cm said I cannot change my stay

[Ceryssa]

I wasn't sure how our plans were going to come together, so booked an extra 2 nights to cover all the eventualities. I hadn't heard about this and never imagined it would be a problem since it never has been in the past. It was a room only reservation, so no minimum night stay requirements. They told my TA they couldn't take the 2 nights off my reservation. That's total baloney. Fortunately we were able to completely rebook but we ended up with a different view (pool view instead of river view). That makes zero sense since the nights I was cancelling just went pack into the pool..

This was my first thought. If you're booked for 7 nights and want to go for 5, and they tell you that you can't, what's to stop you from cancelling and rebooking? Or are they going to tell someone wanting a new reservation you can't book for 5 nights, only for 7? That's absurd. I've been banging the "onsite only" drum for a while now, but my husband would flat out refuse to go if they told us we are required to go for a certain length of time. He'd cancel in a heartbeat and either stay somewhere else (which is his preference anyway) or we just wouldn't go.

There is actually another thread active right now about the exact same topic (http://disboards.com/threads/has-anyone-else-been-told-this.3403073/), as I explained in my post on that thread, this is likely due to a minimum length of stay restriction, this is common in the hotel industry, not just Disney, what appears to have happened is that Disney has just recently jumped on board with the rest of the industry, my guess would be due to excessive amount of changes and cancellations that were resulting in lost occupancy and profits over shoulder dates.

Minimum nights' stay makes total sense. But there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why they're saying no, there doesn't seem to be a firm "you have to stay X many nights" policy. Just that you can't remove days from your trip.

 

[cakebaker]

If you're booked for 7 nights and want to go for 5, and they tell you that you can't, what's to stop you from cancelling and rebooking?

Not a thing, as long as there is availability. However, if you had booked at a discount and that discount was no longer in effect, you'd lose that savings.

 

[maxiesmom]

Not a thing, as long as there is availability. However, if you had booked at a discount and that discount was no longer in effect, you'd lose that savings.

This is kind of the point. You can cancel, no one will stop you. However, if you had a pin code and it has expired, or free dining and it is no longer being offered, you won't get it applied to your new reservation.

 

[Ceryssa]

Not a thing, as long as there is availability.

Which is why it makes no sense to me that you wouldn't be able to shorten an existing reservation. The discount part I get, but reservations booked at rack rate??

 

[maxiesmom]

It is probably much easier to have a blanket rule, then it is to make exceptions.

 

[jaccceee]

Which is why it makes no sense to me that you wouldn't be able to shorten an existing reservation. The discount part I get, but reservations booked at rack rate??

Is this happening to rack rate room only stays?

 

[izzylovesmickey]

I will confess that I booked a 6 night stay in December because even when calling, they could not book a 5 night stay. I needed the 5 nights because of flights, so I just told them after we had been there that we would be checking out early. I hated to do it that way, but circumstances left me little choice. Front desk had no problem with it. I booked a bounce back for 3 nights during that trip and recently cancelled the last night (again due to flights) and when I called I specifically asked if there was a length of stay requirement. I was told there was not and it was changed with no problem. I was cancelling 4 months before our reservation and right before the summer discounts came out. I know when we tried to book 1 night at Universal last summer I could not book just one night. Our travel agent was able to get it for us though.

 

[mom2rtk]

Not a thing, as long as there is availability. However, if you had booked at a discount and that discount was no longer in effect, you'd lose that savings.

Actually we were booked under the spring discount and were able to book under that same deal even though it is expired. We just had to change from river view to pool view.

 

[cakebaker]

Which is why it makes no sense to me that you wouldn't be able to shorten an existing reservation. The discount part I get, but reservations booked at rack rate??

It's just a change in procedure at that point I would assume. Rather than shorten, they just re-book. If there's availability, it's not a problem. I'm sure it's simply easier to have 1 way to do every booking.

 

[cakebaker]

Actually we were booked under the spring discount and were able to book under that same deal even though it is expired. We just had to change from river view to pool view.

I have no personal experience with this new policy. I was speaking using the conditions given by the OP. I can't begin to explain why yours worked the way it did.

 

[mom2rtk]

Not sure about the DL side of things and if this change will affect that, but last year I had a terrible time booking the night of 12/6 even at full regular price at the Paradise Pier Hotel. From very early on in the game it came up as not available. Finally someone on the DL board figured out for me that if we backed our check in date up to 11/30 instead of 12/6 it magically became available. So we booked 11/30 to our departure date of 12/14 then cancelled 11/30 to 12/5. It was the only way to be able to stay onsite, even at full rack rate.

I'm afraid now to see what I'll have to do to get what I want this year. If I had a clue what our dates are going to be I'd go ahead and book. But there's no point when it will likely change anyway.

 

[Ceryssa]

Is this happening to rack rate room only stays?

According to the OP their trip was booked at rack rate. Don't know about the room-only part.

 

[gwynne]

It is probably much easier to have a blanket rule, then it is to make exceptions.

It sort of appears to me that maybe WDW is more interested in locals/folks within driving distance than folks who need to fly in. That's ok, it's similar to the business model that Great Wolf Lodge locations work under.
WDW can't expect folks to book ages in advance and then be able to work out airfare easily. For every person that needs to drop a day, there are also people that need to add one. It doesn't just go one direction, to the negative. But, it's becoming annoying. That is something I don't need in a vacation destination.

 

[jmkjr72]

It sort of appears to me that maybe WDW is more interested in locals/folks within driving distance than folks who need to fly in. That's ok, it's similar to the business model that Great Wolf Lodge locations work under.
WDW can't expect folks to book ages in advance and then be able to work out airfare easily. For every person that needs to drop a day, there are also people that need to add one. It doesn't just go one direction, to the negative. But, it's becoming annoying. That is something I don't need in a vacation destination.

Why is it Disney's fault that you decided that air fare is too expensive on the day you planed to travel
we have booked long before air fare is out every time and if there aren't any deals on flights we have to suck it up and pay the extra

If it boils down to an air fare deal wait to book your room till you find out what the air fare is

And it's not just disney that has this policy it's universal and many other large destination

For every one who complains about something as trivial as this on a board there are 100s that are doing it and can cause a logistical nightmare along with loss of revenue for disney or where ever you are traveling too

The closer it gets to the travel dates the harder it is to fill the rooms heck that one day or two days that you booked 6 months ago that some one else couldn't get to fit there vacation just cost disney that income
heck do you think it's fair to the family who lost out on that room rate knew they could only travel fro this day to that day and either didn't take the vacation or cut there vacation short because you wanted to make sure that you could make it fit the best air fare
or more then likely what's happening is abuse of the fp+ and 180+ adr days

On top of that the program for reservations needs to be more complex to consider the reservation they are working with as available dates of stay

 

[Disneylover99]

If it boils down to an air fare deal wait to book your room till you find out what the air fare is

Airfare is just one aspect. People are also dealing with vacation days from work, family obligations, and a variety of other issues that crop up in life. If Disney wants to change/enforce their cancellation policies, then they need to be upfront from the get go, or expect backlash.

 

[mom2rtk]

Airfare is just one aspect. People are also dealing with vacation days from work, family obligations, and a variety of other issues that crop off in life. If Disney wants to change/enforce their cancellation policies, then they need to be upfront from the get go, or expect backlash.

Agreed. Disney wants people to plan 6 months out, but lots of people can't do that. They don't have work and school schedules available to fully commit.

I assume DLR uses the same reservation system so probably will have the same change in policy, but at least it's a whole lot easier to plan things last minute there.

I wonder if part of this is about people seeing all the changes at WDW and deciding to lop off part of their Disney stay to go try out Universal.

 

[catflorida]

It is hard to know the real reasons for the crack down. I sense an abuse of the system somewhere and Disney has to crack down somehow. I always assumed that Disney could always fill rooms last minute, but maybe not. I stay at two small resorts here in South Florida and there are no cancellations or adjustments within 60 days or deposit is forfeited because the resorts are too small to deal with changes. It could be that Disney is a very big expensive vacation and people do need to plan way ahead for a week and Disney is indeed finding it hard to fill those rooms last minute especially if they are midweek. I had a bounce back offer for mid December last year that I had to cancel because of illness. When I felt better, I rebooked but at rack rate for almost double the price because a Florida Resident or Passholder discount was no longer available. I watched the website every day and suddenly a Passholder discount appeared and I switched my reservation and got the discount. I don't know where that rate came from and a few days later it wasn't available any more. So someone dropped their Passholder discount and I picked it up. They must have a set number of discounts that are constantly going in and out of the pool. Considering that we all have to book fastpasses and dining so far in advance and peoples needs for dates do change, something has to give. I bet they are trying to figure it out and it will change again. Maybe for now it is best to just try and plead your case and they will adjust things case by case, hopefully.

 

[3Gsandme]

I don't know if this was covered or not, but did OP book on-line on or the phone? When I made my Fantasmic! dining package reservations for DL in June, I called in to check and see if my dining time was late enough to get tickets to the late showing of Fantasmic! When I confirmed that I'd need a later dining time, the CM asked me if I booked on-line or not. I had booked on-line and she told me that I'd have to cancel and then rebook, she couldn't just change it. I wonder if this is what the OP is dealing with. To change her dates, she'd have had to cancel and then rebook which, of course, runs the risk of someone grabbing that reservation before she can rebook. Then, theoretically, OP is either super mad (understandably) that she cannot get her preferred lodging and her preferred rates for her preferred stay or Disney must comp her something more expensive.

 

[catflorida]

I also want to add that at many other resorts there is a fee for cancelling or changing a reservation. At many resorts you can get a big discount if you can book in advance, pay in full and no cancellations allowed. It may be that those that can be rigid with their travel dates will get the discounts and those that need to be flexible will need to pay full price. It is two months away from Fourth of July, one of the busiest times at Disney, yet there is availability in all categories for the Grand Floridian and Wilderness Lodge, the two resorts I frequent. The Passholder and Florida Resident discounts are all gone but there is still plenty of availability at rack rate. I always secure my dining reservations at 180 days and then go back in and make my room reservations when the discounts come out and that is usually at least two months in advance. This does not always secure a room because as you might have noticed a lot of the Epcot resorts are already almost completely booked early to mid October with conferences and Food and Wine Festival. Any one that is booked already for Food and Wine paid full rack rate. The Club Level theme park view rooms and suites were also booked up before the discount came out for Fourth of July. People more than likely paid rack rate for those rooms, also. It seems to me that the discounts are just becoming more limited, they are there, but there are restrictions.

 

[Experiment]

Agreed. Disney wants people to plan 6 months out, but lots of people can't do that. They don't have work and school schedules available to fully commit.

I assume DLR uses the same reservation system so probably will have the same change in policy, but at least it's a whole lot easier to plan things last minute there.

I wonder if part of this is about people seeing all the changes at WDW and deciding to lop off part of their Disney stay to go try out Universal.

I hope you're wrong about DLR