Disney Restaurants need flexible pricing

[BabybetterDisney]

Some years ago I stayed at Beach Club, the first time I stayed at a deluxe, and learned the hard way that just because you stay at a Disney hotel, they don't reserve space for you to eat at the hotel's restaurant. The restaurant hostess told me to just come back in an hour. I did that and they told me to wait another hour. So I ate at the food court and found the flatbread there to be out of the world!

I have since read many reviews from guests of deluxe hotels such as the Grand Floridian who were shocked to find themselves locked out of a meal at their own hotel. I understand that Disney is trying to fill up the restaurants, and I applaud them for that, but I believe there is a way to maximize the profit while at the same time make hotel guests not feel shut out of their own restaurant.

Disney needs to price the restaurants the same way they price the hotels and the parks. That is, if you go doing busy times, the cost is higher. The price can be adjusted such that the restaurant will be no more than 90-95% full at any give time, even Spring Break or Christmas, and hotel guests can almost always find a seat while Disney maximizes on their profits. Last fall, I went to the California Grill and found the food to be amazing. I tried to book another reservation during my 3 week stay and couldn't. There was no spot open any time, any day. When a restaurant is that full, that means the price is too low. They need to crank it up so that it matches the demand. Similarly, they need to crank the price down if the demand is low. Being that I couldn't get California Grill, I decided to try Jikos, another signature restaurant. I had no trouble making a same day reservation for any time frame I wanted. The restaurant was more than half empty when I got there at 6pm, and the food cost as much as that of
California Grill but not near as good. The place was so empty we were sad to be there. They need to charge less and fill up the place a bit!

After Disney increase the restaurant prices to match the demand, the should let the hotel guests enjoy a discount, about 20%, if they eat at their own hotel's restaurant, as a perk for staying at the hotel. In reality, Disney is simply letting hotel guests pay normal price but charge outsiders extra, but a discount sounds better than a surcharge.

 

[holden]

I can’t think of any restaurants that change their prices based on season or offer hotel guests discounts.

Disney has restaurants for just about any budget. One of our kids’ favorite meals is a melted ham & cheese croissant at Les Halles in France for $4. I would think anyone who can afford to go to Disney can afford that meal.

They also offer opportunities for discounts such as Annual Passes and Tables In Wonderland.

Also, Disney accepts reservations 180 days in advance. If you want to eat at a specific restaurant you have the opportunity to book it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Your logic seems a little off. You are saying Disney should raise their prices so high that they don’t fill their restaurants so that people can get last minute reservations. But, will people want those last minute reservations if the prices are through the roof?

 

[Jennasis]

No.

 

[mom2rtk]

Disney already adjusts their restaurant prices in peak seasons.

This is not a new problem. We stayed at the Contemporary in 2004 and never could get a reservation to Chef Mickey. Came and went from our hotel many times and always had to hear all the noise coming from the restaurant we couldn't eat at. We only had to make that mistake once.

 

[rwdavis2]

I couldn't imagine that I would care if I ate at my hotel's restaurants. We're either in a park for a meal or leaving and heading to where we actually want to eat. We last stayed at Boardwalk and out of 8 days we only ate in the area 2 times. Too many other places to go.

Variable pricing would be a nightmare for people trying to keep track and print menus.

 

[rajak73]

Where to start....

learned the hard way that just because you stay at a Disney hotel, they don't reserve space for you to eat at the hotel's restaurant.

I've never stayed anywhere that guaranteed me a reservation at the hotels restaurant just because I had a room there. Who's to say you are going to eat all your meals there? So Trails End should have kept a reservation open for me for 14 days just because I was staying there and "may" eat there? So should they keep a reservation for me for breakfast, lunch and dinner just "in case" I wanted to eat there?

The price can be adjusted such that the restaurant will be no more than 90-95% full at any give time

So if it was YOUR restaurant, wouldn't you want it 100% full all the time? Wouldn't that maximize profit?

When a restaurant is that full, that means the price is too low.

Maybe that means that the food and service is that good. So they tell me Le Cellier at Canada is full all the time, so that means they need to charge more? And someplace the food is really crappy you trying to say that if they charge less they will fill up seating? Let me guarantee you, there are some places around here that are full all the time, hard to get reservations and they definitely are not priced to low!

should let the hotel guests enjoy a discount, about 20%, if they eat at their own hotel's restaurant,

This is the only thing I could really agree with you on, maybe a 10% discount I would have no problem with for staying at the resort.

 

[arminnie]

I stayed at the Gaylord in Texas one year during their Ice event. We couldn’t even get breakfast there as everything was packed.

It was extremely inconvenient as I had my 86 year old father with me and there was nothing else close by at all.

I don’t know of any hotel that saves room for guests in their restaurants. Unless it’s a B&B that does not serve meals to the general public.

 

[jpakstis]

I can imagine getting a discount on hotel rooms because, similar to airline seats, by a certain point the unused space is a sunk cost. However, restaurants require so much more in terms of inventory (i.e. food and ingredients, drinks, etc.) and more importantly staffing (not only wait staff but hosts/hostesses, cooks, bartenders, dishwashers, expediters, etc.) that needs to be on call at a given moment. And in the restaurant world, staffing tends to be a major concern. Finding reliable labor can be difficult because of so much competition, travel times, competence, etc., so if you went to an "on call" method, you wouldn't be able to count on having enough staffing if the restaurant gets inundated with customers suddenly. And if you aren't busy, that labor isn't going to sit around and wait since they are paid hourly. So you already have a large upfront cost in terms of the food, ingredients, drinks, place-settings, linens, etc., and you can't have a dynamic staffing model to adapt to its busy or less busy times. All you can really do is predict the crowds, but you still need to have enough inventory even if you have accurate predictions. And inventory can't really be rolled over to the next day (why there there used to be the "don't order fish on Mondays" adage because you'd be getting all the leftover fish from the weekends).

As far as getting seated in "your" hotel, there are some natural advantages you have. For instance, our family are early-risers so we never have a major issue getting breakfast at times like 7AM. Someone coming from outside the hotel would need to get up that much earlier. It also can be an advantage for dinner, where either you can eat earlier or potentially later since you have no travel after that. But as for getting an automatic discount, why would a hotel restaurant do that? You don't save them any money since its not like your travel costs. I guess if you promised to eat there all the time, sort of an "all inclusive" model, they could count on the business, but otherwise you offer them no real advantage other than some predictability. And in a place like Disney where you can get to a large number of restaurants with all sort of options fairly easily, its not even that predictable.

 

[Allison]

No, just no.

 

[gharter]

I can't think of any hotel (from value to luxury ) anywhere that we have stayed in that guarantees me a seat in their restaurant for any meal. Whether we are traveling for business or pleasure.

 

[KenHutch]

Just do what everybody else does. I research these places with the girls and make my ADR's at 180 days. They are crowded because Disney is almost always crowded. And if you do make your ADR's at 180 days you should be able to get anything. I know many of my fellow poster use a priority system on their call in day but I don't I start at Day 1 and go to Day 8,9 or 10 and I have never failed in getting an ADR within 15 minutes of what I want and that includes CRT, BoG and places like Ohana.

 

[JeninTexas]

The benefit to staying at a Disney hotel is that you can make all your restaurant reservations at 180 days out for the duration of your trip. This will almost always assure you that you can eat at your hotel's restaurant. I've stayed at many different resorts and hotels all over the country and none of them ever guaranteed a hotel guest a restaurant reservation. They do let you know when you can book though, and encourage you to book your meals when you book your hotel reservation. Variable pricing would be a complete nightmare in my opinion.
Like others have said, if you arrive for your stay and find you are shut out from a reservation at the restaurant, you will never make that mistake again.

 

[SaintsManiac]

There's already seasonal pricing in some of the restaurants.

 

[MikeNamez]

Make an ADR?

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

- there is already seasonal pricing (and that can complicate matters enough for those trying to budget ahead of time so adding another pricing structure on top of that is more hassle than it's worth)

- there is already an advantage to guests staying at a resort who want to book dining at that resort because they can be more flexible with which times they want to dine. I can book an earlier breakfast or a later dinner at my resort than non-resort guests might want, because I don't have to factor in (possibly) over an hour of travel time or sort out alternate transportation.

- Prices go up all of the time at Disney and it doesn't deter people. There's no guarantee that pricing going up will mean the restaurant doesn't book to capacity.
Take BOG for example- they went from a menu where an adult could eat a la carte and order as much or as little as they wanted (so if I wanted a $35 entree and no appetizer/ dessert then my cost was the $35) to a prix fixe that is now $60 (plus tax/ tip) and it still fills up and can be a difficult ADR to get if you don't get it early. A price increase of nearly double has not dettered anyone from eating there. No way is Disney going to further raise prices just with the hopes of reducing reservations- everyone's money is as green as the next person's and they don't need to do this in order to turn tables.

-any guest can book dining at 180 days anywhere that has an available reservation, or 180 days PLUS length of stay for resort guests, so those staying anywhere on property already have an advantage there as well.

 

[siren0119]

-any guest can book dining at 180 days anywhere that has an available reservation, or 180 days PLUS length of stay for resort guests, so those staying anywhere on property already have an advantage there as well.

THIS

Disney is not responsible to accommodate guests who fail to plan ahead, nor should they penalize those who DO.

 

[marielynn724]

learned the hard way that just because you stay at a Disney hotel, they don't reserve space for you to eat at the hotel's restaurant.

Why would they? That's really presumptuous.

 

[Nancyg56]

THIS

Disney is not responsible to accommodate guests who fail to plan ahead, nor should they penalize those who DO.

I agree 100%. The notion that a hotel is obligated to hold places open in the off chance a guest wants to make a last minute meal is ludicrous to me, as is raising the cost so high that the restaurant is left with open seating JIC a last minute guest pops in and is willing to pay exorbitant prices.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

99% of the time I have stayed in a hotel, I have NOT eaten in their restaurant. Not counting complimentary breakfast. It seems more than a little entitled to think that you should be owed a restaurant meal because you use the hotel. There are over a hundred Disney eateries to choose from. Most people resort hop and visit the restaurant they want to eat at. I sure wouldn`t want to be told, "You're staying at POFQ, you can only eat at the food court or Boatwright's, sorry you wanted to make an ADR at an AK eatery, you should have stayed there."

You HAVE to make ADR's to eat at Disney!!!! It's just too crowded otherwise. I don't know who didn't tell you that, but that's the deal if you want sit-down dining.