Paid upgrade question...

[MarkMichaels]

Is there any difference in price if we try to upgrade at check in, vs. just booking that level now? We are staying at the Polynesian next month, but I just can't justify the extra $$$ for club. Was just wondering if Disney ever gave a discount at check in vs. rack rate.

At Universal, in the past, we've paid $50 or $75 a night to upgrade to club, which was about 50% of the normal rack rate difference per night. Right now, I think the price difference for our garden view room to a garden club room is $146 a night. While we really enjoy club, I don't think we'll get a bunch of use out of it this trip, which makes it hard to justify.

Just curious, thanks for any help.
Mark

 

[mbanks21]

There is no discount at checkin and you run the risk of no rooms being available.

 

[mickeynut1]

No, if you wanted to upgrade at check in, you would be charged the difference per night between that and what you booked. And there's no guarantee a club level room would be available at that time.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

If you can't justify the extra cost for a Club Level room right now and when you check-in feel like upgrading and are told it's sold out, don't be disappointed if it's not available.

 

[MarkMichaels]

Thanks for the replies. I know you risk it being sold out, but since I don't feel like paying that much extra for as little use as we'll get out of it, its no big deal. I just wasn't sure if Disney ever discounted those at check-in. We don't tend to use any of the services other than the lounge snacks during the day.

Mark

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks for the replies. I know you risk it being sold out, but since I don't feel like paying that much extra for as little use as we'll get out of it, its no big deal. I just wasn't sure if Disney ever discounted those at check-in. We don't tend to use any of the services other than the lounge snacks during the day.

Mark

I think that's a great way to look at things.

 

[tiger4me2]

The only time we ever got the club level at a reduced price was at WL & it was due to their error. We booked a non smoking room due to medical reason & was told it was guratunee due to a Federal law. They gave us a smoking room. I was not very happy about it as I had my TA at the time to call back Disney & they reassure her no problem I would get a non smoking room. And she talked to a supervisor. This was before we left like 3 days ahead of time. Well the CM told me I get this room or tough luck. I said tough luck? I don't think so. The CM standing next to her said to her don't ever talk to these guests like that & this person has been coming back twice a year & now you pushed your luck with that statement lol. This CM went back & got a supervisor who came out & said there were no more non smoking rooms & I just looked at him. But he said I can move you to the POP well no way I paid for a Deluxe not a value just let me speak to your manager. Short end he came out & said he was sorry on how I was treated etc & offer us Club level room at $10 more per night plus 2 free meals anywhere. My DH said it should be free upgrade since we were treated so badly. My DH told the manager that he was lucky I didn't lose my temper but I never lose my temper(only with him & car repairmen lol) only my sense of humor. Treat them with coats of honey draws more bees in than vinegar my Mother use to say. Needless to say we love the club level & since then we always stay there when we go to the WL. With this said. Book what you want now as you might not get what you want when you get there.
This past DEC we stayed at the BWI & when I booked it no club level ava but was told to call back a few days before I left. Talked to a guest relationship person who said nothing but when we check in to ask if anything was there. Sure enough it there was a room at club level which we gladly paid for( difference in cost more but didn't matter as this is what we wanted in the first place if they had it when we book) if nothing we still would have been happy.

 

[TammiMcMan]

I just wasn't sure if Disney ever discounted those at check-in.

If you asked this question 5 years ago, the answer would have been yes. It was actually fairly common for people to get a discounted upgrade to concierge, especially at the WL. Of course those were different times though and resort occupancy rates hadn't quite rebounded yet. Chances of that happening now are pretty slim, but well worth asking about at checkin if you don't care either way .

 

[BostonRob]

Common sense says if there are club rooms available when you check in, they'll upgrade you for cheaper. I realize everybody here says otherwise, but I wonder how many people have any experience with that. So maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm running a hotel and I can get an extra $50 or $75 out of a customer in exchange for a few bagels and some cheese and crackers, you can bet that I'll do it, even if my "rack rate" is $150 more.

 

[minnie61650]

Common sense says if there are club rooms available when you check in, they'll upgrade you for cheaper. I realize everybody here says otherwise, but I wonder how many people have any experience with that. So maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm running a hotel and I can get an extra $50 or $75 out of a customer in exchange for a few bagels and some cheese and crackers, you can bet that I'll do it, even if my "rack rate" is $150 more.

Your theory makes perfect sence and it may happen on occassion but as TammiMCMan has pointed out in recent years WDW occupancy rates have been quite high. WDW also assigns rooms a few days ahead of time and the assigners are instructed to give free upgrades to some of the guests when availble ( pixie dust is great PR for WDW .... I often read about the free upgrades on the DIS.) so almost all of the CL rooms are already assigned at any given time.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[tiger4me2]

Common sense says if there are club rooms available when you check in, they'll upgrade you for cheaper. I realize everybody here says otherwise, but I wonder how many people have any experience with that. So maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm running a hotel and I can get an extra $50 or $75 out of a customer in exchange for a few bagels and some cheese and crackers, you can bet that I'll do it, even if my "rack rate" is $150 more.

Make sense but not done this way if you request it. Now if you have a problem with your room & you are not happy they might offer a room on club level at a reduce rate. But to check in & ask & if there are rooms they will charge full price. It not like it use to be sad to say.

 

[MarkMichaels]

Thanks for the discussion. I have read on other sites where you can get a discounted upgrade at check-in, but I think their facts and pages were a little dated. Occupancy might still be high for Disney, but I would bet future bookings are down. If we hadn't planned this trip so far back, I'm not sure we would even take it now, and I know the current state of the economy is keeping me from booking anything in the future. We normally have 2 future vacations planned a year out, I love to prepare for a trip. Our Christmas vacation might very well be a week at home renting movies sitting by the fire.

I do know we'll be there in 16 days and at this point, we can still book pretty much every type of room at the Polynesian (garden, lagoon theme park view, garden-clug, lagoon-club). My guess would be that most Disney trips are thought out more than 2 weeks in advance, but I've been wrong more times than I care to admit. I agree with BostonRob's comments that if the rooms are empty and you can pick up and extra $50 or $75 why wouldn't you? I know that might not be what actually happens, but it would make sense to me.

Thanks
Mark

 

[fall08CP]

More likely than not, those rooms will all be booked. When the room assigners go through and see Club level rooms are empty, they usually give them out randomly as magical moments because then they can sell the other rooms and make a profit. If they waited until check-in, it would be hard to put your original room back on the market at such short notice. You will still pay full price if you try it at check-in, but again, it's unlikely that those rooms will still be available.

 

[BostonRob]

More likely than not, those rooms will all be booked. When the room assigners go through and see Club level rooms are empty, they usually give them out randomly as magical moments because then they can sell the other rooms and make a profit. If they waited until check-in, it would be hard to put your original room back on the market at such short notice. You will still pay full price if you try it at check-in, but again, it's unlikely that those rooms will still be available.

This makes a lot of sense, but it still presupposes that they're going to be booked at or near capacity. If they KNOW they can sell an extra standard room for free price then it makles perfect sense to uprade somebody, open up that room, then sell it for an extra $300 a night. But if nobody's gonna buy that room at the last minute, then they'd do better to upgrade you for an extra $50 or $75 p if a room's going to be empty either way, Then that makes more sense.
SO I gues the question is - Do the resorts ever run a less than 90% or 100% capacity? Now that I think about it, I'm betting they don't. These guys know their business, and one of the reasons that these boards exist is because WDW knows exactly what kind of propmotions they have to do to fill their rooms.

 

[kidgamesafetydotcom]

I can speak from experience that a few years ago you could definitely upgrade for a lower cost (I upgraded to concierge back in 2003 for an extra $25 over the price of a standard room). In the last few years though, I haven't seen any similar upgrades - the rooms are either all sold out or they're only available for the full rate.

 

[TammiMcMan]

But if nobody's gonna buy that room at the last minute, then they'd do better to upgrade you for an extra $50 or $75 p if a room's going to be empty either way, Then that makes more sense.

If they're running that far below capacity, they simply close off floors or in the case of the GF, they can just combine buildings. That can mean needing less staff and less amenities in the lounge, which can equal a bigger cost savings. In order for them to consider a check-in discount, you probably have to find that perfect balance of having just enough rooms not already sold, but not too many that they consider closing off floors.

Mark, you may have a very good point about the economy affecting future bookings. Not sure how many people will cancel existing reservations though and as mentioned, Disney is not usually a spur of the moment vacation. Definitely ask when you arrive at the Poly and let us know how it goes. I'll be rooting for you .

 

[minnie61650]

If they're running that far below capacity, they simply close off floors or in the case of the GF, they can just combine buildings. That can mean needing less staff and less amenities in the lounge, which can equal a bigger cost savings. In order for them to consider a check-in discount, you probably have to find that perfect balance of having just enough rooms not already sold, but not too many that they consider closing off floors.

Mark, you may have a very good point about the economy affecting future bookings. Not sure how many people will cancel existing reservations though and as mentioned, Disney is not usually a spur of the moment vacation. Definitely ask when you arrive at the Poly and let us know how it goes. I'll be rooting for you .

I agree Tammi.
WDW is known to close off floors or entire buildings during slow times.
Soon after 9/11 WDW closed an entire resort (CBR) due to low occupancy.

Just another interesting tidbit.:

When AKL was built there were very few standard or pool view rooms (about 10%). The rest were Savana view rooms. Guests soon learned via the internet that chances were very good if they booked a standard or pool view room they would get a free upgrade.

Recently WDW converted the 5th and 6th floors of AKL to DVC thus reducing the number of standard resort rooms for rent.

Just my 2 cents.