Cabana Bay - $100 per night charged to credit card?

[Carah]

" they place a $100 hold per day of your stay on your credit card for "incidentals" and they place the hold right away. This should be made very clear when booking because a lot of families are just affording this Disney/universal vacation and will have a large hold placed on their card and may not have that space or may need the money to spend. You have a credit card on file so I don't understand the immediate $100/day hold."

This is a quote that I just read from a review on tripadvisor, I have booked a 14 night stay for October, surely this could not mean that I need to have a spare $1,400 on my card?! I assume this is just badly worded, but can somebody who has stayed clarify? Thanks!

 

[GAcoaster]

That's not uncommon for a hotel to place a hold on your credit card for room charges. It's part of the agreement when you boo a reservation and when you sign the paperwork at check-in. In fact most places have a sign at the front desk warning you that if you are using your debit card it will put a hold on the money in your bank account.

Check your reservation fine print to be sure...

 

[Carah]

That's not uncommon for a hotel to place a hold on your credit card for room charges. It's part of the agreement when you boo a reservation and when you sign the paperwork at check-in. In fact most places have a sign at the front desk warning you that if you are using your debit card it will put a hold on the money in your bank account.

Check your reservation fine print to be sure...

I booked through a 3rd party for flights and accomm as coming from Ireland, but this is my 3rd year in a row coming over and neither of the other hotels I stayed at did this! Sure, they swiped the card at check in but didn't freeze my account so to speak!

 

[GAcoaster]

I have a feeling this is a case of someone using their bank debit card as a credit card. Using a standard credit card doesn't usually do the same thing because there is protection for the seller from the credit card company, where the bank card puts a freeze on the cash. I would call the hotel and verify, but you should be OK.

 

[Carah]

Yes, I have emailed them, just anxiously awaiting their response :-X Thank you for getting back to me

 

[Octobers Fade]

I have never had a hotel do this and I always pay with a debit card, never happened at Uni when I stayed at the other hotels either

 

[Dancapt]

It probably has more to do with Resort Wide charging privileges than just staying there.

 

[Drew]

All of the on-site hotels have this, but you can refuse it.

They ask for a card on file, but if you tell them you don't want a hold put on, that you are going to disable charging items to your room and so on, they won't charge you. I did this last year at the Hard Rock and had no issues whatsoever.

 

[Jakemeister]

This really isn't that out-landish of behavior for the hospitality industry. From what everyone is saying the person more than likely had a debit card on file instead of a credit card, but had room charging enabled. Nobody in the industry is charging $100 a night for incidentals (pre-paid) for the length of your stay. They would be pricing themselves out of the market.

 

[sierrak5]

At the Swan & Dolphin we do the $100 authorization at check-in. Additional holds are only taken if you do any room charging. The computer is basically making sure you have enough funds available to pay.

This practice is stated in the reservation confirmation; people tend to not read it though. Just avoid using a debit card because that definitely is a hassle.

 

[Nitro_230]

I've had it done at Disney, Universal, and several big chain hotels. Gas stations even do it. Most for $1, but I've seen some that go $50, $80 or even $100.

 

[Carah]

Got an email back from them, its optional for if you want to use charging privledges, if you dont wish to avail of this you just tell them at check in... thanks for all your responses

 

[martymcflyy85]

Even though you can opt out...is it still 100 PER NIGHT???? or 100 total?

 

[Carah]

Just noticed how I spelled privileges in that last message, apologies :-X

Even though you can opt out...is it still 100 PER NIGHT???? or 100 total?

Here is a post of my email thread with them;

Hi,

I have booked a 14 night stay in your hotel from 18th Oct - Nov 1st.

I have just been on tripadvisor where I read a review which states that there is a $100 per night charge put to your credit card for incidentals. My understanding of this is that I will be charged an extra $1400 to my card, $100 daily, which will then be refunded upon check out. Is this correct?

I have never heard of this before, I travel to Florida almost annually and this has never been the case in any other hotel. Of course, they will swipe my card in case of any incidentals and to charge any room service accrued, but certainly not charge my card then reimburse if they deem it appropriate. There is absolutely no way that would be possible for me, so I will have to cancel if this is the case, which I hope not. Looking forward to your clarification,

Kind Regards,
Carah

Reply 1:
Good Afternoon,

Thank you for contacting the Cabana Bay Beach Resort customer service team! We do place a $100/night authorization on your credit card, should you choose to authorize for incidentals (charging to the room of any kind). This is just an authorization that is taken, not a charge to your account. This authorization is released upon checkout, when the final charge is applied to your account. This is fairly standard hotel practice to secure credit and ensure that there are funds available for spending. This is not something you are required to do, but it is necessary should you choose to utilize your room keys to make purchases.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions!

Thank you,

The Cabana Bay Beach Resort Customer Service Team

My response back:

Hi,

Thank you for your prompt reply!

Yes, I have had had my card swiped upon check-in before, but thankfully my misunderstanding (and panic!) is due to a poorly worded tripadvisor review. So just to clarify, this is optional, if I do not wish to use room service, merchandise charging to room etc. (which I don't) I am not required to do so, and no "hold" of $100 daily will be put on my funds?

Thanks again, looking forward to our trip!

Kind Regards,
Carah

And final response which clarified once and for all:

Hello again Ms. Doherty! J

Yes, this is optional. Be sure to mention to the check-in agent that you do NOT want us to authorize for charging to the room.

We certainly look forward to having you stay with us! Safe travels, we’ll see you in October!

Have a swell day,

The Cabana Bay Beach Resort Customer Service Team

It is $100 dollar "hold" per night, but is not required unless you specify,

 

[Jymmymack]

This is very common folks. Every hotel I've stayed at for the last 5+ years does this.

 

[rhino4evr]

I've heard of a $100 hold, but not per night. 14 days at Universal? Wow.

 

[martymcflyy85]

Yeah, same here. I understand a 100 dollar hold, but not a 100 per night. That's 700 dollars for a week stay and 1400 for 2 weeks.

 

[freediverdude]

They used to do $200 per night at the 3 deluxes way back when (they were doing this in 2007 because it happened to me). But more recently the past couple of years they haven't placed a hold unless I specifically asked for charging privileges, and then they negotiated with me for how much. Like last year I checked in, and then went to the parks and tried to charge something and it was turned off. Turns out they hadn't taken a hold, and hadn't given me charging privileges unless I asked. They've had problems in the past about the charging privileges, like a glitch if your check-in credit card wasn't the same as the one you used to make the reservation deposit. I've been through all sorts of stuff with that, so I don't bother with using it much, lol.

 

[freediverdude]

Oh, and also about the response from Cabana Bay about the authorization being released upon checkout...LOL I highly doubt that, if my experiences at the other 3 resorts are any indication. If you go to the front desk to check out, they almost always ask for your credit card again, and do a new swipe for the incidental charges during your stay (it seems it's easier for the desk clerks, or they don't know how to do it via the original authorization), and then the original authorization stays on there until it drops off several days after you check out. Thinking about it, this probably also protects the hotel in case they find the room heavily damaged or something, but most likely it's just laziness and easier to swipe your card again, hehe. I've even specifically asked the clerk one time if they could put through my incidental charges as the real charge on the original authorization and then the authorization would come off, and of course he just said happily, "Can I have your card please?!" and swiped it again and voila new charge and authorization still there after checkout.

 

[IzzyB]

Yeah I know every hotel I stay at takes my credit card and swipes it at check in and check out. I don't really care, I am one of those people that pay off my credit card every month, so it would take a lot for me to come close to maxing it out. I think it is interesting that this made it into a review. Probably still working out the bugs of doing it with everyone vs only doing it when people ask to charge to the room. But then again I have never had a hotel not default to allowing to charge to the room it was standard to allow charging and you would have to ask for it not to be there. So maybe these people just don't travel a lot.