Hilton Palace? Where is that located?
I believe
bridget8822 is referring to the Hilton Buena Vista Palace. It's the large resort across the street from the Disney Springs Marketplace and Disney's Saratoga Springs. This place:
Hi Disney people! Does anyone have a good booking site? We are thinking of a short stay at a Disney Springs resort offsite and was hoping you'd have some ideas for me. Ideally we would like JetBlue and Hilton Palace.
I spent about 15 years working in the hospitality industry (including at Disney World). In my opinion it's almost always best to book directly with the company that is providing the service. That said, there is a major exception...more on that later.
With airlines, whoever books the reservation "owns" it. When everything goes perfectly, it doesn't matter where you book. However, if there is a problem with your trip that requires help from the airline, it starts to make a difference. For example, if there is a schedule change that doesn't work with your trip and you booked direct, all you need to do is call the airline. If you booked through an online
travel agency (OTA) like Expedia or Orbitz, you have to call the OTA. Then, the OTA will contact the airline. This adds an extra person, who may or may not be extensively trained.
The same principle applies to hotels. If you book with an OTA, you need to makes changes/cancelations through the OTA. But, the bigger drawback with hotels is that reservations through an OTA usually do not earn frequent guest points. Each major hotel chain runs a frequent guest program where you earn points based on how much you spend at their properties. Those points can be redeemed for free rooms at thousands of hotels within the company. If you stay a certain number of nights each year within the company, you get perks like free breakfast and space-available upgrades. Depending on the hotel company, points might never expire. Or, they require some activity (usually once every 24 months) on your account to keep them active.
Now, that major exception: There is no incentive to directly book Disney resorts. By almost all accounts, Disney guests who book through an OTA are treated equally to those who book direct. (The only caveat is that chances/cancelations must be processed by the OTA.) But, some OTAs offer discount codes that result in 15% off selected hotel rates. In those cases, booking with an OTA might result in cheaper rates than booking direct with Disney. Since Disney doesn't have a frequent guest program, there's little reason not to book the best price, regardless of source.
So my advice is to use an OTA to check prices, but book the reservations direct with the airline/hotel.
Hint: When booking any of the Disney Springs Hotels, be sure to check their marketing association website. That site occasionally has some unique discounts not available elsewhere. They all send you to the official hotel websites, which mean you can get the discount and still earn points in the frequent guest program for the hotel.
Disney Springs Hotels website:
http://disneyspringshotels.com/
