Free dining vs. Room discount math

[disneyred]

I have Been reading here about all the info about if free dining is worth it or not by doing some math...I have read several places that often room discount is a better deal than fd at a deluxe... Can someone put some simple math for the following? Five Disney adults (ages all 16 and up) at beach club standard room ..if room discount=40% deal or fd deal.... Which is a better deal to say more money?

 

[sharonabe]

Let's suppose you are staying 5 nights during value season (which is when free dining is usually offered). Your 40% discount would be around $730.00. The DDP for 5 adults for 5 nights in 2012 is $1287.50. So, free dining is "cheaper" in the sense that you pay rack rate for your room, but get a bigger dollar amount "free."

BUT, the real question is can you feed your five Disney adults for less than $730 and still enjoy your dining experience? That's a question only you can answer.

 

[pjhootch]

There are so many little variables that can throw the math off, that it kind of comes down to an individual calculation for each family.

For instance, our family is a party of five adults. If I can get 40% off the rack rate price, it makes 5 nights at $350 a night rack rate, come out to a savings of about $700.00. Keep in mind I'm using these figures for simplicity, because with 5 to a room there are extra charges for the # of adults in one room.

I could pay the full rack rate and have free dining for $1750.00. In essence, the question is " can I feed MY family of 5 on $700.00.

Many people do the math and decide they would spend less on food than $700 so the room only discount is a better deal.

It depends on how much people eat, if you are really going to take full advantage of the table service meals and use every bit of food credited to your account.

The room only savings tend to be less at values and moderates, so people usually think that free dining is more worthwhile at the values and moderates and the room only is more worthwhile at deluxe resorts.

The QS dining plan at the values doesn't really save any money for many families, but some still prefer it because of the simplicity of having it prepaid as part of the package price.

The saving also go down depending on how many rooms you have to book to hold your family. If you can cram the whole crew into one deluxe room without killing each other, the room only discount may be worth it. If you have to have 2 rooms and would go deluxe ANYWAY... then the room only discount will save a ton more money.

On the other hand, if you're like me and are normally unwilling to pay the price to go deluxe... either discount can entice people to book a higher category than they would normally use, because of the savings.

So those same people may feel they have gotten a huge savings (which they did) although they may ultimately wind up paying more for their trip than they normally would.

That, of course, is part of Disney's marketing strategy. Either way, you kind of have to do the math for your family. We rarely eat at sit down restaurants at Disney because we don't plan or book ADRS and like to be spontaneous. So if I book deluxe and get the dining plan, we would use it to eat at restaurants we've never set foot in. I may feel the money was well spent and a big savings, but I guarantee I would spend a ton more than if I stayed value and we ate on in our normal way.

 

[Faldred]

As the posters above noted, although I may state it slightly differently, the comparative value of the free dining promotion depends on the subjective value you place on having the dining plan, which may very well be less than the "rack" rate, compared to the actual savings a room rate discount would provide.

The other thing to consider is that while you can eat for much cheaper than dining plan prices, would having the dining plan subjectively improve your overall vacation experience by giving you more options? If it would, then you need to base your subjective value of the dining plan on what you'd get out of it, and not based on "how much would we spend on feeding ourselves otherwise?"

Beyond that, there are simple rules of thumb: % off discounts tend to be better the fewer people you have in each room, and the higher the grade of the accommodation. Free dining tends to be a better discount for the opposites, assuming you value having a dining plan at all.

In your case, you're splitting the two -- a large (5 adult) party in a deluxe resort. The puts you into the "fuzzy" enough category that you really need to do the math.

 

[Cafeen]

In simple terms, if you've decided that a dining plan is right for you and using the standard 25% Value, 30% Mod, 40% Deluxe room discounts.

• Value: FD always a better value (except for maybe 0 adults, 1 child, but they don't let that happen)
• Mod: Non-CSR: FD is slightly better at 1A, CSR non-standard rooms: Discount slightly better at 1 adult (in reality, they're a few dollars off either way, so it doesn't make that much of a difference).
• Lower End Deluxe: It's even around 3A for FD. So, fewer adults means a room discount is usually better, more mean FD is more likely better
• Higher End Deluxe: It breaks even around 4A 1C I believe (I did the math awhile ago, so these are a bit rusty). For 4 adults in either deluxe (except super high level) is likely to be a better deal on FD than Room Discount

Remember that FD scales with the number of people in a room, whereas room discount does not. With a room at $350 per night, a 40% discount means you're getting $140 off per night. With DDP at $48 for 2011, 3 adults would save you $144.

For the higher end deluxes, let's say $500 per night, would give you $200 off. 4A 1C = $204.

Of course, again, this is comparing getting the free dining plan to buying the dining plan as choosing the dining plan is highly subjective.

 

[Colleen27]

• Value: FD always a better value (except for maybe 0 adults, 1 child, but they don't let that happen)
• Mod: Non-CSR: FD is slightly better at 1A, CSR non-standard rooms: Discount slightly better at 1 adult (in reality, they're a few dollars off either way, so it doesn't make that much of a difference).
• Lower End Deluxe: It's even around 3A for FD. So, fewer adults means a room discount is usually better, more mean FD is more likely better
• Higher End Deluxe: It breaks even around 4A 1C I believe (I did the math awhile ago, so these are a bit rusty). For 4 adults in either deluxe (except super high level) is likely to be a better deal on FD than Room Discount

You've got the breakeven point about right - we're 4A 1C and the rack rate of our room has to be >$490/night for a 40% room discount to be the better offer (at '11 DDP prices). Otherwise free dining is the best option.

 

[pkdof]

We'll be at BCR 12/18-23. Rack rate for our garden view is $345, with tax it is $388.12. With the 40% off and adding DxDP, the same room for two adults is $408.30 all in. So it "cost" us $20 a night for Deluxe Dining - to me, that is "free."

 

[Cafeen]

We'll be at BCR 12/18-23. Rack rate for our garden view is $345, with tax it is $388.12. With the 40% off and adding DxDP, the same room for two adults is $408.30 all in. So it "cost" us $20 a night for Deluxe Dining - to me, that is "free."

And this is a great example of Room Discount being worth more the the Free Dining Promotion at a deluxe.

FD in this case would have been ~$66 more per night or ~$454 per night total (this counts upgrading to DxDDP). So by choosing the room discount, you effectively saved ~$45 per night over the free dining plan (I'm aware that you likely knew all this already, just like pointing out good examples on either side of things )

My own real world example is
CSR Preferred. 1 Adult. DxDDP (would be either way).

Room rates are $189 x 5, $199 x 2, $204 x 1, $214 x 1 or ~$1761 before taxes. So a 30% discount means this would end up being ~$1232, or a total savings of $529. DDP for 9 nights for 1 adult comes out to $414 for a difference of $115 or ~12.78 per night. So it's close to that breakeven point. Dropping down a category would likely prove FD is better, and adding a second adult would easily do the same. (2 Adults in this same situation would give a $299 savings in favor of FD, or ~$33.22 per night)

The key is first setting your resort level and party size. If it's way in favor of FD (2A 2C at Mod or any more than 1 A at value), then even if you don't use it to it's full extent, you're probably coming out ahead anyway. If you're at one of the breakeven points, then deciding if a dining plan works for you becomes an important part of the consideration.