Can someone explain upsell?

[munchie22]

I've been on the boards awhile and if i have a question i usually do a search to see if someone has asked it before; but i'm having trouble with "upsell." When is the appropriate time to ask if an "upgrade" is possible - when making reservations or upon check-in? If the proper term upgrade or upsell when speaking with a reservationist?

I've booked a Poly GVC for the first week in October - paying full price. We are celebrating DH's 45th birthday so i thought concierge would make it a little more special than usual. But, the Poly sounds so wonderful that I'm on the fence about concierge as it does add $1000 to the price. I wonder if i should just make regular reservations and ask about "paying for an upgrade" to see what is available?

 

[bradk]

i've never heard upsell used as anything but a marketing term. upsell is what a salesperson does. for example, you want a standard room which is fine, but they want to upsell you to get a preferred or concierge because it helps with their quota or commission. another example is buying electronics somewhere and they want to sell you their amazing extended warranty with it (and they usually don't take no for an answer, but instead tell all their coworkers and they all vocally mourn your bad decision).

if you as a customer want to go from one level to the next, it's an upgrade.

 

[spiceycat]

I think Disney uses the term a little different.

this only works if you call Disney.

say you ask for a value say, Pop Century, but up pops POR on her computer. She asks if you want POR instead for a few dollars more (much, much less than POR regular price)

I don't think the CRO can controll this - it is a computer thing. if it happen great.

the computer is generally looking for certain days.

 

[nbodyhome]

The computer sometimes comes up with an upsell rate at DRC (it has nothing to do with the agent).

It used to be more common, then never happened for a while - it's still just occasional.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

Here's a thread on the Codes and Rates board that discussed "upsells"

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1435312

I was the beneficiary many years ago. They seem to be much less common now-a-days.

Disney would not call it an "upsell." They refer to it as a "Manager's Special" or somthing like that.

If you call and ask for availability at a certain resort (say a value or moderate) sometimes a screen will pop up on the CM's computer with a special rate for a resort the next category up. This is usually because the resort you are asking about is nearing capacity and the resort with the "special" has lots of rooms available.

Years ago we called asking about rooms at one of the moderates and were offered the WL for somthing like $20 more for the entire week. However, that was shortly after the lodge had opened and had no following. I doubt anything like that happens now.

As far as I can tell you cannot ask for these rates - the CMs can't control when the offers come up. It is not something they can look up in the reservation system. It seems to be based on resort occupancy for the dates you are asking about.

It has also been reported that if you decline and call back later you probably won't get the same offer.

 

[chasgoose]

There is not really anything you can do to better your chances of getting an upsell, it's simply luck and trying to book into the right resort at the right time. The only thing you do that could help is book by calling WDW CRO instead of booking online or through a travel agent/third party website.

In terms of an upgrade, if you are feeling a little uneasy about paying the extra $1000 for Poly GVC, and you are willing to risk not getting it, sometimes there is a chance you can get a better deal on the room if you ask at check-in. If you go and there are lots of rooms in the category you want to move up to available, often times they will let you moveup for a much smaller fee than it would cost if you paid rack rate when making your reservations. The downside to this is that you could get there and ask about paying to upgrade and there are no rooms avaiable in the category you wanted to be in. Also, they sometimes will just quote the diference between the rack rate prices, but if you still want the nicer room at least you tried. I have done this a lot at Disney resorts and non-Disney ones. There is nothing rude about asking to pay for an upgrade, and if I am willing to take the lesser room, then I am ok with it. The only other problem is that you would lose out on the IPO assitance before you arrived at Disney if you downgraded to non-concierge then upgraded upon arrival. While that is not as important to some its nice.