How do you ask for an upgrade?

[theduck619]

For those of you have had your room upgraded at check in, did you ask? How would you ask?

 

[ericamcl]

We've been upgraded on 2 occasions-and we didn't ask either time. It just happened at check in.

 

[Kim1964]

It happened to us once, and I didn't ask. It was a real treat.

 

[bowbat]

We didn't ask for our upgrade -- it was already done by the time we arrived.

From what I've read on here, it seems as if when you ask for an upgrade, the CM will quote you the price for the upgrade. Free upgrades seem to be a pixie-dust thing, not by request.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

From what I've read on here, it seems as if when you ask for an upgrade, the CM will quote you the price for the upgrade. Free upgrades seem to be a pixie-dust thing, not by request.

I agree with this, as far as I know.

 

[rznhal]

Do you guys think upgrades are more common in a slow season? at a certain resort? I love hearing everyone's experiences with this!!!!!!!!

 

[Scarlett81]

One year we had a standard room at the BC in April, and upon arrival we were upgraded to a jr. suite. No clue why, but no complaints!
For our GF room we had a standard tpv room and requested a (paid) upgrade upon arrival but there was none available.

 

[vettegirl]

We have been upgraded a couple of times and have never asked.

 

[goofy4tink]

From what I understand, CMs like to 'pixiedust' guests by giving them unasked for free upgrades. Now, it's not always possible, so it's nothing that should ever be expected. In over 30 resort checkins, I have been upgraded once...and I truly believe my TA called ahead and asked for that. And my dh got an upgrade at YC when on a business trip...from a standard room to concierge!!! But, it was part of the YOMD program. And of course, I was staying across the lake at BW, not with him!!!

In any case, you will seldom get a free upgrade if you ask for one. Disney isn't like other resorts....they seldom give asked for free upgrades. But, if there is a room maintainence issue or an over booked issue, they will upgrade guests.

So, if you choose to ask what the cost to upgrade to an 'xyz' catagory, you had best be prepared to pay for it.

 

[ruthfamilyvacationer]

We were booked at Bay Lake Towers for our first trip with our then little ones (DS's second birthday and DD was 3 at the time, also had DD 13 at that time too) and when I booked the trip I didn't really understand "magic kingdom view". After reading about it on these boards I really wanted that MK view but when I called Disney none were available. When we went to check in DH mentioned that we would love a MK view b/c our kids were little and at least we could watch the fireworks from our room. He even offered to pay for the upgrade. The CM upgraded us to a 1 bedroom/2bath suite on the 14th floor of the CR (concierge level). It was amazing! Best first trip the little ones could have asked for! This was at the end of October and typically it is a "slow" time.

 

[disnut1149]

Hi
Just got back from our trip last night and we received a free upgrade. We were staying at Pop. This was my 7th trip staying there, but the new beds were so hard, it was if we were sleeping on a slab of cement. I had read that the beds were hard, but everyone's opinion is different, so I thought how bad can it be. They were horrible. I went to the manager about it and he made a few phone calls and asked if we had ever stayed at the AKL and I said we didn't. So he told us that he got us a room there, but not savannah view and to go pack our stuff and come back to him at the front desk. He had a voucher for a free taxi ride over to AKL. When we got our room, it was a savannah view and close to the lobby. We could see giraffes and zebras from our room!! Disney's awesome!!!

 

[heartse]

I am wondering if how full the hotel is at the time has anything to do with getting some pixie dust.

 

[DebbieB]

I am wondering if how full the hotel is at the time has anything to do with getting some pixie dust.

You would think if the hotel is full they could not upgrade because there are no empty rooms. But what they sometimes do is if they see that the more expensive rooms are still open and it doesn't look like they will fill is overbook the cheaper category and then upgrade some people. That way they get the rooms filled, which is better than having empty rooms with no income. On the other hand, if the more expensive rooms are filled by people reserving them, they will not be able to do upgrades.

 

[Polydweller]

Upgrades are always given for the business purposes of the hotel. The hotel has policies and front desk must follow those and justify each upgrade. Best way to not get a free one is to ask for it.

 

[mirage0306]

We were upgraded and did not ask.

 

[rznhal]

When people ask for an upgrade, is it basically just the difference between the two categories you would see on the reservations website?

 

[DisneyFamily123]

We got an "upgrade" by making a special request at the time of check-in. Well, not really an upgrade... but they had us assigned to a room at Caribbean Beach far away from the main building and pool. The computer apparently assigns rooms that are ready to check-in (We arrived well before check in time).

We asked for a room closer to the pool and said we willing to check into the room much later in the evening since we were headed to the park. We got our request.

 

[fall08CP]

I used to work at a Disney Deluxe front desk, so here's my $.02.

As others have said, upgrades are only done for operational needs. If someone asked for an upgrade, I would say, "We don't give complementary upgrades. If you'd like, I can ask what the price differential would be per night." 99% of guests would then say "no thanks", but it always soured the rest of the check in. It made them seem cheap, I knew that they were paying top dollar for the resort, so obviously they weren't cheap, but it was obvious that they wanted something for nothing, if that makes sense. We never gave a discounted price, it's always full price or nothing. The best way to ask is: How much extra would it cost to upgrade to xx room? Then you're not inferring you want anything free, but you may get some extra magic.

Some resorts do free upgrades. I don't want to name any because it could have changed over the last year. But again, ask as I mentioned above, and the worst they can say is full price, and you have every right to politely decline.

You would laugh at all the silly things guests do for free upgrades! Can't name them on here but I've seen some wild stuff

And saying, "if you want to bump me to the presidential for free, I wouldn't mind!" is not original, we heard that at least once a week

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

If you want to ask about free upgrades it's best to switch your reservation to the room category you want before you arrive, because this way you get exactly what you want when you check-in. Plus when guests get free upgrades that decision is made a few days before they arrive, so the Cast Member at check-in won't even know about it until they enter your name in the computer.

Now if you ask about paying to upgrade when you check-in the Cast Member won't have a problem looking to see if that room category is available, because it shows them you don't mind paying extra and not wanting it for free.

 

[RMulieri]

27+ trips..NEVER an upgrade and I have traveled Peak times, Slow times and average times..heck I barely have gotten any of my room requests either.