And The Beat Goes On!

[monorailrabbit]

The difference is that you won't know the actual cost of the hotel stay until AFTER you check out. And it won't stay at $15 - Currently in Vegas, where they instituted these fees just 4 years ago at $15/night, they just raised them to $35/night. On top of that the city and state changed their laws to make those fees taxable at the same rate as the room fee which is 12% - So suddenly my $200/night room + $48 tax (city AND state) is now an additional $43 A NIGHT and that doesn't appear on Expedia or even the hotel's own site when checking booking rates or even the deposit because that all comes out - in the end.

Oh and they're not optional... you pay them regardless. The Wynn even includes a lovely morning delivery of USA Today which I found oddly anachronistic...

Not that what they're doing is out of the ordinary - Heck, I stayed a few nights at the Fontaine Bleau in Miami for a birthday and not only did they charge me resort fees they were going to charge me $25 a night... for PARKING AT THEIR HOTEL!!! Fortunately I didn't drive, but still... (And that's rumored to be happening to Vegas very shortly too)

This confuses me. Currently the only way I am able to do Disney is because I pay for everything up front. With these fees, would I pay for the package up front and THEN pay more when I check out? Not feeling that so much...

The difference is twofold.

First, resort fees could and probably would be excluded for discounts.

Second, and the basis for my question, is this outrage due to an emotional response to the wording (charging a resort fee for what we once were told was free perks to staying onsite), or a logical response to increased pricing (assessing whether or not Disney continues to be in a family's budget or worth the increasing costs to visit)?

For me, this is where the sting lies. I accept Disney raises prices every year. Fine. But when you make me pay for A. Things that are supposed to be FREE perks to staying onsite and B. Things I don't even use, I feel like that's kind of terrible.
Also, those fees won't be applied with any kind of room discount. As a PP said, for values that can be like a $100+ extra fee (for free things or things I don't use). Ouch. I can only afford one trip a year, and only at value. We make sacrifices all year to be able to do just that. This might be where we have to draw the line, unfortunately.

 

[lvstitch]

I hate resort fees. Almost every Vegas hotel has them now and we no longer do our staycations because of them. I'm not saying I wouldn't stay on property if they charged a resort fee but I certainly wouldn't stay as long. If I planned a side trip to Universal, I would stay at a Universal resort and if I decided to come in a night early, I would stay at the airport. I would also look into staying closer to the beach for a couple of nights.

 

[Livvie]

Not the room rates, but the dues that are paid each year by DVC members. These are all published and I think there would be a big problem if they charged members in the dues, and again on check-in.

My point that you missed was they aren't going to reduce dues and they aren't going to reduce room rates. The resort fee will be added on top. Don't say they can't do it for DVC ~ because they can.

 

[rotlex]

While I would still go to Disney, this would absolutely change my mind on staying on site. Hell, for the prices they charge per night now, the service and rooms are mediocre at best. I can get a bigger room, better service, and free breakfast at the Hampton Inn DTD for $85 per night.

 

[Lulubelle17]

If they start charging for resort fee, Magical Express, Children's activity's, then we will start staying off site. It just blows my mind that everyday, they remove a perk or attraction, and now want me to pay even more money. At some point, people are going to say enough is enough!

I feel the exact same way. We already pay more to stay on site to get those perks. Are we going to have to pay even more? There are plenty of cheaper hotels in the area with free WiFi and free transportation.

 

[larryz]

I think it's all part of the death spiral. Cutting staff, instituting fees, reducing food variety and quality...

Sounds to me like corporate Disney is preparing for a Parkectomy.

 

[cabanafrau]

What would also be annoying about paying a resort fee would be that the general public not paying it can come to the resort and use the facilities apart from the pool.

You can watch the movies or make smores etc. And what about car parking problems at the monorail and Epcot resorts where you have paid a resort fee.

The fee stinks in my eyes.

I suspect they're not far off from fixing those parking issues for their guests' convenience -- but it's going to come at a price of course. I've heard rumblings they're not far from pulling the trigger on resort parking fees as well.

From what I can tell they must be trying to drive attendance down to a more easily managed level. I wonder if they've ever heard the old adage about being careful what you wish for.

 

[DisDadDVC]

My point that you missed was they aren't going to reduce dues and they aren't going to reduce room rates. The resort fee will be added on top. Don't say they can't do it for DVC ~ because they can.

I didn't miss any point. You said room rates. That is different than dues. And the dues change every year. Different components of the dues go up AND down every year.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Excuse me? So what will the "perks" of staying on Disney property be?

Having a much lighter wallet to carry around.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Would you pay extra for flowing water in your room? How about a mattress on your bed? This cracks me up. How can you make most of these listed optional? You can't without creating haves and have-nots within the same resort community, and policing that would cost more than the additional charge. So any increase would be universal - so it is a rate increase, pure and simple.

If Disney wants to raise rates, raise them. But don't ask your customers if they want you to raise your rates - what fool would answer yes to that question?

 

[DisDadDVC]

I wonder if the fee is $15 per day per room or $15 per person per day per room?

All the resort fees I have seen have been per day per room. Not per person.

 

[Jennasis]

Looking at the actual survey, I have issues...

They claim unparalleled service. I say their service is not only paralleled but more often than not outmatched by other hotels and resorts.

Close proximity to the theme parks...in some cases the ride to the park on a Disney bus (including waiting for a bus to show or sharing it with other resorts) is much longer than jumping in your car (rental or otherwise) and driving to your off-site hotel.

Online check-in is worthless. Truly. From a monetary point of view, it is worthless. To this day I have not once received our room number texted or emailed to me as promised with online check in. This measure saves Disney money since they may not need to staff their check in desk with humans to actually check people in.

 

[soniam]

Universal's is, I think, $20-$30 a day. I still pay it though.

That's just for parking, I thought. I didn't think there was a resort fee.

BTW, I love the Universal hotels. They are great quality, especially for the price. They beat out Disney on everything, except for maybe Victoria & Albert's

 

[PeasandCarrots]

Looking at the actual survey, I have issues...

They claim unparalleled service. I say their service is not only paralleled but more often than not outmatched by other hotels and resorts.

Close proximity to the theme parks...in some cases the ride to the park on a Disney bus (including waiting for a bus to show or sharing it with other resorts) is much longer than jumping in your car (rental or otherwise) and driving to your off-site hotel.

Online check-in is worthless. Truly. From a monetary point of view, it is worthless. To this day I have not once received our room number texted or emailed to me as promised with online check in. This measure saves Disney money since they may not need to staff their check in desk with humans to actually check people in.

I agree with all of this - I love Disney (obviously) but we had to stay offsite in Oct and the offsite resort was way nicer than any WDW resort I've stayed in, including deluxe and it cost $175 a night (free parking and that included all fees and tax - it was a 1 bedroom full kitchen, full laundry in the unit!). Also, except for the resorts that you can walk to a park from (Contemporary & the Epcot resorts), driving from offsite is almost always faster than taking a bus. I too have never had online check-in work.

A resort fee probably wouldn't drive me offsite every trip, but maybe for some trips and/or drop down to a moderate from my beloved Epcot area resorts or look into the S&D. The parking & fees is what turned me off from S&D - if Disney adds fees and S&D is cheaper...

 

[larryz]

What if they lowered the hotel rate by $15, and added the $15 resort fee? (And yes, I know this will not happen...).

What if they charge you rack rate, but waive the resort fee?

 

[Skywise]

This confuses me. Currently the only way I am able to do Disney is because I pay for everything up front. With these fees, would I pay for the package up front and THEN pay more when I check out? Not feeling that so much...

Yeah, I was talking about room only reservations - packages are paid up-front, including tax (right? Since I've never done a package I'm guessing there) so I'd presume the resort fee would get included in that cost along with the usual protections from ticket price increases, ddp increases, pavement repair fees on the tickets, ice cream recycling fees, etc;

 

[Jennasis]

What if they charge you rack rate, but waive the resort fee?

What if everybody Wang Chung's tonight??

 

[lvstitch]

The difference is that you won't know the actual cost of the hotel stay until AFTER you check out. And it won't stay at $15 - Currently in Vegas, where they instituted these fees just 4 years ago at $15/night, they just raised them to $35/night. On top of that the city and state changed their laws to make those fees taxable at the same rate as the room fee which is 12% - So suddenly my $200/night room + $48 tax (city AND state) is now an additional $43 A NIGHT and that doesn't appear on Expedia or even the hotel's own site when checking booking rates or even the deposit because that all comes out - in the end.

Oh and they're not optional... you pay them regardless. The Wynn even includes a lovely morning delivery of USA Today which I found oddly anachronistic...

Not that what they're doing is out of the ordinary - Heck, I stayed a few nights at the Fontaine Bleau in Miami for a birthday and not only did they charge me resort fees they were going to charge me $25 a night... for PARKING AT THEIR HOTEL!!! Fortunately I didn't drive, but still... (And that's rumored to be happening to Vegas very shortly too)

Many hotels in Vegas will start charging for parking now too...in addition to resort fees (all MGM properties). The last time I stayed at Golden Nugget they charged me a resort fee, which included 2 bottles of water and then charged me $7 for each bottle of water. We haven't stayed in a Vegas hotel since.

 

[monorailrabbit]

Yeah, I was talking about room only reservations - packages are paid up-front, including tax (right? Since I've never done a package I'm guessing there) so I'd presume the resort fee would get included in that cost along with the usual protections from ticket price increases, ddp increases, pavement repair fees on the tickets, ice cream recycling fees, etc;

 

[yeheyprincex2]

"Thank you Mickey,may I have another?"