Hurricane Resort Refunds

[airjoe]

I repeat, DISNEY HAS WAIVED the cancellation policy due to Huricane Charlie!!!

You can make changes on any room only reservation at ANY time prior to arrival.

 

[mamalle]

anytime I have ever made a reservation here in south fla during the time of a hurricane- I have always been refunded my deposit. same thing with disney and after 9/11 if we chose to cancel. It may take a few days for it to show up but it will. I just had major problems with our resort in July and my refund showed up like 3 days after my return home.

and yes we are looking at a catagory 4 hurricane by the end of next week- either here in south fla or along the east coast.

 

[gottaluvdis]

I agree with the OP that Disney needs to get their stories straight. They must have a standard hurricane strategy in place prior to a storm hitting. What they need to do is advise their CMs what to tell Disney guests in this situation and stick to it. It sounds odd that Disney would all of a sudden change it's mind. Unless they tell the CMs to tell people that they will get refunded to keep them calm at the moment, only to deal with them differently after they are home (and safely away from Disney). That would make me madder than being told the truth up front, and like the OP said, I'd gladly take the loss if I were told this from the beginning. In the case here, I'd probably do as another poster suggested and file a dispute with the credit card company.

 

[Mercy]

We were there during the hurricane. We received complimentary 1 day UPH's for all in our party. I thought that was very generous and really unexpected.

But that is very different than giving back a refund for everyone who could not make it in. With the extra UPH's, we now have incentive to make another trip to WDW and spend more money there on a room, etc.

 

[Cookie55]

Not to add fuel to the fire BUT....We arrived in Orlando on Friday, August 13th. We had reservations at POR for two nights and at WL for the following six nights at the passholder rate. Upon arrival we learned that the parks were closing at 1:00. We are PAP holders and as with many passholders the decision to purchase said passes is predicated on a calculation of what the per day cost is. Since we live in Massachusetts the loss of a day of admission is significant. That was also supposed to be an e-ride night which had also figured significantly into our plans. Faced with this predicament we decided that we might be best served by trying to check into the WL on Friday and forego the POR stay. We reasoned that the move to WL would only eat up more time at the parks, time that we felt we might really need given that we were not going to be doing anything on Friday. We went straight to the WL and explained our situation. We were told that they could give us a room however since (and this is a direct quote) "There are people from all over the state of Florida arriving here and paying FULL RACK RATE" no accomodation could be made to us concerning the rate. The picture that was painted for us was that rooms were at a premium and people were paying a premium. Whether that was true or not we obviously don't know but that is definitely the impression we were given. By the way this came from a manager as I asked to speak to one. We were told that at that point no compensation of any kind was being offered but that we were free to contact guest services at some point in the future to see if that policy has changed.

 

[atruesag]

Refund polcies were greatly relaxed by WDW. You can contact the resort you stayed at or Disney Reservation Center regarding the status of any refund. Keep in mind that based on the volume of reservations being adjusted it may take longer then normal to issue any refund that might be due. If you paid by credit card, check with the credit card company to see a credit has been issued and just does not show on your statement yet.

 

[LisaSt]

You can't honestly be requesting a refund from Disney because of the storm. Get real Disney has no more control over the airport than it does over the weather. If yu honestly feel you deserve a refund because the airport was closed and you couldn't get to Disney then you honestly have no need ever returning to Disney. Grow up it isn't about you getting a refund for 1 night atleast you didn't lose your house or job etc you lost a single night at WDW get over it you do not deserve a refund for this.

 

[QueenOfCelts]

What's with all these "Grow up" posts? They don't seem very helpful or polite.

 

[zaxmom]

In my opinion if the guests were unable to get to the resort on check in day due to the airport being shut down, they should not lose any money for that night. If they canceled their whole trip because of the hurricane, then maybe they should lose their deposit. If someone was due to check in Friday and did not make it there until Saturday, they should not be charged. They were not using the room. It just makes good business sense on Disney's part. No one is really being punished here. I would not worry about Disney losing money or the stockholders for that matter. The costs to have a room sitting empty are minimal for the operators. Not to mention the number of extra rooms booked by people from Tampa and such paying the regular or rack rate at the last minute. I would bet they had a higher than usual occupancy rate than this week in years past. And like some previous logic on this thread, if Disney did not want to deal with problems from a hurricane, they should not have built in Florida. I am sure if they said they would not charge for that night if you were not there, then eventually you will have it credited to your account or refunded to you. It probably will take another month, maybe two, to show up on your credit statement.

 

[LisaSt]

As a stoc holder I hope they do not start issuing refunds for this as was stated it was not anything they can control so why should they have to fork out the money to people that couldn't make it. It is the chance you take when you book a trip in Sept and Aug during hurricane season next time book a different month. This isn't about custome loyalty etc this is about a weather situation that no one can control and thus Disney should not be held liable for repayment of any money to anyone even if it was my day missed due to this. You take the good and the bad when booking a trip to Florida in Aug and Sept no matter where you book be it Disney or Universal etc.

 

[drp4video]

Posted twice, see post below!

 

[QueenOfCelts]

Again I ask......

Should WDW make money on the same room twice? How do we know the rooms that people couldn't get to were empty. How do we know that people from around Florida didn't occupy that room while trying to flee the hurricane?

I live in St. Petersburg and I know alot of people that went to Disney or Orlando to get away from it. As stated in a previous post - WDW was charging rack rate.

 

[drp4video]

If as one poster indicated, that Disney told her there would be no discounts as people from all over the state were flocking to disney an booking rooms at rack rate, then maybe Disney actually made a profit, and would not it then be good business sense and create good will if they refunded the night onf August 13th to those would could not get there due to the storm? I know several people who came and stayed at disney to avoid the storm in their home.

Whew, long sentence above.

I can only say that I thought they were awesome in their treatment of guests. We have AP so the "free day" did not matter, but we were traveling with my daughter's friend who only had a hopper. So we were able to get in an extra half day at MGM since that day did not count for her.

The one thing I could not believe was that at POP about 6:30 p.m., we went down to the food court to discover it was closed, and there was a man screaming outside the building at the CM who told him it was closed. He was very upset that all they were offering was chips and chip products, and his little children needed something more substantial and good to eat, and not just chips.
He was actually very belligerent. I felt awful for the CM's who were trying to keep their cool.

We looked at it as an adventure. Chips and snickers for dinner. I mean, how often do I have the nerve to do that! I also realized earlier that the food court would probably close, and at lunch brough back fruit and peanut butter and crackers. I really wanted to tell the man that if he had paid attention to the warnings about the hurricane, maybe if he had used his brain, he would have gotten provisions as a backup and not relied on the food court remaining open. I really wish now that I had said something, as he was such a rude person!

 

[Aquagirl]

Did you call before hand to tell them that you would not be arriving due to the storm? I find it odd that the CM would state that they "changed their mind' about giving refunds.

 

[DebbieB]

If your room went empty that night, I could see no refund. But if you called and told them you would not be arriving that day and they rented it to someone else at an equal or higher price, then they should refund you.

 

[DisneyChick02]

...in a position beyond front-line, I can tell you that Disney waived it's cancellation policy for the at LEAST the 13th and 14th of August, and it was done as a goodwill gesture to those whose arrivals were affected by Charley. I don't want to mention additional days as I honestly don't remember what other days were waived if any.....that 48 hour period is very much a blur for those of us on ride-out and recovery. Anyway, this change in policy was dictated to us in MULTIPLE forms, memos, and meetings. If someone told you that we "changed our mind" I'm terribly sorry. ...please write to Guest Communications if you are still getting pushback from whomever you have been speaking with so the situation can be resolved promptly!

 

[Mrs. Toaster]

I hate to be the poster sparking this debate, but just to answer some people's question, yes, we did call on Saturday to let them know that our flights had been canceled and that we wouldn't be checking in until Sunday. I also called Priority Services and canceled the meals we had reserved for Saturday night and Sunday morning. I made those calls out of courtesy. I most certainly did not expect anything in return. We simply raised the question at check-in and that was how all this got started.

I'm so sorry that this has started such a debate! As I stated before, we had a wonderful trip, we love Disney and we aren't looking to make a buck here. I wouldn't have pursued it at all, except that we did inquire about it at check-in and that led to all of this! I lived in Northridge, CA during the large earthquake there in the early 90's and I understand exactly what it is like to experience a natural disaster. Our prayers and good wishes go out to all of those affected by this hurricane. Please don't misunderstand my original post to say that we are trying to profit off of the hurricane! All we want is a straight answer from Disney, which I don't think is an unreasonable request.

 

[epcotfan]

The one thing I could not believe was that at POP about 6:30 p.m., we went down to the food court to discover it was closed, and there was a man screaming outside the building at the CM who told him it was closed. He was very upset that all they were offering was chips and chip products, and his little children needed something more substantial and good to eat, and not just chips. He was actually very belligerent. I felt awful for the CM's who were trying to keep their cool.

That screaming guy was another example of entitlement mentality.

This is off topic but we were really lucky at CSR. They had a buffet and lots of cold sandwiches to go around. It was a big benefit staying at a resort with convention catering facilities.

 

[mamalle]

Originally posted by nuthut
Sorry, but there is no way Disney and their stockholders (myself and lots of others on this board) should have to pay for your reserved room because you were unable to fulfill the terms of the agreement you made with Disney when you made the reservation. Stop trying to blame everyone and everything else and take the loss.

so uncalled for

The CMs that we have encountered during a threat of a hurricane and after 9/11 were very gracious and understanding if we chose to cancel our reservations- they would refund our money no problem and to add to that- when I had a death in the family- the same thing. very understanding they have always been

 

[susy]

If I do have to cancel my upcoming trip due to Francis, Disney would not be losing my money if they refund my $79, because I will be rebooking anyway-probably during the same call and I'll most likely be booking a deluxe instead. I'm still going regardless..I may just have to wait a few weeks.