4/3 Deal: Applying to Existing Reservation

[United544]

Hi,

Hopefully someone can maybe answer a question I have: I know that the CMs you speak to on the phone often don't understand all the ins-and-outs and so I was wanting to run a scenario by everybody to see if it'd be possible:

We have our vacation currently booked from Jan 10 - Jan 18; I called immediately when the 4/3 deal was released, but was told by the CM that the Polynesian was not part of the offer and so we couldn't apply it to our reservation... come to find out, it is part of the offer and we could have applied it. But, now we're being told it's no longer available for our dates.

What I"m wondering is the following:
The disney site shows availability from the 5th - 9th and also the 12th - 18th, just not the 10th and 11th.

Is it possible that the CMs I"m speaking with are not looking at whether or not they can apply the code to my *existing* reservation, but instead the system's just telling them there's no rooms available during that period? Because, it seems odd to me that there wouldn't be availability only for 2 nights, when the min. stay is 4 nights... and I would assume, if it's just a room issue, they could do some magic to apply the code since I already have a room.

Anyways, hopefully, what I"m asking makes sense Thanks!!

- Chris

 

[BabyRN]

The same thing happened to my co-worker. what she found out was the throughout the day, different TA's and CM's would hold a room just for that day for people and if they didn't reserve by the end of the day, it would be re-released to be booked by someone else. She was told if you call first thing in the morning, there's usually something available. But then, I've heard of other people being able to apply the rate to their existing reservations. I would keep calling back and asking different CM's until you get what you want, and keep trying first thing in the morning. Good luck!

 

[snykymom]

I had a reservation and was told that I could not apply the deal to my reservation because my category of room had been sold out on the deal by the time I called. I had to upgrade my room to get the deal; still saved a bit of money but not much.

 

[Miffy]

For further clarification: It's my understanding that you can only apply the code to an existing reservation if that reservation is a package. If your existing reservation is a room-only reservation, then you have to make a new reservation using the 4/3 deal and cancel the old one--in that order, since you wouldn't want to cancel the existing reservation before making the new one!

The reason you're having so much trouble for January 10-11 is because that's marathon weekend. The resorts (although not the parks) are extremely busy then. The 11th is DH and my anniversary, but we never go on our anniversary anymore, because it invariably falls on marathon weekend and we can't get the resort we want. So we go the following week. However, I gather that's not an option for you.

Even though it's busy that weekend, I'd still keep trying. Call every morning first thing, as the PP said. It can't hurt and you may get lucky. The closer you get to the 45-day window, the more people are going to cancel. I think the 45-day mark is around Thursday (the 27th, 2 days from now). I personally would be calling as often as I could to see if anything's opened up. You can also check the Disney website--just make sure you click through on the 4/3 offer link, since it doesn't automatically default to that when you look at room bookings. If your dates appear on the Disney website, call immediately. If they can't book it over the phone, you might want to book it online instead, then call to cancel the other reservation.

Keep trying. Don't give up!

 

[United544]

Thanks everybody for your responses and help!

Yeah, we're checking multiple times a day to see if anything opens up. The frustrating part is that we called immediately when they announced the 4/3 deal (like many of you, I was constantly checking the disboards), but was explicitly told my the CM that the Polynesian TPV was not part of the offer.

Then a few hours later we saw someone on these boards book the Poly and called back and this time was told that our category of room sold out for the offer on our dates. Wrong information by the original CM is turning out to have prevented us from saving quite a bit of money

But alas, I guess we're not frustrated enough, because we're still going and willing to pay the original price

 

[mbanks21]

Maybe the CM tried to apply the code to your existing res and the TPV for those dates were sold out and thats why they told you it doesnt apply to your res. Just because you have the room reserved at rack rate doesnt mean its available with a promo code

 

[United544]

Maybe the CM tried to apply the code to your existing res and the TPV for those dates were sold out and thats why they told you it doesnt apply to your res. Just because you have the room reserved at rack rate doesnt mean its available with a promo code

I highly doubt it, unless it sold out within 1 minute of the promo being released, which I suppose is possible, but the chances that the TPV, Garden View and Lagoon view all sold out within that period are probably next to none.

The more likely scenario is the CM didn't know what they were talking about since the promo had just been released Water under the bridge now though - but sure would have been nice to save some money

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

We tried to apply the 4/3 deal to an existing ressie at WL club room we had, but they wouldn't apply it. They told us and our TA that in order for us to get the deal we had to rebook it, and nothing for that room was available, so we could pay full price or downgrade the room. We asked if we could cancel the current ressie and rebook that room and they said no. They also told our TA that nothing was available at the Poly but we saw rooms available at Poly online and booked that and then had the TA cancelled our WL -CL room. Including the $200 gift card, we are saving over $1000 and staying at the Poly

 

[Happy99]

I highly doubt it, unless it sold out within 1 minute of the promo being released, which I suppose is possible, but the chances that the TPV, Garden View and Lagoon view all sold out within that period are probably next to none.

The more likely scenario is the CM didn't know what they were talking about since the promo had just been released Water under the bridge now though - but sure would have been nice to save some money

If the resort is sold out at full price or only a couple of rooms are left in a particular room view category then it won't be available with the discount. Some cm's will tell you what other categories are available and others don't go that extra step to check and just say the resort is not available if your category (Garden view, lagoon view, etc) is sold out.