Room charging strategy ?'s-bear with me, I know it sounds wierd

[PolyAddict]

DOes anyone know when you use your room key for charging how often do they run your credit card? Isn't it when you reach certain amounts? I remember it is different for resort levels. We will have 2 rooms at POP May 08. Is the balance of your room charged at check in? I am asking because I will get a direct deposit the day before we leave for home and I am trying to figure out if I will be able to use those funds. KWIM?

Thanks

 

[ScottOKW2K]

They do run your credit card when you reach certain amounts. These amounts are as follows :

Value resorts = $500

Moderate resorts = $1,000

Deluxe and DVC resorts = 1,500

I honestly don't remember if the balance of the room is charged at check-in or check-out. It never really mattered to me - only that the amount was correct.

 

[marlynnp]

Funds availabilty are set by YOUR bank within certain federal guidelines. If you have a paycheck or similar pmt on direct deposit to your account those funds should be available the same day.

 

[jmkrat]

They usually just run it through to make sure it is a valid card, but do not put a dollar amount on it. At least this is what I have always encountered. I always get direct deposit and our funds are available the same day. You should call your bank and make sure, this will ease your mind. I have had some resorts run the card through when I get close to my room charge limit, but some will not. Some wait until check out. I found out the hard way thinking that they would automatically do this, got to the park ( with a ton of gifts in hand ) go to use my room key and it declined. I was so embarassed. I did have the credit card with me and charged my gift, and when I got back to the resort they ran the room charge through. Some wait until you ask or check out.

 

[PolyAddict]

They do run your credit card when you reach certain amounts. These amounts are as follows :

Value resorts = $500

Moderate resorts = $1,000

Deluxe and DVC resorts = 1,500

I honestly don't remember if the balance of the room is charged at check-in or check-out. It never really mattered to me - only that the amount was correct.

Ok, I seem to remember the Poly chrging my card at $1500 intervals.

Funds availabilty are set by YOUR bank within certain federal guidelines. If you have a paycheck or similar pmt on direct deposit to your account those funds should be available the same day.

Ok, I realize my bank sets the guidelines, I guess what I was trying to say was how could I make the best use of those arriving funds since the trip would be almost over at that point.

They usually just run it through to make sure it is a valid card, but do not put a dollar amount on it. At least this is what I have always encountered. I always get direct deposit and our funds are available the same day. You should call your bank and make sure, this will ease your mind. I have had some resorts run the card through when I get close to my room charge limit, but some will not. Some wait until check out. I found out the hard way thinking that they would automatically do this, got to the park ( with a ton of gifts in hand ) go to use my room key and it declined. I was so embarassed. I did have the credit card with me and charged my gift, and when I got back to the resort they ran the room charge through. Some wait until you ask or check out.

WOW, I didn't realize you had to ask to have it run through.
Thanks everyone.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

They usually just run it through to make sure it is a valid card, but do not put a dollar amount on it. At least this is what I have always encountered. I always get direct deposit and our funds are available the same day. You should call your bank and make sure, this will ease your mind. I have had some resorts run the card through when I get close to my room charge limit, but some will not. Some wait until check out. I found out the hard way thinking that they would automatically do this, got to the park ( with a ton of gifts in hand ) go to use my room key and it declined. I was so embarassed. I did have the credit card with me and charged my gift, and when I got back to the resort they ran the room charge through. Some wait until you ask or check out.

This same thing happened to my sister and I. We had just used out room key charges at BBB. Did some shopping in the WoD store right after and our cards were declined. Luckily I had my charge with me and my sister had cash. It was annoying and now I know to have it charged through every few days especially when staying value with the $500 limit.

 

[septbaby]

If you use a credit card for your charging privleges you can always pay those charges before check out using cash or some other card. So if the money is there the day before I would go to the front desk the night before and settle the bill with your account debit card or cash and turn off the charge feature on the KTTW cards.

For our last trip all package amounts were due and paid in full 45 days ahead. We've made a room only ressie as part of our next trip. The first night is due up front, but the rest is due upon CHECK IN. I just double checked this in the Disney Terms & Conditions on the web site. So whether you have a package or room only reservation those fees will be due no later than check in. Hopefully you can make arrangements to make this work for you.

 

[safetymom]

They charge for your room at check in. Any additional charges are done when you check out. They check to see if your card is ok by submitting a charge for a dollar. But when you reach certain thresholds it does charge your card.

 

[PlutoPony]

The balance on our room only res was charged the day we checked in as others have mentioned. We bought tickets after we checked in and had them put on our KTTW cards. That charge was also applied the same day - the tickets weren't handled as charges to the room. Everything we charged to the room showed up as being charged the day we checked out (we were under the deluxe limit of $1500).

 

[jmkrat]

They charge for your room at check in. Any additional charges are done when you check out. They check to see if your card is ok by submitting a charge for a dollar. But when you reach certain thresholds it does charge your card.

Safety Mom, I thought they would run my charge card when I reached a certain limit too, I did not worry about it, I had plenty of room on my card. I thought I could charge and when it reached a certain point the resort would just run it through. This one instance last year they did not. I was at my limit ( within a few dollars didn't quite make it to the limit) and when I went to the park it was declined. I will no longer take it for granted that they will automatically go ahead and charge the card at a certain point. If they do wait until you get to your exact limit, you could get declined. The Boardwalk charged my card at a certain point and so I thought everyone did. The Boardwalk actually charged my room at the halfway point. It did not happen last year and it I was embarrassed, I just thought I would warn people that the resort may not be charge the card automatically and to perhaps find out what their policy on this is.

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

I'm going in November. I was wanting to set up the room key for charging. But I will also have my park tickets and DDP on there too, is this okay, or will I recieve another card with charging on it? This would be my first time setting up the room key for charging.

TIA!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) The resort charges your card for any unpaid vacation balance at check-in.
2) For room-key-charges, you have up to the limit.
. . . $500 - Values
. . . $1,000 - Moderates
. . . $1,500 - Deluxes and DVC
. . . but, you can increase the room limits
3) When you reach the limit, resort DOES NOT "automatically" charge the card.
4) You have to instruct the Front Desk or Concierge Desk to charge.
5) If at the parks and denied use, you can call to get the card charged.
6) It is best to check each night, and have the casrd charged.

 

[Shorty82]

I'm going in November. I was wanting to set up the room key for charging. But I will also have my park tickets and DDP on there too, is this okay, or will I recieve another card with charging on it? This would be my first time setting up the room key for charging.

TIA!

If I'm not mistaken they put it all on the same card. That's why it is called the "Key to the Kingdom card", it is used to everything around the parks and resort.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

In my experience, sometimes the resort automatically charges my card when I hit the charge limit, sometimes they do not. If I use my room charge and they have not cleared my account so that I initially get declined, the store or restaurant calls my resort, the resort runs my cc, and I'm set with a fresh limit. It usually just takes a call to your resort, not a big deal, although I understand those who find this uncomfortable - the first time it happened to me, I was embarassed, too!

We also have some kind of bad vibe that affects our first room charge - invariably, it doesn't go through, and a call has to be made to the front desk to fix the problem, lol, so I'm used to the process. The CMs are always understanding and helpful, I get the impression it happens a lot, so try not to worry about it.

ETA: I forgot to answer the OP's question: if it were me, I would discuss this issue with the front desk of your resort at check in, so that you know exactly what to expect.

 

[PolyAddict]

Here's where my screwed up logic comes in...

I have a room only booked, I plan on buying tickets before we leave home and will probably have my rooms paid off by then. So, I will need approx $2000 for food and spending available in my account. I have not figured in the paycheck that I will receive the day before we leave for home.

But my crafty little mind was plotting away and I started trying to figure out a way to make good use of that money even though it comes available to me at the very end of vacation.

One of the things I was plotting was a deluxe upgrade, but if they charge the remaining room balance at check in, that won't work.

 

[PolyAddict]

bumping for anymore thoughts...

 

[Acklander]

I think the reason why you're getting different responses on what point they charge your credit card is that they probably only do the "auto charge" once a day. What they do is the computer is set to automatically charge all the room charges of everyone within $50.00 of the limit (or whatever range they pre-set it for) and that once once a night, probably as one of the night audit functions, the auto charge runs. So if you're at a value, with a $500.00 limit, and you've reached $449.00 by the end of the day's business it wouldn't be flagged by the auto charge. That means that the next morning when you're out and about if you have a $75.00 purchase, the room key would come back as declined because you're over the limit. You can just have the store call over to the resort and ask them to run your credit card, so that it gets set back to zero.