Received email about closings at CBR - help!!

[ellie05]

The first CM I talked to at Disney yesterday morning very helpfully gave me the tip to tell Orbitz to make contact with the wholesale department (she said there was nothing they could do for us directly, that everything would have to go through Orbitz). Of course, the first two Orbtiz representatives I spoke with insisted on calling the "front desk number" that's on their system (try explaining the WDW system to a front line CSR in India). I finally did get elevated to a Tier 2 CSR at Orbitz who did made contact with the wholesale department and talked to both them and the general reservation line and was told no discounts for April stays and no moves to other resorts because we wouldn't be affected. If our stay had been in May, I do think we would have been given a discount, even though we booked through Orbitz.

I don't think the wholesale department would have been able to help in this case. I have no doubt they could have offer you a discount now you actually getting that back to you would have been a whole different story.

Personally from someone that has worked at hotels and reservations I think you are way better off asking for the GC than money back. I glad you got some kind of resolution even though it turned into a comple headache. If only they could have offer you the same deal on the first call .

 

[halssister]

I just called about our July reservation, trying to get the $75 that everyone else got. I was told that they took that offer off the table as of 7:00 this morning, and now are only offering the $25 a day gift cards at check in. She said when it first happened, they didn't have the compensation all figured out, but now they do. Which explains why there were so many different stories of what people were being told! I told her that, given we paid rack rate, $25 wasn't really much, since we could probably get that much off when the summer discounts get released. She offered to switch us to POR at the same price - and considering POR is our favorite anyway, and we booked CBR this trip only to try to save money and try something different, we decided just to take it. it's a decent rate for POR, so we are happy. But man, wish I had called last night instead of waiting!!

 

[siestakeys04]

I just called about our July reservation, trying to get the $75 that everyone else got. I was told that they took that offer off the table as of 7:00 this morning, and now are only offering the $25 a day gift cards at check in. She said when it first happened, they didn't have the compensation all figured out, but now they do. Which explains why there were so many different stories of what people were being told! I told her that, given we paid rack rate, $25 wasn't really much, since we could probably get that much off when the summer discounts get released. She offered to switch us to POR at the same price - and considering POR is our favorite anyway, and we booked CBR this trip only to try to save money and try something different, we decided just to take it. it's a decent rate for POR, so we are happy. But man, wish I had called last night instead of waiting!!

Do you still get the 25 a day gift card since you switched?

 

[halssister]

Do you still get the 25 a day gift card since you switched?

No, just got POR at the rate we paid for CBR, which is just about $25 a day off the POR rack rate.
The gift card deal is for people who stay at CBR. Not sure that's enough of a discount to entice people to stay, but at least the CBR page on their website lists all the construction, so people who book now do so with full knowledge.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I just called about our July reservation, trying to get the $75 that everyone else got. I was told that they took that offer off the table as of 7:00 this morning, and now are only offering the $25 a day gift cards at check in. She said when it first happened, they didn't have the compensation all figured out, but now they do. Which explains why there were so many different stories of what people were being told! I told her that, given we paid rack rate, $25 wasn't really much, since we could probably get that much off when the summer discounts get released. She offered to switch us to POR at the same price - and considering POR is our favorite anyway, and we booked CBR this trip only to try to save money and try something different, we decided just to take it. it's a decent rate for POR, so we are happy. But man, wish I had called last night instead of waiting!!

Did she say whether or not you could apply a summer room discount too if one comes out or are you locked in to paying CBR rack rate for a Por room?

 

[halssister]

Did she say whether or not you could apply a summer room discount too if one comes out or are you locked in to paying CBR rack rate for a Por room?

She had said if we stayed at CBR and a discount came out, we could apply the discount to our room and still get the gift card. We decided not to do that, in part because I truthfully wanted to book POR to begin with but was afraid we wouldn't be able to get a standard room at a discount when the summer discounts came out, and didn't want things to fill up.
I will still be checking to see if I can get POR for even less than what we've currently paid when the summer deal comes out, but with everyone switching from CBR to POR, I can't imagine there will be many room left to discount!

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

She had said if we stayed at CBR and a discount came out, we could apply the discount to our room and still get the gift card. We decided not to do that, in part because I truthfully wanted to book POR to begin with but was afraid we wouldn't be able to get a standard room at a discount when the summer discounts came out, and didn't want things to fill up.
I will still be checking to see if I can get POR for even less than what we've currently paid when the summer deal comes out, but with everyone switching from CBR to POR, I can't imagine there will be many room left to discount!

Thanks. I was just curious if you knew for certain if they would allow you to apply a room discount since technically you are paying less by getting POR for the price of CBR. I had asked on a different thread about getting a room discount or free dining promotion applied after receiving a complimentary room transfer or the gift card they are offering. The only reply I received was that you have to book a new reservation to get a new promotion so you would lose any discount received from the construction/ transfer if you went for a promotion. Basically the poster said that you can't get a discount or promotion on top of the complimentary transfer/ gift card offers.

 

[halssister]

Thanks. I was just curious if you knew for certain if they would allow you to apply a room discount since technically you are paying less by getting POR for the price of CBR. I had asked on a different thread about getting a room discount or free dining promotion applied after receiving a complimentary room transfer or the gift card they are offering. The only reply I received was that you have to book a new reservation to get a new promotion so you would lose any discount received from the construction/ transfer if you went for a promotion. Basically the poster said that you can't get a discount or promotion on top of the complimentary transfer/ gift card offers.

I have always heard that too (that it's a new reservation), but I have a feeling they are going to be offering the $25 gift cards to everyone who stays at CBR, regardless of what they paid! She did say I could "apply a discount" and still get it, not "re book a room" and still get it - I guess if a POR deal came out that was less than what we paid, and we couldn't "apply the discount", we'd just cancel and rebook, because it wouldn't matter. Free dining wouldn't apply because we are talking a room only reservation, not a package.

 

[focusondisney]

I just called about our July reservation, trying to get the $75 that everyone else got. I was told that they took that offer off the table as of 7:00 this morning, and now are only offering the $25 a day gift cards at check in. She said when it first happened, they didn't have the compensation all figured out, but now they do. Which explains why there were so many different stories of what people were being told! I told her that, given we paid rack rate, $25 wasn't really much, since we could probably get that much off when the summer discounts get released. She offered to switch us to POR at the same price - and considering POR is our favorite anyway, and we booked CBR this trip only to try to save money and try something different, we decided just to take it. it's a decent rate for POR, so we are happy. But man, wish I had called last night instead of waiting!!

Well, that's just not right! I called at 9:30 this morning & was on hold for about 90 minutes trying to change our December free dining reservations to PO. No luck, but at about 11 am, I was offered the $75 off per night. So apparently, they still don't have their compensation figured out because that offer was indeed still on the table at 11 am. Poor CMs that have to deal with this nonsense. Glad you got to move to PO, wish I could have.

 

[Nancyg56]

I'm not sure that Disney did reach out beyond sending a form email telling people the amenities they expected would be closed. I agree, third party bookings are mostly on their own as its different rules. But for those booked at Disney, I'm simply stating they need to do a better job of anticipating problems surrounding these closures. That then needs to be communicated to their front line staff so they can appropriately handle the problems. Many got the run around and I'm sure those first line phone CMs had rough days that were not their own fault. IT training is what I do for a profession and often times we have to stress to the organization what must be done during changes in product offerings. This includes informing customer service representatives as well, which is often an afterthought.

This is the one issue I just do not understand. When Disney is in the planning process, do they not remember those guests that have been steadily accepting money and commitments from? I cannot help but wonder how a disconnect between major partners in a contruction project occurs, time and time again. It seems to me that after the fiasco at the Poly there would be a plan in place so that once it was announced the CM's had options available for each guest to choose from.

I agree that the Customer service CM's are an afterthought, but I believe that the problem is much deeper. This shows that on a very high level of management, guests are the afterthought as well.

I just called about our July reservation, trying to get the $75 that everyone else got. I was told that they took that offer off the table as of 7:00 this morning, and now are only offering the $25 a day gift cards at check in. She said when it first happened, they didn't have the compensation all figured out, but now they do. Which explains why there were so many different stories of what people were being told! I told her that, given we paid rack rate, $25 wasn't really much, since we could probably get that much off when the summer discounts get released. She offered to switch us to POR at the same price - and considering POR is our favorite anyway, and we booked CBR this trip only to try to save money and try something different, we decided just to take it. it's a decent rate for POR, so we are happy. But man, wish I had called last night instead of waiting!!

I think that you wil be happier at POR, and if it is at a discounted rate, albeit not a low as you may have hoped for, all the better. At least you knwo that you will not have any of the negative impact that you could have been socked with at CBR> ENjoy your vacation!

 

[Roxyfire]

I agree that the Customer service CM's are an afterthought, but I believe that the problem is much deeper. This shows that on a very high level of management, guests are the afterthought as well.

Agreed on both counts. These large corps think shareholders are #1 priority and not customer service. And it's visible in multiple sectors. Truly disappointing state of affairs and now only going to get worse...

 

[Shelbizzles]

i posted this on the CBR board too but figured I might as well post here too.

So I had Caribbean beach booked for September 22nd-30th, when I heard about the construction and the food court being closed (we had previously experienced a resort with no food court and really didn't like it) DH and I decided to move us to Pop. I was really disappointed, I was really looking forward to trying a moderate and a new to us resort. However I feel like I may have jumped the gun in switching. Is there any chance I could still call and voice my disappointment even though I switched resorts and possibly get the discount? Or should I just let it go and accept pop? Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[AngiTN]

i posted this on the CBR board too but figured I might as well post here too.

So I had Caribbean beach booked for September 22nd-30th, when I heard about the construction and the food court being closed (we had previously experienced a resort with no food court and really didn't like it) DH and I decided to move us to Pop. I was really disappointed, I was really looking forward to trying a moderate and a new to us resort. However I feel like I may have jumped the gun in switching. Is there any chance I could still call and voice my disappointment even though I switched resorts and possibly get the discount? Or should I just let it go and accept pop? Any advice is greatly appreciated

It never hurts to ask but you lost a lot of your leverage by moving before you even asked for a discount or other compensation. I'd sure ask though, just expecting a no

 

[Moxiepup]

i posted this on the CBR board too but figured I might as well post here too.

So I had Caribbean beach booked for September 22nd-30th, when I heard about the construction and the food court being closed (we had previously experienced a resort with no food court and really didn't like it) DH and I decided to move us to Pop. I was really disappointed, I was really looking forward to trying a moderate and a new to us resort. However I feel like I may have jumped the gun in switching. Is there any chance I could still call and voice my disappointment even though I switched resorts and possibly get the discount? Or should I just let it go and accept pop? Any advice is greatly appreciated

Even though I was very disappointed to leave CBR, I made a move to POR the first night after getting the e-mail, as I was afraid the other moderates might fill up fast. There was no compensation being offered at that time, but I really didn't want my vacation to be affected, so I ponied up the difference in cost. The following day I was reading on these boards that now compensation was being offered, and people were being moved to other mods at no extra fee. I was kind of in a bad place emotionally though, and put off making a call until yesterday. The CM I spoke to said that the policy had changed since the day before. I got a little upset at that, and asked her if she thought it was fair that the policy had changed 3 times in 3 days. When she said if it were up to her, there wouldn't be any compensation offered at all, I asked to speak with her supervisor. She said it would mean a long time on hold. I said that was fine. One hour and two minutes later I spoke with a very nice CM, who was happy to refund the difference in cost between the two resorts. She was very understanding and personable.

I do wish that management would give all the CM's the authority to make the customers happy. Part of why I had been so upset, was in seeing all the different ways this was being handled and feeling that we were being manipulated by just another corporation. I know it sounds foolish, but I have always thought of Disney as being different.... a place where dreams are supposed to come true. One almost expects cold treatment from other entities, but to get it from Disney had felt like being ill treated by a family member. I'm glad I waited that hour to speak with the other CM. Not only was I compensated for the money, but my faith was restored in a company that makes me feel like I'm home when there. I felt so much better when I got off the phone, like a weight had been lifted! Yes the money was important to me, but being understood was equally important!

I would call back if I were you. The first CM may or may not be able to help you, but if you are willing to be on hold for a good while, you may end up being happy with the result. (I wonder if they use the hold time to vet who's really serious about wanting something...) Don't wait long to call though, as the first CM did tell me that the Mods were getting quite full.

 

[yankebabie]

So what happens if you want to switch resorts but the other mods are full. Will they put you in a deluxe for the same price?

 

[jb405]

So what happens if you want to switch resorts but the other mods are full. Will they put you in a deluxe for the same price?

Have not seen a single instance where they have for this construction.

 

[focusondisney]

So what happens if you want to switch resorts but the other mods are full. Will they put you in a deluxe for the same price?

Doubt it. I couldn't even get them to let us move to POR or FQ because we have a free dining bounceback & those resorts weren't originally offered for our bounceback. Well, they would move us, but would not let us keep the free dining if we moved. If I wanted to move at rack rate, I wouldn't need their help to do it. I can do that myself on the website, plenty of rooms available for our dates. The only thing they would do for us is give us the $75 discount per night. Basically was a take it or leave it situation.

 

[Nancyg56]

So what happens if you want to switch resorts but the other mods are full. Will they put you in a deluxe for the same price?

I cannot imagine they would

 

[cruiser21]

I need to book a room April 29-May 1 before our cruise. This is the only resort I can find that still has the Spring discount. If I book this now will I get the 25 dollar a day gift card or is this just for people that were booked previous to Disney making this announcement???

 

[WEDWDW]

I need to book a room April 29-May 1 before our cruise. This is the only resort I can find that still has the Spring discount. If I book this now will I get the 25 dollar a day gift card or is this just for people that were booked previous to Disney making this announcement???

It is for anyone if I am reading the wdwmagic info correctly.