Resort fee coming?

[Dan Murphy]

The only waiver of the mandatory S/D resort fee seems to be periodically for Platinum SPG members. Currently it is $25 plus tax.

 

[hookedonears]

Way too many to count. I've been picked up at the airport by shuttle buses; picked up by Town Cars; picked up by limos; and picked up by a motor launch to take us to our island resort. In the latter example, that was included in the "resort fee" which was rather hefty, but included things like sailboats, tennis, airport transfers and the like.

You're right, some do, the vast majority don't. However the vast majority of hotels around the world, are not the tourist destination. They require car rentals, or use of taxi, bus or subway services etc to reach the tourist destinations. If you stay on property, Disney offers "free" (or not specifically broken out cost) shuttle services to and from the Airport and for all of its tourist destinations. That's one of the reasons everything cost so much. That $4 dollar bottle of water in the park has a piece of the "free" shuttle service.

 

[JimmyV]

Your right, some do, the vast majority don't.

And the vast majority of hotels don't charge resort fees. I don't understand your point. If a hotel offers me things like airport service, cookies in the lobby, water, phone calls, internet and health club access, I would expect these things to result in either a higher room rate or a resort fee.

 

[hookedonears]

And, if I don't use Magical Express (which I don't), I'm paying for something and not receiving benefit in return, which is..........a hidden cost.

A bigger question, which we don't know is; Are people going to be able to opt out of the Resort Fee? Many Resorts you can. Example, if you don't want to pay extra for Wifi, you don't have to.

 

[hookedonears]

Do you seriously believe that everyone that stays at a Disney resort uses Magical Express from the airport?

No, we're going to use it for the first time this year. However, everyone who stays at a Disney Resort, whether they use it or not, pays for Magical Express.

 

[hookedonears]

It all depends on chronology. I think that you are missing the temporal element of when the fees switch over to being included in the resort fee. Assume that Cactus Resort and Spa charged $400 per night for its room, and charged $20/hour for tennis court time, and $10 to use the sauna, and $3 for the bottle of water on the desk in the room. Then one day the resort decides to make a change. It decides to increase its room rate to $425 per night, and now includes an hour of tennis, the use of the sauna and a bottle of water. In that case, yes, you could say that the costs are "built in to the cost of the room." But instead of doing what it did, Cactus Resort and Spa could keep its rate at $400 and add a $25 per day resort fee which includes the tennis, sauna and water. In that case, it cannot be said that the $400 already includes those items. Instead, those items are now part of the resort fee. They were never free back before the change. They were cash-based. One can't argue that $400 is a lot to pay for a room and therefore all of those items should have been included from the get-go. They were always added on extras. So when the resort decides to make a change, either the room rate has to go up, or a resort fee has to be assessed. But things that were not free before are not suddenly going to become free.

Again, this example applies to the proper way that a resort fee is assessed. If Disney assesses one and does not fold into that fee things that people are currently paying for, then it would be abusing the concept of what a resort fee is.

Or, they raise their rates because they can, because the demand is still there.

 

[JimmyV]

Or, they raise their rates because they can, because the demand is still there.

It's not an "or". It's an "and". If the demand exists for higher room rates, then the rates will increase. But that increase stands independent of any additional rate increase to account for resort services, or of a resort fee to account for same.

 

[Hunterr]

I never stayed at a Disney hotel, so I just assumed they are like any other hotel and tacks on extra fees anyway.

I'm guessing this was never the case?

I wish they would have just slipped it into the price of the rooms. No one would have noticed. The hotels are already outrageously expensive. What's another couple bucks a night?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Same with the flex pricing. That was the subject of a survey, and then BOOM. About 2-3 months later, it was reality. Did Disney really conduct that survey because it was genuinely curious as to whether guests wanted ticket prices to go up in the high season?

I believe the survey was around for much longer before they implemented tiered pricing. I had seen talk on other websites back in Spring of 2015 (and maybe even earlier) regarding a survey. There was several variations over time of that survey I believe. It took nearly a year to implement them from the beginning (if using Spring 2015). I'm not saying that they won't implement resort fees but the timing of that could be really quickly, if they did, or far off in the distance, if they did.

 

[Bullseye]

No, we're going to use it for the first time this year. However, everyone who stays at a Disney Resort, whether they use it or not, pays for Magical Express.

Yeah but when I'm at QS I load up on condiments to use back at the room and at Restaurantosaurus since the beverages are self serve I have like eight refills...so it all evens out in the end

I highly doubt once you've already made/paid a reservation at a specified price they can come back and jack up the price. I don't read the small print, but I got to believe that constitutes some kind of contract.

 

[tinkerbella16]

Exactly right, which fuels a lot of WDW veterans' consternation IMHO.

Yes! And I am one of them! Only because I remember the days when the parks were so crowded and there were no fast passes, yet we survived! People see crowds and they want to pay $150 per person for 3 extra hours in the park because they get to have time with no crowds. We used to pay for something similiar for $10 a person on E-ticket nights, not $70 or $150. People see a 30 minute wait time, and run the other way. I always think back to the days when there was only a stand-by line and no FP's - we waited in line and it never ruined our trips.

I miss the good old days. So all of these extras (whether they interfere with our trips or not) saddens me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I highly doubt once you've already made/paid a reservation at a specified price they can come back and jack up the price. I don't read the small print, but I got to believe that constitutes some kind of contract.

Only time I can think of a price changing at WDW resorts after you reserve your room is if you reserved your room prior to when the pricing for that time period was released. If you do that, since you can book over the phone up to 499 days in advance, they will just adjust your reservation to reflect the higher (as it always is higher) cost for your stay.

 

[bryanb]

Realistically this means we pay $12.50 each for 2 bottles of water, since we don't use the health club, phone, tennis courts, or pools (too busy at the parks!). Again, this is just for our vacation style at WDW Swan, so it would be nice if we could opt out, especially since we generally stay on points but still have to pay $100+ out of pocket.

There has also been endless discussion about fees in the hotel industry. Why do some hotels charge resort fees, while others give away free Wi-Fi, gym access, and even bottled water? The answer always comes down to: because they can and the market allows it. For example, it doesn't cost the Swan/Dolphin more money to provide wi-fi to a guest, compared to the Best Western motel that has free internet access. The whole list of "included" amenities is just a way of positioning the fee to soften the blow.

I consider mandatory resort fees one of the big cheats in the hotel industry. They could bundle all these amenities into the room rate, but they know that when you're comparing prices on Expedia, most people will pick the room that's $25 cheaper at two hotels that otherwise seem similar.

I don't blame Disney for sending out a survey about mandatory resort fees. They owe it to their bosses to test lots of different ideas, and gauge what the reaction would be. Hopefully, they'll see that the reaction isn't positive, and they'll find other ways to be more transparent about the total price.

 

[mrzrich]

Yeah but when I'm at QS I load up on condiments to use back at the room and at Restaurantosaurus since the beverages are self serve I have like eight refills...so it all evens out in the end .

Last stay at POFQ I brought Splenda from home because that's what I use in my coffee. I had them in a little ziplock next to the coffee pot. Wouldn't you know, the housekeeper threw them away! I was so mad that I went right to the food court and took an obnoxious number of Splenda packs.