Convention rates - has anyone "unauthorized" ever booked using them?

[germanbini]

Ok, so maybe it's "unethical," and I've seen how lots of y'all have your morals... which is great! But, just in case you've maybe had "a friend" who might have booked a Disney property during a convention, using that convention rate, but maybe your friend wasn't actually participating in the convention... what was your "friend's" experience? Did Disney ask for some sort of proof that the "friend" was with the convention?

I know some of you have had "friends" who ordered 2 day park hopper passes through convention rates. So how about Disney property hotel rooms with convention rates?


Just curious, of course...

Sabrina

 

[Lewisc]

Convention rates aren't always that great, sometimes the meeting room rates and hospitality suites are loaded into the room rate.

If you somehow managed to reserve a room at the convention rate I suspect you'll wind up on a computer list in the hands of the sponsor.

Curious, if you manage to snag the room will you also try to participate in the convention cocktail parties and meals?

 

[jgates]

For our last convention I beat the Hyatt rate by about $55 by using the Entertainment card. Now the one in Atlanta has all rooms blocked online so I can't try it - but it worked great in Chicago. We had a better room than some of the convention rate people had!

 

[Lewisc]

Also try this link
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/07/31-hotels.htm
regarding convention rates. That said I have no idea if Disney's convention rates are good or bad.

 

[germanbini]

I'm talking about on property... I've seen some convention rates which seem pretty darn good being offered at CS and CBR. Pretty much anyone can search the internet with the phone number for CS and there are plenty of conventions listed, just have to narrow them down by dates.

Is maybe CS or CBR too busy to notice or maybe even wouldn't care if you're not part of the convention when you check in? I wonder what proof they ask for at check in, if any? And I'm pretty sure that the reservation has to be paid in advance, but maybe not, does anyone know?

 

[SueM in MN]

All the conventions I've gone to have a certain number of rooms blocked for a specific period of time at the convention rate. To get the rate, you had to either book with a central convention "Housing" number run by the convention sponsor or a convention number for the hotel (not the regular number). After the date is passed, the rooms go back into the regular inventory. The information was part of the convention announcement.
Any tickets available for convention goers either were packaged with the convention materials when you registered for the convention after you arrive, or after registering, you picked them up in another area at the "welcome to the convention" area (showing your convention ID when you picked them up).

 

[safetymom]

I went to a convention at CSR in June. If I had booked with codes I would have had a much better rate. The convention rate was not very good.

Did not pay in advance for the reservation.

 

[germanbini]

I've seen this mentioned a lot, and I'm sorry to be so ignorant, but I'm not sure which codes you mean, exactly. I'm not a member of any special club (except AAA).

The rates I'd seen for the conventions are as low as $119 for CS and $89 for CBR, which looked like great prices.

 

[safetymom]

My rate last year was $130 something. If I had gotten the room when WDW had codes the rates would have been much better at CSR.

You can find out all about them at www.mousesavers.com

 

[Aprille]

Originally posted by germanbini
The rates I'd seen for the conventions are as low as $119 for CS and $89 for CBR, which looked like great prices.

I'm booked at CBR for $89 (AP rate - 40% off rack rate) for my upcoming trip. AAA has pretty good discounts too. I was originally booked at CBR with AAA rate of $106.40 (20% off rack rate).

I think you'll probably find better rates by checking out discount codes found on MouseSavers, checking into AAA rates or trying for an AP rate (if you have an annual pass or plan to get one).

 

[Aprille]

BTW, CSR and CBR have the same rack rates so that $119 for CSR is not even as good as a AAA discount would be if we're talking about value season.

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by Lewisc
Convention rates aren't always that great, sometimes the meeting room rates and hospitality suites are loaded into the room rate.

If you somehow managed to reserve a room at the convention rate I suspect you'll wind up on a computer list in the hands of the sponsor.

Curious, if you manage to snag the room will you also try to participate in the convention cocktail parties and meals?

This is absolutely the case. I used to work for a company which produced conferences and workshops, and we got a list of everyone who reserved a room in our block to compare against the list of registered attendees. It did two things for us, first we were able to determine attendance better as often peopel will secure the room(s) before actually registering, and second we'd be able to look for exactly what you are talking about doing. Generally we'd contact the party and fins out what they were up to--sometimes it would have been put in one persons name but another attendee (their associate) was actually going to end up using the room. No problem of course. But eery now and then we'd catch someone trying to do exactly what you are talking about, and we'd have the hotel cancel them out of our block and if there were rooms available, move them to another room--the price they paid for that room was between them and the hotel.

Just because a person has a room in the block doesn't mean they will get into parties and meals, a registration badge is required for that, which is a seperate registration.

Anne

 

[Eeyore1954]

Anne beat me to the "punch." I do this for our department's training conferences and we carefully compare a guest list from the hotel with our registration list. We are especially cautious when we book conferences at the Swan/Dolphin and I have cancelled room reservations under our block for people who booked rooms but were not registered for our conference. It hasn't happened often. But knowing what we do, I wouldn't even try something like this. It would be embarassing to show up and be told your reservation was cancelled because you are not truly a conference attendee.

At all our conferences, participants must register and get a name badge that allow access to any meals, receptions, etc. we offer. No badge, no entry.

 

[ead79]

My wedding room block is handled through Disney's group reservations office, the same way convention rooms are handled. Rates vary according to many different criteria, and mine are quite good. AP rates are much better, but the rates aren't bad.

What the other posters said is completely correct--I receive print outs with guests names and reservation numbers for each of my blocked resorts.

It's just not a good idea, not to mention not being morally acceptable.

 

[phamton]

What if someone who is going to the conference can't get a room in the block because you took it?

 

[Eeyore1954]

Originally posted by phamton
What if someone who is going to the conference can't get a room in the block because you took it?

That's exactly why my company monitors the guest list daily until the conference is completed. We have the hotel fax us a reservation list each morning and once on-site, we check a daily guest list against registered attendees. We have to be sure that our conference participants plus conference staff can get a room at that hotel. Our participants would not be pleased to have to book a room at some other hotel and travel every day simply because someone else was trying to save a few bucks by scamming the system.

 

[Janet2k]

This is what I found during the “event” part of a convention at WDW…

During one of my group vacations, it just so happened that my brother-in-law’s company was attending a convention on WDW property (his family got their Poly vacation for free, the lucky ducks). I am a DVC member, so the rest of our group stayed at the BWV via my membership. There were times, however, when my brother-in-law invited our entire group to some of his convention functions. He always okay’ed this in advance with the sponsors of those particular activities (brunch at Narcoossee’s, a dinner party on the beach of the Beach Club, etc.), and every single one of us was given a badge with our name on them. At each event that we attended, our name was stated on the guest list and we were allowed entry. It was all very professional, and since we were officially invited to attend those functions, an awful lot of fun (Disney sure knows how to throw a party). I could just imagine how red my face would have been had my brother-in-law not set up all of that in advance (oh, the horror).

 

[mom-2greatkids]

DH has a conference every year in Orlando (used to be at CSR but switched last year to Gaylord Palms). Anway, the first year we booked using the conference rate, which saved us about $5 per night. The next year we found out about codes, which is a much better savings.

 

[chipscinderelly]

On each of our wedding rates (convention rates) the AP rate was lower - so I don't think this would be a great savings.