this to holding a certain amount and then settling at the end of the stay (which I believe is becoming more outdated as POS technology improves). P.S. final hotel charges are made sometime after 11am on the day you check out.

I may have kept a hotel activities schedule from our stay in September. I'll look. However, you could try calling the hotel front desk directly to see if they'll email you one (or give you details over the phone). I don't know that they will too far in advance because schedules may change. I also doubt the main reservations number will have the detailed schedule. Their info is limited in my experience. Call the hotel's line directly and get to the front desk.

 

[azdisneylover]

What you can do is a couple of days prior to you leaving on your vacation, call and pay the balance so when you arrive, the room is already paid. You will have an email stating it was paid. If you have a car, you can pay that right off the bat too.

Have a great time!

 

[millie0312]

My experience was the same with gift cards. You can pay with them upon check in and so you will already have a credit from which your hotel charges are deducted from. A credit/debit card will also need to be on file. They don't hold anything on it, rather charges are made in real time. So if you charge something against your room during your stay at the pool or a restaurant or shop, it will immediately charge your card. I prefer this to holding a certain amount and then settling at the end of the stay (which I believe is becoming more outdated as POS technology improves). P.S. final hotel charges are made sometime after 11am on the day you check out.

I may have kept a hotel activities schedule from our stay in September. I'll look. However, you could try calling the hotel front desk directly to see if they'll email you one (or give you details over the phone). I don't know that they will too far in advance because schedules may change. I also doubt the main reservations number will have the detailed schedule. Their info is limited in my experience. Call the hotel's line directly and get to the front desk.

Thank you! She told me some of that info but I'm happy you could confirm it- after more then one answer I was feeling overwhelmed and confused lol I did talk to the hotel directly but she didn't have a schedule apparently- I may call back and hope someone else answers who can give me a recent schedule so at least I have an idea of days things might be available on.

 

[millie0312]

What you can do is a couple of days prior to you leaving on your vacation, call and pay the balance so when you arrive, the room is already paid. You will have an email stating it was paid. If you have a car, you can pay that right off the bat too.

Have a great time!

Thank you! Not sure why I didn't think about paying it ahead of time but I think I might try to do this to ease my mind!!

 

[calilou]

Thank you! She told me some of that info but I'm happy you could confirm it- after more then one answer I was feeling overwhelmed and confused lol I did talk to the hotel directly but she didn't have a schedule apparently- I may call back and hope someone else answers who can give me a recent schedule so at least I have an idea of days things might be available on.

Yes I find that strategy works well. LOL Sometimes you just have to get to the right CM.

 

[HarryFromMarydelDE]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't browsed Disboards for a long time and just saw your message. I work on the front desk at WDW, I don't know how our policies match up with DL resorts, but I'll tell you ours as a point of reference. We do not place any hold on credit cards or debit cards, we do run a $1 test transaction to make sure it's a valid number if you want to place a credit card on file, which you need to do to get charging privileges to the room. The test transaction is reversed right away so it may or may not appear on your credit card depending on your bank's policies.

Because we don't put a hold on the card the room must be paid for at check-in; if you do online check-in the card on file will be charged for any remaining balance when the room is checked into the computer, not when you arrive, so if you want to pay with cash or a gift card do not do online check-in. If you want charging privileges you will still have to put a credit or debit card on file when you check in, as I mentioned no holds are placed on the card, BUT make sure you ask to have express check-out turned off AND make sure they verify that it was turned off, otherwise you card could be automatically charged approx. 3AM on the morning of check-out. That will keep the computer from automatically charging the card, but also make sure they put a comment in the reservation that you are planning to pay in cash or by gift card so no one will manually take payment (for example, because you are getting near your credit limit). If you think you may approach your credit limit the best thing is to go down and pay when you get close, just so no one will charge your card accidentally if the comment gets knocked down off the screen by more recent comments (obviously we are supposed to scroll down but we're human and especially if several things are going on at once accidents can happen). I'm not sure of the limits at GCH, but at the Contemporary our charging limit is $2000 and we normally charge for near-credit-limit situations when the balance due reaches $1600. Ask when you check in. I suspect that the people answering the phone do not work at the hotel, they don't at WDW, so ask someone at the desk that way you'll have a better chance of getting the right answer.

As someone else pointed out, anything you charge to the room after you check-out is going to be charged to the credit/debit card and there isn't really any way to stop it unless you happen to get to the desk before someone runs the non-zero balance report, at our hotel we run the report twice a shift.

So these are all east coast answers of course, but they should at least give you an idea of what to look out for and what to ask.

-Harry

 

[HarryFromMarydelDE]

And I somehow missed the message about paying for the room and tax ahead of time, that is the best way to be sure! Still follow my advice for making sure incidentals don't get charged though.

-Harry

 

[sweethannah]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't browsed Disboards for a long time and just saw your message. I work on the front desk at WDW, I don't know how our policies match up with DL resorts, but I'll tell you ours as a point of reference. We do not place any hold on credit cards or debit cards, we do run a $1 test transaction to make sure it's a valid number if you want to place a credit card on file, which you need to do to get charging privileges to the room. The test transaction is reversed right away so it may or may not appear on your credit card depending on your bank's policies.

Because we don't put a hold on the card the room must be paid for at check-in; if you do online check-in the card on file will be charged for any remaining balance when the room is checked into the computer, not when you arrive, so if you want to pay with cash or a gift card do not do online check-in. If you want charging privileges you will still have to put a credit or debit card on file when you check in, as I mentioned no holds are placed on the card, BUT make sure you ask to have express check-out turned off AND make sure they verify that it was turned off, otherwise you card could be automatically charged approx. 3AM on the morning of check-out. That will keep the computer from automatically charging the card, but also make sure they put a comment in the reservation that you are planning to pay in cash or by gift card so no one will manually take payment (for example, because you are getting near your credit limit). If you think you may approach your credit limit the best thing is to go down and pay when you get close, just so no one will charge your card accidentally if the comment gets knocked down off the screen by more recent comments (obviously we are supposed to scroll down but we're human and especially if several things are going on at once accidents can happen). I'm not sure of the limits at GCH, but at the Contemporary our charging limit is $2000 and we normally charge for near-credit-limit situations when the balance due reaches $1600. Ask when you check in. I suspect that the people answering the phone do not work at the hotel, they don't at WDW, so ask someone at the desk that way you'll have a better chance of getting the right answer.

As someone else pointed out, anything you charge to the room after you check-out is going to be charged to the credit/debit card and there isn't really any way to stop it unless you happen to get to the desk before someone runs the non-zero balance report, at our hotel we run the report twice a shift.

So these are all east coast answers of course, but they should at least give you an idea of what to look out for and what to ask.

-Harry

This is great info and it's never too late for such helpful info

Can you tell me more about online check in? Is this available to DL guests or just WDW guests?

hi everyone-
I have a quick question that I'm hoping you DIS experts can help me with ..

Finally- does anyone have a recent schedule of offerings at the hotels? Or experiences to share with the tours, etc they offer- including how many people were there, what day of the week and what time of day it was, how long it took, was it worth the time, etc. we are particularly interested in Build-a-bear extra hour, the magic shop thing, washcloth folding, the power walk in DCA, drawing Mickey and the 60th anniversary 3 hotel tour. I tried to ask Disney but they were unclear on what days they were offered (they couldn't even find them all in their computer!), what times they were offered or really much info besides the really general blurb about it on their website. The only thing I think I found out was build a bear was everyday but Mon and Tues and was at 9 am and the magic shop thing was Tues and Thurs during the EE? Does that sound right (they weren't super sure when they told me that)....

I'm curious as well, thank you for asking!

 

[Aladora]

When we stayed at GCH in February, I had paid the entire room in advance but when my SIL checked in first they took her credit card and put through a $50 hold for incidentals. When we arrived a few hours later, I got the front desk to reverse that and put the hold onto my card.

 

[MommyJKM]

Finally- does anyone have a recent schedule of offerings at the hotels? Or experiences to share with the tours, etc they offer- including how many people were there, what day of the week and what time of day it was, how long it took, was it worth the time, etc. we are particularly interested in Build-a-bear extra hour, the magic shop thing, washcloth folding, the power walk in DCA, drawing Mickey and the 60th anniversary 3 hotel tour. I tried to ask Disney but they were unclear on what days they were offered (they couldn't even find them all in their computer!), what times they were offered or really much info besides the really general blurb about it on their website. The only thing I think I found out was build a bear was everyday but Mon and Tues and was at 9 am and the magic shop thing was Tues and Thurs during the EE? Does that sound right (they weren't super sure when they told me that).

Thanks for your help- I figured if anyone would know (which apparently it wasn't Disney) you guys would!

If you call GCH Concierge the week before you are going they will fax or email (I can't remember which) you the schedule. It's literally on an 8x10 piece of paper so they have to scan it and send it to you and some CM's find it annoying so I always just ask for Concierge and explain we need to plan our time before we get there.

It fluxuates with the seasons is why the CM probably didn't know the general answers.

Hope that helps

 

[MommyJKM]

Finally- does anyone have a recent schedule of offerings at the hotels? Or experiences to share with the tours, etc they offer- including how many people were there, what day of the week and what time of day it was, how long it took, was it worth the time, etc. we are particularly interested in Build-a-bear extra hour, the magic shop thing, washcloth folding, the power walk in DCA, drawing Mickey and the 60th anniversary 3 hotel tour. I tried to ask Disney but they were unclear on what days they were offered (they couldn't even find them all in their computer!), what times they were offered or really much info besides the really general blurb about it on their website. The only thing I think I found out was build a bear was everyday but Mon and Tues and was at 9 am and the magic shop thing was Tues and Thurs during the EE? Does that sound right (they weren't super sure when they told me that).

Thanks for your help- I figured if anyone would know (which apparently it wasn't Disney) you guys would!

From my experience:
We've done the Build-A-Bear a few times, I believe they only take 20 people - we were the only family twice and have gone with a few people other times. It's an hour before the store opens - usually 8am or 9am. So if it's after EE it doesn't make sense to do on a park day. Same with the Anna & Elsa boutique - you can make an appointment before the store opens when you check-in. (They used to do this for Sephora but sadly don't any longer). You can also go to RideMakerz early and make a car before store opening. We saw a family take one child to do BAB and one to do RideMakerz.

The power walk is before DCA opens and usually at the same time as the free yoga class on the lawn or ballroom - depending on who from Mandara Spa is teaching. I like the walk but alternate between the two. Make sure you leave your phone in the room as you can't take it to walk through DCA. It's a nice wake up activity! If you want to do the Art of the Craft or DLH Tours you have to call the week you are going and sign up as they get cancelled if there are no reservations.

My Dad likes the washcloth folding, I remember it being in the morning and evening. Don't forget about the Hearthstone Lounge storytimes by the fireplace, the nighttime movies on the lawn, and the WOC viewing patio.

 

[Malcon10t]

The hotels will put a hold on the credit card if the gift cards are not given at check in. When we check in, a hold is always placed on our American Express for the room, then it is actually charged when we check out. When I do the gift cards, I make sure to give them at check in, so only the balance is held on the credit card. The incidental hold is usually only $100 I think, however as you charge things to the room, the hold goes up.

 

[HarryFromMarydelDE]

This is great info and it's never too late for such helpful info

Can you tell me more about online check in? Is this available to DL guests or just WDW guests?




I'm curious as well, thank you for asking!

I assume they have it, but we are not trained at all on west coast procedures and I believe they they currently use a different PMS, so I can't say for sure. Several people on the thread have said they do an incidental hold, which is completely different from WDW resorts, so it may be that our procedures are not as representative of the ones at DL hotels as I thought they might be.

-Harry

 

[TeachTink]

Wrong thread sorry

 

[bumbershoot]

Can you tell me more about online check in? Is this available to DL guests or just WDW guests?

It's WDW only.

Fwiw to the WDW online checkin post...you can do online checkin withOUT entering in a cc. You just click on through that page.

Has nothing to do with this thread but I like fully accurate info. And if a cm has never actually done online checkin they probably don't know.