cm said I cannot change my stay

[Happy99]

I had the same thing happen to me this morning. We booked a bounce back in January for September. I booked a room and my mom booked a room at FQ for 8 nights. I called today to change my mom's reservation to 4 nights and was also told new rule was just put in place. She did say that she could change it to 5 nights but that the computer would not let her change it to 4 nights. She also said that she could change reservation to POR and do only 4 nights. She said that it was due to FQ being sold out. I understand that we are booked under special offer but when you look on line there is availbility in all room categories. I told her not to make any changes that I would talk with my mom and call back.

Happy99 do you mind sharing what resort you are staying at?

I think I still have the brochure from the room that has the bounce back offer in it. But pretty sure it doesn't say anything about no modifications. I'm going to call back back and ask for supervisor.

We are at Animal Kingdom Lodge

 

[TallyTutter]

We have a stay for November for 8 nights. We finally go around to doing flights and due to cost of flights we decided to stay a couple of nights less. When I called to change my reservation to 6 nights the person I spoke to said that the room category we are in is not available for the shorter say and I cannot change my reservation. When I questioned her about it, told I have done this multiple times in the past, she said it is a new policy. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor. The supervisor said that because it has to do with my flight change she could make an exception but it is a new policy and the room category you are in has to be available even if you are removing nights Or the option is to change the room to what is available. i.e, if you have standard view but only water view is available you would have to change to that

I am in shock, 15 years going to Disney and never heard of this. They did say this is a new policy as of this week, but I can't for the life of me figure out how they can tell you it isn't there when you had the nights to begin with and just removing a day or two.

Can anyone share any information on this?

Thanks

This just happened to me also, in fact I just got off the phone! I made the reservation Tuesday night, 5 nights @ the ASM with the Florida Resident discount. Family issues now have us leaving a day later so I called to bring it down to 4 nights. After a very long wait I was told that if I deleted the first night my price for the remaining 4 nights would go from $99 to $160 a night just because I made the change. The CM couldn't have been nicer & you could hear it in her voice that she didn't really want to tell me this bad news. I told her that I was not advised of this when we booked & the page advertising the Fl Resident discount said that the minimum stay was 1 night & maximum stay was 14 nights so I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was put on hold for about another 5 minutes & she finally came back to say that they had been able to change it for me. I thanked her, told her it wasn't her fault & that I appreciated her sticking up for me. She received very good scores in her survey!

My husband would have had a fit & we would be staying in the Holiday Inn. I know that sounds spoiled but we just have gotten through paying all the graduation fees & charges for my daughter to graduate & it hasn't been cheap. On the other side of this summer we have college. $160 a night was not in the plans!

 

[mommyrosa2]

It's still unusual when you're just removing days, not changing them around. If you've got the room for 7 days you would logically be able to just remove two nights and stay 5.

I completely agree it is unusual. That's exactly what we tried to do last year when we were originally booked for 8 days and I tried to change it to 7 and was told no availability at our original resort.

 

[HopperFan]

Without knowing which days in November OP is deleting and which they are trying to keep, it's hard to hazard a guess, but Disney did not tell OP that she could not delete nights - they told her the policy was that to do so the remaining nights had to still be available in her category and in his/her case they weren't.
Simplistically it would seem that since OP had 8 nights and now wants only 6, those nights are available plus two extra. But, the business perspective is a bit more complicated - the question is can we sell those suddenly free two nights or are we more likely to sell them as part of a longer stay? If selling a longer stay is easier than selling 2 orphan nights, then it makes business sense to not allow a system that creates a lot of orphan nights.
Many tourist destinations mandate that you book 2 or 3 night stays and don't allow 1 night only bookings, for example, because demand is so high if they allow one night only booking they've blocked people from booking longer stays and thus lost revenue. Likewise, Disney charges more for weekend nights, so may chose to require a weekend stay for certain category rooms during high demand times.
At least OP got lucky and got to delete the nights despite the policy change, undoubtedly because the policy is so new - but something to consider going forward.

Makes sense. What has been happening to me lately in trying to book online is I can't find what I want but I can find the room I want for the days I want as long as I added some before or after. So I know those days are available but they won't let me book them unless I agree to book extra nights. It's like a giant puzzle and I will try every which way to work around it but it won't let me. BUT if I move to another category, sometimes I can get those dates. I think that with technology and computers the system can now be written to try to fill every single room without tiny gaps or those rooms may sit unused. Lost money.

I've run into this on some theater bookings where you can pick your seats. It would be common for folks to book their seats with one seat between them and the next sold out seats. This pretty much guarantees that seat will remain empty, room for coats or whatever. Now many of the booking systems won't let you do that forcing you to move down the row or pick another row. Again, lost money to them.

Not talking about the OP but as with anything at Disney am sure folks will try to get around this by booking the longer trip and then later drop those extra nights. Not surprised if there is a new policy.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Seems to me Disney might just be better off charging a change fee. If you drop nights you pay $25 per night dropped so that if they don't sell the room, they at least make money. If they do sell the room then they come out smelling like a rose. I am sure they could figure out the meeting point.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

It's such a bummer. OP, just happened to me too on a Room Only Florida Resident Discount reservation. We happened to have a last minute Little League game rescheduled the day we arrive, and now my DS8 will have to miss that game because I cannot change a thing on our rooms. We are stuck without completely cancelling.

 

[aaarcher86]

Seems like this policy would lead to more cancellations since it's frequently raising the price.

 

[maxiesmom]

Seems like this policy would lead to more cancellations since it's frequently raising the price.

Probably. I wonder if part of their goal is to keep people from booking when they are not sure they are taking a trip. Maybe they are thinking they want the rooms available for booking for people who are sure they are taking a trip? I wonder what the percentages are for people who book under a discount, and then cancel or switch resorts or add/subtract days?

I'm trying to figure out what they gain from this that is worth the anger of a lot of guests.

 

[JJsmama]

Could this change have to do with all the people booking fake reservations for FP purposes?

 

[maxiesmom]

Could this change have to do with all the people booking fake reservations for FP purposes?

Could be. I also was wondering about all of the people that book in the hopes of Free Dining coming out. Take last year, for example. Sooo many posters booked at POR in anticipation of Free Dining. I wonder how many cancelled after it wasn't offered for that resort.

 

[Astylla]

I see both sides as a guest and a company standpoint. On one hand I don't personally have an issue with someone wanting/needing to change their reservation to less days without penalty , however I do think in some cases some people do book things in preparation for discounts , free dining , etc. and I feel that can be unfair to those that would go no matter what. I think something has to give - and maybe this is a better solution than not being able to apply a discount to a booked travel reservation at all which they could also pull at anytime at their discretion. I do feel the majority of people who want to change their dates do it as a need , not a want - but some might have taken advantage of it in the past.
It could very well be to deter from split stays - especially since for example a promotion comes out but only 4 days available at AKL but vacation is 7 days to they book 3 days at GF but then call back and 7 days open up at AKL.., etc.

It's a no win situation honestly because if they don't implement policies based on changing needs then eventually people will book constantly and possibly cancel leaving them no fill rooms that could have been otherwise.
Disney first and foremost is a business - regardless of any emotional attachment. Change isn't always perfect , it's not always what we want but we do have choices who we give our money to and if it does not suit our needs we are welcome to seek out alternatives. I realize this isn't what people want to hear but I would suggest giving constructive feedback in email if it is of concern. It might not change the world but at least it's a step.

 

[maxiesmom]

There is another thread about this, and a poster wondered if the cause was people booking longer dates than they truly plan on staying on site, in order to gain the advantage with FP+ and for making ADRs. That does make sense.

 

[ariane37]

There is another thread about this, and a poster wondered if the cause was people booking longer dates than they truly plan on staying on site, in order to gain the advantage with FP+ and for making ADRs. That does make sense.

Just read both threads on this issue and the above reasoning seems to make the most sense IDK just seems weird. As far as I can remember we've always booked our flights before our resort (never done a BB) so we've never had to tweak dates, but that's not to say it can't happen. I guess it'll just force more guests to wait until discounts come out to book, or wait until their preferred airline releases fares until they book, rather than making their resort/package choices first.

The other point that seems possibly valid is one made by a pp about theatre seats - people purposely leaving an empty seat between their party and other parties. Could be that a few fragmented nights here and there are hard for Disney to book?? But what do I know lol Sorry all you guys this is affecting now, hope they at least publish the new terms soon.

 

[jaccceee]

Looks like Bounce backs are going the way of the Southwest Ding!.
Guests will have to buy airline tickets while still on vacation and have kids school schedule. I booked BB in November and then Expedia had the same price as BB + $200 off if I use my Discover. Cancelled BB and paid $438 for 5 nights All Star Sports preferred for this April 14-19(Spring break!). So it certainly wasn't as good as it used to be.

When I booked my Bounce back on 4/19/15, she said something different than usual about there cancellation policy. i asked her about 4 times to elaborate so i could understand if there was a policy change or just a wording of policy change. I asked what she meant by pricing could change if I cancelled or added days. She just reading/saying the same thing about pricing could change. She couldn't answer how though. When I finally gave her a multiple choice (1) lose my BB pricing or (2) pay less because I was staying less. She said something like, I guess, stay less pay less . Yeah, Lets go with that.

 

[DebbieB]

People have posted this situation before. For example, I can get a discount if I book 6 nights but not 4. People will post back, book the 6 nights and then call to cancel 2. Now, this has caught up.

 

[kungaloosh22]

Seems like this policy would lead to more cancellations since it's frequently raising the price.

It will on our end. We probably have to drop 3 nights from our September trip (will know in a couple weeks). This is for personal reasons and has absolutely nothing to do with making ADRs or fast passes or any of that. If I have to then pay rack rate for the first 4 nights that we'd otherwise want to keep, then I'll just say forget it and drop the whole reservation. I love Disney resorts, but there are other great options!

 

[TallyTutter]

There is another thread about this, and a poster wondered if the cause was people booking longer dates than they truly plan on staying on site, in order to gain the advantage with FP+ and for making ADRs. That does make sense.

That's exactly what the cast member I spoke with said. She was reading from her computer that this policy was now being enforced by the software (and it couldn't be overridden by the CM) because people would book extra days to get X & then cancel the days later. When I originally booked they told me about the cancel 5 day before check-in rule but never mentioned anything about a new cancellation policy or that it was now being enforced.

I feel bad, I think some cast members are going to take some big hits in their after the call surveys. I made sure that I told my CM that I knew it wasn't her fault & that I appreciated her putting in the extra work for me with her supervisors to ensure that I could keep my rates & I reflected that in my survey.

 

[Happy99]

Could this change have to do with all the people booking fake reservations for FP purposes?

This would be so easily solved. You cancel your Disney reservation it automatically cancels your dining reservations. if you are still going by staying offsite you have to "redo" your dining reservations. That would have been a much simpler solution to this particular problem. they do this with fast passes if the reservation is cancelled their fast passes and magic band orders cancel

 

[dizzyinwdw]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the implementation of being able to modify your reservation online. I easily modified days to my ressies last year when calling (add or subtracting--yes, I usually book a BB/FD package then switch dates after I book airfare, etc--not for FP+ or ADR advantages...). I was actually told for my December '14 FD package to book maximum days covering the period I might fly out because it was easier to drop than add to a ressie, by more than one CM!!! I noticed for my upcoming May trip (room only reservation) that as of few days ago I can no longer find ANYTHING but more expensive resorts/rooms for my 3 day stay, when only right after I had the modify ressie feature showing up on my resort reservation that there pretty much all resorts except Poly were available with my discount offer. Now I am kicking myself for not switching when I could. If I go and book 6 days or longer for the same time frame I can find a room at any resort with the same discount I have for the 3 days that include my dates (in the middle or at the beg or end of our stay) but NOT the 3 days--so I am thinking not that the hotels are full or the discounted rooms are gone so close to May. Also, it will not let me change my dates online (it says I need to call), which initially I could do with my reservation online but not anymore.

I'm really worried about the BB I booked for Nov which I haven't booked airfare for yet....ugh.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That really stinks, and there really is no reason to not allow you to do that when the rooms ARE obviously available, and there's been no discount applied. Disney's reservation policy is very strange, however: There have been many times I have looked for a reservation and find nothing available, only to play around with EXTENDING the dates by a day before or a day later (or both), and then availability shows up. It would make sense if I were cutting days off, but it doesn't make sense when you extend days on.

Maybe the change is to prevent this not unusual booking strategy?