"Disney Resorts" charges not getting counted as travel charges (for CC rewards)

[Helene_C]

Not sure if this is the right board, but I have a Citi-issued credit card with 3% cash back for restaurants and travel. However, my charges from "Disney Resorts" (a prepaid dining reservation) are not getting the cash back because that merchant is coded as "Merchandise" in the Citi system.
Has anyone had luck getting charges from Disney Resorts reclassified? I'm about to have a whole lot of restaurant charges at WDW and would like my 3% rebate... I could try to do the whole Disney GC/Target 5% thing but I would really rather not deal with that.

 

[Judique]

If you are talking about the $10 per person to hold the ADR, then that is how it will code, but when you get there, you can charge your meals to your room and then pay with your Citi card and it should code as travel.

 

[Texans_loyal]

If you are talking about the $10 per person to hold the ADR, then that is how it will code, but when you get there, you can charge your meals to your room and then pay with your Citi card and it should code as travel.

Will this also work with merchandise/purchases made with magic band?

 

[afan]

Will this also work with merchandise/purchases made with magic band?

Yes. Anything that's charged back to the room and is then charged by the hotel to your card codes as travel. It's only seen as one large resort purchase rather than what each individual charge is to the card issuer.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

It will code as travel if the hotel front desk runs the transaction. I suppose another win for MB and "on-site".

 

[DLgal]

Prepaid dining reservations are considered "special events" type things. They don't code as dining or travel. But once you get to WDW, anything charged to your room will post as "travel."

 

[gottalovepluto]

Pre-paid dining may say "Disney Resort" but it does not code the same as "Disney Resort" charge you get from your hotel room or package, it's an other/merchandise/misc type charge not travel. My pre-paid dining (safari dinner at AKL) charge also coded as 1x on my CSR last year (to my disappointment!) because Disney does not code it as a travel or dining type charge. This isn't something you can get changed. How a charges are coded are up to Disney and is WAY above the pay-grade of anybody you can talk to at Disney. Idk about Citi but Chase firmly sticks to whatever coding the merchant has in place and will not award points if the merchant has it categorized as something else (rightly or wrongly, doesn't matter).

Where you need to be careful is if you are refunded! I cancelled our safari dinner last year and re-booked, refunds are issued by a different division of "Disney Resorts" so the charge gave me 1x points but the refund resulted in a subtraction of 3x points. Chase credited me the point difference when I messaged them but I believe it's because different divisions of "Disney Resorts" code charges differently.

Everything (food, merchandise, tickets) charged to your hotel room will code as 3x because it is all lumped into one charge by Disney at the end of your trip as "travel".

This is a good time to remind people that if they purchase tickets directly from Disney they usually code at 1x, similar to this pre-paid dining example. If you want them to code at 3x use a travel supplier or have them charged as a part of your room (idk on the logistics of that as I always get my tickets ahead of my trips).

 

[gottalovepluto]

...I'm about to have a whole lot of restaurant charges at WDW and would like my 3% rebate... I could try to do the whole Disney GC/Target 5% thing but I would really rather not deal with that.

Are you talking about pre-paid dining charges or actual charges incurred physically at the restaurants? Because actual charges at the restaurant might code as dining, idk about wdw but disneyland restaurants code as dining when you make charges in person.

 

[dina444444]

Are you talking about pre-paid dining charges or actual charges incurred physically at the restaurants? Because actual charges at the restaurant might code as dining, idk about wdw but disneyland restaurants code as dining when you make charges in person.

WDW restaurants including the booths at the Epcot festivals code as either restaurants or fast food and at least on my Costco Citi card I’ve always received the 3% cash back.

 

[mistysue]

I stopped using my card that did higher %'s on categories because they wouldn't count disney as travel. Yes, that included actual hotel charges. I called the card and they acknowledged that their system simply coded Disney as merchandise and they would not change it. So while it has certainly worked for others, I wouldn't be terribly shocked if they simply keep brushing you off when you call.