?? re booking when hoping to add discount later . . .

[fitzperry]

We are planning a trip for the week after Thanksgiving 2013. Resort preference is Contemporary garden wing, which I believe tends to fill up quickly, so I'm thinking of making a reservation soon with the hope of adding a discount later.

So I need some expert advice--what do I need to consider for purposes of deciding whether to book room only or a package?

If I could get a 35% deluxe discount (watching the mail for PIN codes!), I'd prefer that--could that be applied to a package or just to a room only reservation?

And what happens if I book room only and free dining is the best discount I can get--do I have to cancel and rebook a package and would I risk losing the reservation if I did that?

TIA!

 

[aaarcher86]

We are planning a trip for the week after Thanksgiving 2013. Resort preference is Contemporary garden wing, which I believe tends to fill up quickly, so I'm thinking of making a reservation soon with the hope of adding a discount later.

So I need some expert advice--what do I need to consider for purposes of deciding whether to book room only or a package?

If I could get a 35% deluxe discount (watching the mail for PIN codes!), I'd prefer that--could that be applied to a package or just to a room only reservation?

And what happens if I book room only and free dining is the best discount I can get--do I have to cancel and rebook a package and would I risk losing the reservation if I did that?

TIA!

You can use a room only discount on a pkg - it just discounts the room portion.

If you book a room only and want free dining, you will have to cancel your room only and book a package.

Keep in mind that adding the discount may force you to change room types.

 

[fitzperry]

You can use a room only discount on a pkg - it just discounts the room portion.

If you book a room only and want free dining, you will have to cancel your room only and book a package.

Keep in mind that adding the discount may force you to change room types.

Thanks! Sounds like booking a package with park tix (we don't do dp anymore unless it's free) would leave me the most flexibility.

 

[fla4fun]

Also keep in mind that they base their discounts on occupancy levels. So if you book the room now, they don't know that you may change the reservation later. If the hotel occupancy reaches their pre-determined level, they may not offer any discounts at all for your room type or your resort.

It's kind of a catch 22 - you can either book now and hope a discount is offered (will you cancel if it doesn't?) or wait until discounts are announced and hope your room type is available with the discount.

 

[fitzperry]

Also keep in mind that they base their discounts on occupancy levels. So if you book the room now, they don't know that you may change the reservation later. If the hotel occupancy reaches their pre-determined level, they may not offer any discounts at all for your room type or your resort.

It's kind of a catch 22 - you can either book now and hope a discount is offered (will you cancel if it doesn't?) or wait until discounts are announced and hope your room type is available with the discount.

It is a bit of a Catch-22 -- making the reservation statistically reduces the chance of getting a discount. We ran into this last year--booked at Poly, then got a 35% off pin, but no discounted rooms were available at Poly when I got the pin. IIRC, they offered me BC instead, but I had my heart set on Poly. We did get free dining instead.

At this point, I'm not sure whether we'd cancel if no discounts are offered. Might depend on how far over budget we go on the summer vacation.