A warning...

[Sammie]

CM - Cast Member, which is Disneyspeak for a Disney employee
CRO - Central Reservation Office, where you book your reservation through

Now please correct me if I am wrong but used to be that you called the CRO to book a room only reservation. This is not longer the case as all calls go through Disney Reservations Center. So it is possible that the term is defunct.

IMO on this matter, I have become accustomed to hanging up and starting over if I get a CM (or anyone) that does not seem to get it. It usually ends up that I will end up with someone better who is more knowledgeable and will get me what I want. It's a good idea, too, to have a separate number to accomodate suite/concierge.

Your right, actually the term CRO does not exist anymore, and it should be DRC for Disney Reservation Center, but old habits are hard to break.

 

[ducklite]

Your right, actually the term CRO does not exist anymore, and it should be DRC for Disney Reservation Center, but old habits are hard to break.

This is true--I apologize for any misunderstanding. In my book anyone who takes reservations for WDW (WTTC, DRC, etc.) is part of CRO. Old habits...

Anne

 

[Sammie]

This is true--I apologize for any misunderstanding. In my book anyone who takes reservations for WDW (WTTC, DRC, etc.) is part of CRO. Old habits...

Anne

No misunderstanding at all, Anne, CRO is so engrained to everyone, I never even attempt to correct it. Only was commenting on a previous mention of it in another post. I totally agree that to book a suite, or concierge there should be a seperate line. I mean good grief those rooms cost a small fortune.
A

 

[steveanddonna]

How frustrating, Anne. I applaud you for stating this so eloquently. I agree that the problem is not usually the CMs, but the inadequate training they receive. I'm sure that the rapid turnover and frequent downsizing they experience at the call centers contributes to the problem as well. When I get a CM who is misinformed and adamant about their misinformation, I just ask if they could please check that info with Guest Services. It usually doesn't take very long, and not only do I get the correct info, but so does the undertrained, misinformed CM.

 

[Purrrrfecta]

Anne,

Remembered this thread and I thought I'd share something with you.

Today I called the CRO. I wanted to pay for my stay and modify the departure date. The young man, who was very nice I might add said, "I am sorry, but I am checking the dates that you want, and they are not available."

I then told him to leave my reservation just the way it was, and that I would just arrive on those days. Oh my!!!!!
I will try again tomorrow. This is really getting bad

 

[goodferry]

I called to make a payment ON MY PACKAGE and was told that you can not make payments by phone, you just pay your balance when you check in. Yikes, how wrong is that!

 

[PatsGirl]

I made reservations for CSR and POP with an 800# I got here on the boards and there was a different name for the reservation agent than Disney. I just looked back through my notes and I have my ressie #, etc. but not the company name. I'm concerned that I didn't make my ressie through Disney? Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[pamlet]

I would LOVE to know how the reservation center is handled... the type of training they offer, as well as the CM's access to information..

I worked for a number of years in the travel reservation business as both a supervisor and trainer... When I started in the airline business I was taught that if I knew WHERE I could find the information in the computer I could answer JUST ABOUT any question in regards to travel on our airline.. and we could. We had an extenstive series of information files ... As I moved to another company (travel agency) I was in a MUCH smaller office, and had to create my own "information files" for training. However - all the information in the world - provided in multiple formats is only as good as the agent willing to look at them.. (OR being able to read them)

Scenario #1 - Airline reservations.. we had 4 weeks of strictly classroom training - then 2 weeks mixed live calls and "debrief" working up to 8 hour days on the phones the last week. We're in that last week on the phones.. I am monitoring all agents for their "final" .. ie - have to hear 5 calls - 3 of which need to be real "sales" calls. I'm listening to a fellow for the first time.. I'd held off monitoring him because he was one of the "best and brightest" during class time- really knew his stuff - very at ease in "role play" .. I thought he'd be a piece of cake.. I'd been doing it long enough that I had a feel for folks (or so I thought). We had the capability of watching the screen of the agent, and listening to the call at the same time.. (this is 15 years ago - so it was pretty spiffy technolgy for the time). However - it was two different functions.. have to tap into their phone.. then pull their set up on the computer. I'm listening to him giving the weather at a callers request, quoting flight times, making reservations - but couldn't get anything to come up on the screen. I called a supervisor friend of mine whose cube was near where this guy was sitting... I wanted to make sure I was pulling up the correct set address... The supe had to just peek out of his cube to get the number.. Supe calls me back and tells me to casually walk the long way around and come up in the bay behind the kid.. that I wouldn't believe what I was seeing... As I walk over - I can hear the kid talking... quoting schedules... He is leaned back in his chair.. and NOTHING is on his screen. He was making EVERY bit of it up.. Needless to say he didn't last the night... bye bye lazybones... The point is - he was trained.. and trained WELL - others in his class were doing GREAT.. unfortunately he just didn't want to do the job..

Scenario #2 - Travel Agency -
We had a few agents that kept saying that they "needed more training". These are agents that had been there 3+ years... Not ALL of them.. just a few .. they would claim that they had not been properly trained.. Most of these folks started with me - or just after .. I felt I was trained ok - not the best - not the worst... but what I didn't know - I found out. I always tried to learn from my mistakes.. So now - 3 years later I'm the one responsible for new hire training - and developing recurrent training for the supervisors to use. Over and over the same folks would claim... "no training" .. or "I never hear that". We solved the issue by having a training log for each individual agent. Once trained - they would sign off on the training, as would the trainer or supvisor. Suddenly people stopped using the "lack of training" excuse.. Once again it was either laziness - or just lack of attention to detail on the agents part.

One thing Disney could be doing better probably is providing effective feedback to their agents. But then that may be happening - but they may just have a batch of folks that don't care.. Now that would be oh so sad...

The other thing is providing the information in a number of formats - the binder can be oh so helpful - but it's hard to keep all those binders current .. ( I've been that route.. ) The other - is encourage them just to read through their own website... shoot - it's so full of information it's unbelievable... laugh.. and then they should have extensive "in house" information as well in their reservation system. I suspect they DO have all that - it's a matter of the agent being willing to use it.

As to the seperate number off the menu for concierge/suites... now THAT is an excellent solution!! These days most phone systems have the ability to route calls to agents based on their experience level. I thought they must already have that with the questions asked at the beginning of the calls as to when you were last there, etc. It may be that their phone people have the routing set up inefficiently - (or management doesn't know how to best utilize that type of call routing..)

 

[Rozzie]

Gee, this brings back the great "Balcony Battle of 04" memory, which is infamous in our house. CRO told me on 3 different phone calls that Every room at Poly has balconies. I had other things going on in my life which also might have accelerated my meltdown. seems petty now, but 3 straight phone calls with misguided CM's really got my goose....the thing that got me was they would argue!

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

Well, I think a real easy thing to do to help solve this, and pretty inexpensive for Disney, would be to have books/binders printed up and given to each CM at CRO, where each page is a map of each resort, listing the building names, what room types are in that building, which floors are concierge, where the suites are, things like that. So that if someone was inquiring about booking a certain room type, they could just flip to that page, and would know if what is popping up in the computer is the correct type. This simple thing would have probably prevented the OP's problem, if the CM had a map to look at, and say, "Oh, look, Lodge Tower concierge is THIS building, I see what the guest is saying."

They have a computer system that does this for them. The Agent should have been able to locate the information. It is possible that they were confused, especially if they were a new agent. Sorry, but some of you folks are intimidating. You don't mean to be, but you are. Been there,done that.

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

I would LOVE to know how the reservation center is handled... the type of training they offer, as well as the CM's access to information..

I worked for a number of years in the travel reservation business as both a supervisor and trainer... When I started in the airline business I was taught that if I knew WHERE I could find the information in the computer I could answer JUST ABOUT any question in regards to travel on our airline.. and we could. We had an extenstive series of information files ... As I moved to another company (travel agency) I was in a MUCH smaller office, and had to create my own "information files" for training. However - all the information in the world - provided in multiple formats is only as good as the agent willing to look at them.. (OR being able to read them)

Scenario #1 - Airline reservations.. we had 4 weeks of strictly classroom training - then 2 weeks mixed live calls and "debrief" working up to 8 hour days on the phones the last week. We're in that last week on the phones.. I am monitoring all agents for their "final" .. ie - have to hear 5 calls - 3 of which need to be real "sales" calls. I'm listening to a fellow for the first time.. I'd held off monitoring him because he was one of the "best and brightest" during class time- really knew his stuff - very at ease in "role play" .. I thought he'd be a piece of cake.. I'd been doing it long enough that I had a feel for folks (or so I thought). We had the capability of watching the screen of the agent, and listening to the call at the same time.. (this is 15 years ago - so it was pretty spiffy technolgy for the time). However - it was two different functions.. have to tap into their phone.. then pull their set up on the computer. I'm listening to him giving the weather at a callers request, quoting flight times, making reservations - but couldn't get anything to come up on the screen. I called a supervisor friend of mine whose cube was near where this guy was sitting... I wanted to make sure I was pulling up the correct set address... The supe had to just peek out of his cube to get the number.. Supe calls me back and tells me to casually walk the long way around and come up in the bay behind the kid.. that I wouldn't believe what I was seeing... As I walk over - I can hear the kid talking... quoting schedules... He is leaned back in his chair.. and NOTHING is on his screen. He was making EVERY bit of it up.. Needless to say he didn't last the night... bye bye lazybones... The point is - he was trained.. and trained WELL - others in his class were doing GREAT.. unfortunately he just didn't want to do the job..

Scenario #2 - Travel Agency -
We had a few agents that kept saying that they "needed more training". These are agents that had been there 3+ years... Not ALL of them.. just a few .. they would claim that they had not been properly trained.. Most of these folks started with me - or just after .. I felt I was trained ok - not the best - not the worst... but what I didn't know - I found out. I always tried to learn from my mistakes.. So now - 3 years later I'm the one responsible for new hire training - and developing recurrent training for the supervisors to use. Over and over the same folks would claim... "no training" .. or "I never hear that". We solved the issue by having a training log for each individual agent. Once trained - they would sign off on the training, as would the trainer or supvisor. Suddenly people stopped using the "lack of training" excuse.. Once again it was either laziness - or just lack of attention to detail on the agents part.

One thing Disney could be doing better probably is providing effective feedback to their agents. But then that may be happening - but they may just have a batch of folks that don't care.. Now that would be oh so sad...

The other thing is providing the information in a number of formats - the binder can be oh so helpful - but it's hard to keep all those binders current .. ( I've been that route.. ) The other - is encourage them just to read through their own website... shoot - it's so full of information it's unbelievable... laugh.. and then they should have extensive "in house" information as well in their reservation system. I suspect they DO have all that - it's a matter of the agent being willing to use it.

As to the seperate number off the menu for concierge/suites... now THAT is an excellent solution!! These days most phone systems have the ability to route calls to agents based on their experience level. I thought they must already have that with the questions asked at the beginning of the calls as to when you were last there, etc. It may be that their phone people have the routing set up inefficiently - (or management doesn't know how to best utilize that type of call routing..)

Six weeks of intensive training if they're located at Tampa or Orlando, for the other call centers, they get the 6 weeks but not the tours.

 

[lovmy2girls]

Also the people checking you in at the resort, do not know exactly what they are doing either. You ask them a question or ask for a request and they have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[pamlet]

Six weeks of intensive training if they're located at Tampa or Orlando, for the other call centers, they get the 6 weeks but not the tours.

Well that's the standard training period for ANY travel program (even longer than most these days.) Six weeks is more than enough time to get all those basics in - then recurrent training as needed or as new things come out. I DO feel it's up to the agent to keep up the curiousity ... and the interest in what they are selling.

You made a great point above that callers can be intimidating, especially for new agents. I can't imagine being on the phone for the first week or so - having someone throwing acronyms at you that tend to be specific to a web discussion board.... "I'd like a PS for CRT - I'll be coming from CBR. I want it early enough that we can make it to TL to grab a chair"

Disney really should have a phone prompt for Concierge/Suite levels - that way folks who have been with the company longer, and have a higher level of knowledge can handle those calls.

But I think we all need to remember - that while we're on the boards day in/day out - the VAST majority of folks calling have NO CLUE what's going on at Disney - and most of the calls are probably something akin to "What's the cheapest way I can go"..

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

Well that's the standard training period for ANY travel program (even longer than most these days.) Six weeks is more than enough time to get all those basics in - then recurrent training as needed or as new things come out. I DO feel it's up to the agent to keep up the curiousity ... and the interest in what they are selling.

You made a great point above that callers can be intimidating, especially for new agents. I can't imagine being on the phone for the first week or so - having someone throwing acronyms at you that tend to be specific to a web discussion board.... "I'd like a PS for CRT - I'll be coming from CBR. I want it early enough that we can make it to TL to grab a chair"

Disney really should have a phone prompt for Concierge/Suite levels - that way folks who have been with the company longer, and have a higher level of knowledge can handle those calls.

But I think we all need to remember - that while we're on the boards day in/day out - the VAST majority of folks calling have NO CLUE what's going on at Disney - and most of the calls are probably something akin to "What's the cheapest way I can go"..

Disney DOES provide a prompt for that, it's when they ask how many times you've been there in the last 5 years. Worldphiles are your "Concierge" level agents, and most of the time they're dealing with calls from repeaters or intenders and of course grand gatherings.

You're quite correct when you say that most calls are "what's the cheapest way to go." But it's not from new callers. It's from EVERYONE. IT's been my experience that EVERYONE wants the lowest price and feels that they are "owed" something for their patronage. Disney's a business, people forget that, because they have a "family" feel. Their honest bottom line is $$$ as it should be. It's the only way to stay afoat in the economy.

 

[pamlet]

Disney DOES provide a prompt for that, it's when they ask how many times you've been there in the last 5 years. Worldphiles are your "Concierge" level agents, and most of the time they're dealing with calls from repeaters or intenders and of course grand gatherings.

You're quite correct when you say that most calls are "what's the cheapest way to go." But it's not from new callers. It's from EVERYONE. IT's been my experience that EVERYONE wants the lowest price and feels that they are "owed" something for their patronage. Disney's a business, people forget that, because they have a "family" feel. Their honest bottom line is $$$ as it should be. It's the only way to stay afoat in the economy.

Laugh - oh I KNOW that EVERYONE wants it for less - when I was in airline res I worked a shift that had calls from an 800 number that was specifically for New York... I would get 5 - 10 calls EVERY evening asking for a Non-stop flight from White Plains to West Palm Beach... for 200.00 roundtrip.. at that time NO ONE flew non-stop White Plains to West Palm Beach.. much less for 200.00 round trip. I wanted to take up a collection for a bill board to place on Long Island that said... NO AIRLINE flies non-stop from White Plains to West Palm Beach...

Seriously - until someone works in a call center environment they do not understand the reletive complexities of it.. There's no way an agent can remember EVERYTHING... which is why as a trainer I always concentrated on where to find the information!! As well as getting them to learn to talk and type at the same time...

 

[bellebud]

i didn't read every message, so don't know if this was already stated... i was told by a cro cm that sometimes rooms are being temporarily "held" on the computer system by another cm while doing a ressie for someone else. So if i was deciding between 2 different rooms, let's say, and was sort of discussing it with the cro cm, those 2 rooms, if put on "hold" for a few minutes by the cm while i was deciding, wouldn't come up as "available" on the whole system for anyone else. so a room type could be "unavailable", then a few minutes later could be available because it was taken off the "hold". now, i don't know how true this is, but it made a lot of sense to me, since that's exactly what was happening to me everytime i called cro (i called a few times in 1 day and got different availabilities each time).

ALSO, i was surprised at how misinformed, underinformed, etc, a lot of cm's were on this past easter trip. i got a different answer every time i asked a question (like i was asking what time frontierland (or was it adventureland) opened, as it was a bit later than the 8am official park opening. also, toontown. Each mk cm had a completely different answer for me, and not one said "i'm not sure, the hours are very different these few weeks than normally", which i'm sure was the actual cause of the differences in answers. i'm talking i asked about 8 cms and got 8 different answers. only 1 pulled an official piece of paper out of her pocket and said "let's see, this week it's opening at 9am". you'd think all cm's would be given something as universal as opening times. of course, it's not the cms fault if management isn't giving them the proper info.

AND when we arrived at WL, the baggage cm told us as he was unloading our bags and overheard me say to the kids that 'we were jumping on the boat to go to mk in a few minutes', that the boat service was discontinued from wl to mk. of course i was like "WHAT???", and he said "yes, no more boats to mk from here, your best bet and quickest way is go to the busstop and wait for the mk bus"... i just couldn't believe it. i asked if he knew why, and he actually had a reason (a very lame one). something like disney felt it had become too confusing for all the boats on the lake from the resorts and they discontinued the wl boat because it was just more efficient with the busses. I really felt he was making stuff up at this point. so when we checked in, i asked, and the cm at the desk couldn't believe what i had just been told. i told her i didn't want to get anyone in trouble, but i would have been very, very mad if i didn't ask someone else, and had gone and waited for a bus from wl to mk, and that the baggage guy just needed to be given the correct info and made sure he wasn't telling other guests this. I honestly felt he was making it up though, but of course i didn't say that. she said she would check my baggage ticket to find out who he was. i was honestly glad. then while waiting in the check in area, i overheard 2 other baggage cm's talking to each other while pushing luggage carts, loudly complaining about something. i'm sure they had a reason to be upset, but it was just childish and unprofessional how loud they were talking and obviously complaining about a guest. and yes, i'd almost bet the guest didn't treat them nicely or something, but it was just a weird couple of moments and seemed like the baggage staff at wl had chips on their shoulders. and could be... maybe they're not being treated right by management??? don't know, but it was weird and very undisney-like. no biggies all in all (but again, i would have really been mad if i had believed him and taken the bus). other than the baggage guys at wl, i've only met nice, helpful cms (even the ones who didn't know the correct answers were always nice).

 

[Talking Hands]

Also the people checking you in at the resort, do not know exactly what they are doing either. You ask them a question or ask for a request and they have no idea what you are talking about.

Boy do I agree with that statement. Checked into the All Star Music and room was not ready as I expected. Told me to call back and get room number after 3. Since I am hard of hearing I use a tty. Asked if they had the ability to accept a tty call. Yes. Well, no, I was hung up on twice. Then I switched to FRS (Florida Relay Service) to make my call. Hung up on FRS twice. I finally asked FRS not to identify themselves and act as if they were just a person calling for me. They got the room number that way. What! They give the number to someone calling to ask my room number but not to an operator who was relaying (Ie typing what was said to me and voicing what I was typing to the Disney Operator)

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I'm surprised nobody has ever asked to speak to the "less-informed" CM's manager. I had a problem with a CM a few weeks ago, making changes to an existing reservation. Not only was he inept, he was rude, speaking very condescendingly to me. No, I did NOT hang up and call again...I asked to speak to his supervisor. He gave me to a very COMPETENT and PLEASANT woman from Guest Services who, in the expected Disney way, made all my wishes come true. In this way, the first CM I dealt with was at least acknowledged to have been unable to handle this very simple piece of business, and I would hope, earmarked for a touch of remedial training. The way I see it, the first CM would never get the training and experience he so sorely needed if the caller just politely excused herself and hung up.