Avoiding incidentals holds

I know people seem to get frustrated with these types of questions..so please bear with me! I've never been to a hotel that holds money on a CC before, and am trying to avoid it if at all possible as I have a very low limit on my CC. I am planning to pay for the hotel and resort fees in cash. Can I do this at check-in (will definitely not be getting anything comped at check-out), to avoid a hold on the credit card? I am staying at the MGM for 10 nights. If I do not want to charge to my room (paying for everything in cash as I go), will they have a problem with eliminating the hold? Even holding on a debit card would put a dent into my spending money for the trip.
Also, I want to order a room service breakfast once during the trip. Can I pay for this with cash as well, or do I absolutely require a CC for this?

PS: I know some will say "call the hotel and find out for yourself" and I did, but only got the generic $300/stay hold answer, so am looking for personal experiences with this, and the degree of flexibility the resort has with the holds.

Thanks!

 

this part definitely requires being able to charge to your room. The room service staff cannot accept cash payments. The gratuity and tax are automatically added to the bill, then you just sign the check (to your room).

 

When I checked into the MGM in Dec 2011 I asked if they could set it so that I couldn't charge to my room and they said no problem. Never did get a hold on my debit card.
Last weekend at the Monte Carlo, I didn't even have to ask, she said to call down if I want them to set it up to charge to my room.
Last weekend at Mandalay Bay, when checking in I had to ask them to put a hold on my debit card so I could charge stuff to my room while at the pool. Did this after dealing with the pool at MC and trying to carry cash while at the pool (pain in the ass).

Like alot of stuff in Vegas it seems to vary depending on who is on the other side of the counter.

 

When checking in you can just say you don't want the ability to charge to room and they won't charge you a credit card hold.

However, room service requires the ability to charge to room, as does using any food/beverage comps. So you wouldn't be able to do your room service breakfast and if your reservation comes with a $xx resort credit you wouldn't be able to use that either.

I've never tried it with MGM properties, but CET properties will let you leave a cash deposit on the room... I would presume that MGM properties would do that as well.

And not being able to do room service isn't that bad
If you think food at the coffee shop is expensive...

 

Room service is $$$ don't remember where were staying but a fifth of Crown Royal was $260. They don't want you eating or drinking in that room. Get down to the casino floor

 

the room service was going to be for my birthday breakfast, as I've never had the pleasure of having room service before. I thought it might be a special touch..and kind of had my mind set on it..but now it might not be possible?

Any other suggestions? The plan was to have an early breakfast (6-7am - from the East coast), and to be in the room for 6:30am. This is going to sound silly to some, but I have a tradition with my dad, where every birthday he calls me at exactly the time I was born and sings to me (6:31 am Vegas time, 10:31 back home), and I don't want to ruin that tradition by having breakfast elsewhere.

Would it be possible to have a cash deposit that would be close to the expected amount for the room service so we could order it still without other funds being tied up?

 

Not sure about the cash deposit.
Is this a solo trip? if not send who you're traveling with down with a breakfast order as part of a birthday gift

 

That is very cute.

 

honestly, I understand times are tough for a lot of people and there's no shame in that. but if your funds are really tight enough that a $300 deposit is going to change your trip, I don't understand how you can afford to be going on an expensive vacation. Vegas is an expensive city and you have to be spending thousands for plane tickets, 10 nights hotel, food, gambling, etc. I don't understand the idea of someone going on vacation with their entire savings. what happens if an emergency comes up?

 

To be fair, depending on the hotel policies, it could wind up being significantly more than $300. She mentioned being at MGM for 10 days; I'm pretty sure on my last trip to Mandalay, which was only 3 nights, there was an authorization on my card for well north of $600, and I could imagine it being quite a bit more for a 10 day trip. And as far as the emergency issue, I could see where someone was in a position where they would have money to take care of unexpected expenses, but for the fact that the hotel is hanging on to hundreds of dollars. But I agree in principle with what you're saying; if you can't afford it, then you need to expect to be a bit more limited (i.e., no room service if you're insistent on not letting them do a hold for incidentals).

 

what if the hotel your at doesnt offer room service, like the Elara?

 

OK, can I ask a really dumb question? Thanks. How come I never see CC holds when we travel? I don't camp out on our account, have you, but I've just never, ever seen a hold or a release. Gotta be something with the provider, no?

 

It's possible that 1) you just didn't check, or 2) your CC company doesn't show pending transactions. Those are the only things I can think of. The way it usually works is that I'll show a pending transaction for whatever the amount of the hold is (e.g., "MANDALAY BAY ROOM RESERVATIONS -- $600") and a corresponding reduction in my available limit. Then, a few days later, that charge will just drop off, and it'll be like it was never there in the first place; there's generally no record of it that's available to you after-the-fact.

 

Of course, no after-the-fact record. I've just never been live and seen anything of the sort.

 

I never actually see anything on my account, either online or phoning in, that is or says it is a hold.

Instead what I will see is my account saying something like:

Credit Limit: $1,000
Current Balance: $250
Available Credit: $150

That would be an example with a $600 hold, where the credit just isn't available for me to use.

 

When I inquired about the charge they said it was not only to cover potential charges to the room but also damage and if items in the room are missing.
If this is the case then saying you aren't going to charge to the room shouldn't matter as they would still charge the card.

Also from what I vaguely remember, the charges don't actually get applied, they remain "pending". Not sure if that makes a difference or not.

 

The first several years we traveled to Vegas we didn't even own one credit card. Most of the time we just told them that we didn't want to charge to the room.

The only place that gave us a really hard time was TI, right after they left the MGM group and we were forced to put down a chunk of our bankroll as a deposit (this was after we'd already stayed there once with no problem) or they wouldn't check us in! It was unexpected but at least we went home with that $300 in tact and it didn't get left in the slot machines

I'd rather not give one of our cards now, as we pay everything during our trip in cash....too tempting to run up that bill with food or gift shop charges just because it's there! But we bring one just in case it's necessary.

Just be extra nice to the agent that checks you in...and they'll probably just let you go without one.

 

With so many rewards CCs out there now, it's really just leaving money on the table to pay cash rather than putting everything on a card. Of course, this requires some self control but so does Vegas in general.

 

I've never seen it either. I travel a lot (some years 100+ nights in hotels) and I check my credit card statements online a couple of times a month. Have never, ever once seen anything like this from a hotel. Sometimes I see a $1 "pending charge" from a gas station or airline but never a hotel.

 

I completely see how you could arrive at this based on what I wrote. Basically, I want access to all of my money, and where I can't use a cc, that means taking a portion of my spending money (read: shopping money), and making it non-accessible. Will $300 break me? No. Will it be more than a small inconvenience? Yes.

One question though..if I were to put a $300 cash deposit down, and then charge to the room from shops at MGM properties (still shopping) could I 'use up' that $300, thus allowing me to still spend the money, just in a different way (by charging it to the room with the deposit to cover it instead of using upfront cash)? Or would the deposit need to keep increasing to always be at $300?

As I'm sure you can all tell I am a total newbie to all this, so I greatly appreciate all of your insight and advice. Thanks for the patience with these questions.