Is there a disadvantage to paying off room only reservation upfront?

[TW22]

I have a room only reservation for September. I paid the deposit when I booked and the balance is due when we arrive. However, that money is just sitting in my account. Can I go ahead and pay off the balance due now? If I do that, can I get my money back if we would have to cancel for some reason? I'm planning to pay with Target gift cards if that makes a difference.

 

[ErinsMommy]

Personally I like to go to Disney knowing its all paid in full -- plus in the past, I've had gift cards whether Amex or Visa, and for some reason they didn't work at the front desk for hotel charges; but worked in the gift shop. So with that said, I would pay it off now so if that issue happens to you as well, its a non issue since its already paid in full.

 

[PerfessorZ]

I have a room only reservation for September. I paid the deposit when I booked and the balance is due when we arrive. However, that money is just sitting in my account. Can I go ahead and pay off the balance due now? If I do that, can I get my money back if we would have to cancel for some reason? I'm planning to pay with Target gift cards if that makes a difference.

Pretty sure Disney won’t take Target gift cards. If that money is sitting in an account, it’s earning interest, yes? And it’s liquid, too. If you had a major emergency and needed it, it’s there. Getting your refund back from Disney would take a bit.

 

[AngiTN]

I have a room only reservation for September. I paid the deposit when I booked and the balance is due when we arrive. However, that money is just sitting in my account. Can I go ahead and pay off the balance due now? If I do that, can I get my money back if we would have to cancel for some reason? I'm planning to pay with Target gift cards if that makes a difference.

If you mean Disney gift cards bought from Target the only disadvantage is you MUST keep every card in case of cancelation as they will process the refund back to that individual card so you'll need it to in order to use the funds in the future.
If you actually mean Target gift cards, then I'm not sure what you mean because Disney won't take a Target gift card.

 

[TW22]

Sorry- I meant Disney gift cards purchased from Target. I was apparently typing faster than my brain was working . Thanks for the replies. It sounds like it will be a better idea to keep that money in my account until closer to the trip.

 

[AngiTN]

Sorry- I meant Disney gift cards purchased from Target. I was apparently typing faster than my brain was working . Thanks for the replies. It sounds like it will be a better idea to keep that money in my account until closer to the trip.

I'm just glad to hear I'm not the only one that suffers that affliction LOL

 

[buzznina]

We first combine our GCs using the disney giftcard site. Then we always PIF before check-in day because if you have a CC on file, when you made your reservation, it will be charged as soon as the system rolls over for that day. So, then you would have to have the CM credit your CC for you to pay it off using the GCs.

 

[writerguyfl]

If that money is sitting in an account, it’s earning interest, yes?

According to BankRate.com, the average interest rate for a savings account is 0.10%. Let's say that TW22 is taking a deluxe vacation and spending $5,000. The total interest earned between now and September on that money is $1.64.

Everyone is a different. Personally, I'd pay off the balance in advance. Knowing everything is paid for prior to arrival means one less thing to worry about. Having that peace-of-mind is worth far more to me than $1.64.

Interest Rate Source: https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/
Interest Earning Calculator: http://www4.bmo.com/cgi-bin/termInv...&termLengthDays=120&termLengthYears=&x=26&y=6

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I like waiting until the end to pay, but I'm not normally paying with rewards or gift cards. Rewards are one thing, but I like my vacation funds to be a bit more liquid in case "life" happens. While I've found 2-4 days to be the norm, Disney usually says it's something like 7-10 days for refunds to go through. So, I keep my vacation funds in a savings account (which earns me next to nothing) until the very end just in case I need to cancel and use that $ for some kind of emergency situation.

 

[DLgal]

According to BankRate.com, the average interest rate for a savings account is 0.10%. Let's say that TW22 is taking a deluxe vacation and spending $5,000. The total interest earned between now and September on that money is $1.64.

Everyone is a different. Personally, I'd pay off the balance in advance. Knowing everything is paid for prior to arrival means one less thing to worry about. Having that peace-of-mind is worth far more to me than $1.64.

Interest Rate Source: https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/
Interest Earning Calculator: http://www4.bmo.com/cgi-bin/termInv...&termLengthDays=120&termLengthYears=&x=26&y=6

Unless the money is in a high yield savings account, like Ally, earning 2%. Then she is losing about $10/month.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

I pay our room off long before we go. That way it is one less charge to deal with. I also buy DGC's to pay off charges on our band.

 

[Lehuaann]

I prefer to hold onto my money for as long as I can. Also, we may want to change to a package.

 

[Dashzap]

Can I go ahead and pay off the balance due now? If I do that, can I get my money back if we would have to cancel for some reason?

Yes, so long as you cancel by 5 days before your arrival day, you get all your money back provided it is a room-only reservation with a 12 digit confirmation number. (Some people think they have a room-only reservation but actually have a basic package consisting of only a room and with a 8 digit confirmation number...in which case you have to cancel by 30 days before arrival to get your money back.)

 

[PerfessorZ]

According to BankRate.com, the average interest rate for a savings account is 0.10%. Let's say that TW22 is taking a deluxe vacation and spending $5,000. The total interest earned between now and September on that money is $1.64.

Everyone is a different. Personally, I'd pay off the balance in advance. Knowing everything is paid for prior to arrival means one less thing to worry about. Having that peace-of-mind is worth far more to me than $1.64.

Interest Rate Source: https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/
Interest Earning Calculator: http://www4.bmo.com/cgi-bin/termInv...&termLengthDays=120&termLengthYears=&x=26&y=6

As another posted pointed out, there are plenty of ways to earn more than 2% on that money without doing anything fancy.

I don’t understand how giving Disney the money early gives you peace of mind while keeping it your own savings account doesn’t. Do you think Disney will give your reservation to someone else if you don’t pay early? Or perhaps you’re a compulsive gambler or shopper. If so, ok, I could see the benefit to tying your money up where you can’t get to it.

Lastly, you completely ignore the potential of an unforeseen expenditure. If you had to carry a balance on your credit card due to an unfortunate life event, you’re now paying 18ish percent on your vacation package money. That adds up real fast.

 

[pixiedustedme]

As another posted pointed out, there are plenty of ways to earn more than 2% on that money without doing anything fancy.

I don’t understand how giving Disney the money early gives you peace of mind while keeping it your own savings account doesn’t. Do you think Disney will give your reservation to someone else if you don’t pay early? Or perhaps you’re a compulsive gambler or shopper. If so, ok, I could see the benefit to tying your money up where you can’t get to it.

Lastly, you completely ignore the potential of an unforeseen expenditure. If you had to carry a balance on your credit card due to an unfortunate life event, you’re now paying 18ish percent on your vacation package money. That adds up real fast.

Peace of mind is knowing it's paid for. There's nothing confusing about that. Plus, paying it off early makes it feel almost free when the time comes to enjoy it. That's a psychological perk.

It can actually take longer to get your money out of a special high-yield savings account and into your regular checking account than to get your refund from Disney. They're pretty quick with refunds in my experience.

 

[wed100105]

Peace of mind is knowing it's paid for. There's nothing confusing about that. Plus, paying it off early makes it feel almost free when the time comes to enjoy it. That's a psychological perk.

It can actually take longer to get your money out of a special high-yield savings account and into your regular checking account than to get your refund from Disney. They're pretty quick with refunds in my experience.

This is how I feel, too. I totally understand that there is an equally justifiable line of reasoning to pay later. However, I am enjoying planning my vacation knowing it’s paid in full. I used different discounts to purchase Disney gift cards and saved well over what I would have made in interest in a bank. It was peace of mind knowing that they were in Disney’s system in case of fire or fraud. OP I highly recommend at least using Disney’s gift card manager website to combine cards before your trip. Sometimes gift cards aren’t activated, and it’s much easier to handle that at home than standing at the front desk.

 

[sbprincess]

So, not exactly what you’re asking about, but your question made me think of our recent experience. I’m not sure if this is common, but it’s what happened to us in December (2018). We had a room only reservation at Yacht Club and had only paid the deposit. Didn’t really think about paying off the balance prior to arrival and honestly didn’t know it was an option to call for it. We arrived kind of late on check in day, and had noted it on the reservation (8ish pm). I had expected a text all afternoon on the drive down with our room number since we had done online check in. Having not gotten before we arrived, I went to the front desk to ask. They said it was because we hadn’t authorized payment of the balance. I don’t recall this having happened in the past, and we haven’t booked a package in forever. I wasn’t upset, just slightly perplexed and annoyed that I had to take the time to stop for it. This experience will cause me to always call at least several days ahead to pay off the balance before we arrive.

 

[kylenne]

there are plenty of ways to earn more than 2% on that money without doing anything fancy.

I don’t understand how giving Disney the money early gives you peace of mind while keeping it your own savings account doesn’t. Do you think Disney will give your reservation to someone else if you don’t pay early? Or perhaps you’re a compulsive gambler or shopper. If so, ok, I could see the benefit to tying your money up where you can’t get to it.

Lastly, you completely ignore the potential of an unforeseen expenditure. If you had to carry a balance on your credit card due to an unfortunate life event, you’re now paying 18ish percent on your vacation package money. That adds up real fast.

I buy Disney GCs from BJs at a 5% discount (specifically the $100 denomination, it’s their biggest discount). Depending on which credit card I use for the purchase, I can usually get anywhere from 2.5 to 5% cash back on those GCs; warehouse clubs are a frequent bonus category with the revolving cash back cards. Sometimes I can get even more, if I can stack it with eBates/Rakuten (Chase’s portal doesn’t always play nicely with it though). Considering I almost always stay Deluxe, that’s a not insignificant chunk of change on top of the already discounted agency exclusive rates I pay for rooms. Much more so than any online savings account could give me in interest. Believe me, I had two of them when you could actually call them high yield.

I also have an entirely separate emergency card and fund that never get touched, ftr. I pay into 401k, my pension, etc. Vacation funds are my play money. Play money I can easily afford to have tied up, by design.

Bottom line is that people are different, and human psychology when it comes to spending is very complex and not something to be underestimated even if it personally doesn’t make sense to you. Disney pours a lot of money into marketing research studying it, even.

 

[AngiTN]

So, not exactly what you’re asking about, but your question made me think of our recent experience. I’m not sure if this is common, but it’s what happened to us in December (2018). We had a room only reservation at Yacht Club and had only paid the deposit. Didn’t really think about paying off the balance prior to arrival and honestly didn’t know it was an option to call for it. We arrived kind of late on check in day, and had noted it on the reservation (8ish pm). I had expected a text all afternoon on the drive down with our room number since we had done online check in. Having not gotten before we arrived, I went to the front desk to ask. They said it was because we hadn’t authorized payment of the balance. I don’t recall this having happened in the past, and we haven’t booked a package in forever. I wasn’t upset, just slightly perplexed and annoyed that I had to take the time to stop for it. This experience will cause me to always call at least several days ahead to pay off the balance before we arrive.

I've had that happen a lot with our room only stays
It's glitchy MDE. Of course you give them the card at check out
You aren't even supposed to have to do anything else to pay off the room balance
That's supposed to happen based on the check out when you book
Doesn't have anything to do with online check in since that is for charging while there
But some how the wires can get crossed and the card for room payment gets dropped off
There no harm really, they don't drop your reservation. I guess they realize it's their system glitch or something
But yeah it's annoying to stop when you are tired from traveling

 

[bumbershoot]

It can actually take longer to get your money out of a special high-yield savings account and into your regular checking account than to get your refund from Disney.

Ally bank uses Zelle. Get your other account set up with Zelle and have them connected, and it’s immediate. Better yet have an ally debit card and you’re golden.

We arrived kind of late on check in day, and had noted it on the reservation (8ish pm). I had expected a text all afternoon on the drive down with our room number since we had done online check in.

Online checkin doesn’t guarantee room ready text. I literally got my first RR text in february for my *second* checkin of the trip, and I’ve been doing online checkin for forever, and quite a few times since RR texts became a thing.

They said it was because we hadn’t authorized payment of the balance.

Naw. They lied. They like taking whatever outlier reason there is to blame not getting a RR text. Not sure why “it’s not an absolute” is so hard for them to say, but it’s the truth.

What’s fun is when you don’t get the text and go to the front desk and everything is absolutely golden otherwise with nothing else to blame it on. THAT is when you hear that they aren’t absolute.

That's supposed to happen based on the check out when you book
Doesn't have anything to do with online check in since that is for charging while there

Online checkin NOW sets up the charging account.

But not last year when her trip was. The card given during online checkin last year did set up the card that they would charge the rest to.

No one has to check out, so there’s no card normally given at check out.