New booking category at the Polynesian?

[MIAMouseketeer]

I have been stalking the RAT and just noticed a new booking category at the Polynesian Villas. Looks like you can now book 2 connecting studios at the same time. The category is called Deluxe Connecting Studios and is points equivalent to 2 standard Studios, so that’s what you appear to be booking.

 

[lovin'fl]

Interesting. Good idea.

 

[erionm]

This feature is currently only available in the RAT. The actual online booking engine does not have the 'connecting' booking category yet.

 

[MJB62676]

Hopefully, a couple new ones with points re-distribution will be in the future (Standard, Garden/Pool, Lake SIDE-bungalow view, and Lake VIEW)

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am happy to see this!

 

[ziravan]

Great move.

Very welcome, but why now?

I remember distinctly many people saying that they wouldn’t buy Poly without at least a guarantee of connecting. Honestly. They probably could have sold out Poly without offering an incentive had they done this before.

What they should have done is use about half the 2nd bathroom space and added a mini kitchen (full refrigerator) to half the units and a W/D combo to the other half so that connecting units had both. The reason not to have those things in a standard is to push you to spend points on a 1br. That’s not an imperative at Poly.

 

[disneynutz]

Makes sense, it will allow easy online bookings and free up MS.

Bill

 

[BillPA]

I hope it works out, but Disney's IT can't handle what they have now, how will they ever be able pull this off?

 

[Pluto777]

So will it have the features of a 2 BR (kitchen and laundry) or just be 2 studios? What will the effect be on 7 month availibility?

 

[southerngirl528]

So will it have the features of a 2 BR (kitchen and laundry) or just be 2 studios?

Just 2 studios. It would take lots of jackhammers and construction to add laundry and kitchens. And I do not see that happening. I'd love to be wrong on that.

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

So will it have the features of a 2 BR (kitchen and laundry) or just be 2 studios? What will the effect be on 7 month availibility?

No, you are just booking 2 studios but they are guaranteed to be connecting. Before you could book 2 studios, but there was no guarantee they'd be connecting or even in the same building.

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

UPDATE: According to Member Services, this is something they're getting ready to test but still at this time, it's by request only and still not guaranteed. They are doing work on the site, so some things like this are going to pop up and be visible, but won't be bookable yet.

 

[thegales]

Is this going to limit the number of rooms available for Lake view and Standard view? For example, are all connecting rooms now only going to be available as connecting, and not be listed for Lake and Standard? If this is the case, I am not sure I like this change. Both times, we have been in a connecting room, even though we only had one studio. I am concerned that regular Studio's will no longer have the same availability.

 

[disneynutz]

Currently if you want two connecting studios, book them separately and have MS add "connecting please" to each reservation along with the other reservation number.

Bill

 

[keaster]

I'm thinking this would be no different than booking a 2-bedroom lock off, or am I wrong in thinking that?

 

[disneynutz]

Is this going to limit the number of rooms available for Lake view and Standard view? For example, are all connecting rooms now only going to be available as connecting, and not be listed for Lake and Standard? If this is the case, I am not sure I like this change. Both times, we have been in a connecting room, even though we only had one studio. I am concerned that regular Studio's will no longer have the same availability.

As keaster posted, the system will know which rooms are connected and it will grab two. It should cause any issues with single studio bookings.

Bill

 

[BillPA]

Will this remove the requirement to have at least 1 adult aged person in each unit?

 

[Marionnette]

Will this remove the requirement to have at least 1 adult aged person in each unit?

That's exactly what I was thinking. This way, a family of 6 (2 adults and 4 children) would not have to put one adult on each reservation and then hope for connecting studios. It would also mean (I hope) that your MBs would work on both studios in the same way that they work on the studio and 1-bedroom in a 2-bedroom lockoff.

 

[Pluto777]

UPDATE: According to Member Services, this is something they're getting ready to test but still at this time, it's by request only and still not guaranteed. They are doing work on the site, so some things like this are going to pop up and be visible, but won't be bookable yet.

So lets be clear, its still basically TWO seperate rooms, and its still NOT guaranteed - and this is supposed to be a big deal??

 

[mrl_ohio]

I am not familiar with the abbreviation RAT
TIA
Mark