Are Check in times “a suggestion”

[Fangorn]

Other places I have stayed (not just WDW), if my room is delayed, I get compensated -Cocktail, Parking fee dropped, upgraded room, something. I'm talking for over an hour, so. and it is usually offered I haven't asked for it.

Had a stay at OKW (we're DVC) a couple of years ago where our room (2BR) wasn't ready until after 8:30pm. Never had a room not be ready that late. Coming from the West Coast, we didn't even arrive until almost 7pm, so expected our room to be ready. CMs were very apologetic. They didn't even make excuses, just up-front stated that it was their issue and they would resolve it. They saw that we had reservations at Olivia's, and they immediately gave us an $80 room credit to "have dinner on them". The next day, the resort manager reached out to apologize again and to make sure everything was OK. I told him how much I appreciated the attitude and caring of the CMs the prior evening. He even added another $50 room credit.

Steve

 

[2vets]

I used to travel a lot for work. In the aggregate, over the course of a year, I would spend month(s) in hotel rooms, often for short, 1 - 3 night stays. These were domestic and international stays. In the rare instances when a room was not ready at published check-in time, I was always polite. Unless it was only for a brief period of time, I was also always firm, that this was not an acceptable scenario.

Regardless of reason, these are problems that are on the hotel’s side of the equation; paying guests should not be the ones absorbing the result. If you paid $X to get Y, the hotel should not unilaterally have the ability to still take your $X, but give you less than Y.

On each of the rare occasions this happened, apology and some concession by the hotel was given. I never demanded a set amount, and the concessions varied, from a few cocktails at the bar while I wait, to a significant number of brand points,, to room upgrades, to a full refund of the night.

Of course, it is in the best interest of hotels to take the position that check-in times are a guideline, but not a guarantee. Where does the guideline end? It should be reasonable. Sure, 5, 10, 20 minutes before the room is ready might be reasonable. Waiting hours after the published check-in time is not reasonable.

Again, I get that delays happen due to myriad of causes. There needs to be some flexibility and reasonableness on both sides. For a hotel to be flippant, cavalier, and dismissive, effectively conveying ‘suck it up, it’s only 3 hours, it happens’ is wholly inappropriate.

For what it’s worth, the official Disney website states:

Q:

What are the Disney Resort hotel check-in and check-out times?
A:

The check-in time is 3:00 PM for Disney Resort hotels and 4:00 PM for Disney Deluxe Villas. The check-out time is 11:00 AM.

There is no mention of ‘we’ll try for that time, but if we fail, oh well.’

I travel ALL THE TIME for work and personal trips, and I have stayed around the world, and at places more expensive than Disney. And as stated above, this is not how all hotels work, unless you are arriving during an extremely busy time - and even then, I can only recall this happening to us a few times; once was at a very popular old hotel in Manila (the Philippines are a Catholic country) on Easter Sunday, for instance. And in that instance, we were in our room an hour after check-in. The hotel was completely packed - think Christmas season in the GF or Poly lobby, but more people.

If anyone ready the Unofficial Guide's coverage of the Poly bungalows when they first opened, I remember it going off on this topic a bit, and it really stuck with me - a delay getting into the $$$ villa followed by door-knocking starting at like 8 am the following day. I love Disney, but I refuse to be an apologist for them in terms of them making last-minute decisions about how long our stay *actually* is in the room we've paid for.

I try to do my part and be accurate with my arrival time with WDW, such that I am telling them when I arrive at 4-5 pm or beyond, which is common since I come in from the West Coast. It's one thing to be 30 min late or even an hour, but during my last stay, after which I arrived following a red-eye flight, I checked in at 9 am, went to a park, and then came back at 2, let them know I had returned and was looking forward to my room at 3, and sat. And waited. And waited. And when I finally got my room it was after 5, which isn't even that bad. I was staying club level at GF, it was midweek, at the end of August, and the hotel had availability of rooms in nearly all categories. I finally went down to the desk and politely, kindly, but firmly insisted they find me something unless they wanted me asleep on the floor of the lounge. This is extremely out of character for me, I am usually very nonconfrontational, and I was super uncomfortable about it. After a number of phone calls, it was discovered that my room had been ready for hours. There was a miscommunication between "maintenance and housekeeping" - I had been sitting across from my room since 2 and had not seen anyone in or out. I got into my room, and I was given a nice room credit as an apology. It isn't just housekeeping understaffing - it's an inability to appropriately communicate - there are multiple issues at play here.

All this to say - I have no issue with paying Disney's asking rates if I choose to go there. And I do and will! I'm going again this year. ETA: I have rolled with a lot of their decisions on ticket pricing, LL, etc etc etc. But I will die on the room rate/check-in time hill. I expect them to hold up their end of the bargain and provide me a full and relaxing stay in my room, and I think this is something we should all expect.

 

[lowlight]

This thread pops up every few months, and people basically form two sides- "it's just the time that check-in starts, not the time you get the room" and "it's a contractual time like your check-out time".

The reality is that 9 out of 10 stoned apes would agree that 4 PM is the actual designated check-in time, not a suggested time, nor the beginning of a period of check-in times with no stated end (11:59 PM would technically qualify under this line of thinking). With that said, things happen on both ends that sometimes require exceptions. Bunch of housekeepers tardy due to weather? Room was wrecked beyond normal? Give them 30-60 minutes grace to make it happen. Same grace I would expect when I call the front desk up and say "hey I had <insert problem here> happen with my kid as I walking out and need an extra 20 minutes please", I would expect them to say "no problem". Now if every time I go to check in they are 60+ minutes late? Issue. Same issue they'd have with me being 60+ minutes late checking out every time. At that point, something needs to happen. They are pretty good about compensating at the hour+ mark, and they should be, because time is money for them and time is money for me. I can't think of the last time I had a late room in a non-Disney hotel, but I'm not the traveler I once was, so maybe things have worsened industry wide since COVID.

 

[Disneylover99]

It’s always frustrating when your room isn’t ready by 4pm.
We’ve had this happen at Disney resorts on a few occasions.
It’s why I’d never book a one night stay just to try out a resort. Two nights minimum for me.