Aulani - Credit card charges?

[Tink1987]

Hi all,

We will be heading to Aulani next month for part of our honeymoon trip. I just wanted to check regarding possible credit card charges.

Is it like all other hotels you stay in where they ask for a credit card and put a hold on it for incidentals or is it like the WDW resorts where you can charge to your room key and they then charge the credit card on hold every few days when it gets up to a certain amount?

Thanks everyone!

 

[DenLo]

At WDW they actually don't charge the CC until you reach $1500 in charges.

Aulani allows charges just like WDW, we often used our room key for food and drinks at the pool or when dining at the restaurants, but I do not know what at what point that Aulani will automatically charge the credit card. I would call the resort and ask them.

 

[erionm]

At WDW they actually don't charge the CC until you reach $1500 in charges.

The limit for WDW Deluxe Resorts (including DVC) has been increased to $2000.

 

[Tink1987]

At WDW they actually don't charge the CC until you reach $1500 in charges.

Aulani allows charges just like WDW, we often used our room key for food and drinks at the pool or when dining at the restaurants, but I do not know what at what point that Aulani will automatically charge the credit card. I would call the resort and ask them.

That's how I meant it, just didn't explain it correctly!

Thanks for the info - I will email Aulani now.

 

[silvaohana808]

The front desk will actually give you a courtesy call when you're nearing your credit limit or over your credit limit.

 

[DenLo]

The front desk will actually give you a courtesy call when you're nearing your credit limit or over your credit limit.

Whoops, that is exactly how it is done at WDW as well. It's good to know that they will do the same thing at Aulani. Do you know what the credit limit is for Aulani?

 

[AZMermaid]

The front desk will actually give you a courtesy call when you're nearing your credit limit or over your credit limit.

We were not called. I can't remember what the limit was... But $1500 feels right. This was in June. We went down to pay it down with gift cards and found our card had already been run. It worked out okay... We just used the gift cards to pay for everything from then on, buy we were surprised!

 

[freediverdude]

Maybe I should have started a new thread for this, but was also wondering if they do it the same way at VGC, or are the Disneyland hotels done differently.

 

[OroDisney16]

Maybe I should have started a new thread for this, but was also wondering if they do it the same way at VGC, or are the Disneyland hotels done differently.

At the Disneyland Hotels. Your card is linked in real time to your account plus $100 cushion. So for example, when ou check in you get a $100 hold. Then you go to a restaurant and spend $200. Your card is automatically authorized unlike WDW. This causes the inconvenience of a security block because imagine 20 separate authorizations.

 

[freediverdude]

At the Disneyland Hotels. Your card is linked in real time to your account plus $100 cushion. So for example, when ou check in you get a $100 hold. Then you go to a restaurant and spend $200. Your card is automatically authorized unlike WDW. This causes the inconvenience of a security block because imagine 20 separate authorizations.

Thank you! It sounds like it's better to mostly use your own card and let the bank know where you are, instead of the room charging then. That sort of setup can become a nightmare with tons of little charges and authorizations both going through.

 

[disneynutz]

We were not called. I can't remember what the limit was... But $1500 feels right. This was in June. We went down to pay it down with gift cards and found our card had already been run. It worked out okay... We just used the gift cards to pay for everything from then on, buy we were surprised!

We have never been called and I can confirm that per Disney management the limit was raised at the deluxe resorts to $2000 due to the prices increasing.

Bill

 

[Anal Annie]

We have never been called and I can confirm that per Disney management the limit was raised at the deluxe resorts to $2000 due to the prices increasing.

Bill

We've also never been called before when we max out (we don't usually max out tho). I typically go down to the front desk and apply gift cards a day or so before our last day and one time we lost track of our spending and hit the $1,500 (old limit) and they charged our card on file. We don't normally spend $1,500 on each trip but we went a little crazy on that one because it was the one where we had to cancel DL & Aulani 8 days out due to a medical emergency with our DS - so I guess we sort of pretended like we were entitled to spend more or something since we had to cancel Aulani. I know that might not make sense - but we were just relieved to have our son recover and that we were able to switch the entire trip to WDW at the last minute and salvage it somehow. Guess it was a mental thing. ANYWAY, I came down one day too late and was surprised to find that out that we'd already spent that much and it was a total MESS to have them reverse it and re-apply the balance with the gift cards. They did it but took a managers approval and a lot of time...lesson learned. I keep better track of our receipts now and I don't ever wait for the last day to check our balance.

Sad that prices have risen so much that they raised the charging limit by $500. It DOES seem like we spend more each time we go - I used to know how much we'd spend but this last trip in January we spent more than I anticipated for 6 days. I had enough in gift cards to cover it but not by much. I have to buy & stash more and more gift cards for each trip. (And the more trips we take per year the harder that is to accomplish.)