Resort Guarantees and requests

[alktdknckmom]

I spoke with a CM today to find out if I had a PIN under my name and while talking to him, I asked what non-villa/non-suite resorts can accommodate 5 people besides POR, which is where we are currently planning to stay. I'm concerned, however, that it will be booked up and we'll need to consider a second choice. (Deluxes are out of our price range)

He asked me how many minors there were and I told him 3. He said, that with 3 minors and only two adults they guarantee connecting rooms because they can not allow minors to be roomed without an adult.

I realize that many, many of the Disboard users have come across CMs with misinformation, so I do realize that I can't count on that guarantee, but for those of you who did request connecting rooms (connecting door, not rooms next to each other), could you please tell me the following:

For what resort did you request the connecting rooms?
Did you actually receive your request?
Did both rooms have 2 beds or one room have a king and the other have 2 beds? (we wouldn't be able to do 2 kings - we'd need at least one room w/ 2 beds)
How do you technically book it? Did you book two rooms with one adult per room and each adult had one or more kids on their reservation and then link the reservations?
When did you make your request?
Did you make your request in writing, at online check-in, or calling the resort direct?

Thanks!!

 

[maxiesmom]

I can tell you we have requested and received connecting rooms at the Poly, The All Star Music, The All Star Sports, and CSR. However at ASMu we had also paid for preferred rooms, and did not get them. So we got our request, but were downgraded in order for them to do so.

The one resort I haven't received connecting rooms when requested was the Contemporary. After that my Dreams Unlimited agent told me that the Contemporary has fewer of them to go around, as does the All Star Music.

I can't give you exact details as to wording, as most of the time I use a Disney travel agent, and they put the requests in for me. I can tell you too that some of the trips we started and ended with a different number of guests in the rooms.

 

[plutolovr]

When you need to book 2 rooms for a larger family, (2 adults and many children), you need to call Disney and tell them this. They will be able to book you all under one confirmation number and they will guarantee the connecting rooms. Now not all resorts have this available. For the Values go with anything but Music.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

There are no guarantees for connecting rooms. They do try as hard as possible to accommodate.

He said, that with 3 minors and only two adults they guarantee connecting rooms because they can not allow minors to be roomed without an adult.

Not gonna happen. If you have two adults and three kids, you cannot go that route. You can register one adult in each room. They don't care that your intent was to have the adults sleep in a separate room from the kids - you still have enough adults to cover two rooms. When you register, you can make a priority request for connecting rooms.

 

[dansdad]

Just to echo the others, connecting rooms are not guaranteed. Twice we have had 2 adults and 4 minors and did not get connecting rooms nor were they close to one another. Heck once the rooms were in 2 different buildings. Both times the phone CM booked them correctly, 2 rooms 1 reservation number and the connecting room drop down selected. However, if there are no connecting rooms available when it comes time for the room assigner to assign your rooms there's nothing they can do. Both times I was told that if it was only 1 adult and multiple minors they would have found us connecting rooms at another resort or upgraded us to a Suite/Villa.

I'd like to also reiterate, that they will do everything they can to grant the request of connecting rooms.

 

[mickeynut1]

I spoke with a CM today to find out if I had a PIN under my name and while talking to him, I asked what non-villa/non-suite resorts can accommodate 5 people besides POR, which is where we are currently planning to stay. I'm concerned, however, that it will be booked up and we'll need to consider a second choice. (Deluxes are out of our price range)

He asked me how many minors there were and I told him 3. He said, that with 3 minors and only two adults they guarantee connecting rooms because they can not allow minors to be roomed without an adult.

I realize that many, many of the Disboard users have come across CMs with misinformation, so I do realize that I can't count on that guarantee, but for those of you who did request connecting rooms (connecting door, not rooms next to each other), could you please tell me the following:

For what resort did you request the connecting rooms?
Did you actually receive your request?
Did both rooms have 2 beds or one room have a king and the other have 2 beds? (we wouldn't be able to do 2 kings - we'd need at least one room w/ 2 beds)
How do you technically book it? Did you book two rooms with one adult per room and each adult had one or more kids on their reservation and then link the reservations?
When did you make your request?
Did you make your request in writing, at online check-in, or calling the resort direct?

Thanks!!

As the pp said, Disney will do everything they can to accommodate you, but connecting rooms are not guaranteed. Since there are 2 adults, they can be split up with 1 in each room. The only time connecting rooms are guaranteed is when there is 1 adult with several kids that exceed the occupancy for 1 room (and even with that scenario, I have read a couple of reports where connecting rooms weren't granted as they weren't available). As far as making the request, I would make it when you book and then follow up about a week or two before arrival to make sure it's noted. I've never done OCI, but if you do that and there is a place to request connecting rooms, it wouldn't hurt to note it there as well. I would also mention it again at check in. You cannot call the resort directly as all calls to the numbers associated with each resort are routed to a call center. They answer the phone as if they are at that particular resort, but you are not talking to the resort directly.

 

[alktdknckmom]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I think I'm a little too type-A to hope for connecting rooms now that I think about it. Maybe i would be better off just doing the ASMo suite. It's not that much more than POR. Maybe by September, CBR will have the refurb done, which looks like it MIGHT include rooms for 5 (if the leaks/pics are accurate). Wish me luck!

 

[nkereina]

Not gonna happen. If you have two adults and three kids, you cannot go that route. You can register one adult in each room. They don't care that your intent was to have the adults sleep in a separate room from the kids - you still have enough adults to cover two rooms. When you register, you can make a priority request for connecting rooms.

Agree with this. If there was one adult and four minors, the situation may be different but I still don't think it's guaranteed. Hotels intentionally oversell rooms (think airlines) so they can't guarantee anything.

I think a family suite is best if you're not into POR. The cabins at FW are an option as well I believe.

 

[justhat]

We called to make a reservation for our family, 2 adults and 4 kids, and they said because we have 4 kids that they would guarantee connecting rooms. Not sure if that is because we exceeded the room occupancy of 1 room or what. We ended up booking at AoA so we won't see what would actually have happened, but that was what the CM on the phone told us.

 

[mickeygirl78]

I've requested and received connecting rooms at Pop 3x, AOA (Little Mermaid) and CBR. We never had any issues with it. When we checked in at CBR we didn't like our room location and they were able to move us and still give connecting rooms. We've never not received our request for connecting rooms.

 

[maxiesmom]

We called to make a reservation for our family, 2 adults and 4 kids, and they said because we have 4 kids that they would guarantee connecting rooms. Not sure if that is because we exceeded the room occupancy of 1 room or what. We ended up booking at AoA so we won't see what would actually have happened, but that was what the CM on the phone told us.

Unfortunately they do say that over the phone. And I think it is pretty horrible that they do, as they don't have any control over if you will get them or not. They are not the ones who assign rooms, rooms are not even pre-assigned until a week out. It is not as if they block them out and hold them for you.

 

[dansdad]

Unfortunately they do say that over the phone. And I think it is pretty horrible that they do, as they don't have any control over if you will get them or not. They are not the ones who assign rooms, rooms are not even pre-assigned until a week out. It is not as if they block them out and hold them for you.

Bolding is mine and I couldn't agree more! When making our 2nd reservation I mentioned above the CM told me that our connecting rooms were guaranteed. I informed him of our issues the first time and he stated that the phone CM for that stay must not have booked it correctly. I know for a fact that it was booked correctly, which was confirmed by manager at POR. He wouldn't listen to anything I was saying and just kept saying the booking he is making will guarantee us connecting rooms. I took his name down and called when we got home and tried to get someone to transfer me to him, but he wasn't located at that location. Or so they said. I just wanted him to know what happened so maybe he would think twice about making promises that Disney can't always keep.

 

[dpswift]

I called to request 2 connecting rooms at POP, requested 50s section. I booked about 5 months in advance but added an extra night about a month before we were do to arrive. We had no problem. Both rooms had 2 double beds.

DH and I are both laid back enough that it would not have been the end of the world if insted of connecting rooms the rooms were within a few doors of each other.

BTW we arrived around 9 pm, before a sold out week and there were 6 of us.

Last year DH and I stayed at ASMovies we had a standard non handicapped king room that connected to the room next to it.

 

[bookgirl]

wrong thread

 

[nkereina]

We called to make a reservation for our family, 2 adults and 4 kids, and they said because we have 4 kids that they would guarantee connecting rooms. Not sure if that is because we exceeded the room occupancy of 1 room or what. We ended up booking at AoA so we won't see what would actually have happened, but that was what the CM on the phone told us.

They also say you are guaranteed a preferred room (and you pay extra for that) but there are many instances where people are bumped, downgraded, or even upgraded from what they paid for. Nothing is guaranteed and the fact that you have two adults, in Disney's eyes, means you can split up if absolutely necessary (not that you would want to, but logistically/legally you could).

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, if you go with POR, the lovely thing about the PO resorts is that they still do have someone reading faxes and trying to go with requests on a personal level. Find venomhatch's thread about that.

Bolding is mine and I couldn't agree more! When making our 2nd reservation I mentioned above the CM told me that our connecting rooms were guaranteed. I informed him of our issues the first time and he stated that the phone CM for that stay must not have booked it correctly. I know for a fact that it was booked correctly, which was confirmed by manager at POR. He wouldn't listen to anything I was saying and just kept saying the booking he is making will guarantee us connecting rooms. I took his name down and called when we got home and tried to get someone to transfer me to him, but he wasn't located at that location. Or so they said. I just wanted him to know what happened so maybe he would think twice about making promises that Disney can't always keep.

I would write in with his name and the date you spoke to him. In that way you have a chance that the info will get to a manager level and he will be told.


And, of course, the word "guarantee" doesn't mean something WILL happen. It just means that if something can't happen they'll do something else. Guaranteed shipping by x day means if it doesn't happen you'll get a refund or a credit or an apology, etc. Guaranteed connecting rooms mean...well, the problem here is that the CMs saying this aren't even in Florida, let alone at the resort. They are offering things that the CMs at the resorts aren't aware of.