Gift Card question

[Mary Chase]

I know that I will be charging a certain amount back to the room for tips, etc. I was thinking about getting some gift cards before I go (for the free gas from my grocery store) to cover these amounts.

Does the resort allow you to give them the gift cards when you check in - kind of as a "credit" to your room? I'm not planning on going crazy with them and certainly wouldn't put down anything I didn't know for sure we were going to spend. I just wasn't sure if they allowed that. I know I could always just go to the front desk and pay off amounts as I go - but staying at CSR, it's not always convenient to go to the front desk.

I know I could always take the gift cards with me and not charge back to the room at all, but that's a bit of a pain when trying to use them for tips, etc - always easiest to just charge everything to the room.

Thanks for any input on this subject!

[faline]

When we stayed at Aulani, we charged most things back to our room. Towards the end of our stay, we went to the front desk and paid off most/all (dont' recall if they covered all) of our expenses by applying gift cards to our room charge balance.

[BrerGnat]

They will not apply the gift card and let it sit as a credit. I was told it is because they are unable to refund back any unused monies to the GC.

Based on my recent experience with this at CSR, I would recommend simply using the GC as payment until it runs out, then start charging stuff to your room. Using a GC for tips is no harder than charging them to the room. And every time you use a GC, the receipt will tell you your remaining balance, which is handy.

[missastrocat]

Great question and thanks for the answers! I had the same question, but of course I only thought of it right before I leave...

We have a lot of gift cards saved up and wanted to know the best way to use them. I think I'll be doing a little of both suggestions and use them for tips/misc. stuff until they run out and/or pay off some of the charges to our room mid-week.

Thanks again!

Laura