Help Please! Is Transfering a resort reservation a Good Idea?

[Bostonbeans99]

Ha !!! My MDE password is private and personal and almost as important to me as my SS#.

 

[MinnieMom18]

She wants to earn commission for the help she’s giving you. And she has helped you. Right now she’s giving you info for free (like what we do here), but she’s in business. The fee could be because she offers lots of service while making less in commission because she’s a military specialist. If you’re getting lower rates, so is she, but she’s an expert in this.

I’m not telling you to switch to her, but if you aren’t going to pay her (the fee or switching your reservation to her) then please stop asking her for advice. She’s a businessperson.

The MDE thing....I think that’s how some or all TAs make arrangements for you. If you wanted her help I don’t think it should be an issue.[/QUOTE]

I contacted her because initially I was concerned about the military pricing and ticketing differences and the planning seemed daunting. And, I agree with you, of course it is a business and she is there to earn a commission, I have no problem with people doing the job and earning income. I have only had 1 phone contact with her during which she made the dining reservations on my MDE and she has emailed me the transfer form. She has now sent a follow up email asking me to transfer the reservation and I have not responded at this point at all.

I have now had the opportunity to read more information and gather some tools, and I did call back to Disney and I think the point they made on the phone is that they are always available and their hours are certainly more comprehensive than most TAs. They made a note regarding the room request for the higher level floor and a baby crib.
I just subscribed to Touringplans.com and I think we are going to leave it like it is with WDW.

I do thank you all for your opinions and help.

 

[Nancyg56]

She wants to earn commission for the help she’s giving you. And she has helped you. Right now she’s giving you info for free (like what we do here), but she’s in business. The fee could be because she offers lots of service while making less in commission because she’s a military specialist. If you’re getting lower rates, so is she, but she’s an expert in this.

I’m not telling you to switch to her, but if you aren’t going to pay her (the fee or switching your reservation to her) then please stop asking her for advice. She’s a businessperson.

The MDE thing....I think that’s how some or all TAs make arrangements for you. If you wanted her help I don’t think it should be an issue.

I contacted her because initially I was concerned about the military pricing and ticketing differences and the planning seemed daunting. And, I agree with you, of course it is a business and she is there to earn a commission, I have no problem with people doing the job and earning income. I have only had 1 phone contact with her during which she made the dining reservations on my MDE and she has emailed me the transfer form. She has now sent a follow up email asking me to transfer the reservation and I have not responded at this point at all.

I have now had the opportunity to read more information and gather some tools, and I did call back to Disney and I think the point they made on the phone is that they are always available and their hours are certainly more comprehensive than most TAs. They made a note regarding the room request for the higher level floor and a baby crib.
I just subscribed to Touringplans.com and I think we are going to leave it like it is with WDW.

I do thank you all for your opinions and help.[/QUOTE]

I would as well, however if you are pleased with the level of service she has provided to you, I would do my best to promote her business. I have used a TA twice, and from then on I booked and planned our trips myself, but I still refer folks to that TA. he was amazing

I also work hard to promote put local WDW TA. I have never asked for her assistance, however she will always reach out to me when there is something she thinks will help me. I figure anyone who will work so hard for someone who is not even using her services, will be an asset to those who do.

 

[DisneyDude71]

Iam aslo considering going from one TA to another TA. She did get me the booking I want but the communication with them seems to be lacking a little. It took over 30 hours from when I told her to book the room to when she finally got back to me. My concern is if I transfer it, will she be able to cancel the reservation before the other agent gets into it?

 

[fab1976]

I would as well, however if you are pleased with the level of service she has provided to you, I would do my best to promote her business. I have used a TA twice, and from then on I booked and planned our trips myself, but I still refer folks to that TA. he was amazing

I also work hard to promote put local WDW TA. I have never asked for her assistance, however she will always reach out to me when there is something she thinks will help me. I figure anyone who will work so hard for someone who is not even using her services, will be an asset to those who do.

You can still use the agent you refer people to, and do all your own planning! That way they get the commission and it helps them to make a living doing what they love. As mentioned above that’s what I did my last trip, they had no access to my MDE to arrange anything. I used them for a couple of suggestions but that was it. I also recommend and help promote a Canadian agency I really like. Seems like we think pretty similar about WDW agents

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Totally agree with this. I'm surprised that she asked for your password. I would never give this information out to anyone. It is very easy to do all of your own reservations online and very easy to change and cancel if necessary IMO. The only time I would ever consider going with an independent travel agent would be if they were offering an incredible deal that Disney would not. Have fun with the rest of your planning!

Totally agree with this. I would never give out a password. You have already lucked out with the military discount...the rest is very easy to do yourself. Why pay when you are already saving money.

 

[CWdreamer]

YOu’ll have to ask her what is included with the concierge planning service. Sounds to me like they will make your adrs & maybe fastpasses. Everything you can do for yourself for free but they will charge you to do it for you. Personally not something I would pay for.

Any reputable travel planner that specializes is Disney will not charge any fees. They are paid commission directly through Disney

 

[Sue M]

I am leaning this way at this point. Thanks for the tips, its been about 100 years since we've been and I still remember buying that paperback book, Unofficial Guide....lol, so many changes and so much easier with the electronic methods.

And yes, everybody is on the MDE.

I guess what I am thinking about at this point is trying to contact for a specific BRV location with a view of the lake and I don't know if she would be able to make that happen or if it is easier to manage that on my own.

As others have mentioned, you can add a request to your reservation same as TA can. TA doesn’t have any clout with room assignments.
I don’t have any problem using a TA, I do many times. For making my resort res. But you’ve already done all the leg work, so I don’t see the point.
Happy planning!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Iam aslo considering going from one TA to another TA. She did get me the booking I want but the communication with them seems to be lacking a little. It took over 30 hours from when I told her to book the room to when she finally got back to me. My concern is if I transfer it, will she be able to cancel the reservation before the other agent gets into it?

Your current TA "owns" your reservation and would have to sign off on the transfer form for you to transfer it to another TA. If you want to work with another TA, you will most likely need to cancel your current reservation and re-book with the new TA.

 

[ariane37]

I don't recommend transferring. I use an agent to get an agency-exclusive discount rate on the resort, but I plan everything else myself. I wouldn't trust anyone else to book my dining & FastPasses the way I want them.

Agencies make money off their clients somehow. If your agent isn't getting a commision for booking the resort (since you did it yourself already), it seems very likely that you'd end up paying that expensive and unnecessary "planning" fee that you mentioned. It sounds like a rip-off, frankly.

No TA should be charging a planning fee. TA's don't "make money off their clients", TA's get paid by the individual vendor, whether it be Disney, Universal, RCCL, Beaches, etc. Pricing will and should be the same whether you book direct or through a TA, the difference is when you book through a TA you are in many cases supporting small business rather than large corporate ones In transferring a Disney reservation you aren't cancelling or changing anything, just "giving" it to a TA instead of Disney. They'll still get paid the same amount and same way as if they booked the reservation from the beginning so there should never be an extra cost to the client

I would not do it. You will lose control over everything. Just do it yourself. Look what you did by yourself already, you got a great rate nobody else could get for you. My vote is no.

By working with a TA you don't have to lose control over everything, you can still book your own FP's and dining. However if you wanted to switch resorts, change ticket type, or length of stay, things of that nature, the TA would,have to do it.

Iam aslo considering going from one TA to another TA. She did get me the booking I want but the communication with them seems to be lacking a little. It took over 30 hours from when I told her to book the room to when she finally got back to me. My concern is if I transfer it, will she be able to cancel the reservation before the other agent gets into it?

Your current TA "owns" your reservation and would have to sign off on the transfer form for you to transfer it to another TA. If you want to work with another TA, you will most likely need to cancel your current reservation and re-book with the new TA.

@DisneyDude71 as @DisneyWishes14 said, your current TA(and very possibly their agency owner) would have to agree to transfer your reservation to another agency. It's not so easy to get this to happen.....most likely you'd have to rebook.

 

[ariane37]

I just want to add that it is not at all uncommon for TA's to ask for MDE login info. Of course most of us here want to do our own dining and FP's even when using a TA because we enjoy it and know what we're doing. Remember, it's the TA's reputation on the line so if they were to mess around with clients' reservations and accounts it could and would hurt their business. Many TA's rely heavily on referrals and client reviews and will not to anything to jeopardize that!

 

[DisneyDude71]

@DisneyDude71 as @DisneyWishes14 said, your current TA(and very possibly their agency owner) would have to agree to transfer your reservation to another agency. It's not so easy to get this to happen.....most likely you'd have to rebook.[/QUOTE]

Ya I was just in panic mode at that point. I did send in the transfer paper, but afterwards I felt bad about it. So I emailed her and told her what I did. That way she wouldnt be blindsided. But I gave her the okay to pay it in full that way it cant be transfered. She got me a finding nemo suite with free dining, so she deserves to get her commision for it.