Help me understand upgrades and assignments!!

[SteinsLaFemme]

Many people on the DIS say that you have a better chance of getting an upgrade if you check in early.

Please explain this to me. It defies logic.

You would think that the people who check in early get exactly what they reserved. When the rooms that people reserved run out, then people would get the same class of rooms but maybe not what they reserved (such as no full balcony or daybed or in a different building than requested). After the class of rooms runs out, then you would get upgraded. This would mean that those who check in very late, when it's a busy time, would have a better chance of getting upgraded.

Why would Disney upgrade people before they know how many people were going to show up? Wouldn't they wait to upgrade until they had to? Wouldn't that give those who check in late a better chance of getting an upgrade?

 

[disneyjulie]

All I know is I have gotten an upgrade 4 times and it was very early.
Hope that helps!! Don't know why but it has worked for me.

 

[goofy4tink]

I think it depends on what you mean by 'upgrading'. There have been posts by people who have been 'upgraded' at POR...this is only to a waterview room. So, the assignors know how many water view rooms have been booked.
If you're talking about views at say the CR, well, again, they know how many of what views have been actually paid for. So.....say you are booked (and paid for) a standard tower room at the CR. Now, say there are 45 upper level rooms, facing MK with a great view of the Castle. When you check in, at say..11:00, only 28 of those MK view rooms have been already booked and paid for. So, you could be offered one as an upgrade. No one is having their request (paid for in advance) taken away from them.
Remember, all room requests are only that, requests. Unless you pay for a particular room type/view you may not get it. No one is getting bumped out of their 'request' in order to offer you an upgrade. It's a level playing field so to speak. Now, if there are 14 of those MK rooms empty, and the CMs decide to offer them up as upgrades, then the first 14 people at the desk checking in will get the offer.

 

[busymomma123]

Do you ask to see if an upgrade is available or do they just ask if you would like an upgrade?

 

[Suzyq9241]

I would like to know that too.

 

[taximomfor4]

We only got upgraded (from standard view to driveway-woodsview) at WL. I've stayed 6 times onsite. I checked in well before noon all but one time. Once, we checked in at 11pm and had to take a downgrade at WL from Courtyard all the way down to Standard view, and then move the next day.

I, too, think getting a free upgrade early defies logic. Oh, and all the times we checked in early, not a SINGLE TIME was our room ready till after 3pm.

 

[Suzyq9241]

You just take your chances... huh..

 

[salmoneous]

Many people on the DIS say that you have a better chance of getting an upgrade if you check in early.

As far as I know, none of those people know exactly how the system works. All they are giving you is their best guess based on a few antidotal incidents. Not that there is anything wrong with that; it's better than nothing. Just don't give such information total credibility.

 

[Suzyq9241]

take my chance and check in early on the 18th of August...
And then we will see what happens...

They should upgrade me its my anniversary - end of 15 years- married and total togather 26 years.....

Yeah I do love my dh....

 

[ADisneygirl]

I can see the logic in checking in early because the CM at check in has the ability to see what rooms are already booked and if there are going to be many empty better view/location rooms for your time frame. They then have the option of spreading some Disney magic and offering an upgrade. As the day progresses into evening, I think the CM's have already spread their magic for the day and no longer have access to empty higher category rooms. Then you get what you booked.

Just my theory. I have been upgraded a few times, but I've been to WDW many times and got just what I booked. We always get there early, so who really knows when the magic is spread or for who it will occur.

 

[LSUmom4kids]

take my chance and check in early on the 18th of August... And then we will see what happens... They should upgrade me its my anniversary - end of 15 years- married and total togather 26 years.....

Well maybe some "Disney Magic" will come our way too - we check in on 8/4 for 7 nights (celebrating my 15 yr. anniversary, my DS's 11th birthday and my DD's 8th birthday AND our first official Family WDW Vacation)!

44 days, 18 hrs. and counting....

 

[ktink]

I really don't understand how this works either but let me tell you about our last check in. We stayed at CSR and checked in around noon and she assigned us a room in the Ranchos and said that our room wasn't ready yet.. not a problem.. But I asked her if she had anything available in the Cabana section as that was a request of ours. She looked and said yes and the room is ready.. Huh? Why assign someone a room that isn't ready when there is another room available? I know this is off topic but just another reason why I don't and can't understand the policy of room assignments.

 

[misslissa]

I hope I can give some light on this... I have worked in travel/hotels and this is what I have learned so far.

With a cancellation policy in place, rooms are usually overbooked. I have worked in a 100 room hotel where we booked about 110 rooms every night. Then, especially if you have sister hotels (like other WDW resorts) it works itself out quite easily. People cancel, people try to get last minute rooms, stay an extra day... and all of the rooms are only classified by smoking/non smoking and number of beds, when you are looking at number of rooms booked.

In the morning, when you get to work around 7 am (where I have worked), you look at how many reservations haven't been cancelled for that night and how many you have paid for the night ahead and you try to even it out. Sometimes, it is like... 'oh crap, we need another king' so they bump out the first king bed reservation to check in (very happy people maybe moving from moderate to deluxe) to a better room at a different hotel. The person who needed a king (unsuspecting person who checks in later) gets a the room they booked (but wasn't available before someone was bumped)... and sometimes without that other person bumped out at the top, someone with a standard room will get an upgraded view...

The whole point of upgrades etc. is that the hotels are trying to work out the kinks in their reservations as soon as they know who is checking out and who will be checking in, this does happen in the morning. It isn't at all an exact science, that is why it is so random. It won't happen late afternoon unless there has been a serious last minute change (but there usually isn't with a cancellation policy) because they don't want to leave the least number of rooms available (after 90% of the day's arrivals have checked in) before moving people around and they have less options (rooms already assigned).

Does this make any sense at all?

I've tried to make as much sense as possible...

 

[Diznotyzed]

Does this make any sense at all?

It did to me, and I thank you for taking the time to explain it. It's obvious a lot of us are curious about how rooms are assigned.

 

[destinflgirl]

I have worked in Hospitality for 10 years now. I am a reservation manager for a major resort in Florida.

Hotels never upgrade just to upgrade. Either they have over booked or need to accomodate someone.

Hotels will also (if they are smart ones) only upgrade the guests paying higher rates. So say you have someone that paid rack rate for a room and one that booked through expedia at $100 less then they are going to upgrade the rack rate one.

Hotels always overbook because simply.. not everyone shows up. So sometimes when they do - they have to accomodate.

There is not an easy way to get an upgrade - like checking in early. In fact checking in early could keep you from not getting an upgrade. Hotels do whats called flipping and flopping- Say a hotel is over booked... lets say John Smith shows up who doesn't have a room assigned because he is one of the overbooked ones... they are going to take someone that hasn't arrived with the same room type that John Smith has and flip them... Now John Smith is there and has his room... now they will keep flipping and flopping until they can't anymore and then upgrade the ones that are left over at the end of the night.

Hope this makes sense... Brandi

 

[StacyRacing]

take my chance and check in early on the 18th of August...
And then we will see what happens...

They should upgrade me its my anniversary - end of 15 years- married and total togather 26 years.....

You are always "taking your chances" with upgrades. It you absolutely positively want a specific room type or view, then you should book it.

 

[BamaFan121s]

The way I've understood these types of 'upgrades' is like this: let's say you have 15 Type A rooms and 15 Type A room reservations made. 5 rooms face the water and are near the food court, 5 just face the water, and 5 face a parking lot. If you are one of the 1st 5 to check in and say or have "requested" to be near the food court, you'll get one of those better 5 rooms vs someone who made the same "request" as you that checked in really late...they would be stuck in the parking lot room.

 

[destinflgirl]

The way I've understood these types of 'upgrades' is like this: let's say you have 15 Type A rooms and 15 Type A room reservations made. 5 rooms face the water and are near the food court, 5 just face the water, and 5 face a parking lot. If you are one of the 1st 5 to check in and say or have "requested" to be near the food court, you'll get one of those better 5 rooms vs someone who made the same "request" as you that checked in really late...they would be stuck in the parking lot room.

but... the hotel is going to fill in holes by compressing so you might night always get your requests. They try to fit reservations back to back to get the most revenue and if they can meet someone requests vs losing a day of rental by swapping the request out with a non req... most of the time they will. Rooms aren't always assigned day of arrival. They have what are called room compressors that do this = but they try to meet req

 

[DisneyDuke02]

I would like to hug each and every room reservation person who has spoken so far- you are ON THE MONEY!!! At Disney (especially now...thank you Sarbanes-Oxley Act) you need to justify why you are upgrading guests...gone are the free-wheeling upgrading for the sake of upgrading days. Management must do a daily review of all upgrades to ensure that there is a reason each guest was upgraded, why they were upgraded, and how much of a monetary differential is being seen. This is not a matter of Disney being greedy or stingy, it's a matter of keeping Disney in the clear with business conduct. Yes, sometimes it is simply a "pixie dust" moment, but more often than not upgrades are due to, as one person put it, "fixing the kinks" in the system. A hotel's goal is to have 100% "heads on beds" nightly. To do so, you will overbook if needed- this is industry practice- and play with the numbers through upgrading so you maintain as even a room count as possible. This is why you may get an upgrade (your length of stay could fit a magic number the hotel is trying to fill, or your party of 3 fits into a certain type of room) but the guy next to you in line doesn't.

For those who feel they "should" be upgraded because it's an anniversary, birthday, etc, I would say it never hurts to nicely ask if one is available, but do not expect it. Disney tends to be the celebration capital of the world - everyone is celebrating something special. If everyone was upgraded due to a special event it would be a fiasco. However, you never know what can happen, so just nicely ask and see where it takes you.

Also, it never hurts to ask if there may be a better view available in the category you booked....not all standards, gardens, and waters are created equal. People tend to overlook this option, but sometimes there are lower category rooms that have better views than higher category rooms!

 

[dutch63]

Thank you for all the infomative replies, myself being a literal person, meaning I need everything spelled out to the letter, sums it up as follows.
Correct me if I am wrong, when a guest checks-in it is perfectly acceptable to request with graciousness(with no pre-conceived expectations) a room upgrade at no extra cost? Do I have it right?
One last question, Do the cms ever get annoyed by the requests?