New cancellation policy

[thinkerbell]

We called and made reservations a couple of days ago. When the CM started rattling off all of the info at the end, she gave us a date about 20-30 (maybe more, I’m not sure) days before arrival in which we could cancel without penalty. It really shocked me because we always get room only, not a package. I asked her if they no longer offer the 5 day cancellation policy. She said that they did but she would have to change our reservations so that it didn’t include stuff like discounts on food and mini-golf and “other stuff”. We had already told her we wanted a room only reservation because we have experienced them putting the add on stuff before to make it a package. We told her that we would rather have the 5 day cancellation so she changed it. At the end she told us to keep the other cancellation time frame in mind when making future reservations because they would be converting over to that on all reservations soon, even room only. Has anyone else heard this? Do you really think they will do this?

 

[Best Aunt]

We called and made reservations a couple of days ago. When the CM started rattling off all of the info at the end, she gave us a date about 20-30 (maybe more, I’m not sure) days before arrival in which we could cancel without penalty. It really shocked me because we always get room only, not a package. I asked her if they no longer offer the 5 day cancellation policy. She said that they did but she would have to change our reservations so that it didn’t include stuff like discounts on food and mini-golf and “other stuff”. We had already told her we wanted a room only reservation because we have had experienced them putting the add on stuff before to make it a package. We told her that we would rather have the 5 day cancellation so she changed it. At the end she told us to keep the other cancellation time frame in mind when making future reservations because they would be converting over to that on all reservations soon, even room only. Has anyone else heard this? Do you really think they will do this?

Well, that's the first I've heard of it.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Sounds like another clueless CM to me.

 

[Heather07438]

We almost always get a package that includes room/tickets and that comes with a 30 day cancellation policy, it's $200 down to hold and needs to be paid in full sometime before that 30 day window. We like it because $200 isn't much to put out, and by 30 days out we know whether we can commit or not.

A couple times we did a split stay. The Room Only portion required a 1 night deposit and had a 5 day cancellation policy.

Wow, maybe they're switching all resort reservations to a 30 day cancellation window? It won't change much in our case because we're travelling from a distance and need to plan far ahead. People who live closer probably enjoy having that flexibility though.

 

[Heather07438]

Sounds like another clueless CM to me.

Could be!

 

[thinkerbell]

Sounds like another clueless CM to me.

I hope so!!

 

[gwynne]

I just made a dummy room only reservation for dates in July 2020. Written terms were cancel without penalty 5 days before check in.

 

[AngiTN]

She is pulling one out of get you know what. Even if they were doing this the CM on the phones would not know until it happens, if then

 

[focusondisney]

Yea, I agree. Average CMs don’t find out major policy changes far in advance. And this particular CM doesn’t seem very trustworthy anyway. After all, she tried to sneak a package booking on the OP even after she was asked to book a room only.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Isn't this the change they made to keep people from booking on-property to get fastpasses and ADR's early, then cancelling and staying somewhere else?

 

[focusondisney]

Isn't this the change they made to keep people from booking on-property to get fastpasses and ADR's early, then cancelling and staying somewhere else?

No, nothing to do with that. If you cancel outside of 30 days & don’t book another onsite stay, your fastpasses will be cancelled. ADRs are never automatically cancelled if you cancel a room reservation. You have to do that yourself.

 

[bumbershoot]

She said that they did but she would have to change our reservations so that it didn’t include stuff like discounts on food and mini-golf and “other stuff”.

Untrustworthy CM, booking you a package when you asked for room only.

At the end she told us to keep the other cancellation time frame in mind when making future reservations because they would be converting over to that on all reservations soon, even room only.

She already proved herself to be untrusthworthy.
And a CM once told me that it's not allowed to book one way airfares on different airlines, when he was booking my DME, so...CMs often have no clue how the world (or World) works.

 

[CarolynFH]

Just curious - why would the CM try to book a package instead of room-only for the OP? Are they paid commission or bonus for booking packages and add-ons?

 

[LSUmiss]

Just curious - why would the CM try to book a package instead of room-only for the OP? Are they paid commission or bonus for booking packages and add-ons?

Idk but almost every time I book room-only I get a CM trying to push a package.

 

[sponica]

Just curious - why would the CM try to book a package instead of room-only for the OP? Are they paid commission or bonus for booking packages and add-ons?

I wouldn't be surprised. Whenever I've worked retail I've had a mandated upsell (toy store-batteries, movie theater-anything, lotion/soap store-as many units per transaction as possible).

 

[mom2rtk]

Just curious - why would the CM try to book a package instead of room-only for the OP? Are they paid commission or bonus for booking packages and add-ons?

I wondered the same thing. I bet they are. Or at least are being held to a certain number. So everyone should double check just to be sure it's not being changed on them.

 

[AngiTN]

Sounds to me like it’s another reason to never book on the phone. The website doesn’t sneak up sells on you. It only books what you pick

 

[disneyworldsk]

i booked yesterday on the website. room only. no tickets (yet) just to hold a spot . $400 deposit plus it said five day out cancellation.

 

[disneydreamer781]

It could be Disney is wanting them to push the packages. Each CM may have a quota they may need to fill every month or something like that. Just a guess...

 

[JoanneAZ]

This has happened to me before. When I realized what happened, I called back and talked to a different reservations CM who fixed it for me. She told me that you can book a regular package (room + tickets &/or dining plan), a room only package (room + coupons with the same restrictions for cancellation as a regular package), or a room only reservation. I now am very specific when booking over the phone and tell them I want a room only reservation with no coupons and the shorter cancellation restrictions.