Confusing results (Disney.com v. CRO v. Expedia.com)

[All Aboard]

In response to resort board discussions about no availability at on-site resorts at the end of this month, I did some checking and the results may interest some folks here. Especially with respect to how the booking policy may be impacting WDW.

First, I checked the date range Sep21-24 on the WDTC's booking engine on Disney.com. The only availability was at the Dolphin, nothing else on-site anywhere.

Next, I called CRO. Started with the All Stars and then the moderates, then a few deluxes. Same result, nothing available anywhere.

Then, I went to expedia.com. Entered orlando and the same dates, searched for keyword "Disney's". Checked availability for everything that came up. Only Movies, PO & CBR showed no availability. I could book anything else. I even tested it all the way up to the point of actually booking the room. No problems.

What does this mean? Folks must be calling CRO to book for that week and are being turned away. Yet, rooms aparently are available - but you have to know about expedia.com (or perhaps other websites) to get them.

This is for dates that are just two weeks out. Am I missing something here, or does this seem like a bad way to do things?

 

[Kaelyn]

Doesnt' Expedia and other such type places buy the rooms/airfares ahead of time and then resell them? Maybe that's why they have availability and WDW doesn't.

 

[daannzzz]

I was booking a room at WDW All Star via Expedia last year and went through the whole proceedure. When I finally clicked on Book it, it came up as not available!

 

[Barbruka]

I've read elsewhere that Expedia is very slow to update their resort openings. Same with Travelocity.

 

[pjd02176]

I don't think that Expedia actually purcahses the rooms in bulk then resells them... I believe that would be a site like Hotwire.com or cheaptickets.com.

I think that certain rooms are set aside for certain groups. Kind of like if you called a hotel to book a room, but a convention had already "held" 50 rooms at the Convention Rate. You may get turned away the first time you call, but as the convetion gets closer, the rooms are "released" back into the system for anyone to get.

Kind of like when you call and try to get a AAA rate, but all the AAA rate rooms are gone. They can book you in at the regular rate, but all the AAA rooms are gone.

I heard once that CRO releases rooms back into the system on Monday mornings... you may want to try again. Plus, with all the wheeling and dealing Disney has been doing on room rates recently with ads in the paper and special reservation codes for deep discounts, I bet people are cancelling their full rate rooms and re-booking with a code.

 

[All Aboard]

I think there are kinks in the system. I just played around with Thanksgiving weekend. I tried Nov 22-25 using the basic plan. I started with Movies, got the "nothing" message. Then I tried Sports and Music, same result.

Then I tried Beach Club. Nothing there, but it gave me other Deluxe options. But, instead, I clicked on the "try other resorts" link. I got some Home away from home options. Clicked the "try other" again, got some moderate options. Clicked one more time and lo and behold, the All Stars were available. ALL THREE! So, I priced one out all the way to the point of credit card info.

Just to make sure that a bunch of cancellations didn't just come in, I did the process over again. Same result - no availability on first try, but availability when "backdooring" it.

So, I picked up the phone and called WDTCO again. (I seem to have alot of time on my hands today) and was told that there was absolutely no availability of any kind at any All Star for Nov 22-25.

So, what gives?

I just wish that WDTC online gave the 5 day cancellation, I would have booked the room just to make sure it was possible.