Prepay stay? But complicated

[jaceraden]

I booked 2 suites for 2 weeks and secured them with one night deposit for each. One room is for my Sister's family.

What I'm wondering is if I can pay for my room prior to our trip to free up my CC limit for the trip. And then my Sister can pay for her room upon arrival per her preference?

I know I can call but it's a pain when I'm working, etc. so I thought I'd check here first.

 

[georgina]

I booked 2 suites for 2 weeks and secured them with one night deposit for each. One room is for my Sister's family.

What I'm wondering is if I can pay for my room prior to our trip to free up my CC limit for the trip. And then my Sister can pay for her room upon arrival per her preference?

I know I can call but it's a pain when I'm working, etc. so I thought I'd check here first.

As far as I know, you can't prepay over the phone. People have reported getting an emailed credit card authorization form which they filled out and faxed back. Are both rooms on one reservation? Not sure if they have a chat feature, you may have to call to request the form, if they are together and you can prepay for just one this way I don't really know. Possibly you can just pre-authorize the amount of your room, I would ask.

You probably don't want to go this route for a 2 week stay, but I sometimes order Universal gift cards online and use them to pay off my room when I arrive.

 

[mspencer]

What if you prepay your credit card a month in advance and have a "credit" on the card for when you charge it once you get there.

 

[jaceraden]

What if you prepay your credit card a month in advance and have a "credit" on the card for when you charge it once you get there.

I've never thought of this before. It makes me a little nervous but I'm game. Have you done this?

 

[Jamie77]

OMG. I just went through this for the second time in three months. Took several tries to get an answer from my bank as to why my debit card kept getting denied for full payment. Turns out, it was a problem on Loews' end. So what happened was:

I filled out a credit card authorization form last Friday to pay with my debit card. They said they'd process it that day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday goes by and nothing.

Called today around 11am and was told they'd run my card through immediately. Got a text saying that they tried to run the card and payment didn't go through due to insufficient funds. They had tried to pay the remaining balance with an old card I had on file. Apparently, they never even looked at the credit card authorization form with the correct card info on it. They then tried the correct card. It still wouldn't go through.

Called the bank and they couldn't do anything because the problem was on Sapphire Falls' end. So, I transferred the balance from my bank account onto another card (CashApp). I was sent another authorization form and put in this new information. Got to the end of the process and Sapphire Falls' system froze! The rep on the other end had to shut his system down and restart it. Finally, everything worked out.

Be careful. The left hand never knows what the right is doing with the Loews properties and this time they tried to charge me $600 for incidentals along with my balance. Make sure you stay on top of the people at the front desk.

It's a good thing the first card didn't work because I'd have to wait a few days to get my money back for being charged for incidentals. I had to go through this headache back in September after a prepaid trip (Portofino Bay) and coming home to a $362 charge on my card because of a rate change during my visit. Mind you, the balance was zero before I got there but they insisted I put a card on file although I declined the daily incidental fees. They said they wouldn't charge me anything. I don't charge anything to my room and I keep it as nice as I found it so I refuse to pay for something I don't use. But they still managed to charge me after the fact the difference between the prepaid rate and an updated rate. We'll see what kind of shenanigans they come up with on Saturday when I get there. They love to bait and switch.

 

[georgina]

I've never had a rate change after I had a confirmed reservation and paid my 1 night deposit, that sounds strange. The confirmation I print out has the rate, my deposit, and how much remaining balance is owed.

Nor sure what you mean by daily incidental fees.

I used to prepay my Disney trips because I could do it with gift cards over the phone, at Universal I just make them run my gift cards when I check in.

 

[Jamie77]

I've never had a rate change after I had a confirmed reservation and paid my 1 night deposit, that sounds strange. The confirmation I print out has the rate, my deposit, and how much remaining balance is owed.

Nor sure what you mean by daily incidental fees.

I used to prepay my Disney trips because I could do it with gift cards over the phone, at Universal I just make them run my gift cards when I check in.

Sapphire Falls charges $100 per day for incidentals. Portofino Bay charges $200 a day for incidentals. I don't know the charges per night for the other high end resorts. These are done in the event someone breaks something in the room or charges things to the room. You can opt out of this daily charge but you may need to stay on top of them. I always opt out.

Universal does things a lot different than Disney. If you stay at a Loews property like Hard Rock, Portofino Bay, Royal Pacific, Sapphire Falls, etc. you cannot just pay on your hotel stay incrementally as you would a Disney hotel or any other hotel chain. You have to fill out a credit card authorization form to pay it in full. Either that or you arrive at your hotel having to pay the entire balance for your stay. I do not use gift cards.

What you said about having a confirmed reservation and not having a rate change is normally correct. However, like I mentioned in my previous post, the reservations department does not communicate well with each other so wires were crossed and I was charged after I returned home for the difference between the old rate and new rate. This was not supposed to happen as my rate was locked in and the balance was entirely paid two months before I arrived. If fact, I was called to the front desk about having a balance on my account and when I showed them the paid invoice (which I had to keep asking for) they agreed I didn't need to pay anything more. The Portofino Bay staff messed up. This is not standard. They just don't pay attention to details. The reservations staff needs to be retrained because they are doing sloppy work. You have to keep calling them to get things done correctly. Too many eyes were looking at my account and the last person changed my portfolio information AFTER I got home and charged me four days later.

 

[georgina]

So you are talking about a hold on your card for charges, not an actual charge. Disney does that too I hear. I have stayed at many Universal resorts and never been charged for anything extra. If there was a hold it fell off, they don't show up on my credit card account. I don't use debit cards though, that could be the difference. I don't keep a card on file for room charging privileges.

 

[Jamie77]

Yes, a hold. However, they were actually charging me. If you do online check-in, you will be charged between $100-200 a day depending on where you stay. I've never had Disney put a hold on my card. I'm at Universal for the week right now and so far everything's been smooth sailing. I was only charged a $1.00 hold. I guess they have to charge something.

 

[starry_solo]

Not sure how much of a credit card limit you have on your card, but why not pay it off a week or so before you arrive at USO? Then stop using it until you get there so you have no balance on the card

 

[C&Jx2]

I never seem to have an issue prepaying . I've done it three years in a row.

 

[jaceraden]

Not sure how much of a credit card limit you have on your card, but why not pay it off a week or so before you arrive at USO? Then stop using it until you get there so you have no balance on the card

Low limit card - I'm not American so my US card is low. A 2 week stay will eat up most of my limit even with the zero balance to start.

 

[jaceraden]

I never seem to have an issue prepaying . I've done it three years in a row.

My Sister will be paying for half the reservation - I booked 2 rooms for both our families. I would like to pay my half ahead of time to have room on my low limit US card for our 2 week trip.