Free room upgrades?

[diddldonna]

How many of you have ever had a room upgrade? What time of year was it? What resort was it and what was you upgraded to. I am just curious how often it happens.

Also if you have got an upgrade when did you first hear about it. Did you get asked before you arrived or surprised on arrival?

 

[Donaldfan176]

The last time we were in Disney (summer 2007) we had reservations in the garden wing of the Contemporary. We were upgraded to the Tower.

 

[raven69david]

We visit AKL about 3 times a year and get a free room upgrade to Savannah view room each time. Yes, 100% of the time and we've stayed there at least a dozen times. I've always booked a Standard view room with 40% code and have always gotten the free upgrade. These have always been during Value season - regardless of when in the year it was.

We also got a free upgrade to CL at WL in August 2008. That was awesome, but do not think we'll go back to WL as we prefer AKL.

 

[goofy4tink]

30+ stays at WDW resorts, since '99....only twice has anyone in our family received an upgrade. First time was at the CR...we booked a standard view, facing the parking lot, North Wing. We ended up in a lake view room...not sure how that happened. It think our TA may have had something to do with it.
The second time was part of the Year of A Million Dreams promotion. Dh was at the YC as part of a business thing....the whole group was staying there. My dd and I were across the lake at BWV, youngest dd arrived with dh (on his reservation). She moved to BWV with us for her 3 days there, and returned home with dad for school. BUT. when dh checked in at the YC??? The CM said to wait just a minute, he had to check something out. He came back and said congratulations!! As part of YoAMD, you have been upgraded to concierge!!! Are you kidding???? The only one in the company!!! So, we got to check that out.

But other than those two times? Not once. While many people here say that it happens all the time, in all reality it doesn't. The DIS boards are a very small, even miniscule, part of the WDW community. So, even if 50% of the posters said they had been upgraded??? It would be a very small percentage of the total number of WDW guests.

Disney usually upgrades for reasons of their own. Yes, it provides magic for the guest, but Disney seldom does anything out of the goodness of their hearts. There may be some maintainance issues with the room, or they may have overbooked.

 

[bookgirl2632]

I had small upgrades the last two times. Both times, we only booked standard view, but we wound up with water views each time. Not a huge deal, but I consider it an upgrade.

 

[AndyFL]

We got a MAJOR room upgrade back in Feb of 2011.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2654543

We made our reservation the night before we left...something we used to do regularly. I had checked several days and there were NO GW rooms available at CR and I didn't want to swing the extra $$ for a tower room so we were just going to stay at CSR or POR but the night before, all of a sudden a GW room became available. I figured someone had canceled but in hindsight I think that the room we ended up with hand't been booked so Disney's system "allowed" it to show up as a reg GW room. The rack rate for the room we got (Hospitality Suite) is about $1,100 per night.

 

[antmaril]

I have been upgraded three times at Disney. In 2001, we were upgraded from a standard room to Club Level at the Beach Club. In 2006, we were again upgraded to Club Level at the Boardwalk Inn and in 2011, we were upgraded at Coronado Springs from a standard room to a Junior Suite. Each of these upgrades were a total surprise and we were thrilled.

 

[mommytocalliesue]

We got offered an upgrade on our last trip....but it was only because we wanted two queen beds at BC and they didn't have any. So they offered to move us to the Yacht club and get water view (we only had Garden View at BC). However, we didn't take it....we really wanted to try out Beach Club!

 

[TaraPA]

30+ stays at WDW resorts, since '99....only twice has anyone in our family received an upgrade. First time was at the CR...we booked a standard view, facing the parking lot, North Wing. We ended up in a lake view room...not sure how that happened. It think our TA may have had something to do with it.
The second time was part of the Year of A Million Dreams promotion. Dh was at the YC as part of a business thing....the whole group was staying there. My dd and I were across the lake at BWV, youngest dd arrived with dh (on his reservation). She moved to BWV with us for her 3 days there, and returned home with dad for school. BUT. when dh checked in at the YC??? The CM said to wait just a minute, he had to check something out. He came back and said congratulations!! As part of YoAMD, you have been upgraded to concierge!!! Are you kidding???? The only one in the company!!! So, we got to check that out.

But other than those two times? Not once. While many people here say that it happens all the time, in all reality it doesn't. The DIS boards are a very small, even miniscule, part of the WDW community. So, even if 50% of the posters said they had been upgraded??? It would be a very small percentage of the total number of WDW guests.

Disney usually upgrades for reasons of their own. Yes, it provides magic for the guest, but Disney seldom does anything out of the goodness of their hearts. There may be some maintainance issues with the room, or they may have overbooked.

In all the trips listed below only once did we get an upgrade at a Disney Resort, from standard view to savannah view at Kidani.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I had a room upgrade at AKL - I was also interested in how often this happens at AKL - did an informal poll here and the results indicated people on the DIS were upgraded 50% of the time at AKL.

 

[CouponCon]

We went to Old Key West Easter week 2012 for a one bedroom villa. I did online check-in with no special requests. I was shocked when she said your 2-bedroom villa is ready! Very cool surprise! We are going back to OKW next Easter with no expectations of an upgrade...but it sure would be nice LOL

 

[Haley]

I think it happens most at AKL because the majority of the rooms are savannah view and some savannah views aren't great. So they'll upgrade a standard or pool view to a crappy savannah view.

 

[owl0306]

I have been so many times and never got an upgrade. Maybe it is b/c I use my DVC? I am always nice to the CM and never ask for one and still nothing!!!!!!

 

[CalSea12]

When I stayed at ASmo I got upgraded to preferred, and when I stayed at CBR I got upgraded to preferred. I like these upgrades lol

 

[Minnie&Nana]

About 50 trips since 1981, all Disney resorts, most trips value season - mostly deluxe, with a few moderate and POP stays - we have been upgraded twice: first time at AKL, the resort was brand new, we knew nothing about the views and booked std with the FL resident rate - we were upgraded to an Arusha Savannah view. We asked if we could have a pool view instead, but the CM said she would find us a nice room and to please try it - we loved it!

Second time was on points at SSR - housekeeping upgraded us from a studio to a one bedroom. I had no idea housekeeping could or would upgrade a guest, but the housekeeping manager left us a nice gift basket saying they hoped we would enjoy our stay. No special time for us or at Disney.

Nothing else...oh...once at POP...right after the SSR stay. Tropical Storm Faye came through and I extended 2 ngts and moved to POP alone. They put me in a room in the 90's and I asked if they might have one a bit closer because I was alone. The CM walked over and spoke with a supervisor, came back and moved me to 60's pool view. I offered to pay the difference but she said no, it was her pleasure.

So, 3 upgrades in 30 years... think that is more typical than those who happen to get upgrades more often.

 

[LuvLDM]

I always book a standard view room & usually w/ a discount, we often get a room view upgrade. Not huge but I appreciate it.

Our travel to Disney is always during value season so I imagine that has something to do w/ it.

 

[mickeynut1]

We have been upgraded twice in all of our trips to Disney since 2002. Once was at the BC, we booked standard view and were upgraded to a water view. The 2nd time was at AKL. We booked standard view and were upgraded to savanna view. Our last AKL stay in December 2010, however, we booked pool view and that's exactly what we received. I tried right up until we left to upgrade to savanna view, but nothing was available. As a pp mentioned, Disney doesn't usually give upgrades "just because". There is usually something behind it such as maintenance issues, overbooking of a certain room category, etc. It seems like upgrades happen alot, but in reality, as already has been mentioned, the people on the Disboards constitute a very small percentage of the entire Disney population, so when there are alot of people reporting upgrades, it actually doesn't happen as often as it seems.

 

[Singinglizzie]

I always love reading the posts about free upgrades! During 2009 and 2010 Disney offered some folks an upgrade email offer - from a Value to SSR or OLd Key West during the month of Sept. We were one of those lucky enough to get the offer and had a tremendous time at OKW! This year we booked another value, hoping to get the same offer - but no luck as there was no offer this year. Just this week, we decided we needed a resort with queen beds, so we paid the difference and upgraded ourselves. I believe these types of offers, are all based on economics for WDW. During free dining it appears that the Values sell out, so by freeing up some of those rooms and moving them to a resort that isn't selling as well, it opens up more opportunity for Disney to maximize it's profits. There really isn't any magic to the upgrades, it is usually driven by room categories not being available. This September the Values are already sold out for many dates, but WDW did not offer any upgrades. It think they do not want to compete with the opening of the new AOA, but this is just my humble opinion. I have read on these boards by WDW Cm's that any room "upgrades" need to have some justification. Wishing Pixie dust to everyone!!!!

 

[uagirl]

We were upgraded to WL CL on our honeymoon in June 2008. We had booked standard view. We were upgraded to WL Courtyard view in Jan. 2009. We booked standard view for that trip as well.

 

[disneychick0412]

We were one of the lucky ones who got the 2009/2010 upgrade email from a value to SSR! Even better, we got a 1 bedroom!! It was great!!!