Can you book a king bed (not just request) in any...

[Liberator]

Tower Club (14th floor) at CR has two bookable king bed rooms

 

[kiford]

Or I would expect an upgrade not just another room if my room wasn't available due to mechanical issues.

You likely only get an upgrade if the booked room is more expensive (I'm not sure if this is the case with King rooms or not?). The main problem is that there aren't nearly as many King beds as rooms with two beds simply because the majority of people are there with children/larger family (>2 people) and need at least two beds. We always request King bed (non-bookable at least at AKL, BWI, BC and GF which is where we normally stay) and have managed to get one about 75% of the time. I figure that's pretty good given that the resorts we stay it's request only and they don't have many so I think your odds are pretty good at getting one if it's a bookable category.

 

[caitycaity]

I used to travel a lot for work and not getting the type of room you booked is not all that rare. It's happened to me multiple times and I've also been moved to another hotel due to overbooking. It happens.

 

[HopperFan]

I guess I didn't make myself clear. I understand if I booked a room and there is a mechanical or some other issue with the room and it is not available I would get something else.

I would definitely expect to be either offered an upgrade which is what Disney does most of the time or a refund if I am downgraded to another room along with some other incentive for my troubles.

What I want to know is do they purposely over book a room category? Kind of like airlines over book flights. That is what has been implied in PP's. I know when I go online to book a room sometimes there are certain categories that are not available. I figure they are already fully booked. If a room category is available I figure it is bookable and I will get that category when I check in.

As said, Disney keeps their operations close and no one can tell you if they purposely overbook. I think they likely do when they are juggling unpredictable large groups, conventions and other situations that could leave them with empty rooms.

As others said there may be a variety of reasons you may get to check in and a king bed is not available ... and am sure the bulk of the time, as noted, is guests staying over. We have added to our stay and not made to change rooms, sometimes folks have to stay due to cancelled flights particularly during heavy weather months where they live. I've actually gotten in to my room to find other guests suitcases ... which we had them remove ... so those folks may have arrived to a room they were not expecting.

I'm not aware that Disney offers UPGRADES most the time. My guess for your situation IF you were to arrive to no King, they would move you to another room with possibly a better location or "view" ... to Disney that is an upgrade. They try to upgrade within their own resort. Sometimes they will move folks to other resorts but I will bet that is because they have no rooms at their own. I'm not sure why you would get any incentives other than a few FP+ if you got the resort you booked but they had to move you to a Q/Q room. You still have the resort you planned, you still have enough bedding and if it cost less, they will refund you the money. I think "troubles" comes in to play when you are already in your room and experience problems and have to move.

Disney's goal is 100% occupancy and they are very successful in keeping their numbers up. It's a GIANT puzzle for their room assignors to work with reservations and over 30,000 rooms, they do a great job in meeting assignments. But as PP noted, King rooms are likely their category with the lowest number of rooms ... but occupancy wise can easily be moved to another room. It just makes economic sense to have mostly rooms that sleep full families. You can move a couple to a Q/Q room but you can't move a family to a king room.

I'll also note that Disney resorts are profit centers and the last thing a resort wants to do is have to move you to another resort and especially pay the difference if an upgrade.

 

[maxiesmom]

Are you saying even though you pay extra for a particular category, you could be downgraded? It would seem with the number of rooms Disney has they would accommodate you somewhere in property.

I have been downgraded twice. The first time at the Music they were not even going to tell me. I had my reservation printed off and said something like, Hey, that isn't a preferred location!

 

[MicroBeta]

Almost all hotels anywhere can and will overbook rooms because almost always someone will cancel or not show up. Its common practice in the hotel industry for late-night arrivals to be "walked" to another comparable hotel due to being overbooked, and for the original hotel to cover the cost. I've never worked for Disney, but since they operate at a high capacity, I assume they overbook as well. This practice generates revenue, which like the airlines, helps to keep costs to consumers down.

For the people who have an issue with the room they are assigned that need to be upgraded because its the resort's fault, where do you think they put these people? Into better rooms at a higher booking category level. If someone's standard room has an issue and the hotel makes the decision to upgrade the guest for their troubles, they likely will wind up with a preferred room or water view or whatever the case may be. This means the people originally assigned to these higher level rooms will be bumped elsewhere. At many hotels, they train employees to take care of the guest in their presence because a guest who has not yet arrived may never arrive at all.

I have heard that hotels overbook. But, I highly doubt that Disney does this. Especially considering that you have to be paid in full thirty days before check-in. People staying at WDW aren't just paying a hundred bucks a night. They're paying thousands to stay on site and I'll bet the cancellation rate is much lower than a typical hotel. I doubt they could do much overbooking. It seems to me that if they did, we'd hear more complaints about people not getting what they booked.

Mike

 

[fab1976]

I have heard that hotels overbook. But, I highly doubt that Disney does this. Especially considering that you have to be paid in full thirty days before check-in. People staying at WDW aren't just paying a hundred bucks a night. They're paying thousands to stay on site and I'll bet the cancellation rate is much lower than a typical hotel. I doubt they could do much overbooking. It seems to me that if they did, we'd hear more complaints about people not getting what they booked.

Mike

Paying in full 30 days in advance applies to packages. You don’t pay in full for a room only reservation and there’s likely more of those than you realize. Those have a deposit and the rest is paid at check in.

Have to edit because I *think* it’s due at check in but could be off by a day or two.

 

[snappy]

Stayed 1 and 2 bedrooms at Kidani and BWV many times. Master bedroom had a king without fail.

 

[Denise W]

Stayed 1 and 2 bedrooms at Kidani and BWV many times. Master bedroom had a king without fail.

All DVC resorts have a king bed in the 1, 2, and 3 master bedrooms.
Denise

 

[lambdabeta]

I used to work at the Disney Reservations Center. I trained Sales Agents and answered calls occasionally on days when classes were canceled due to extremely high call volume.

There are only a few people that can answer your question. Namely, upper-level management at the Resorts and analysts/managers in the Revenue Management division. None of those people would ever share that information because it's considered proprietary information.

Sales Agents do not have access to that information. I didn't have access to that information, either (and I had significantly "higher clearance" because of my job in the Training Department).

That said, the majority of guests going to Disney World want multiple beds. My educated guess based on prior jobs working as a hotel Revenue Manager is that it's unlikely that Disney significantly overbooks king-bedded rooms.



Maintenance issues do pop up occasionally. But from working in hotels for over a decade, I'd say that guests overstaying their reservation is the source of 80-90% if these types of issues.

Even with proof that the guest is overstaying, hotels are reluctant to evict an in-house guest. It's a messy process with the potential for bad PR. Additionally, some locations require the police to become involved in order to remove a guest because it is considered trespassing. (I have no knowledge if the counties where Disney World is located requires law enforcement to get involved. I never worked in Resort operations when I worked for Disney.)

My best guess is that when a booked category isn't available at Disney World, it's more likely to be because of a guest overstaying a reservation than a maintenance issue.

Thanks for your honest, well informed answer. Your answer makes more sense than previous ones I have read.

 

[lambdabeta]

You likely only get an upgrade if the booked room is more expensive (I'm not sure if this is the case with King rooms or not?). The main problem is that there aren't nearly as many King beds as rooms with two beds simply because the majority of people are there with children/larger family (>2 people) and need at least two beds. We always request King bed (non-bookable at least at AKL, BWI, BC and GF which is where we normally stay) and have managed to get one about 75% of the time. I figure that's pretty good given that the resorts we stay it's request only and they don't have many so I think your odds are pretty good at getting one if it's a bookable category.

 

[writerguyfl]

Almost all hotels anywhere can and will overbook rooms because almost always someone will cancel or not show up. Its common practice in the hotel industry for late-night arrivals to be "walked" to another comparable hotel due to being overbooked, and for the original hotel to cover the cost. I've never worked for Disney, but since they operate at a high capacity, I assume they overbook as well. This practice generates revenue, which like the airlines, helps to keep costs to consumers down.

It's less about revenue and more about necessity. Most hotels would LOVE not having to overbook. Managing overbooking and dealing with guests when it happens takes a lot of time. Time = money in the form of labor. Additionally, hotel chains spend millions of dollars on software packages that provide guidance to individual hotels.

As to why it's necessary, it comes down to the normal patterns of booking and canceling. With the exception of "airport" hotels, the vast majority of reservations happen before the vast majority of cancelations. People will book a hotel room several weeks (or months) in advance. But, they tend to wait until the last minute to cancel. That's just human nature.

If hotels didn't overbook, they'd end up turning away many people. Those people would end up staying at their 2nd or 3rd choice. Or, they'd create a situation where people would constantly have to check to see if a room opened up at their preferred hotel. It would make planning a trip a lot more chaotic.

 

[lambdabeta]

As said, Disney keeps their operations close and no one can tell you if they purposely overbook. I think they likely do when they are juggling unpredictable large groups, conventions and other situations that could leave them with empty rooms.

As others said there may be a variety of reasons you may get to check in and a king bed is not available ... and am sure the bulk of the time, as noted, is guests staying over. We have added to our stay and not made to change rooms, sometimes folks have to stay due to cancelled flights particularly during heavy weather months where they live. I've actually gotten in to my room to find other guests suitcases ... which we had them remove ... so those folks may have arrived to a room they were not expecting.

I'm not aware that Disney offers UPGRADES most the time. My guess for your situation IF you were to arrive to no King, they would move you to another room with possibly a better location or "view" ... to Disney that is an upgrade. They try to upgrade within their own resort. Sometimes they will move folks to other resorts but I will bet that is because they have no rooms at their own. I'm not sure why you would get any incentives other than a few FP+ if you got the resort you booked but they had to move you to a Q/Q room. You still have the resort you planned, you still have enough bedding and if it cost less, they will refund you the money. I think "troubles" comes in to play when you are already in your room and experience problems and have to move.

Disney's goal is 100% occupancy and they are very successful in keeping their numbers up. It's a GIANT puzzle for their room assignors to work with reservations and over 30,000 rooms, they do a great job in meeting assignments. But as PP noted, King rooms are likely their category with the lowest number of rooms ... but occupancy wise can easily be moved to another room. It just makes economic sense to have mostly rooms that sleep full families. You can move a couple to a Q/Q room but you can't move a family to a king room.

I'll also note that Disney resorts are profit centers and the last thing a resort wants to do is have to move you to another resort and especially pay the difference if an upgrade.

So you are saying you had the luggage of some other family removed from a room they already checked into and Disney did it with no questions asked?

 

[lambdabeta]

It's less about revenue and more about necessity. Most hotels would LOVE not having to overbook. Managing overbooking and dealing with guests when it happens takes a lot of time. Time = money in the form of labor. Additionally, hotel chains spend millions of dollars on software packages that provide guidance to individual hotels.

As to why it's necessary, it comes down to the normal patterns of booking and canceling. With the exception of "airport" hotels, the vast majority of reservations happen before the vast majority of cancelations. People will book a hotel room several weeks (or months) in advance. But, they tend to wait until the last minute to cancel. That's just human nature.

If hotels didn't overbook, they'd end up turning away many people. Those people would end up staying at their 2nd or 3rd choice. Or, they'd create a situation where people would constantly have to check to see if a room opened up at their preferred hotel. It would make planning a trip a lot more chaotic.

It sounds like Disney. The strategy given here and other sources for getting the room category you want is to constantly look on the website because people are always cancelling and rooms become available at later dates for what ever reason. That is why I don't believe Disney overbooks very often. It is not like other hotels. They have plenty of demand for rooms last minute unlike most hotels.

 

[writerguyfl]

It sounds like Disney. The strategy given here and other sources for getting the room category you want is to constantly look on the website because people are always cancelling and rooms become available at later dates for what ever reason. That is why I don't believe Disney overbooks very often. It is not like other hotels. They have plenty of demand for rooms last minute unlike most hotels.

It's hard to know for sure. I actually applied for roles in the Revenue Management division while was working at Disney World. Despite my seven years experience working as a Revenue Manager at two hotels, I didn't get the job because I didn't have a Master's degree. So, I know Disney has top-level talent working on this stuff.

But, you're correct in stating that Disney isn't like other hotels. Disney Resorts have far higher demand. Additionally, Disney has all the MyMagic+ data at their fingertips. They can tie ancillary revenue like dining, tickets, and merchandise to each resort. That can help them decide which resorts to target for discounts.

For example, they may know that guest who book standard rooms but get a free upgrade to a water view spend more than guests who book the water view. In that scenario, you'd purposely overbook standard rooms and upgrade people because it results in more overall revenue. There's tons of opportunity to do things like that.

 

[nkereina]

I have heard that hotels overbook. But, I highly doubt that Disney does this. Especially considering that you have to be paid in full thirty days before check-in. People staying at WDW aren't just paying a hundred bucks a night. They're paying thousands to stay on site and I'll bet the cancellation rate is much lower than a typical hotel. I doubt they could do much overbooking. It seems to me that if they did, we'd hear more complaints about people not getting what they booked.

Mike

As PP noted, 30 days only applies to packages. Not everyone books packages, and those that don't pay in full at check-in like any normal hotel. So, Disney still has their fair share of last minute cancellations and no shows. In addition, Disney has many business travelers for conventions who's plans change all the time. And like anywhere else, life gets in the way for many people and plans unexpectedly change. Disney offers trip insurance for this, so they would see some cancellations/no shows due to unexpected events as well. Sometimes you can't make it, regardless of how expensive the trip is. So, all of this said, I'd be shocked if Disney didn't overbook during peak times. Also - see post below:

It's less about revenue and more about necessity. Most hotels would LOVE not having to overbook. Managing overbooking and dealing with guests when it happens takes a lot of time. Time = money in the form of labor. Additionally, hotel chains spend millions of dollars on software packages that provide guidance to individual hotels.

As to why it's necessary, it comes down to the normal patterns of booking and canceling. With the exception of "airport" hotels, the vast majority of reservations happen before the vast majority of cancelations. People will book a hotel room several weeks (or months) in advance. But, they tend to wait until the last minute to cancel. That's just human nature.

If hotels didn't overbook, they'd end up turning away many people. Those people would end up staying at their 2nd or 3rd choice. Or, they'd create a situation where people would constantly have to check to see if a room opened up at their preferred hotel. It would make planning a trip a lot more chaotic.

Yes, exactly. But this still ties back to revenue. If a hotel booked to the exact number of people they can accommodate, as you mention, they would be left with rooms empty due to last minute cancellations and no shows and they would have turned away other people and reservations because of this. If they were in the business of making people happy, they would just deal with it. But they are a for-profit business, so they intentionally over-book to allow for this and it ultimately results in hotels having to bump people from what they booked sometimes. Even though it can be bad for the customer, it helps maintain the hotel's bottom line.