WDW to institute a new room charging policy, effective 02/27/2019

[Marionnette]

https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...uce-new-payment-card-policy-beginning-feb-27/

"Beginning February 27, 2019, a new payment card policy will go into effect at the Walt Disney World Resort hotels. Under this new policy, the resort will place “incremental authorization holds on the card for estimated incidental expenses, in addition to any balance due on the reservation.”

Guests will still have the option of not providing a credit card to keep on file, but if they chose not to do so, they will be unable to charge to their room or MagicBands."​

I wonder how this is going to affect those of us who use debit cards or pay off our room charges with GCs?

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I wonder if this is a fancy way of saying that they will run your card multiple times during your visit even if you don't reach the limit. If that is true, I will just go down each day and pay with my GCs. It's a hassle but is worth the savings.

 

[afan]

I would imagine this is going to be like other hotels that do it, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott etc. They put a hold on x to cover any incidentals during your stay but still only charge it at the end or when you hit the limit. I agree with the comment I read on the Dis article about it, it's probably because of people that charge to their MB and then can't pay it all. If you aren't paying attention, it's very easy to not realize how much you've spent on the thing.

 

[Marionnette]

According to this post on the Resorts Forum, $100 holds will be placed on the card on file. Additional $100 holds will automatically be made as the guest's spending increases with the holds always totaling $100 more than what the guest has spent.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/new-credit-card-authorization-holds.3729383/#post-60142441

 

[bananasplitkids]

Visa, Mastercard, American Express came out with this about 3 years ago and its finally starting to be used by merchants. It's as Marionnette described you have one estimated charge in this case for $100 and as your spend increases the merchant (Disney) can link additional charges. However in the end you should only have one charge once it clears. It's pretty cool to see something I worked on being implemented even though it was a such a pain in the butt to implement and test.

 

[kymom99]

This isn’t unusual. I stayed at Crowne plaza in Indy last month. They put a $50 hold on my card for room charges and incidentals. I ended up eating in the restaurant and charged it to my room. In the end the only charge that showed up was for the meal I ate.

 

[DLgal]

Yeah, this is very common at other resort hotels. We just stayed at the Palazzo in Las Vegas and they placed a $350 hold charge on our credit card.

This is really a non issue, IMO. I would never use a debit card at a hotel. Way too risky.

 

[Alesia]

​

This is really a non issue, IMO. I would never use a debit card at a hotel. Way too risky.

Same here. I learned that lesson the hard way. Getting your entire bank account wiped out is awful. I never use my debit card now

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Don't most hotels do that already?
I don't charge to my room via my magic band but if you want to do online check in you also must provide a credit card so I guess its really no different for my purposes.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

DCL runs the cc every $500. They have done this for years. I just watch our spending and process a gc at the guest service's desk before the $500 mark. On the ships you can do on board credit with a Disney gc prior to the cruise.

 

[quandrea]

Last trip, I didn’t use the MB at all. I carried a gift card and used it for meals and incidentals. Actually preferred it.

 

[arminnie]

Visa, Mastercard, American Express came out with this about 3 years ago and its finally starting to be used by merchants. It's as Marionnette described you have one estimated charge in this case for $100 and as your spend increases the merchant (Disney) can link additional charges. However in the end you should only have one charge once it clears. It's pretty cool to see something I worked on being implemented even though it was a such a pain in the butt to implement and test.

Do you work for Visa or one of the banks? I retired from Visa International in the IT area about 10 years ago. I worked on so many things - CVV, chip cards (most US issuers swore they would never issue them.), acquirer services, ATM and debit products. My favorite job was creating all the member and Visa internal documentation for the release in '98 when it had dozens and dozens of changes prior to a freeze for 2000. But I also did a ton of international regs, etc. and was always flying off to another region to meet with members.

It was interesting when I decided that a change was mandatory, published it, and then later when a bank requested an exemption it got forwarded back to me - and I usually denied it. It could be something they had known about for 7+ years, but had ignored till I put a final date on when support for an old format would end.

 

[bananasplitkids]

Do you work for Visa or one of the banks? I retired from Visa International in the IT area about 10 years ago. I worked on so many things - CVV, chip cards (most US issuers swore they would never issue them.), acquirer services, ATM and debit products. My favorite job was creating all the member and Visa internal documentation for the release in '98 when it had dozens and dozens of changes prior to a freeze for 2000. But I also did a ton of international regs, etc. and was always flying off to another region to meet with members.

It was interesting when I decided that a change was mandatory, published it, and then later when a bank requested an exemption it got forwarded back to me - and I usually denied it. It could be something they had known about for 7+ years, but had ignored till I put a final date on when support for an old format would end.

I work for a bank in Australia on the Issuing side, most recently with their compliance department. Oh I definitely understand on Banks waiting until the last minute, we are constantly putting code on hold because they don't have their act together.

 

[mdurette]

This is really a non issue, IMO. I would never use a debit card at a hotel. Way too risky.

So true - I don't use a debit card EVER, ANYWHERE. It's one thing for the bad guys to get your credit card info (that is just a headache to fix)….if they get your bank card info, dang your money could be gone.

Every single time my CC was compromised, I had recently been to Disney. No thanks, my debit card stays home.

 

[clutter]

So true - I don't use a debit card EVER, ANYWHERE. It's one thing for the bad guys to get your credit card info (that is just a headache to fix)….if they get your bank card info, dang your money could be gone.

Every single time my CC was compromised, I had recently been to Disney. No thanks, my debit card stays home.

I'm with you - I don't even want a debit card, except for stopping at the ATM.

I'm up to only MOST times my card's been compromised, it's been after a visit to Disney. But I did have a totally random one before.

Last trip, used the MB, and paid with gift cards every so often. That was my favorite way to pay. And with about $100 leftover - you gotta go back!