I wish Disney would let us pick hotel rooms....

[msjprincess]

Yes, they did it (free luggage delivery) to make them money. How does it make money when it's free? Because it's cool to get your luggage delivered directly to your hotel, people tend to pick onsite hotel because of it. The hotel room selection is also one more perk for the guests who care, and I have a feeling that a lot of people will love it. Disney can first try this on a smaller hotel they own such as the Grand Floridian, or a small select number of Pop Century guests, to see how it works out. If it doesn't work, scrap it. And people who don't want to bother choosing don't have to feel left out. For example, Disney can explain that only the bottom 70% of the rooms are out for customer selection; the best rooms are reserved for Disney to choose. So only people who want to choose will bother with it. And yes, I prefer a "worse" room of my own choosing rather than having a chance at a better room. Because it is my choice! Everybody's needs are different! For example, I prefer Pop Century rather than the Polynesian even if they were to cost the same, and I've stayed at both. In fact, I judge the Pop Century to be the absolute best hotel in Disney for my family, even if you don't consider prices. And I've stayed at 6 Disney hotels. But I don't know that many people feel that way. I am quite sure that a large number of people will love the room choice option, though, even if they know that only the less than best rooms are available for choosing.

It makes them money because people are less likely to rent cars. People that rent cars are more likely to go offsite to eat and shop. They want people to go directly from the airport to WDW and not leave the property until they go home.

 

[mayshamp]

Neither would I. We had a view of the roof at BC. We paid standard so we expected it. Didn't bother me one bit.

I once had a standard room at BC and faced the back path and the lake. It was beautiful. But I wish I had your roof view -- I love those roofs! BC has really nice roofs there! If Disney allows, say, only the bottom 70% of each category of the rooms to be chosen by guests, And enough people choose those rooms to fill them up, it just means better selections are left for those who don't choose. You get the people who want weird rooms out of the way! So this is a good deal for those who want to choose and those who don't. And you never know what customers want. I remember airplanes first started letting people choose seats, the seats near the back were the last to be picked because they are near the restrooms, so you get to smell.... But nowadays they are picked first by people who need to be close to restrooms! For example, a lot of rooms on the ground floor at Pop are called "preferred" because they are fast getting in and out, but I can't imagine the noise from all the foot steps and chatter and kids screaming, all day long! Every day that I walked by them, I wondered how people inside put up with our noise? We always stay at higher floors where there is a little noise in the morning when it's time to get up, and that's it. We come back in the afternoon and it's quiet for our naps. So nice! I have an autistic son, so certain room characteristics (that most people don't care about) are particularly helpful to us.

And to answer another poster's question, will this increase Disney's income? Yes, I think so. All the cool perks increase onsite property's appeal. And the more appeal, the more people want to stay there.

I'm not complaining about the current system of Disney's choosing for us. It has always worked well for our family. It's just that I dream of choosing my own room...that would be so cool!

 

[Prose]

Yes, they did it (free luggage delivery) to make them money. How does it make money when it's free? Because it's cool to get your luggage delivered directly to your hotel, people tend to pick onsite hotel because of it.

I think you are way over-valuing how much "coolness" factors in to people's decisions. I could give a flying fig about whether something is 'cool'. We prefer to stay on site because having transportation to and from the airport and within property provided is convenient and saves us money, because we can get our hotel as part of a package and have it paid off before our vacation, because we can have packages sent to our resort as a convenience, and because having access to Extra Magic Hours is a value added amenity. I doubt very many people pick a resort because things are 'cool'. In terms of amenities, picking your room would be down on the list for us - we'd rather see more food choices, bigger hot tubs, more frequent transportation, etc. We've never selected a hotel based on whether or not we can choose our room - even someplace like a Hampton we would just say something like, "higher floor, near an elevator." Beyond that we don't care.

I just don't see a business model reason for Disney to do it - if they are at 80%-plus capacity now and it would create extra costs in terms of IT, website maintenance, etc., why do it?

 

[RustManFan]

I think that is totally UNNECESSARY.