Chances of a free upgrade at Beach Club?

[michelleiada]

We have treated my parents to a deluxe vacation and have booked them at The Beach Club 5/15-5/24 in a standard room. They have never stayed at a Disney resort, only been to WDW once about 10 years ago. I am seeing many reports of free upgrades to water view. How does this happen and what are the chances that they may get a free upgrade? I want this to be very magical for them because they have been through so much, work very hard, have made many sacrifices, and have hardly ever vacationed in their entire life. Is there anything we can do to ask for a free upgrade or does Disney just randomly do this???

 

[ancestry]

Disney does this randomly depending on availablity. There isn't anything that you can do other than to book them in the higher category and pay for it yourself.

 

[mmmears]

Although you have read many reports about people being upgraded, it doesn't really happen all that often. It's just that when people get one, they're really excited and are more likely to post about their trip. We've stayed at the YC 4 times and never received an upgrade, only had lagoon view when we paid for it.

If the view, is important, please book a lagoon view room. (The LV rooms at the YC and BC are less-plentiful than the GV rooms, so it's not very likely to get an upgrade. Plus, many of the LV rooms are not really facing the BW and the lagoon.)

 

[RMulieri]

There is nothing you can do to ensure a 'free upgrade' If an upgrade is that important you would do best by booking what you want. Disney randomly gives out the upgrades.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I agree that if there is a specific view you want then you should call CRO and make a reservation for it, because chances are you won't get any free upgrades and when that happens it's totally random.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Yes, there are a very few "Pixie Dust" upgrades.
2) But, most are done for very specific space-availability reasons.
3) The people might be random, but the reasons are not.
4) We shall not go into those reasons in a public forum.
5) And, when issued, each upgrade must be justified on a form by the Room Assigner.

If you want an upgrade for your parents special vacation, you should pay for it. No to sound too harsh, but there are so many people that want upgrades that a requested upgrade to "special parents" is far down the list.

 

[GOLFDISNEY72]

Has anyone notice if the people who get the upgrades are one's who visit often. Can they see that info when you check in? I really do not expect anything but we are about to make our 4th trip in the last 18 months.

 

[RMulieri]

Has anyone notice if the people who get the upgrades are one's who visit often. Can they see that info when you check in? I really do not expect anything but we are about to make our 4th trip in the last 18 months.

If that were true I would have gotten one.21 trips with 2 more planned, no upgrades thus far

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Has anyone notice if the people who get the upgrades are one's who visit often. Can they see that info when you check in? I really do not expect anything but we are about to make our 4th trip in the last 18 months.

That does not matter because my family and I have had so many stays onsite since May 1998 and only got two major upgrades.

 

[catne]

Agree that if you want a better room, better to reserve & pay for it. Think it's fairly rare for the upgrades...either something was drastically wrong with the original room, or they overbooked a category, or there is a pretty obvious marketing campaign going on.

When we were upgraded in January to the Club Level at the Contemporary, I think it was very obvious why. First, we'd already paid for an upgrade from the garden level to Magic Kingdom tower view, so the marketing department already knew we had some discretionary $$...so giving us a "taste" of club level because there was a chance we'd be a good candidate for future paid club level reservation. Second, we'd already paid to upgrade from the regular dining plan to the Deluxe dining plan, so again from the budgetary standpoint, chances are we would not use much of the "free" breakfast, drinks & snacks in the Club room. Which is true, we didn't use much so we were "cheap" to them on the upgrade. And 3rd, we were only going to be there for two nights - in the middle of the week. So no ever-popular weekend days tied up for the free upgrade. We were arriving the day after MLK JR. Day, so, the 3-day weekenders had already checked out. And we would be checking out on Thursday morning - before the next batch of 3 or 4 day weekenders would show up. Just my opinion, of course. Could be they use an entirely different set of criteria. Whatever, we enjoyed it.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . we were upgraded in January to the Club Level at the Contemporary...and I think it was very obvious why . . .

1) It might be obvious to you.
2) However, from personal/professional experience, I guarantee that is not the reason(s).

 

[fall08CP]

Has anyone notice if the people who get the upgrades are one's who visit often. Can they see that info when you check in? I really do not expect anything but we are about to make our 4th trip in the last 18 months.

It is not immediately obvious how often you have visited. They can look it up but it has no bearing on whether or not you will receive an upgrade. Upgrades are picked for logistical reasons, but as TheRustyScupper said, we won't put these on a public forum. Be happy if you get one, but do not expect it.

 

[ellenec]

I booked a standard room at AKL 2 summers ago. Due to construction we were moved to the Beach Club. When we checked in they upgraded us to a waterview, directly over the quite pool and looking across at the Boardwalk. It also had a balcony, which was great.