Resorts still charging off daily?

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I remember the hullabaloo on the boards when this started, and a lot of wailing and nashing of teeth, and threats to not go to WDW anymore because of it. So much of it seemed to be speculation, misinformation, and overreaction, as seems to happen so frequently on the boards, that I just did not pay attention. Now that time has passed and the horror of it all has shaken out, I still find it hard to understand and believe they did this.
Why did they start it? Were people charging more than they realized and then unable to pay? Did WDW not realize this would/could happen with Magic Bands?
Do they really charge back to your credit card for every daily total over $100? One character meal is over $50 before tax and tip. It would be pretty tough to not exceed $100 daily with a party of 4, perhaps even 2. Years ago it used to be 500 for value, 1000 for moderate, and 1500 for deluxe room charge before it was billed to your credit card. With prices the last how many years, those threshold would have to be raised significantly. Charging daily if over $100 seems incredibly low.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I have gone to just paying at point of purchase with Disney gift cards since we are now able to combine onto one card up to $1000 total. I liked charging back to my room for one running list of my charges. I just like looking at it all. I know I can still charge to room, and go to desk and pay, but as others have said, it has been my experience to be quite time consuming.
I don't like WDW tracking my spending that much, which is the main reason I went to pay at point of purchase, not charge on Magic Band.

 

[lanejudy]

Do they really charge back to your credit card for every daily total over $100?

No. They do not charge your card every day. They do put through a “hold” for $100 and then equivalent to any room-charges over $100. These are “holds” to assure guests have enough credit to pay the balance owed. Final charges are put through on check-out day, with a reverse on the accumulated holds to clear them.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[AngiTN]

I remember the hullabaloo on the boards when this started, and a lot of wailing and nashing of teeth, and threats to not go to WDW anymore because of it. So much of it seemed to be speculation, misinformation, and overreaction, as seems to happen so frequently on the boards, that I just did not pay attention. Now that time has passed and the horror of it all has shaken out, I still find it hard to understand and believe they did this.
Why did they start it? Were people charging more than they realized and then unable to pay? Did WDW not realize this would/could happen with Magic Bands?
Do they really charge back to your credit card for every daily total over $100? One character meal is over $50 before tax and tip. It would be pretty tough to not exceed $100 daily with a party of 4, perhaps even 2. Years ago it used to be 500 for value, 1000 for moderate, and 1500 for deluxe room charge before it was billed to your credit card. With prices the last how many years, those threshold would have to be raised significantly. Charging daily if over $100 seems incredibly low.

Yes. A lot probably. And it was well before MB came about.

Read up on it again. They do not charge to your card with every $100.
They check to make sure you are still able to charge with every $100.
Very different things

 

[maxiesmom]

Yes. A lot probably. And it was well before MB came about.

Read up on it again. They do not charge to your card with every $100.
They check to make sure you are still able to charge with every $100.
Very different things

How are they different? Are they not putting a hold on it?

 

[AngiTN]

How are they different? Are they not putting a hold on it?

Because a hold is not a charge

 

[maxiesmom]

Because a hold is not a charge

But it may as well be, if it means those funds are taken up.

 

[AngiTN]

But it may as well be, if it means those funds are taken up.

Only virtually. And if you've spent the money, it's only right that you should have room on the card for the charge.
If you decide to pay it off with something other than the card, the funds are never spent on the card. No interest either. A charge and a hold are VERY different transactions
I'm not sure what the big deal is.

 

[maxiesmom]

Only virtually. And if you've spent the money, it's only right that you should have room on the card for the charge.
If you decide to pay it off with something other than the card, the funds are never spent on the card. No interest either. A charge and a hold are VERY different transactions
I'm not sure what the big deal is.

I just don't think a hold and a charge are so different. That is all.

The way they place the hold now means I won't charge back to my room. I don't like having funds virtually tied up. Where with the system before I could charge, and then go pay it off with gift cards. Nothing ever was held against me and I didn't have to wait for them to release those funds back to me.

 

[AngiTN]

I just don't think a hold and a charge are so different. That is all.

The way they place the hold now means I won't charge back to my room. I don't like having funds virtually tied up. Where with the system before I could charge, and then go pay it off with gift cards. Nothing ever was held against me and I didn't have to wait for them to release those funds back to me.

Beauty of the world. Choice. We all have one and get to make the one that suits us best.
I was worried about it but after 6 or so stays since the change, if I never looked at my activity, I'd never know there was even a change. Everything ended up being exactly the same in the end.

 

[MinnieMSue]

We had a two day trip early this month. I did give my credit card info and planned to keep charges under the $100 hold which we did. We charged a few inexpensive things here and there when it was more convenient than using a gift card. Oddly I never even saw the $100 hold on my card although I am sure they did it. My bank must be super fast at removing holds. There was no hold the day after we got home when I checked my bank online. They finally put through the actual total of charges about 4-5 days after we got home - it was getting to the point that I wondered if they had forgotten. I was glad I didn’t plan to pay at the hotel because every single time we went through All Star Music’s lobby the line was excessively long. I wanted to talk to them before I checked in and in 20 min the line hadn’t budged (we were outside the ropes they had set up even). I bailed. Even returning after MK after hours the line was ridiculous there. I plan to do the same on our next trip and use gift card and try to keep charges under the $100. FYI we had a meal plan so we didn’t need to buy much anyway.

 

[SharonZ]

If you don't like going to the front desk every day to use your gift cards to pay down your balance, carry your gift cards with you and don't charge back to your room. I really don't have an issue with the holds on my credit card and then the balance charge at the end of my stay. Even if you rent a car, they put a hold on your credit card account.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Only virtually. And if you've spent the money, it's only right that you should have room on the card for the charge.
If you decide to pay it off with something other than the card, the funds are never spent on the card. No interest either. A charge and a hold are VERY different transactions
I'm not sure what the big deal is.

The big deal is that if you are using a debit card or low limit card then twice your funds are tied up from the time they charge at checkout until those holds are removed which can take 3 business days to up to 2 weeks depending on your bank.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

. I was glad I didn’t plan to pay at the hotel because every single time we went through All Star Music’s lobby the line was excessively long. I wanted to talk to them before I checked in and in 20 min the line hadn’t budged (we were outside the ropes they had set up even). I bailed. Even returning after MK after hours the line was ridiculous there. I plan to do the same on our next trip and use gift card and try to keep charges under the $100. FYI we had a meal plan so we didn’t need to buy much anyway.

I think that this process is driving those lines. More people trying to avoid the holds.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

No. They do not charge your card every day. They do put through a “hold” for $100 and then equivalent to any room-charges over $100. These are “holds” to assure guests have enough credit to pay the balance owed. Final charges are put through on check-out day, with a reverse on the accumulated holds to clear them.

Enjoy your vacation!

Yes, but that reverse takes time to process, usually at least 3 days.

 

[DisLiss]

Only virtually. And if you've spent the money, it's only right that you should have room on the card for the charge.
If you decide to pay it off with something other than the card, the funds are never spent on the card. No interest either. A charge and a hold are VERY different transactions
I'm not sure what the big deal is.

People were having issues with credit cards with aggressive anti-fraud measures before. The multiple charges AND holds together were causing some people's card companies to refuse to allow additional charges to go through without the customer calling them and verifying that all was well. And if that happens as you're trying to pay for the nice meal you just enjoyed it can be a bit annoying and/or embarrassing, depending on the person's personality. If nothing else it puts you in a bit of a pickle as you sit there temporarily unable to pay for your meal. You have to find the number for the company, possibly wait on hold to talk to someone, explain the whole situation, etc., while you want to be out enjoying the World. And of course, one solution is to carry back-up cash or gift cards, but that pretty much negates the convenience of paying with your magic band.


All in all, though, I think the whole point of this thread was to avoid it being a big deal for anyone. They're not here just to moan and groan about it, but to see if the potential issue is still even a concern or not.

 

[Sarahslay]

When I was there 2 weeks ago I went with cash, a gift card, and only charged a few things back to my room. I ended up over 5 nights/6 days only putting $205.81 on my band, I had two holds equaling $100 and $105.81, when I got home and looked at my card I had the two holds and a refund for $5.81. I had noticed that they did the same thing in my mid-August trip since I only went a few dollars over $100. The first hold was dated as my arrival date, and the second hold was put on 3 days later, but nothing was pushed through past being a hold until the day I went home. I don't know if that would be different if I had spent over a certain dollar amount, but I just know they didn't push through charges fully to my card past the hold every day.

 

[AngiTN]

The big deal is that if you are using a debit card or low limit card then twice your funds are tied up from the time they charge at checkout until those holds are removed which can take 3 business days to up to 2 weeks depending on your bank.

I DO use a credit card with a very low limit at Disney.
They issue a credit in the amount of the holds on check out. So it clears all the amounts tied up in holds. Makes room for the final charge to be processed.
I wish I hadn't deleted the screen shots from MLK weekend. When I go back in 2 weeks I'll take them again. So it's visually clearer what they do

 

[AngiTN]

Got an example of how they are running the charges now, for any that still care
Here, examples of how it looked for my stay last week
They will place a hold on the credit card (called pending charges below) for any remaining balance for the room charge, plus $100, on the morning you arrive. (in my example below, this was the temp hold for $486.77)
Each time you go over $100 in a day, they will place another hold for that amount on your card (these are the holds of $206, $160 and $159.) .
Notice the total of the Pending Charges is $150? The $150 was a direct charge, not on my MB so that is exactly what should be on there
Then, they total all that up, and place a credit for that amount as another hold. (the credit for $1012)
All the those temp holds will just fall off/disappear in a few days
They then ran the charge for the total charges, room + purchases.
All of the pending room charges never hit my card, they are gone, I have a charge of $912.64 instead. Posted with a date of 3/5 but oddly doesn't show up in the transaction history till 3/9.

ETA
Here are the final actual charges and their dates
See all the pending are gone, except the already discussed $150
The $146 were charges were made after check out
The $142 credit was the refund for and overpayment for our single night upon arrival. We never charged to the room

 

[brockash]

Got an example of how they are running the charges now, for any that still care
Here, examples of how it looked for my stay last week
They will place a hold on the credit card (called pending charges below) for any remaining balance for the room charge, plus $100, on the morning you arrive. (in my example below, this was the temp hold for $486.77)
Each time you go over $100 in a day, they will place another hold for that amount on your card (these are the holds of $206, $160 and $159.) .
Notice the total of the Pending Charges is $150? The $150 was a direct charge, not on my MB so that is exactly what should be on there
Then, they total all that up, and place a credit for that amount as another hold. (the credit for $1012)
All the those temp holds will just fall off/disappear in a few days
They then ran the charge for the total charges, room + purchases.
All of the pending room charges never hit my card, they are gone, I have a charge of $912.64 instead. Posted with a date of 3/5 but oddly doesn't show up in the transaction history till 3/9.View attachment 480033

Thank you for this...another question - do you know when they actually charge the card? I'm wanting to pay with a gift card, but it'd be more convenient to pay for everything on my magicband, if I new for sure that check-out day or the day prior; I could go down to the front desk and pay all of the charges off with my gift card. Would this be possible?