Paying in advance for hotel

[lynnfitz]

Hi, just thought I'd let people who are interested, in the past if I wanted to pay my hotel balance at one of the Universal hotels prior to our arrival, you would have to fax a completed form with ID and copy of CC back to Universal. The other day I called, and now they email you a form, and you complete the form and email it back. It's a little bit easier! I also wanted to mention, the customer service was great- my bank blocked the first charge thinking it was fraud. Universal emailed me right away about it. I then called Universal to let them know i spoke to the bank and it was ok to process. The rep was very nice, processed it right away-I then left a voicemail in their billing dept. asking for a receipt, and sure enough they emailed me a receipt showing the zero balance.
What a pleasure to deal with!

 

[macraven]

Instead of me using the fax route this time, I am using gift cards to pay off the remainder of my bill when I check in.

I used a cc that gave additional points for using them to buy gift cards.

I ordered the gc for the amount of my balance directly through UO.

I recieved the mailer two days from date of ordering them.

 

[georgina]

I'm uncomfortable emailing a credit card number, it seems silly to me that they wouldn't just take a CC number over the phone like they do for the deposit, but I too am a devotee of gift cards.

 

[macraven]

Well, they won’t accept an email with the info
That is what I was told and they only accept a fax

They fax you info and you acknowledge it
Then you fax the info and both sides of your cc to one person that handles the info

Like I said above, gc will be best for me to use and pay the bill in full when I check in

 

[theterms]

I'm uncomfortable emailing a credit card number, it seems silly to me that they wouldn't just take a CC number over the phone like they do for the deposit, but I too am a devotee of gift cards.

I prepaid my October reservation in advance for the first time, and the paperwork was all done through a secure server called Sertifi. I also thought about the gift cards option as well.

 

[macraven]

The big plus for me was the points I received on my Amex cc when buying the gc

Getting the points in advanced helped for using them for my flight booking

 

[Bethany10]

I'm assuming that when you check in they are still ok with you telling them no charging to the room and NOT providing a credit card for that purpose? Basically, pre-pay for the room then not giving them any additional funds at check in? This is a continual fight (for me, I think I have a hotel target on my back) it feels like whenever I specifically say turn this off they smile, nod and put a hold on my card anyways.

 

[macraven]

From my experience, I was told the past 4 visits, I needed to put a cc down in case I had incidentals charged back to the room.
I signed a paper to decline allowing charge back to the room and did not have to put the cc down.

I paid the entire stay when I checked in.




I have been paying the entire bill off in advance and some policies have changed over the years.



Last year I started using the gift cards.
I buy them in advance and at check in time, have them applied to my account.
My room is paid for in advance for the entire stay.

I use different credit cards for different reasons and would use them on the last day of my vacation instead of charging back to my room.

 

[lynnfitz]

I was thinking for next year to do the gift card route for the hotel. Now I buy one before we head down, and use it for our food.

 

[georgina]

There are definite benefits. My local grocery store sells gift cards (6% back on AmEx for grocery purchases) plus gives fuel rewards. When they are offering a special double fuel rewards I can get $12 of free gas for every $100 GC, so combined with the AmEx benefits is 18% discount. When I get Disney GC I can combine them online into fewer cards, but Giant Eagle only has $100 Universal ones, so I am going with a huge stack at Thanksgiving.

 

[lynnfitz]

Very creative! For me, it's mostly how we are use to budgeting for the trip-I go down knowing the hotels are paid for, tickets in hand, spending money set aside-the only item that goes on the credit card is the rental car. Everyone is different, but I just like going away knowing everything is paid for.