Scared this would happen

[Mynamewastaken]

I booked through Orbitz for our upcoming trip and then read this review on trip advisor...

Beautiful place... Great views. But... Be aware if you don't book directly with the hotel you will not get treated as well!! We had 2 rooms and one was for 1 night, the other for 3 night. We wanted the water view for the three nights but the desk clerk called someplace and found we had booked thru Orbitz instead of thru Disney and they then wouldn't give us the water view room!! Shocking after we are already checked into it and moved in.

The hotel is beautiful ,otherwise.... And ya know, come to find out ,the water view rooms are very noisy with all the boardwalk people partying into the wee hours outside your windows



Luckily, my BWI is still through Disney but my POR one is through Orbitz. Glad I stuck with Disney for the BWI. Hope I get a nice room~~

 

[MADnNOLA]

I think I would take this review with a grain of salt.

Having worked in the hotel industry for several years, no hotel would treat a guest differently because they booked with a travel agent (Orbitz, Travelocity, AAA, etc) or directly with a the hotel. I have a feeling that the reviewer had not booked a water view room through Orbitz, and thought it would be the same price as a standard view.

Most hotels will list the lowest price rooms (ie Standard View) with on-line sites to help fill up the hotel during slow periods.

Sounds like to me the front desk CM made a mistake in placing them in the wrong room, and tried to correct it after the fact.

I would not worry about this.

PS - there is no "calling someplace and finding out . . ." Where/How you booked your reservation is on the reservation screen on the computer.

 

[msjprincess]

They paid for a water view room and the CM wouldn't give it to them because they booked through Orbitz?

 

[dfarner]

I think I would take this review with a grain of salt.

Having worked in the hotel industry for several years, no hotel would treat a guest differently because they booked with a travel agent (Orbitz, Travelocity, AAA, etc) or directly with a the hotel. I have a feeling that the reviewer had not booked a water view room through Orbitz, and thought it would be the same price as a standard view.

Most hotels will list the lowest price rooms (ie Standard View) with on-line sites to help fill up the hotel during slow periods.

Sounds like to me the front desk CM made a mistake in placing them in the wrong room, and tried to correct it after the fact.

I would not worry about this.

PS - there is no "calling someplace and finding out . . ." Where/How you booked your reservation is on the reservation screen on the computer.

I agree...I have booked rooms thru Travelocity, Expedia, and Priceline before. We have never been treated any differently than when we've booked directly through Marriott, Disney, etc....You will be placed in a room that you've paid for, regardless of the means by which you booked the room.

 

[smitch425]

My guess is that person booked something incorrectly and tried to correct it on the spot and Disney couldn't help them. I would not worry about it at all.

 

[gwynne]

I booked through Orbitz for our upcoming trip and then read this review on trip advisor...

Beautiful place... Great views. But... Be aware if you don't book directly with the hotel you will not get treated as well!! We had 2 rooms and one was for 1 night, the other for 3 night. We wanted the water view for the three nights but the desk clerk called someplace and found we had booked thru Orbitz instead of thru Disney and they then wouldn't give us the water view room!! Shocking after we are already checked into it and moved in.

The hotel is beautiful ,otherwise.... And ya know, come to find out ,the water view rooms are very noisy with all the boardwalk people partying into the wee hours outside your windows

Luckily, my BWI is still through Disney but my POR one is through Orbitz. Glad I stuck with Disney for the BWI. Hope I get a nice room~~

I rarely find tripadvisor helpful or accurate. That said, where is it noted in the "review" that the unhappy tourists paid for a water view room, but were denied it?
If they had paid for a water view, and it was unavailable, Disney would have refunded them the difference, whether they booked from a net travel site, Travel Agency, or Disney directly.

Unlike the trip advisor "expert", I have stayed at BWI more than a few times. I have nearly always had a boardwalk view. It's not noisy "into the wee hours."

BWI is a lovely resort. If you want a water view, it's a bookable category.

 

[mickeynut1]

I think I would take this review with a grain of salt.

PS - there is no "calling someplace and finding out . . ."

I agree .

 

[TaraPA]

I'm guessing that person booked a stadard room thru Orbitz & asked for a free upgrade to water view upon arrival, which wasn't available no matter how they booked (Orbitz, TA or Disney). You can't expect to get something for nothing! I know many people who book thru 3rd party sites like Orbitz & none of them have ever been treated any differently than those that booked direct thru Disney. I think that poster just had a miscommunication & didn't understand that you have to pay for the different view categories at BWI.

 

[tobikaye]

We had 2 rooms and one was for 1 night, the other for 3 night.

I think this was 2 separate reservations: 1 For 1 night and 1 for 3 nights.

We wanted the water view for the three nights but the desk clerk called someplace and found we had booked thru Orbitz instead of thru Disney and they then wouldn't give us the water view room!! Shocking after we are already checked into it and moved in.

My guess is that the 1 night reservation was when they were placed in the water view and were hoping that since they were already in that room that WDW would not move them. It is more likely to be upgraded, requesedt or not, on a 1 night stay than additional days.

This is really no different than people booking direct through WDW with 2 different reservations and hoping to stay in the same room. Sometimes they will be able to stay, but there are times they are moved, especially if the longer stay was at a lower rate than the shorter stay.

I doubt that booking through Orbitz had anything to do with not being able to keep the room. Most likely, it was due to not having that room open for the entire time of the second reservation.

 

[Mamasmurf227]

I agree with the previous posters. The person probably booked a room not realizing there were different booking categories. Wanting a water view is not that same thing as booking/paying for a water view. I wouldn't worry for one second about it. Have a magical trip!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

And another example of why Disney should NOT be a hotel management company.

I won't stand for that type of nonsense and if they actually said that to me I would ask for a manager.

Now you are not automatically entitled to an upgrade, but if a desk clerk ever said to me "well if you had not booked via a TA you would get one" the FIT would have been heard all over the hotel

If they don't want to treat me as well as the next guest they will hear about it...

That entire statement would have made me so mad that I would have pitched a fit. (I once let a manager of a Sheraton have it over a subpar room that he gave me because 'you booked on Priceline' My statement was "you sold the room, it was suppose to meet the hotel standard this one doesn't, you admit it and I want a room that meets your standard" He caved!

Regardless of what happened the fact that it seem the OP was told it was because she booked via Orbitz was just plain WRONG!

 

[gwynne]

And another example of why Disney should NOT be a hotel management company.

I won't stand for that type of nonsense and if they actually said that to me I would ask for a manager.

Now you are not automatically entitled to an upgrade, but if a desk clerk ever said to me "well if you had not booked via a TA you would get one" the FIT would have been heard all over the hotel

If they don't want to treat me as well as the next guest they will hear about it...

That entire statement would have made me so mad that I would have pitched a fit. (I once let a manager of a Sheraton have it over a subpar room that he gave me because 'you booked on Priceline' My statement was "you sold the room, it was suppose to meet the hotel standard this one doesn't, you admit it and I want a room that meets your standard" He caved!

Regardless of what happened the fact that it seem the OP was told it was because she booked via Orbitz was just plain WRONG!

Sigh...The OP posted a "review" from some person (not them) that they got from Trip Advisor. I guess you can get as mad as you want, but Disney is not obligated to gift upgrade rooms just for the asking.

Water views at BWI are more expensive, period.

Just for the record, I hopped over to Trip Advisor and found the review. There is nothing in it that states the "reviewer" booked and paid for a water view.
The person has a grand total of two reviews there, one negative review for BWI, and another negative review for the Magic Kingdom.

I think this whole kerfuffle is much ado about absolutely nothing.

 

[smitch425]

And another example of why Disney should NOT be a hotel management company.

I won't stand for that type of nonsense and if they actually said that to me I would ask for a manager.

Now you are not automatically entitled to an upgrade, but if a desk clerk ever said to me "well if you had not booked via a TA you would get one" the FIT would have been heard all over the hotel

If they don't want to treat me as well as the next guest they will hear about it...

That entire statement would have made me so mad that I would have pitched a fit. (I once let a manager of a Sheraton have it over a subpar room that he gave me because 'you booked on Priceline' My statement was "you sold the room, it was suppose to meet the hotel standard this one doesn't, you admit it and I want a room that meets your standard" He caved!

Regardless of what happened the fact that it seem the OP was told it was because she booked via Orbitz was just plain WRONG!

The conversation between the reviewer and the CM may have included the word Orbitz, but for all we know, the CM could have said "I see you booked a standard room through Orbitz. I'm sorry, but there are no water view rooms are available." It is likely that the CM tried to change the reservation for them and could not find a room. Otherwise, who would the CM have called? This sound like a case of a guest not knowing what was feasible in terms of booking one thing and trying to get something else instead. Disney could care less who you book through. You are still booked in their hotel and spending a small fortune at their business.

 

[Timmbco]

I generally don't book through a third party but I did once because the price was too good to pass up. I booked through Orbitz at Wilderness Lodge and I couldn't believe it but we were upgraded to a suite!! It was only for one night but it was an awesome surprise since it included club level amenities.

 

[Pakey]

The review may have been correct.

I once booked a club level room through Expedia for YC. When we got to YC, they had our reservation in the system as a regular room. I had my printout from Expedia showing that it was a club level room. However, what Expedia had transmitted to Disney was a regular room.

I was getting nowhere with the front desk staff at YC. I asked for a manager. The manager told me that they couldn't do anything; I had to resolve it with Expedia.

I got on the phone with Expedia and they said they would get it fixed. The YC Manager then asked if I wanted to be moved to BC club level because they didn't have any club level rooms available. I said no, I don't like BC club level (which I don't).

Finally we were checked in to a club level room at YC. The entire process ate up 3 hours on the start of our vacation.

I don't blame WDW; Expedia made the error. Still, it was frustrating and I will not book through them again. The little bit of money I saved wasn't worth the hassle it took to get what I paid for.

 

[nkereina]

I also have worked in the hotel industry and it's no skin off the front desk clerk's nose where the guest booked. The hotel manager might care since web sites like Orbitz and Expedia get a kick back, but it's certainly beyond the front desk employees' pay grades to think/worry about that. No money out of their paycheck!

 

[spiceycat]

Finally we were checked in to a club level room at YC. The entire process ate up 3 hours on the start of our vacation.

I don't blame WDW;

don't count on it - used dvc points to stay at Yc - ONCE - they told me did not have a room. they refused to contact DVC - so I did. DVC called them - since the cm would not talk to them on my phone.

It took w/DVC help about 45 minutes to fix it.

really think it is YC with the problem.

 

[bumbershoot]

I rarely find tripadvisor helpful or accurate. That said, where is it noted in the "review" that the unhappy tourists paid for a water view room, but were denied it?

Ooh, good call. "Wanted" is not the same as "booked and paid for".



DH books through hotels.com all the time, and a few times he's been given a subpar room. but most of the time those rooms have something actually wrong with them (a/c being broken in summer, for instance), to the point where he has to move, and they've always moved him. It's like they try to do something but quickly reverse it.

That has never happened with Disney, though.



But at least with hotels.com, it comes by FAX. They couldn't find our reservation at an offsite Disneyland hotel once, and then remembered that they hadn't checked their fax machine yet. Went there, found it. Still couldn't get us checked in because hotels just gets ONE name, and that name wasn't mine. FIRST time EVER that's happened (all other hotels have dealt with it just fine), so I had to contact DH (who was traveling separately), he had to contact hotels, they had to send another fax to change the reservation name, and THEN I got into our room, LOL.

But I digress. I can't remember who hotels is linked up with, but it's one of the bigger named ones, and if hotels has to fax the others might have to fax, too. And then if it's taken from fax to computer, there's more than a couple steps in there for human error to step in.....

 

[maxiesmom]

The review may have been correct.

I once booked a club level room through Expedia for YC. When we got to YC, they had our reservation in the system as a regular room. I had my printout from Expedia showing that it was a club level room. However, what Expedia had transmitted to Disney was a regular room.

I was getting nowhere with the front desk staff at YC. I asked for a manager. The manager told me that they couldn't do anything; I had to resolve it with Expedia.

I got on the phone with Expedia and they said they would get it fixed. The YC Manager then asked if I wanted to be moved to BC club level because they didn't have any club level rooms available. I said no, I don't like BC club level (which I don't).

Finally we were checked in to a club level room at YC. The entire process ate up 3 hours on the start of our vacation.

I don't blame WDW; Expedia made the error. Still, it was frustrating and I will not book through them again. The little bit of money I saved wasn't worth the hassle it took to get what I paid for.

Ehhh. I've booked through Disney and had them tell me I had only booked a standard room when I had booked a preferred room. Mix ups sometimes happen.

 

[gogo]

I rarely find tripadvisor helpful or accurate. That said, where is it noted in the "review" that the unhappy tourists paid for a water view room, but were denied it?
If they had paid for a water view, and it was unavailable, Disney would have refunded them the difference, whether they booked from a net travel site, Travel Agency, or Disney directly.

Unlike the trip advisor "expert", I have stayed at BWI more than a few times. I have nearly always had a boardwalk view. It's not noisy "into the wee hours."

BWI is a lovely resort. If you want a water view, it's a bookable category.

I take issue with the comment about finding trip advisor unhelpful or inaccurate. Of course, that is your opinion. But, I post a lot on trip advisor and I like to follow and post on the dis. Trip advisor reviewers are not exclusively bound to only post on the TA site. I've read outrageous posts here on the dis but common sense should prevail. Any public forum will have a wide variety of opinions and people who just like to stir the pot (on trip advisor and the dis)

I've gotten a lot of helpful information on the dis but I have to admit some of the posts here are like watching a train wreck. You don't want to look but sometimes can't help yourself