Pointless question about doors.

[Admerwill]

This question will not affect my choice in hotel, just something that has me scratching my head. How much does Disney save by having Motel style exterior deck entrances to rooms, vs Hotel style, Interior hallway style entrances? Is there an actual higher cost of having an interior entrance or is it just an artificial thing to help differentiate between Deluxe hotels and everything else? It is not important, there is no reason I need to know, other then its been bugging me for whatever reason.

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

Well, with exterior entrances they do not have to heat/air-condition the space. Also, no carpeting to clean or maintain.

 

[Admerwill]

Well, with exterior entrances they do not have to heat/air-condition the space. Also, no carpeting to clean or maintain.

But wouldn't they lose more cooling to the outside by having the door outside? With an interior access, you can have a double door to keep the air in the building. You can also keep the hallways at a temperature more reflecting the outside world tan a room, so it would not be as an extreme loss of climate control. And they would still need to maintain the walkways.. but inside weather and foliage/wildlife would not have as big an impact on cleanliness. ..

 

[darrengs]

The construction costs would be far less for the motel style buildings.

 

[Turksmom]

Just guessing- hallways add square footage. Besides the cost to build and maintain- would it add to the yearly tax bill?

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I feel like they save quite a bit based on how expansive some of these exterior hallway properties are. Some of disney's largest, most spread out properties are the values and mods. I think it's construction costs, maintenance costs and total overhead. Less square footage to manage and maintain. In most of these properties with outside corridors, it's just grass/landscaping and concrete floors that has to be maintained. There's no carpets to clean, halls to heat/cool, no curtains/windows, no trinkets to decorate the hallways with, no wall art, the list goes on.

 

[TyphoonLegume]

...or is it just an artificial thing to help differentiate between Deluxe hotels and everything else?

The first 'moderate' resort expansion occurred in 1988 with the opening of the Caribbean Beach...

I don't think the thought process was ever 'these are cheaper rooms... let's give them exterior doors'... but rather the design/architecture team wanting to create an open/airy feel to transform you to the Caribbean (while understanding this was a 'moderate' price tagged resort)... so they created smaller, oddly shaped 2 story buildings nestled in lush landscape, with contrasting elements in design and color that might not be achieved by your local 'Holiday Inn' architecture. It truly is a beautiful resort.

I think from there naturally, as resort expansion continued... so did exterior hallways for Moderate and Values.

 

[cwis]

I believe @TyphoonLegume is correct. Also, with this setup, Deluxe resorts are the only resorts with balconies.

 

[Walt4ever]

Without knowing Florida's building codes, this is a very uneducated guess, but with respect to construction costs, the exterior doors probably have a different set of life safety requirements (fire suppression, fire alarm, evacuation routes, etc). Enclosed hallways would require a lot more, increasing construction and ongoing operational costs. So yeah, cheaper to build is probably the winner.

 

[Shanti]

But wouldn't they lose more cooling to the outside by having the door outside? With an interior access, you can have a double door to keep the air in the building.

With interior access, there is a balcony door to the outside. So, it's not like their rooms' heating/cooling costs are any cheaper than rooms with exterior doors.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

POR would suck with interior doors. We love walking out of the room right to a pool. If you have pool view that is.

 

[Haley R]

POR would suck with interior doors. We love walking out of the room right to a pool. If you have pool view that is.

We have liked all of the resorts with exterior doors better than interior so far. I guess we just like the spread out layout to those resorts because we like walking around at night and in the morning. I also feel like I hear more noise with interior doors from people going down the hallways.

 

[NS8VN]

It's clearly not an artificial thing or other hotels wouldn't do it. It all comes down to hallways are essentially wasted interior space. Outdoor concrete walkways are cheaper to install, easier to maintain, and in a warm climate are a perfectly valid choice. That's why you see them all over Florida and the rest of the south. Coming up with reasons to say that they are not economical but a way to make Deluxe hotels look better is to say that all hotels with this setup are trying to convince people not to stay there.