Learned something new. Guaranteed connecting rooms.

[BigAlsGal]

Went to change my reservation from AoA to Pop because I realized the AoA suite just wouldn't meet our needs. 3 adults 3 kids.

The cm asked if we all lived in the same house? I asked why. She said "Well if you don't all live in the same house you have to do 2 separate reservations." I said "Well then YES we all live in the same house!"

So I got to change everything over to a 2 room reservation. Then I said "I know connecting rooms aren't guaranteed but can you put that in the requests?"

She said "Well because you are all in the same house you are GUARANTEED connecting rooms."

Mind blown...

So I told 1 little white lie and it saved me the headache of having to book 2 rooms under 2 different names AND I don't have to worry about arriving and finding out we have rooms 50 miles away from each other.

If you've heard something different please correct me because I know all CM's say different things. This is all news to me.

 

[wilkeliza]

Hopefully they didn't give you bad information. The phone CMs are notorious for giving bad information.

 

[dansdad]

I've gotten that same spiel 4 times. Two of those times we arrived with 2 adult and 5 kids all under 12 and all living in the same household and had rooms nowhere near each other. At POR we were in separate buildings at BC were on different floors on opposite ends of the hallway. At POR on day 4 we were able to at least get in the same building, but on different floors. And at BC on day 5 we were able to get on the same floor but still on opposite ends.

All 4 times we were told the same thing @BigAlsGal was told and ALL our paperwork said Guaranteed Connecting Rooms. All 4 times we had 1 reservation number for 2 rooms.

I can't believe the phone CMs are STILL giving people this false information.

 

[BigAlsGal]

I've gotten that same spiel 4 times. Two of those times we arrived with 2 adult and 5 kids all under 12 and all living in the same household and had rooms nowhere near each other. At POR we were in separate buildings at BC were on different floors on opposite ends of the hallway. At POR on day 4 we were able to at least get in the same building, but on different floors. And at BC on day 5 we were able to get on the same floor but still on opposite ends.

All 4 times we were told the same thing @BigAlsGal was told and ALL our paperwork said Guaranteed Connecting Rooms. All 4 times we had 1 reservation number for 2 rooms.

I can't believe the phone CMs are STILL giving people this false information.

I thought it might be too good to be true. Lol

 

[dansdad]

I thought it might be too good to be true. Lol

They will do everything they can to grant your request of connecting rooms, but it truly is just that a request. I found this out the hard way after wasting 5 hours of our vacation dealing with this the first time. I was told every which way by everyone from the General Manager to the room assigner that connecting rooms is only a request. It did not matter what my confirmation said as those are considered "notes" not promises. I was shown the fine print that details the ONLY thing your reservation guarantees is a room on WDW property.

Since I knew this going in the 2nd time it happened, I only wasted about 5 minutes of my time asking when we'd be able to move closer together. The only reason I bring this up is so others reading this in the same situation are prepared that it might not happen so they don't waste hours and hours of their precious vacation time beating their head against the wall.

And believe me, no amount of arguing or making a scene will get this resolved. I tried. My wife was embarrassed and I was not proud of myself, but I truly lost it as I was under the impression that our connecting rooms were guaranteed.

 

[nkereina]

I guess I don't understand why living in the same household matters as far as being given connecting rooms? At other hotels, if there is more than one adult (over 18) that can split up with the young people (under 18), they don't need to guarantee anything. PP is correct in that while they will certainly try, they can't guarantee such a thing.

 

[BigAlsGal]

They will do everything they can to grant your request of connecting rooms, but it truly is just that a request. I found this out the hard way after wasting 5 hours of our vacation dealing with this the first time. I was told every which way by everyone from the General Manager to the room assigner that connecting rooms is only a request. It did not matter what my confirmation said as those are considered "notes" not promises. I was shown the fine print that details the ONLY thing your reservation guarantees is a room on WDW property.

Since I knew this going in the 2nd time it happened, I only wasted about 5 minutes of my time asking when we'd be able to move closer together. The only reason I bring this up is so others reading this in the same situation are prepared that it might not happen so they don't waste hours and hours of their precious vacation time beating their head against the wall.

And believe me, no amount of arguing or making a scene will get this resolved. I tried. My wife was embarrassed and I was not proud of myself, but I truly lost it as I was under the impression that our connecting rooms were guaranteed.

I bet! You and your wife probably had to split up. What kind of family trip is that?!

 

[BigAlsGal]

I guess I don't understand why living in the same household matters as far as being given connecting rooms? At other hotels, if there is more than one adult (over 18) that can split up with the young people (under 18), they don't need to guarantee anything. PP is correct in that while they will certainly try, they can't guarantee such a thing.

On the same note I never understood why living in separate houses required 2 different people on the reservation. Last time this happened I had to put my mom on the reservation even though she didn't pay for anything. Everything was paid on my visa. Why can't 1 person book 2 rooms? Weirdos...

 

[dansdad]

I guess I don't understand why living in the same household matters as far as being given connecting rooms? At other hotels, if there is more than one adult (over 18) that can split up with the young people (under 18), they don't need to guarantee anything. PP is correct in that while they will certainly try, they can't guarantee such a thing.

I never understood that either. But I was asked every time we booked multiple rooms and was told "Oh great, since you are all living in the same household we can guarantee you connecting rooms".

 

[bumbershoot]

I never understood that either. But I was asked every time we booked multiple rooms and was told "Oh great, since you are all living in the same household we can guarantee you connecting rooms".

Somehow they NEED to get this info back to the call centers. It's a pretty important thing that the call centers are getting wrong.

 

[dansdad]

Somehow they NEED to get this info back to the call centers. It's a pretty important thing that the call centers are getting wrong.

Completely agree. And EVERY time the phone CM brought up the "guaranteed connecting rooms" freely. Like they were giddy to be able to do this for us. And the General Manager and the room assigner said there is NO mechanism in place to block off connecting rooms when the reservation is made. So it's impossible for them to guarantee them. I don't get it.

 

[tinkerbella16]

Completely agree. And EVERY time the phone CM brought up the "guaranteed connecting rooms" freely. Like they were giddy to be able to do this for us. And the General Manager and the room assigner said there is NO mechanism in place to block off connecting rooms when the reservation is made. So it's impossible for them to guarantee them. I don't get it.

It is astounding how misinformed the CM's over the phone are. I cannot believe some of the misinformation they give out to guests.. Then when the guests arrive, they're disapponted because someone gave them wrong info.

To the OP, I would not expect guaranteed connecting rooms. I have never heard of the same household thing. You may still get them of you request them though.

 

[Lynne M]

This has baffled me for years. Years. I don't know whether it's misinformation being given to the reservation CMs, or just a case of overzealous CMs trying to please a customer. Considering the number of times that I've heard the exact same scenario that dansdad reported, over at least the last 5 years, I have to think it's misinformation being passed to all of the reservation CMs.

It must drive the front desk CMs absolutely bonkers. They're the ones who have to deal with customers who were promised something the CM is simply unable to deliver.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Every time we have requested them, we've got them, but I will tell you that I breathe a sign of relief every time, because I sure have seen a lot of people that don't. One year we had 4 rooms in a row at POFQ.

 

[Sue M]

I meet up with a friend at Wdw, and we always have our reservations linked as traveling together. While we don't need connecting rooms, we like to have our rooms at least near each other. We've had the most sucess at POR, AKL and Poly. At POR we've had connecting rooms or adjoining rooms, and at Poly & AKL rooms just a few doors from each other. At YC and GF we've had rooms on opposite ends of resort.

 

[ckmommy]

We have 5 children. Every time we go to WDW we have gotten connecting rooms. The CM I talk to when making the reservations I have been told the exact same things the OP was told. This upcoming trip we do not have connecting rooms--we are staying at BCV. I hope we are on the same floor--I do know we will all be in the same building for sure!!

 

[Babsy]

The amount of misinformation that we are told by poorly informed CM's is staggering. I am so thankful for the Dis where we can get these things sorted out. At least you know where you really stand.

 

[aaarcher86]

Somehow they NEED to get this info back to the call centers. It's a pretty important thing that the call centers are getting wrong.

They're not getting it wrong. They're trained that way specifically - although living in the same house has nothing to do with it.

2 adults with any number if kids = guaranteed rooms.

It's in their training. Can't really blame them for it.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Mind blown...

So I told 1 little white lie and it saved me the headache of having to book 2 rooms under 2 different names AND I don't have to worry about arriving and finding out we have rooms 50 miles away from each other.

If you've heard something different please correct me because I know all CM's say different things. This is all news to me.

Well, look at it this way.

You lied. They lied.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Well, look at it this way.

You lied. They lied.

I still got to make the reservation under just me so still a win in my book!