How many people hold multiple resort reservations for the same trip?

[3Gsandme]

OP, if you read the boards you'll find that what people are currently experiencing is that they cannot just apply a discount. They must rebook IF a discount is available. We have found that, personally. They aren't just amending dates or whatever anymore. You have to rebook.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Well I might just do this next year. Hold a reservation for a room only at the Poly for a week in November and December, not knowing which week we will go until about 60 days out.

 

[wdwrule]

Quite simple:

Lol! That's exactly what I was thinking! Just wasn't sure if I was missing something.

 

[22Tink]

Saddly double booking makes it harder for other guests to make reservations.

AKK

This!! And having a RO booking doesn't guarantee that you will get any discounts if they come out later anyway. It just fills rooms and makes it look like Disney doesn't need to offer discounts. Why would they offer them if the rooms are already booked?

 

[bumbershoot]

When we booked them the agent confirmed that we could add the discount later depending on what is offered.

"Add the discount" isn't what they are doing, though.

But double booking (or booking a more expensive room than you'd be willing to pay at rack) is only lessening the chance at a discount.

Exactly.

I was really not thrilled with the prospect of using a 3rd party to begin with.

No reason to fear Orbitz. I quite like earning rewards/loyalty on my hotel bookings. Something Disney doesn't do.

a Disney agent told me years ago

Sigh...years ago...years ago things were different. Things are changing now, have you noticed?

Assuming that there are rooms available in the discount.

That's the important part, and YOU said it! Assuming there are rooms available in/at the discount, then you can switch to it.

Hold a reservation for a room only at the Poly for a week in November and December, not knowing which week we will go

That's not what the OP is doing. They have the same week booked at two different places. You could actually take both of your trips.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

No I wouldn't be able to take both trips, but oh how I would love to. But I think if I am going to do this I am going to try to decide by the 90 day mark.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think that the double booking of rooms in anticipation of discounts is in part responsible for the cluster that was the last FD promo. There was a limited number of rooms available and all thse folks who had already taken rooms out of inventory were vying for those few that were available. I really do not understand the reasoning, especially given that Disney no longer simply converts the existing reservation to the discounted rate. I also think that reserving more than one is even more ludicrous.

We never book a room unless we are going with or without the discount that may be offered. If I am on te fence, I wait for a discount to be offered and then make my decison. I have always gotten the resort I wanted, and I imagine that most folks would as well.

 

[22Tink]

I think that the double booking of rooms in anticipation of discounts is in part responsible for the cluster that was the last FD promo. There was a limited number of rooms available and all thse folks who had already taken rooms out of inventory were vying for those few that were available. I really do not understand the reasoning, especially given that Disney no longer simply converts the existing reservation to the discounted rate. I also think that reserving more than one is even more ludicrous.

We never book a room unless we are going with or without the discount that may be offered. If I am on te fence, I wait for a discount to be offered and then make my decison. I have always gotten the resort I wanted, and I imagine that most folks would as well.

I agree wholeheartedly with this post!! I had my RO reservation booked well before FD came out because we were going either way. I didn't even know what FD was, we just lucked out and were able to rebook to get the discount! And yes, I did have to rebook. I could not modify the existing one so people shouldn't rely on that happening!!
I would never book 'in anticipation of' a discount, nor would I ever book more than one. It just seems unnecessary and a bit selfish. Not to mention that full rooms means less discounted rooms!!

 

[yankeepenny]

I will be honest here. This idea is as bad as before the CC needed for dining and booking multiple dining venues for the same time period.

 

[bumbershoot]

No I wouldn't be able to take both trips, but oh how I would love to.

I meant that if you hit the lotto and your boss said "let's close the office for this time period!" and if there's schools involved the principal said "let's close the school for this time period!" all at the same time, you could, in time and space, take both trips. You could go this month and that month.

The OP can't really go the same dates in different resorts.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I meant that if you hit the lotto and your boss said "let's close the office for this time period!" and if there's schools involved the principal said "let's close the school for this time period!" all at the same time, you could, in time and space, take both trips. You could go this month and that month.

The OP can't really go the same dates in different resorts.

Oh, I could dream!!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We currently have two reservations for the same period next July. One at the Contemporary and one at Port Orleans. We have stayed on property many times and have always done this to take advantage of the best discount whether it be a Disney Visa, general public or PIN code discount. With a family of five, the numbers work out differently depending on the discount offered.

For us, this strategy has allowed us to take advantage of the best discount available.

How many people do this and make the decision right before the cancellation date?

This simply doesn't make any sense. Having an existing room reservation does not, in any way, give you any advantage in obtaining a discount on your room. You have as much chance (actually probably better!) of getting a discount if you dropped both now and made a brand new reservation at a resort/room category you like on the day a discount is released. Disney does not "apply" discounts to reservations. If you have a reservation and you call in when a discount is released, they will search the discount inventory to see if your resort and room category are available at the discount for your dates. If they are, they will switch your rate to the discount. If they aren't, you have the choice of sticking with what you have booked at no discount or switching to a resort or room category that is available in the discount inventory.

You yourself stated you once had to switch resorts because what you had originally booked did not show up in the discount inventory.

The fact of the matter is, given the jammed phone lines and massive hold times on the days discounts are released, the people who have the most advantage are those that go online in the morning on the day a discount is released and book what is available in the discount inventory then. Modifying an existing reservation can be a nightmare. While you are on hold to modify a reservation, people are online making new reservations under the discount and further depleting the discount inventory you are trying to snag.

 

[Ladyfish77]

I held two booking for a short time (see my signature). I originally booked POR (which isn't included in FD) with a RO discount. I truly expected to stay there on the ressie. I did lots of research and decided that staying there and using military discounted tickets was the best for me. I was happy with my choice as I watched all the FD chaos that took place. Continued to watch and was still happy with my choice, but was starting to wonder if FD would have been better. When more rooms opened up, I decided to grab them at CBR. I kept both while I ran all the numbers to make sure I was happy with the FD offer instead of RO discount and military ticket discount. I crunched the numbers and for my group it worked out better to take the FD package.

So I held two ressies for a short time. Once I was sure which way I wanted to go, I cancelled the POR ressie (I really would have liked to stay there).

So I may be part of the problem, but I did cancel my second ressie as soon as I ran the numbers. So excited to be doing FD as we've always done the CS on the run in the past.

 

[tinkerbella16]

Yeah, the CM's aren't always right and I think we all know that on here how misinformed they are. They cannot "apply" the discount just because you have something booked ahead of time- they used to! Now, these discounts are so limited.. If you have an existing package, they cancel and rebook IF the discount is available for those dates/resorts. I already had a package booked at POR since January.. I was going no matter what and I really thought I'd have a good shot at getting at least the room only discount, since free dining was not available for my dates- well guess what? The room only was so limited and even first thing when it went live, my TA was not able to just "apply" it for me.. There was nothing available. So I am going without any discount (and I am happy with that). There is no advantage to booking early.. all that does is hurt the chances of resorts needing to discount rooms in the first place.

 

[sndral]

One is booked in my wife's name and one in mine. Same last name. When I booked the second the agent said that she could see the other one.

No, it never occurred to me to book rooms in every resort I might want to stay at and then decide which one to keep several months later. Indeed, unlike OP, I book through Disney rather than a TA and I believe Disney will not book the same lead guest in more than one room - hence OP's need to use different names as the lead guest.
Of course, it never occurred to me to book an ADR in every park for the same meal just so I had options/flexibility thus I didn't realize just how widespread the practice was until they implemented the changes making double ADR booking impossible to do (without creating multiple identities) and when that didn't fix it the cancellation fee - once that happened it was suddenly so much easier to get ADRs.
The high level of 'applying' discounts, changing resorts, canceling by double bookers, etc. is probably responsible for the new cancel and rebook policy regarding discounts as well as being applied to those who book more days than they plan to be there trying to 'drop days' being required to cancel and rebook. If these steps don't reduce the reservation churning, I wouldn't be surprised if the next step will be to charge a fee to cancel (rebooking or not) whenever the reservation is canceled w/ no more free to cancel until 45 days out. Of course it may not be a big issue and there may be an entirely different reason for the recent policy changes with booking.

 

[luvallprincesses]

I have 2 reservations held right now for November. Mine is the result of having a reservation made at Swan for which I intended to apply more AmEx points once I accrued them. Low and behold, Swan sold out of some of the dates that I wanted to apply the points that I now have. (Conference.) So even though I hold the room reservation for the sold out nights, at a rate significantly higher than I will pay, they will not allow me to apply my points because they are in sold out status. So this week I grabbed an AP rate at AKL for $225 for the last 4 nights of our stay. I hope that rooms at the Swan open up when maybe some conference blocked out rooms are not needed and released, so we don't have to move. This is a little different intention of the OP, and different because it isn't actually two Disney reservations as the Swan is actually Westin. I wish I wasn't holding 2 reservations, and wouldn't be if my original plan had worked out.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I just don't think its right to make more then the reservation a group plans to use. It is not fair to other guests and makes it harder for others to get reservations and make their. plans.

AKK

 

[JACKNAG]

I totally agree!

I also agree

 

[RustManFan]

Just remember, you may be preventing a family from making the ONE room reservation they are seeking since you are taking the availability