charging to your room

[BelleKP]

I hope this question makes sense: I'm wondering if you can charge things to your room (giving them a credit card number at the beginning of your stay), but then pay off the balance in cash when you check out as opposed to having the charges rung through?
Basically, being from Canada, the exchange rate they charge us on our credit cards (and bank fees if we were to use debit) is much more than the actual rate. But, we like the convenience of not having to carry cash around in the parks. I was wondering if when you charge to the room, is it batched daily, or at the end of your trip.
Or as another alternative, can we give the cash up front and use the room key like a debit card?
Any idea of how/if that might work?
Thanks

[Dawn,DeniseandDiane]

We are alot like you! We always put cash upfront on our room key. And yes, it is deducted just like a debit card. It is so much easier this way and you aren't worried about having so much cash on you! You can check your balance daily as well.We are doing this again in just 3wks! Yippee!!

Dawn,Denise&Diane:wave::wave::wave:

[KylesMom]

You could do either - but based on the exchange rate, you'd probably come out ahead by depositing cash at check-in.

You could certainly do the credit card thing, too - but you'd need to make certain that they have on file that you won't be doing express check-out (where they charge your card in the early morning on check-out day & hang your itemized bill on the door).


I was wondering if when you charge to the room, is it batched daily, or at the end of your trip. The charges won't hit your credit card until you either hit your resort limit or when you check out - whichever comes first. However, I'm unsure of how a debit card would work. :mickey:

[Polynesian Dweller]

As a fellow Canadian I understand your issues with exchange rates but it's hard to predict whether you'll win or lose on that given how much the rate changes in a few days. Over nearly 20 years I'd say we've probably come out ahead using credit card as many times as not.

Taking US cash you have to gave paid exchange to get it. Let's assume it was at $1.03 US to Canadian (which it was for us three weeks ago) and by the time your credit card bill come it's $1.065 US to Canadian (which it is on our bill) you actually come out ahead by 3 cent on the dollar.

So yes you can pay in cash but you can't assume that beats the exchange rate, especially this year when we've experienced fluctuarions of as much as 6 cents on the dollar in one week.

It's one of those things about travelling to the US, you just go and hope you win in the exchange rate game.

[SBETigg]

You can make payments to your balance any time, in cash if you prefer. We did it on one of our trips to keep track of spending. We put a charge card down initially, but we preferred to take the money from our account instead of charging it to that card. So we would go to the desk every day, get a printout of everything spent, and pay down our charges daily so that we knew we weren't exceeding our budget. They're very easy to work with and offer you all kinds of options. Just another reason to love WDW.

[MO Disney Couple]

We charged things to our room key and paid it off the morning we checked out but we aren't from Canada so I'm not sure about that aspect. Just be careful though because we were on the dining plan and paid our tips in cash but at Ohanas they also charged our card for a tip and the waitress ended up making almost 100 from us and it took a long time to get it reversed. It was an act of congress.

[LVT]

I believe you have to go to desk and have the room key charges rung thru. It seems that we could only charge up to the limit without stopping at the desk again. I thought the limit varied by level of hotel. Pop was low, maybe $500 US. I think the moderates and deluxes have other limits. With 4 adults we stopped daily in order to
keep charging everything. The invoices are extremely detailed and it seems safer to check frequently so fixes can be made.

[CleveRocks]

If you ultimately want to pay for the room charge total with cash, then I suggest at time of check-in you just plunking down cash to back up the room charge ... you don't NEED a credit/debit card to start a room charge.

But if for some reason you still want to use the credit/debit card initially but don't want the room charge expenses to be actually charged to that card, my STRONG advice is to NOT wait until check-out time to settle up. In most instances, the folio wil be reconciled overnight on your check-out day, around 3:00 a.m. or so. In other words, in almost all cases your card will be charged in the middle of the night, so when you go to check-out in the morning it'll be too late, your card will already have been charged.