Minimum length of stay rules preventing booking?

[reluctantredhead]

Hi everyone...I'm sorry to be posting another "request for help" thread, but I've struck out with CMs and am hoping that maybe someone here knows a way around this issue.

I booked a stay at BC in a 1BR suite from 12/19/18-12/26/18. We really wanted to stay on the monorail route, but no 1BR suites are available for those dates. On another thread I posted, someone gave me the idea of doing a split stay between a WL Deluxe CL room and the BC 1BR...that was a genius idea because the WL room, despite not being listed as a "suite", has the partitioned sleeping area for our D that we're looking for.

But here's the problem...the WL room is available to book for the entire length of our stay (12/19-12/26), but NOT available from 12/19-12/22. Huh?!?

I chatted with a CM online about it and at first he tried to tell me that the room was simply unavailable...but then when I gave him specifics, he said that some resorts have minimum stays, especially during the holidays. But it's not like we're just trying to stay for one night...and we'd be out by the 22nd.

Has anyone ever had this happen, and were you able to find a workaround to be able to book the room for the length of time you wanted?

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

Edited to add: The WL Deluxe CL room is also available for EACH INDIVIDUAL night -- 12/19, 12/20, and 12/21. This makes no sense to me.

 

[puffkins]

Generally, during peak season, resorts (anywhere) will require a minimum stay of multiple nights to even out occupancy rates. Is there a way around it? Not really. You can beg Disney to make an exception but I doubt they will this early in the year. Sorry.

 

[reluctantredhead]

Generally, during peak season, resorts (anywhere) will require a minimum stay of multiple nights to even out occupancy rates. Is there a way around it? Not really. You can beg Disney to make an exception but I doubt they will this early in the year. Sorry.

Thanks for your response...the minimum stay is completely understandable. But if that's why I'm being prevented from booking that room, why would the system allow me to book each of those nights individually???

 

[GADisneyDad14]

The wonderful world of Disney's booking/revenue maximization algorithms are at work here (which all hotels do, BTW). But unfortunately they are working against you in your set of circumstances. I agree to call, see if you can escalate it.

 

[puffkins]

Thanks for your response...the minimum stay is completely understandable. But if that's why I'm being prevented from booking that room, why would the system allow me to book each of those nights individually???

LOL, not completely sure. The 22nd is the Saturday before the week of Christmas...maybe that comes into Disney's rationale? They probably clump the week of Christmas and the weekend leading into that week as the same ultra-peak period. The 19th through the 21st, technically being outside of that sweet spot, might be under different rules. My wife and I stayed at the WDW Dolphin this past December and the Saturday before Christmas had a huge rate jump when it was available (and eventually had no availability.) We were happy enough to leave before the "holiday" weekend started.

 

[maxiesmom]

I would call and see if they can do anything for you. Unfortunately there is no work around.

 

[dansdad]

The wonderful world of Disney's booking/revenue maximization algorithms are at work here (which all hotels do, BTW). But unfortunately they are working against you in your set of circumstances. I agree to call, see if you can escalate it.

This.

The research shows they have better odds of someone willing to book the 19-26 than finding someone willing to book the leftover 22-26 leaving 4 nights not booked.

 

[dansdad]

I would call and see if they can do anything for you. Unfortunately there is no work around.

Right. Guest Services are the only ones that can override the system but sometimes they do say no.

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

Call and book the entire stay 19-26. Next week, call back to modify your reservation and remove 22-26 from your reservation.

 

[dansdad]

Call and book the entire stay 19-26. Next week, call back to modify your reservation and remove 22-26 from your reservation.

You used to be able to do that, not any more. To drop nights off a reservation, there has to be availability for the new dates as if it was a new reservation.

 

[baler31]

Call...I have never encountered anyone in GS that was unwilling to work with me to make the reservation work if the room was available. I have had to do this MANY times since they employed the LILO reservation system.

 

[dansdad]

Call...I have never encountered anyone in GS that was unwilling to work with me to make the reservation work if the room was available. I have had to do this MANY times since they employed the LILO reservation system.

Maybe I should have you call for me next time. Been denied twice.

 

[reluctantredhead]

Thanks so much for your responses, everyone.

Another oddity is that the system will allow me to book that WL Deluxe CL room from 12/20-12/23, which is the same number of nights as the 12/19-12/22 stay. BC will allow me to book the 1BR suite from 12/23-12/27, so we could potentially do the split stay by just delaying the whole trip by a day. My family is on board with that, but that means one extra day during the dreaded Christmas to New Year's week when the parks will be packed...so I would still prefer to go 12/19-12/26.

I will call tomorrow to see what they can do for me. I must admit that I HATE calling because it always seems you're at the mercy of the fickle finger of fate as to how much the CM you get is willing to help you, and how much information they're willing to share. Also, if you haven't already guessed, I'm a bit of a control freak and generally like to "handle things" myself, so I don't like to put my fate in other people's hands, lol.

 

[baler31]

Maybe I should have you call for me next time. Been denied twice.

I will be happy to call for you dansdad! I guess I just have a smashing personality or the inability to accept "no" as an answer.

Find the overlap...I don’t accept no for an answer, and this is not rhetoric - it is a structured process. Adeo Ressi

 

[kwdw]

Definitely call. Disney doesn't post minimum stay requirements on their website. The ONLY time I have never managed to get around these min. stay rules was during the solar eclipse this past summer.

 

[Colleen27]

Thanks for your response...the minimum stay is completely understandable. But if that's why I'm being prevented from booking that room, why would the system allow me to book each of those nights individually???

Because there are multiple deluxe rooms, so those dates individually likely line up with gaps in existing bookings *for three different rooms*. So they won't let you book the three-night stay because they don't have a single deluxe room available for that block that isn't subject to a length-of-stay rule, but they'll let you book the three one-night stays to fill in gaps they think won't fill otherwise.