Perplexed At This Room Reservation Search Issue

[Napoleon Dynamite]

When I type in the dates we are traveling for a *ROOM ONLY*, not a package, for December 8-11, it's very slim pickings for Disney hotels. No value resorts at all. When I type in December 8-13, MANY choices come up, including value resorts. Does anyone know why this would this be? I'm not using a code, it's rack rates, so if there are rooms 12/8-12/13, I don't understand why there would be none for 12/8-12/11. I've been checking for over a week, so it's not just today. Did Disney start implementing minimum stay requirements for certain resorts?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

This is common in the hotel industry. They are enforcing a length of stay requirement to avoid having rooms that will be hard to book otherwise.

They are setting terms on the availability of those rooms. They are available for a 5 day stay, but not for a 3-day that will leave additional days likely unbooked later.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

That is just plain silly. Especially for a Thursday to Sunday stay. We are staying offsite for free, so I guess that is where we will stay! I had booked GF, since it was one of the few that came up, but couldn't fathom paying $700 a night so cancelled.

 

[maryj11]

Im guessing you could go ahead and book the 8th to the 13th and then call and take off a couple days.

 

[sunflare]

Im guessing you could go ahead and book the 8th to the 13th and then call and take off a couple days.

Disney has reportedly been stopping this practice in recent times... you have to cancel the whole reservation and rebook based on availability for that length of time.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

So weird that after I posted this, dates popped up that I needed for a value resort, and a few others. I think Disney folks read these threads LOL. I still think it's beyond silly to not allow a Thursday to Sunday reservation. Many people travel for a long weekend!

In any event, as my luck would have it, I was able to reserve the room with Skymiles through Delta for FREE. So happy about that! Coupled with our free flights, this is going to be a fun long weekend!

 

[tinka-belle]

Common in the hotel industry. Disney as usual was late to the party with their software to catch up to this. Not only do they not want a few scattered hotel nights open after a certain % of room occupancy is reached that would be very hard to sell, but often with hotels it's an issue of too many check ins or check outs for certain days. Only so much staff and so many hours to accommodate a smooth flow. I would imagine they only call in extra staff for really peak times, conventions, etc.

 

[TeamEvansGo]

Disney has reportedly been stopping this practice in recent times... you have to cancel the whole reservation and rebook based on availability for that length of time.

I can confirm. Tried to take a day off my last trip and they made me re-book. They certainly had no problems adding a few days for our next trip when I called them last week! Go figure!

 

[dmband]

This whole thing is stupid to me and if it happens once we can finalize our days I am going to push the issue with a supervisor.
In our case, military booking, we have a plan set but until it is much closer we can not know 100% for sure if our exact dates we reserved will actually work out for our schedules.

If Disney prefers us not staying at their hotel or not coming at all vs losing out on a day/two on a cancel/adjust dates then that's is crazy.
Same with the op, if they are willing to have no one in the room for five days vs two then they are crazy, in particular a month out.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If Disney prefers us not staying at their hotel or not coming at all vs losing out on a day/two on a cancel/adjust dates then that's is crazy.

It's not crazy. That room will be filled with or without you in it; the way you want to fill it may be less profitable because it will leave dates unbooked. This isn't about you personally. It's about booking patterns and utilization.

Someone will book the room... if all the dates are available.

 

[dmband]

It's not crazy. That room will be filled with or without you in it; the way you want to fill it may be less profitable because it will leave dates unbooked. This isn't about you personally. It's about booking patterns and utilization.

Someone will book the room... if all the dates are available.

if it is going to be filled with or without me then they shouldn't and wouldn't care if I was in it for 14 days or 10 while someone else was in it for 4

at any rate, my flights became available today so I called and changed my dates, three rooms, cut from 14 days to 10 and moved them ahead 3 days without issue so I can't complain lol.
The difference in flight by moving those 3 days was over $200 a person x 8, easy decision there.
Now to contact my cm friend and see if they can get me a better rate